The Bender Games

Chapter Sixteen

The Bender Games

Chapter 16: Before the Games begin

    The hovercraft is the biggest thing I have ever seen. It looks small from the outside, but once you are inside, it is the biggest thing ever. I thought our apartment was huge, but I was wrong. This thing it ten times bigger.

    The first thing you do is make your way up the loading stairs, and into a hallway. Then we are escorted into our own rooms, where we have to change into our garb for the games. I have to put on a blue short-sleeved shirt, and dark blue pants. I grab the black boots that are on the ground and pull them over my feet. Then I tie the laces at the top, and walk around in them to make sure they are comfy. Thats when the hovercraft makes a noise. The lights begin to flicker, until I can feel the giant aircraft begin to lift off of the ground. I hold onto a table to keep my balance, until the hovercraft is no longer tilting.

    Two women in white shirts and red X’s enter my room. They motion me to follow them, and I do. They lead me down a hallway, and open a sliding door. Inside the next room, there are weird seats lined up all against the walls. A few of the seats are occupied by contestants.

    The women escort me to my seat, and I sit down. They strap me into the chair, and at first I panic. I don’t know what’s going on. Why am I being held down? I squirm and try to wring free from the chair, until a guard in black walks in front of me.

    “Stop squirming.” He orders me.

    “But why have you-”

    “Its to make sure you don’t move until we have arrived at the arena.” he states. I look away from him and stop my squirming. He turns on his heel and walks back to where he came from. I watch the guard leave, and the whole time I am restricted in this seat, I think about the games again, and the nervousness creeps up on me again.

    I close my eyes and try to focus. I breathe in and out and take my mind off of the games. I think about Cam, and my dad. I think about the way that the wind would blow across the prairie, and the smell of bread from the bakery that was right down the street from my house. I manage to calm myself, and open my eyes. More contestants are filling in the seats around me. Jo is coming in now. Her face has bags under her eyes. I can tell she got no sleep. She looks at me for a brief moment, and I am pulled back to the day of the drafting, when she looked like all of the life had been sucked out of her. Now, she looks ten times worse. The poor thing is shaking like a leaf, and when she sits down next to me, it looks forced, and stiff.

    I can’t to look at Jo so frightened right now, so I look away from her.

    More and more contestants come in. Once everyone is seated, people in weird metallic garb enter the room. They all contain white devices that glow. They all approach the contestants, and jab the white objects in their arms. Then something glows, and they move on to the next contestant.

    A lady in the metal garb approaches me. She takes her white device and presses it’s cold surface against my arm. Then something sharp pinches my skin, and a sharp, quick pain enters my arm. I gasp, and try to pull my arm away, but I forget that the chair is holding me back. The pain stops, and something in my arm glows. My eyes widen. What did they do to me? The lady pulls the device away from my arm, and moves on.

    “Wait!” I call over to her. She turns around and looks at me. “What was that?” I ask her.

    “Your tracker.” She tells me. Then she turns away and continues to inject trackers into people’s arms. A man moves towards me. He releases me from my restrains, and tells me to give him my wrist. I do as I am told, and let him strap what looks like a watch onto my wrist.

    “What’s this for?” I ask him.

    “Its so you know who died.”

    I meet Flavius in a room under the arena. He gives me a hug and holds me for a quick second. Then he releases me and gives me a sad smile. He motions for me to turn around. I spin on my heel. Flavius begins to braid my hair. When he is halfway down my head, he stops, and ties the braid. Then he lets the rest of my curls fall around my shoulders. I turn around and raise my eyebrow at him.

    “Just because you are playing for your life, doesn’t mean you still can’t look beautiful.” he smiles. I smile back. Flavius takes something out of his pocket and puts it around my neck. I look down and play with my mother’s necklace. “You technically can’t bring souvenirs with you, but I think they can make an exception.”

    Water begins to fill up my eyes. “Thank you.” I whimper.

    “Now don’t get weepy on me.” Flavius says. He grabs my shoulders and levels his eyes with mine. “You need to be strong, okay Darling?” He says. I laugh at “darling”, but nod my head at the rest. “There’s my girl.” He smiles. Then he snaps his fingers. “Almost forgot.”

    Flavius rushes to the other side of the room, and pulls something out of a closet. He holds out in front of me a dark blue jacket, with white designs that make it look like there is ice crawling up and down the fabric. I hold out my arms, and he helps me put on the jacket. Then he hands me a leather water pouch that straps around my shoulder. Since waterbenders are the only ones who can’t use their element at will, we are given water pouches filled with water before we enter the arena.

Now I am ready for the games.

    A door on one side of the room opens, and A clear tube is now visible. Butterflies enter my stomach. My mind goes blank, and my body begins to shake. Fear swells up inside of me, and I feel like I can’t move. My bottom lip begins to quiver, and I slowly back away from the tube. Flavius puts a hand on my shoulder and motions me forward.

    “You’re going to be fine, Ariel.” He says, but I think he is wrong. The door to the tube swings open, and it sends another jolt of fear through my body. Flavius stands me before the tube and turns me around so I am facing him.

    Flavius smiles at me, and helps me breathe to calm myself down.

    “I’ve got my money on you, waterfall girl.” He says. I take in another deep breath and close my eyes. I grab my mother’s necklace, and try to calm down. Then I look at Flavius and smile. “Be strong.” He tells me. I nod my head.

    “I will.” I tell him. Then I slowly back up, and enter the clear tube. The door slides closed, and I try to remain calm as I remain in the tube. I focus on Flavius, and that somewhat helps me.

    How are you feeling? Flavius mouths to me. I think about that for a minute, before I mouth back:

    Like I really need to use the bathroom.

    I can see Flavius laughing to that, and I sort of join in. I needed to do something to lighten the mood.

    Just then, the tube moves up. I panic, and try to grab the sides of the room as it sends me up. Flavius waves me goodbye, and I hope it is not forever. The ceiling above me opens, and I look up to see daylight. The tube lifts me up, until I am standing on top of a platform. In front of me is the elementor, and all around me, in a giant circle,  are the other contestants. The games are beginning.