Safe and Sound Ch. 1

Chapter One
(Age 17, three years later)

Noel woke up and shot out of bed, hearing a scream come from Renee's room. He was the first one up and he ran to his sister, sitting on the bed. She latched onto him, crying. "Shhhh, it's okay baby, what happened?" he asked. Tyler had come in by this point and sat on the other side of Renee, stroking her hair. The nightmares, Noel noticed, seemed to be getting worse. For all three of them. Noel knew Tyler had dreams about his parents, even though he hadn't seen them in five years. Renee had nightmares about the Games, especially when they were in the middle of one like they were now. None of them liked watching the violence, even though it was mandatory. The 68th games were almost over, there were seven tributes left. They had been forced to watch a pretty brutal killing last night (pretty much a group slaying, actually) and all three of them were affected by it. Noel hoped none of them ever had to be reaped.

He had taken precautions to make sure none of them had to take tesserae, even if it involved working almost inhuman hours at his dad's shop. At least one of them each were awoken by nightmares each night for the past week, and they had taken to sleeping in the same room at night just to be able to reach out to someone. Noel dreamed that either he, Renee or Tyler were trapped somewhere, surrounded by career tributes, and couldn't be reached, no matter how hard they ran. Lately though, it had been Tyler and Noel. The same nightmare every time. It was like the Capitol was able to read his dreams and rig them like they did the games. They somehow knew Noel cared deeply about Tyler and were using that care and love to hurt him.

"Why don't we go sit in the yard for a while, just the three of us?" Noel asked, and Tyler and Renee nodded enthusiastically. "I don't think I can stand more violence today," Tyler said, shuddering. Renee nodded in agreement, still a bit pale. They went out to the small yard and sat under the tree, Tyler laying his head in Noel's lap and Renee sitting next to them. Tyler smiled up at Noel as he started carding a hand through his hair. Normally Tyler would shrink away but he felt comfortable around Noel. It had taken a couple years for Tyler to be comfortable allowing any sort of touch from Noel or anyone else for that matter, but now he liked it. The two of them had had their share of bullying from their peers, mostly because they were so close. Renee had her suspicions that Noel and Tyler's feelings were more than platonic. Everyone except them seemed to notice it. Noel did in fact love his best friend, but was afraid to express it to him. He'd seen too many families and couples torn apart by the games and the thought of losing Tyler just after confessing he loved him was terrifying. The thought of the games changing him or Tyler if by some stroke of luck they managed to win was just as scary. Renee lay next to her brothers, snuggling into Noel's side. Noel hugged her close. He was as scared for her as he was for himself and Tyler. She was too young, even at 16, to go into the arena and have to fight for her life.

"District One are pathetic this year," Tyler said out of nowhere. Somehow the conversations always turned to the Games, even if they were trying to avoid them. Renee nodded. "The tributes from Four and Two are doing okay, but the two from One and the girl from Four are just dragging the pack down. Four hasn't even made a kill yet." Noel shrugged, still running a hand through Tyler's hair gently. He usually let Tyler and Renee debate and just sat back and listened. "I think Four should break away personally," Noel added in. He thought most of the career pack were useless this time around. Tyler nodded. "Me too. They have enough supplies to get away on their own." Renee looked up. "What time should we head in? They have to all be awake by now," she said. Noel nodded. "We have to be at the Nut by 9:30, so we should be headed there now," he said as he led the way out of the house, holding his sister and Tyler's hands firmly.