Die First

PART 7- THE FINALE

I begin to walk back to the rocks Achilles, Oceania, Demetrius and I were sitting on yesterday, having fun, not realising today there would only be 3 of us left. When me and Demetrius were in the jungle ealier we heard a canon go off, meaning after I killed Rill and Demetrius, there are only 4 people left. I thought the final four would be us. I thought we would be able to decide which one of us would get to live, together. I never thought I would be the reason one of my only friends was taken from me. I never thought I would be the one to end his life. After sitting down at the rocks, Oceania and Achilles arrive shortly after. "Hi Athena, I killed Matthias and I heard 2 canons go off so it's just the four of us now. We can relax, have fun for a few days before deciding who wins. Where's Demetrius? Is he getting food or something?" Oceania says. She's happy, she thinks we can just laugh and talk for the next few days. She has no idea what I've done. 

"I killed him. I killed Demetrius." Tears slowly slip down my face, I can't bare to look at Oceania and Achilles, they won't be as hurt as I am, but they probably think I'm a monster. I am a monster. Even if it was an accident, I should have been thinking straight, but I wasn't. My best friend is dead now because I thought someone was coming up behind him, trying to kill him. Ironic isn't it. He's dead becauase I was trying to protect him. I don't know if Oceania and Achilles will believe me, but I have to tell them the truth. Achilles comes up behind me and puts his arm around me. 

"What happened, Athena?" Oceania sounds angry, scared, and hurt all at the same time. I don't blame her. I would be too.

"We were sitting on the rocks, down there by the main waterfall, just talking about our lives back home. Talking about the kids we killed yesterday. Then the boy from your District, Rill, he came up behind Demetrius, he was about to throw a knife at him, so I pulled Demetrius up and pushed him to my right. He was directly beside me on my right. I stabbed Rill, killing him, then I saw movement on my left, but quite a bit behind me. I assumed it was Cecilia, coming up to kill Demetrius, and then me. So I turned around and swung my sword, made a deep cut right across what I thought was Cecilias chest, bu-"

"But it was Demetrius, he moved." Oceania says, no emotion in her voice whatsoever. 

"Yeah. It was." I say, still crying, still screaming inside, still wanting to kill myself but pushing back the thought, for Demetrius. Oceania sits on the other side of me and hugs me. She forgave me. Both of them did. Achilles did before I even explained, they know how much I care for Demetrius. I don't deserve them, not any of them. Oceania, Achilles, and defenitely not Demetrius. They all deserve so much better than me. 

"It's ok, Athena. We are in the Hunger Games, he had to die eventually, plus how do we know he wasn't going to hurt you. We can't trust anyone in here." Achilles said. I don't know what the fuck is wrong with him but that is not my Achilles. I know he wants me to live, but I can live without killing my friends. He knows that. And he defintely knows Demetrius wouldn't hurt either of us. The games are changing Achilles. I can't help but imagine people in the Capitol watching him going insane, crying, rooting for us, being entertained by us. It makes me sick. 

"What?" I say, no longer crying, no longer thinking about the pain I'm in from what I did, only thinking about what Achilles just said. 

"I'm sorry Athena, but we are getting to the end. Only one of us can live and I know it would've been nice for the four of us to spend our last days having fun together, but Demetrius was going to go at some point. And at least this way you probably gained sponsors. I'm sure it was a good spectacle."

"Achilles you don't know what you're saying, you're fucking crazy. Wake up. This isn't you, it's the arena, it's driving you insane. Listen to me, Achilles. Please. Don't be like this, you are still you, you're not just some character in their TV show." Im practically begging at this point, I need my Achilles. Not some boy who only cares about me winning, who only cares about sponsors. I need the Achilles who cares about his friends, who cares about me, I need the boy I love. But I fear he's gone. The arena has been ruining him day by day, it's only because I'm here though, it's the things we love most that destroy us.