𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐤// 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐮✔️

prologue

Eddie was pushed towards the front of the crowd, to his dismay, fear littering his expression more than he hoped it would. His name was in the jar seven times this year, the minimum number. His chances of getting drawn are much more slim than any of the other boys his age, who were braver and put their name in the tesserae. He secretly hoped they got picked, because a small figure himself would never stand a chance.
He stared up at their chaperone, her heels clicking obnoxiously with every step she took. Her hair was long and glittery and her face looked like a renaissance painting, coated in thick layers of makeup piled on her cheeks and eyes. Her eyelashes extended with a glittery-gold green color, much longer than the average eyelash, and her lips were a dark green to match with golden accents in the center and edges. Her dress looked as if a court jester would wear it, ruffling around the neck and falling below her ankles.
They showed them the same video we'd been watching for six years before, Eddie remembered the first time he'd watched it, struggling to see from the back of the crowd. Now he was front and center, and he could see every bit of what was being played. Thank god it was the last time he'd be seeing it.
After the video, the chaperone who no one bothered to learn the name of announced that the ladies will be going first and stuffed her hand in the fishbowl like jar. She pulled the top name out of the pile of papers, much less than the pile in the male's bowl, and burst into her signature smile.
     "Nier Moissan!" She smiled, as a small girl no larger than an eight year old made her way into the stage. She was the youngest age, twelve, but wasn't thin. The silence was unbearable for anyone in the crowd, their eyes pitiful.
     "I volunteer as tribute!"
     The icy words shattered the tension with gasps, the crowds being opened for the girl without her asking. She was just powerful like that, she got anything she wanted with the lifting of her finger.
     By the time she'd made it to the stage, the girl had returned to the crowd safely and was hugging someone beside her. Probably a school friend of the sort.
     The girl was beautiful. Her hair, the color of fire, in a ponytail over her shoulder. Her eyes were bright blue, standing out even from the distance. Her face was slightly pale, but her freckles evened it out. Her lips were the color of strawberries; rosy pink with red accents. Her dress was floral print, nothing fancy, as it slid down to her lower calves. A brown, braided belt rested on her hip and her head was held high. Eddie wanted to know her name.
     "Beverly Marsh," she answered the chaperone, lips pursed in what seemed to be not fear, but something Eddie couldn't seem to figure out.
     Beverly. That name suits her, the girl with the fiery red hair.
     There was a command to applaud the volunteer, but no one did. No one ever did. Nier, who was now in the back, kissed three of her fingers and lifted them high above the heads in front of her. It started a ripple, hand after hand after hand. The peacekeepers were stunned, but were instructed to stay put and so they did. It ended after ten seconds of silence, when the chaperone cleared her throat.
     It went by all to fast for Eddie to remember. Her hand reached into the male's jar, and ever so lightly pulled the paper off of the top.
     "Eddie Kaspbrak!"