Let The Games Begin // Billie Eilish

Chapter 29

My eyelids flutter open to a ray of sunshine casting a yellow glow into the cave. I see Billie sitting on what I have now named the lookout rock, looking bored but alert. I groggily sit up and stretch my arms out.

"Good morning." I say in an unexpectedly hoarse voice.

"Morning." She replies, now looking over at me and smiling. "Sleep well?"

"As well as you can in a cave." I chuckle. "So, what's the plan? Are we staying here for the foreseeable future or are we gonna move around?"

She considers our options for a moment as I walk over to her and crouch down on the floor beside her.

"Well, I think it's a good idea to stay here while it's safe. If we move, someone might find us."

I nod understandingly. "Okay, cool. I kinda like it here anyway. It's like our own little world away from everyone else."

She looks down at the floor with her mouth lightly lifted upward. "Okay, cool."

"Are you hungry?" I ask while standing up.

"I'm starving. What do you feel like eating?"

"I'm thinking berries. You know, considering it's our only option and all." I respond.

She chuckles gently. "Okay then. Berries it is." She stands beside me and we walk out of the cave together.

As we immerse ourselves amongst the cluster of trees ahead of us, I trail behind Billie a little. I enjoy watching her looking around while determinedly trying to scout a bush of berries for our breakfast.

I take a moment to soak up the fact that she's actually the person I ended up with in here. I remember the moment she sat opposite me in the cafeteria and told me straight up that she wanted to be my partner. I remember the days when I thought she was lying about wanting to pair up. I thought she was playing a game with me, trying to steal my limited knowledge on the Dream test and then planning to bolt. I remember when I overheard her conversation with Milaus at the choosing ceremony, and thought she had been plotting against me. I remember how she followed me to the bathroom and practically begged me to believe her, and then we laughed deliriously on the dorm room floor.

She's so different to the person I thought she was back then. Maybe I'm a different person now too.

Thanks to her, I feel more confident in myself. She gave so much of her time to helping me out and making me stronger for The Games. But I don't think she realises that in the process of doing that, she also made me stronger mentally. She's so influential and good and inspiring and has made such an enormous impact on me in the short two months that I've known her.

She would have so much potential in the outside world. I can already picture her starting up a hugely successful company, or becoming the founder of a charity that somehow manages to save the entirety of Ganzeer, or becoming a mother and passing on all of the insightful advice stored in her complex brain to her kids.

I imagine the life she'll have if she actually does come out as the winner of The Games. She'll provide for her mother and her brothers he way she always has. She'll happily hand over all of her riches and fortunes to them, because that's exactly the kind of selfless thing she'd do. She'll continue to work in that movie theatre for a few years. Then when the time comes, She'll meet someone special, get married, and live a quiet, happy life. One that her father made her feel like she didn't deserve. She'll prove him wrong, and become the person he never could be.

Billie deserves to live.

"Cove?" Billie says suddenly, her face covered in confusion, and I realise that she must have been calling me for a while. "Dude I've called your name like 5 times. You good?"