Arrows in the Dark

Ash

"So what's you name?" i asked after a while.

"Name's don't matter and it makes it harder." he said glancing at me.

"Makes it harder for what?" i asked.

"For when you guys kill me." he said simply. Before he had bee scared but if this didn't work he expected it i guess. Not much to look forward too but..

"My name's Catora. Please never call me Girl on Fire." i said sticking out my hand toward you. He looked down at it curiously. "I'm offering you my hand not pointing a gun at you." he shook my hand then breathed out.

"My name's Ashton. My friends would call me Ash. At least they would if i had any friends." he said going back to work.

"You would've fit in nicely in my District." he looked at me curiously. "Coal mines. Lot's of ash and coal dust everywhere." i said half explaining. Ash just shrugged. We were quite. I listened to the birds whistle a tune through the forest. "You don't have friends back home?" i asked. Ash shook his head.

"Unless machines count, but they don't talk back." he said.

"Why not you're cute." i said trying to be nice. He was. With a mop of brown hair that hung in his face and bright blue eyes. It's a wonder how he didn't have friends or a girl by his side.

"Thanks, but you're probably the only one who thinks that." he said like it didn't bother him and maybe it didn't. I found myself wishing i was more like him. Indifferent and smart. "I was a prodigy. My father's very famous back in my District. He runs everything down there which meant to him that his son was too good for common folk." Ash said stopping what he was doing and putting air quotes around what he was saying.

"You don't agree?" i asked.

"I just wanted friends. I would see the kids running around the square and i would sometimes try to sneak out to play with them. Worked a couple times but i always got caught. After a while i didn't see the point." Ash told me. It was weird how open he was. "I talked to the servants. I talked to my toys. Talked to the machines but it's not the same as someone your age." he said getting a far away look in his eyes.

"I guess that explains how pale you are." i said motioning toward his pale skin that was slowly turning darker. If he was left out here too long he might burn.

"Yeah, I guess." i didn't say anything.

"He let you out for reaping though." i stated. Ash nodded.

"Everyone goes out on reaping day. It's the only day i could see other kids and they could see me." must've been weird. I wonder how many looks he got. He as foreign to them and they were foreign to him. "I actually would look forward to that day." he said with a laugh. I smiled slightly. "Most people dread it but i looked forward too it." he said shaking his head. "Maybe that's my punishment for wanting to see other kids." he said slowly putting down the device.

"I don't believe that." i said. Ash just shrugged again and bent over his work.

"Anyways, here i am and here you are, and we're in the Hunger Games trying to reactivate a bomb. This is the most fun i've ever had." i almost laughed. I could tell he was trying to be funny. I settled for smiling widely. Ash smiled back and flipped a switch. I heard a small whirring sound like something starting up. The button of the mine glowed a bright white light. It as on it's side and i was scared the bomb would roll off the crate or fall over onto it's front and pres the button itself. That would just be my luck. "Be careful." he said as i piked it up. He placed the bottom of the mine back on and sealed it shut.

"Hey guys! We got a live one!" i called out looking down at it. They all ran over and looked.

"How do we know it's not programmed?" Clover asked. "Like on a timer." she said glaring at the both of us.