² SECOND CHANCE ─ the hunger games

epilogue - can't keep promises

— GWYNETH —

MY PHONE RINGS.

And the dreadful news follows.

I never knew that three words could hit me as hard as it does now, as a numbness overcomes my whole body, shortly before I break down in tears.

And for a moment, I can't process the truth, until it is repeated.

Kunboss is dead.

He died on the third day in the arena. The day I left the Capitol City for the Adelaide Woods.

My best friend, my brother- 's gone. I think back to all the memories we had, me crying in that first arena when the heartbreak of killing one of my closest friends got to me, my muscles tensing in pain - him massaging it and murmuring words of encouragement; myself helping him recover from the grief of losing a pet and failing a test; all those glorious times before Byrok took everything away from him. 

Byrok killed him. And so did I.

He's gone, and he will never be coming back. His body loaded into a hovercraft back to the Capitol City. I know down in my heart, that the monsters that are Byrok will never let him come back. Even if Eunice wins. 

Kunboss' spirit lingers by my sobbing body, stroking my back and seemingly telling me that everything's gonna be all right.

But it won't.

Because Kunboss is dead, and it's all because I wasn't there to help him.

"It's gonna be okay, Gwyn."

But it's not gonna be okay, and it never will be. I know it's an illusion; and I understand it. I understand that there will be no more comforting, no more kind words exchanged. I know that his body is in a coffin right now, and the illusion of him being here to help me does nothing but make me cry harder. Tears stain my face and my sheets as I hear his comforting words.

Somehow, I manage to push Kunboss off of me, and he stumbles away into the distance without even one ray, one piece of hesitation. 

That's my best friend -  he understands me more than I do myself. He knows he has to leave for me to accept reality. Even if that breaks me even more.

He rides away on a golden chariot, and the last glimmers of hope I had fades behind him. The lights draw down into the darkness, and then he is gone.

And the rain comes, washing every last bit of him away. It sweeps onto me, through my open window. It sweeps onto me, and I desperately call to it to set me free. To leave me alone and let me be.

Or to release me from the darkness.

It sweeps in, like a wall crashing over the dark void that is me. Gwyneth Anderson, and the person I am without Kunboss and Zoey here by my side.

But then, it stops.

And in the darkness, I see the glinting light of the golden chariot. And I see who my best friend Kunboss Bailey once was.

I see the light shining through the crack in my window.

I see him standing there. And I feel our memories flash before my eyes just one last time before they fade away - tainted by the Games, tainted by the broken promise I made, but failed to keep. The vividness of his smile, the musicality of his laugh. I hear those one last time, before they disappear. Still here, but will never be the same as I know the person who made those is gone.

I beckon for him, and he smiles. But the thing is, he doesn't come back.

He lingers by the window, writing something on the vapour the rain had left.

And then, with a blink of my eye, he's gone, and he has disappeared into the mist of the still dark, yet hurtful night, where I sit, staring at the open window, and hold my hand out yet once again, stretching to his figure, but he shakes his head. 

I'm forced to watch as as he fades into nothingness, the chariot carrying him and his dreams to a better place. My sobs overcome me, and my head rolls backwards onto my bed, just longing for a moment of peace, tired of fighting anymore. 

Night has faded into day, and I still sit where I sat, staring at where Kunboss once stood.

I look up at the window, where I last saw him. 

It's dewy, and the scent of fresh grass wafts into my nose, the drops of rain on still grassy, wet leaves. They will disappear in less than an hour, yet the beauty still remains.

And the last thing I see before breaking down in tears is a brashly scribbled goodbye.

"Goodbye, Gwyneth," I hear Kunboss' voice speak to me.

I look around, calling for his name, hoping my dead best friend will emerge in glory. 

"Kunboss? Kunboss? Where are you?"

"Goodbye," he says.

"Kun?" My voice fades into a soft whisper.

I grasp at the air, hoping that he's there, that he's here for me through anything.

"He isn't dead. He was here," I whisper as the air runs through my fingers, chilly, bringing the coolness of an early morning. 

It's cold, just like it was last night. And I try to convince myself that Kunboss is still alive. But a new day has begun, and he's gone.

"You promised," I say.

But a dead person can't keep a promise.

THE END.

to be continued in volume three - true unity