Author Games: The Final War

Finals: Lydia D'Norse

It was only Randy and I left, just me and my mind-slave, and I had no idea what to do. 

"Well, Miss Mind Strong Ma'am, seems like it's just you an' me," Randy drawled. I wasn't sitting on him now, just standing in front of him in my torn and muddy gown with my head tilted all the way back so I could see his eyes. 

It really was unfortunate to be so vertically-challenged. 

"So it is," I sighed.

"What we gonna do now, then, Ma'am?" 

Good question. 

I figured this part would be easy. The Games themselves were what I expected to be the challenge, not the winning. But it was the other way around. The Games had been a breeze because all it takes is one word from me to have people dropping dead at my feet, but now when I only had one person left to kill, the one person I had spent all Games manipulating anyway, I couldn't do it. 

It wasn't that I felt sympathy for the idiot. He had been my means to an end, and now that that end had come he no longer mattered. No, the problem was with myself. 

I was no longer sure I wanted to win. 

It was a strange thing, staring at that Earth Strong and being unable to decide what command to give him. 

Kill yourself, I could have said, and and then I'd be out of the arena and in the place I'd wanted to be for as long as I could remember: The throne. Of course, the Leader doesn't get a throne, but I had always planned to have one made as soon as I took the job. And I planned to have the title changed to "Queen of the World" as well. But the interviews changed that. One ten minute clip of people I saw nearly every day in my regular life had been enough to strip me of every dream I'd ever had. I had no one to go home to. I had no reason to win. 

I knew what to say. 

"Kill me," I whispered. Looking down at the dirt. 

"What was that Miss Mind Strong Ma'am?" Randy gaped. "Kill me?" 

"Yes! You heard me, so do it!" I snapped. 

"R-right away Ma'am," he said rather reluctantly. Then before my eyes he buried himself beneath the dirt in one swift motion. He didn't resurface. He'd misinterpreted my command. 

My lip trembled and I started to cry. Not for Randy, but for myself. And that selfishness, probably part of the reason no one loved me, made me cry even more. 

I was full-out sobbing when they pulled me from the arena. 

~*~

"And you're going live in three... two..." The prompter pointed to me and the little light above the camera glowed green. 

I forced a smile onto my face and looked down at the note cards in my hands. Smile. Make friends. 

"Hello, I own you now," I chirped. My face was being broadcast live on every TV screen for miles. Regardless of affinity and location, every single citizen was hearing my words. "If I wanted, I could make you all dress as chickens and do a hula. I could make you bake your youngest child into a pie. I could make you do a lot of things, after all I have a full year to do it, right? But you know what I can't make you do?" My was rising in volume. "No matter how hard I try, or how many different ways I word it, I can't make you love me." I smiled sadly, tears springing to my eyes. "I can kill you with a word but I can't make you love me. Not that I blame you, I've recently learned I'm completely impossible to love. Isn't that right, Kindle?" I laughed. I spoke only to him, ""I could force you to kiss me, if I wanted, I already know that. I could make you marry me even. But what's the point in that?" I laughed again, tears slipping down my cheek. "You'd probably incinerate me in my sleep first chance you got. No matter how hard I try, I'll never be good enough for you. I rule the whole nation, and I'm still not good enough for you." 

The man behind the camera was staring at me with his mouth open. 

I remembered that I wasn't speaking just to Kindle, and even though my words were meant for him, everyone in the world heard me. I straightened up and glared at the camera. "And that's all, turn that thing off!" I lifted the hem of my multi-layered gown and stormed away from the podium.

Drysten and Makenna were waiting for me. 

"What's your first act as Lea- er," Makenna gritted her teeth. "Queen of the World?"  

"Oh, that's simple." I smiled "Impeach me." 

The couple gaped at me much the way the man behind the camera had. I wonder if Kindle had gaped at his television? 

"And that's all. Thank you for this opportunity, have a nice life!" I sank into a dramatic curtsy and then brushed past them. "Oh! and before that, call me a car. I'd like to go home." 

"Y-yes ma'am."

Before walking out the door, I removed the tiara from my silver curls and let it fall to the floor with a soft, metallic clatter. 

I really wasn't cut out to own it anyway.