Through the Eyes. (The Hunger Games fanfiction)

Chapter 7

I didn't bother to go back to Asher. It would be too awkward and I wouldn't know what to say. I don't like him back, or at least I don't think I do.

The elevator dinged and I stepped out into the chilly air of the roof, seeing Elian propped up against the wall.

"I figured you would come." He says with his back turned to me. I walk up and stand beside him, staring out into the view.

"I want to talk about what happened earlier," I say. "with Misty." I can smell his cologne. It's strong and wraps around me like wildfire. But it smells so good.

"Nothing happened. And that's final." He says.

"So what was your problem with me after the interview?" I ask, looking at his amazing jaw line.

"That wasn't you up on that stage." He says.

"Of course it was, what are you talking about?"

"I mean how you acted. It was you. You sounded like a career." He says, still not looking at me.

"I am a career."

"No you're not. You're a sixteen year old who thought you could volunteer. You weren't picked." He says sternly. A lump forms in my throat and I'm afraid that if I say anything, I'll start to cry.

He notices my silence and looks at me. Regret fills his face.

"Oh, Ariston, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that." He says.

"You're wrong. I was picked! That's what you don't understand! Nobody understands that!" I yell.

"It's okay, Ariston. I understand now."

"Nobody understands. You were forced to come here. I came here under the pressure of my entire district thinking I will come out of this alive, and if I don't, I will disappoint them and there will be constant shame on my family name." I say, now crying. He puts his arms around me.

"Sounds like Mulan crap." He says and I can't help but laugh.

I pull away and look into his face. "You're cute when you're sad." He says, and then kisses me. Butterflies go off in my stomach and I can't help but smile in the middle of the kiss.

I pull back and frown.

"What's wrong?" He asks.

"It's nothing, really. I just miss home." I say. I don't know why I lied, or what I was even keeping from him. Why didn't the kiss feel right? What was wrong with it?

"Oh well, I'm sorry." He says. I know he can't promise me that I'll see it again. He knows, and I know, that I'm going to die some period of the next few weeks.

"Yeah, well, I'll um, see you tomorrow." I say and he nods slightly.

"Yeah, it's good to get some sleep. You'll need it." He says. I nod and escape to the elevator, where the awkwardness and stress is released off my shoulders. I get back to my floor and see the apartment is dark, all lights turned off. I quietly sneak into my room and under the covers, where I slip off into a dark and horrifying sleep.

******
I stand in the middle of the Cornucopia, watching the chaos erupt around me. Kids are dying, and not the tributes from these games. Small kids, like my brothers age. And it's the career pack that is killing them. Me, Asher, and the tributes from 4 and 1. I watch myself rip apart a young girl from clutching a bag, and drive a knife through her stomach. I scream in terror as her screams clash with mine. But I don't stop with just one, I continue with many strikes all over her body, until there's nothing left but a limp corpse.