Sang is chosen for the Culling, a series of fights to the death that are generally played by men. In fact, Sang is the first woman selected, well, ever. As the games start, and Sang forms bonds with a group of nine men, she comes to realize that the...
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Sang
"Where's mama?" I gripped papa's hand tightly as I looked at the old, but large, building in front of me. It looked like a house of some sort, and was fancier than any place that I had ever seen. It didn't look like a bad place, but I had never seen this building before; so I wasn't sure where we were, and I didn't like it.
Plus, I had never been away from mama for so long in my life.
I loved papa very much, but he seemed to be so upset and angry lately; and papa was never either one of those things. I was scared; whatever it was that had made him feel this way had to be something bad.
At my question, papa glanced down at me and attempted to give me a reassuring smile. However, his eyes remained the same - sad, tired - so it didn't work. It almost seemed like he was trying to fake being strong, but why would papa need to do that? He had always been the strongest man that I ever knew.
I gripped his hand tighter."Papa, where are we?"
He glanced back at the building and began to lead me towards it as he spoke. "Mama had to go away for a little while. Papi is helping her. In the meantime, we will need to stay here for a bit. Your uncle will help keep you hidden - even if he will probably be angry at me. I know that he'll love you though. Your cousins might be around, so it would also be good for you to hang out with other kids for some time."
No! I dug my heels in and tried to pull my arm away, but papa's grip was strong. At my protests, he did, however, stop and gave me a curious look. "Sang?"
"You said that we couldn't tell anyone! Mama said so, too!"
Why would he change his mind now? They had always fought about this. I didn't understand, we had to stay hidden. If we didn't hide, then I would get hurt!
But why...
Something was wrong, but I didn't know what.
I would get hurt? But how... why... I didn't get hurt before though, right? I was so confused.
