The 45th Game

"Bridge? Bridge, where are you?" I called in panic. I didn't see Bridget anywhere and we somewhere in the middle of the woods. We weren't far from where our parents were working on cutting down their quota for the day, at least we hadn't been when we'd started this game. Hide and seek became a very dangerous game when you played in the woods and got lost. At least it did in District 7. There were stories every year about how two or three kids got lost playing in the woods because they didn't stay together when they were playing. That was probably the fastest way to die here. And at the moment, that's exactly the situation I was in.

"Bridget!" I called one last time before my voice gave out. I'd been calling for her for the last half hour and she'd never responded. I knew it wasn't that she was really into the game and didn't want to give away her hiding spot or something like that. Bridge always answered me if she could tell I was scared or hurt. It was one of those things she did. She was my best friend and my protector. And the fact that she wasn't answering made me terrified.

I sat down under a tree with my back against it. I figured I may as well stay in one place. There would be more chance of someone finding me if I didn't keep moving, otherwise we might be on the opposite side of a tree and never find each other. I sat there waiting, and eventually, I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I felt warmth on the right side of my body. Before I could freak out, a hand touched me on the shoulder. I relaxed immediately. Only one person would have made me aware of their presence like that.

"I thought you got lost there for a couple hours," I heard Bridget say.

I turned to face her. "So did I," I said dryly. "Where'd you go anyway?"

"I heard the whistle and knew that we should be heading back. I called to you and I thought you were following me, but when I figured out that you weren't, I doubled back to look for you. Both of our parents are probably freaking out right now," Bridge said.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"A good 2 hours after I showed up," she answered me. "No more than an hour before that, cuz it'd only been an hour and a half since we'd last split, and I know you didn't go to sleep straight away."

I didn't ask how she knew. She just did. It was one of those things about us. We just knew what the other one did when we weren't together and what they were thinking when we were. I guess we were just so close that we could pretty much read each other's minds.

"Ready to head back?" Bridge asked.

"If you help me stand up and give me a minute to shake my legs out, cuz I can't feel them at the moment," I said, grabbing the hand she had held out to me even before I had started to answer.

"Well I don't know if I can wait for you to feel your legs again," she said. "We're running out of time before curfew. I might just have to leave you here and hope you don't get eaten by bears and coyotes. I'll explain what happened to you if you do."

Anyone listening to her would have thought that she was serious, she was just that good at hiding her sarcasm. But I knew better. "Gee, thanks Bridge," I said "I've always wanted to be eaten by a bear," I said as we started to walk in the general direction of our families huts. The feeling had come back to my legs for the most part, so I could walk again. But I honestly had no clue where we were. I have an awful sense of direction. That's one of the reasons I don't go into the woods without Bridget. Otherwise I most likely would get stuck in there forever.

"So no coyote for you?" She asked. "You strictly wanna be bear meat?"

"Yep, pretty much," I replied as the lights from our village came into view.

"Are you serious?" I asked. "I was that close the entire time?" The walk had only taken about five minutes.

"Well, ya know....yeah," Bridge said. "You really fail at navigation."

"And that my friend," I said. "Is why I keep you around."

"Thanks, love you too jerk," she said teasingly. "I'll make sure the coyotes get you now."

"Efron, get your butt in this house right now mister!" I heard my mother call from my house.

"Bridge, come on," hollered her brother from hers.

We turned to each other and smirked. "See ya," we said at the same time, and then turned away to head towards our houses.