Welcome to E. Mayberry

I couldn’t grasp what was going on. My mind couldn’t handle it and then Kendall was reaching for the barrel and I knew it was all about to be over. Her hand was nearly inside the barrel when I heard Bastian’s voice behind me.

“Wait!” he yelled. “Stop! Kendall stop!”

I tried to turn and look at him but my neck hurt. My body was stuck in place and I’d struggled so hard to break free of my restraints that I’d exhausted myself. What was he doing?

Kendall froze and turned to look at him.

“Kendall,” he said. “Let me switch places with Sunshine! I give up my rights as an owner and name her in my place. From this day forward she will be my owner and I will be her pet.”

“Umm,” Kendall said.

“What is this, The Hunger Games?” I heard someone say.

“I don’t think it’s ever been done,” Bastian said. “But I love her that much. I don’t want her to go through this. Not now. Not ever. Put me in her seat. She’ll be an owner and you’ll still have me to answer for her number. If I win, I’ll be an owner again. If I lose, you’ll have your sacrifice.”

I was stunned. I didn’t know what to say. Was he serious? He would do that for me? He loved me that much, enough to put his own life in danger and to give up his rights as an owner? He would switch to pet status and do this every year for me?

“You do realize,” Kendall said, “That you cannot cheat the system. If you’re doing this with plans to buy yourself back into an owner’s seat after the festival, I will not accept it. You’ve had your chance as an owner and will only gain that right again if the gods see fit in the drawing.”

“I understand,” he said.

Kendall shook her head in disbelief.

“Okay,” she said. “Free her and take her place.”

Bastian walked over to me and flipped switches beneath my wrists and behind my ankles to set me free. I threw my arms around him and begged him not to do it. A second before I’d felt nothing but relief but now it dawned on me what he was doing. What it could mean for him. I loved him too and I was wrong, he didn’t want this for me. He would sacrifice everything. He loved me.

This changes everything.

“Please don’t do this. I’ll accept it,” I said. “I’ll take my chances and if the gods say it’s my time to go, then I’ll go, and if they don’t, I’ll stay with you.”

“No,” he said as he kissed my lips. “I brought you here. I put you in this position knowing full well what it would mean. I knew I loved you but it was a chance I was willing to take. It was an unfair chance for you. It was selfish and I’m sorry. I love you, Sunshine.”

He kissed me again and I couldn’t leave his lips. The pain was immense. It felt like I’d been shot and had a gaping hole at the center of my body. I wanted to collapse in his arms and stay there, but he was pushing me away. I wouldn’t go. I couldn’t go. I grasped at his shirt and clung to him, hanging onto him, begging him not to do it.

“Take her, please,” Bastian said. “Someone pull her away from me so we can get on with this.”

He pushed me away but I fell to my knees and hugged his legs, sobbing into them.

“Don’t do it,” I begged.

“She’s being a little dramatic, don’t you think?” someone said from behind me. “It’s not like he lost already.”

They were right but it didn’t matter. I didn’t want him to give up his right as an owner. Even if he won, it would change everything. I would be his owner and I didn’t want that for him. I loved him and I couldn’t bear to see him stripped of his position in the community. He was a respected owner of ten years.

Two men from the crowd rushed out and grabbed my arms, yanking me back into the crowd. One of them said, “Congratulations. You’re an owner now.”

I couldn’t be happy about it. Not with Bastian sitting in my seat. I heard the ankle and wrist cuffs lock in place and then he was there. It was done. He was a pet and I was his owner.

“Very well,” Kendall said. “This is definitely an interesting night. I might have to start asking if there are any owners who’d wish to switch with their pets.”

The crowd around me laughed. My crowd. I was no longer one of them. I was one of us.

“I’ve wasted enough time and I know you’re all tired so here we go,” Kendall said as she reached into the barrel and pulled out a plastic lottery-style ball with a number on it.

The crowd grew silent as everyone waited to hear who would be the new owner.

“Oh wow,” she said. “Look at her luck. It’s about damn time. After all these years as a pet, Lilly, you’re finally an owner.”