Time of Dying {Rachel's DP}

In a world as harsh as Panem and a place as harsh as the arena, perhaps one was not even safe when saying farewell to their fallen comrades. Rachel had learned that even though she had been saying her goodbyes to Kimmie, her death was inevitable. She had already taken a lot of damage during the bloodbath, and knew that she likely wouldn't make it out of the arena alive. Although, she didn't expect her death to come right then. When she was struck by the first blow, she hadn't known exactly what was going on in the moment. The sharp pain that entered her body shocked her to the point where she didn't even know how to fight back.

Then, a second weapon pierced her skin, and a struggled breath came from the girl. She collapsed to the ground, and put her hand over her wound, hopelessly trying to stop the bleeding. There was nothing she could do, and she knew that she was dying. Rachel avoided looking into the eyes of her killers in the last moment. She had seen who they were, and recognized them by District, though they had never spoken before. Rachel had never even so much as exchanged a word with either of them, and didn't plan to in her death.

As things began to fade more and more quickly, Rachel saw things that she never would have seen in life. She saw her sister who had long since passed, and the other fallen tributes from the bloodbath. She could've sworn she even saw a light as her soul struggled to leave its wounded corpse. Rachel, even in death, didn't regret volunteering. She hadn't killed anyone, and had tried her best to fight in her father's honor. Perhaps it was worth it all. After all, during her time in the Capitol, she became closer with Joselle and Kimmie than she ever had with friends back home. Her death was unfortunate, yes, and it would no doubt cause her family grief for a while, but she didn't feel that it was the worst thing that could have happened her. She tried, so she hadn't let down her father. Rachel personally felt that letting down her father would have been worse than the fate she was facing.

Things were coming back to Rachel in memory. She could remember the day each of her younger brothers were born. That was a time of joy. Another thing she could recall was her first day of school when she was about five years old. Why did she remember that now? She was never able to remember that before. More and more memories were flooding in, a few sad, but most of them positive. She could recall the first time she hit the center of the target with a knife in the training center, and her father praising her for doing so.

Rachel remembered how proud of her her father been in the Justice Building when they said goodbye. She could remember happy times with her sister before her untimely death, and thought about how she'd be reunited with her soon, even if it was in death. A few final thoughts flooded through Rachel's mind in her last moments. Before she took her last breath, she spoke a few words. She felt that if she were to be choosing her last words- the last thing anyone ever heard from Rachel Violette- that they should be words directed to her father, and not words of sadness.

"I hope I made you proud, Dad." she said, her voice quiet. She struggled for a moment, and then her breathing and heart stopped altogether.