play stupid games, win stupid prizes: Tommy's and Xaa's dp
Jul 29, 2023 15:16:52 GMT -5
Post by minie on Jul 29, 2023 15:16:52 GMT -5
Larissa slices at my only arm still attached to body and the wound starts bleeding immediately. Her sword cuts through my skin the way my sword cut what happened to be my last line of snow back in the training center – with precision. She knew combat and I knew drugs, just my luck I was dying at the hand of an expert in her field when I could not get my hands on what I knew best. Who would have thought that my end would come when I was strung out and sober.
It couldn’t be, not here at least. I refuse to give Larissa La Roux the satisfaction of watching me die. She does not get to see my death; she does not deserve to know that my blood is on her hands.
With a few short breaths as I felt my own blood run down my skin, I gathered whatever strength was left in me to move my legs. Slowly at first but then they picked up the pace. Left. Right. Left Right. Marching to the sound of my still beating heart. I was not dead yet, keep going, you still have a little fight left in you.
There was only one person in this arena that deserved to be there when my pulse stopped, final words were muttered, and last breath was taken. There was only one person in the world that I wanted to be witness to my demise. Unfortunately, I could not turn off the cameras, but I could make sure he was the only one who knew what my last words were. He would take them to the grave with him and it would forever remain our little secret, our sacred vows of friendship. We would die hand in hand together, where we would be each other’s final salvation from a world that was not built for people like us.
Mother loved me because she had no choice but condemned my every action. Father was terrified of the woman that I had become and walked on eggshells around me. Gorgina resented me for making her life miserable when all I wanted was to make sure she grew a thick skin. She was going to need a thick skin now that I am gone. Tallie…Tallie tried hard to be me, she wore my hand me downs and followed my instructions carefully. One day she would replace me, I had no doubt, and she would become everything mother hoped I would have and probably even more.
My families faces flashed before my eyes as I stumbled and fell through the woods. My already bleeding and battered body rolled through the dirt once again with leaves and twigs sticking to my mangled vessel. I was to become almost unrecognizable, a spitting image of the holograms that depicted the other fights around me. I became the distorted version of myself the arena desperately tried to push me to be. I thought I had felt all the pain that there was to be felt, but with every bump and every root my body encountered, I felt everything all at once, over, and over and over again.
That was until one final blow, the last hit my body would take as I rolled against Tommy’s disfigured body laying on the ground. I welcomed the pain because it meant that I found the one I was looking for. The arena allowed us one last rite before we both bit the dust.
”Oh Tommy dear, I told you that I’d kill you myself if you tried dying without me around to see it.” I started to laugh at my own morbid joke but then soon began coughing, and with the coughs came blood. I gasped for air, trying to hold on just a bit longer. I was not ready to go yet. Give us a moment, let us have this moment.
I laid my head on his chest, able to hear his heart beating. My pulse matched his rhythm, and we were in synch. He was the only one that ever really understood me, the only one who could march to the beat of my drum. I laid there in silence for a second, enjoying our moment together. Once a person who thought she always needed to fill the silence with her echoing voice, I needed no words to communicate with my friend. We understood each other like no other. Only a mere two weeks ago, never would I have thought that a boy from district twelve would be the one to teach me the meaning of complete trust and true friendship.
The day we met, I whispered into his ears a question which I once believed only had one right answer. Save me. Always save me. No matter who else was injured or impaired, saving me would always be the top priority. I was blinded by my own selfishness; I talked up a big game about the greater good but only now did I realize that my life may not be worth more than the lives of my friends. Here and now if I had to choose; I would choose Tommy.
Tommy’s life meant more than mine in this very moment. He showed me what it was like to truly care for another person and that was something that deserved being saved.
”You need medical attention, please let me help you Tommy. We can save you, I choose your life, over mine.” I went to reach for the medical supplies but there were none left to grab. They must have stayed behind with the other two. Damn it, my snakeskin would be with them, and they did not deserve the precious work of art that shielded the capitol created creatures.
It did not matter who I chose because I could not save him if there was nothing to save him with. I buried my face into his chest to mask my tears from the audience, from the capitol, from my family. I grasped onto what was left of his war-torn clothing. I held on to him because it would be the last thing I do as I whispered into his ear.
” If you go down, I’m going down too”
[The End of Xaahira Mahdavi]table by ryan
