𝐉𝐔𝐍𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐀 | 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬

𝟏𝟎. 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧'𝐬 𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

— 𝐣𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐱 —

━━━━━━ ☽【❖】☾ ━━━━━━

My eyes shot open and I gasped, choking on the cold air as I inhaled. My chest felt as if it were on fire and my throat burned with each breath that followed. I tried to reach up and massage my throat, but found any movement at all impossible as my wrists were cuffed to the bed.

"I hope you see why that was necessary," Caius's gruff voice greeted me from across the room. He slowly rose from his seat, brushing back the hair that had fallen in front of his eyes—in turn revealing the dark circles and evident lack of sleep.

"Were you worried?" I asked. My throat was hoarse and my voice sounded awful, but it was enough to show that I didn't cut myself deep enough. There was little inflection in my tone, and only a flicker of inconvenience flashed onto my dead-panned expression.

"For nine fucking weeks, Juneaux!" Caius snapped, addressing me with an anger really meant for someone else. He took a deep breath to regain his composure and his face softened. "You almost didn't make it."

"They should've let me die," I contradicted.

"And then what?" Caius asked. "Do you know what the districts would have done if there was no winner? We would've had an uprising on our hands!"

"So?" I blinked. "Maybe that's what Panem needs."

"Would you cut that out?" Caius asked, wildly looking around before taking a step forward as if he intended to put a hand over my mouth. "The stuff you were saying in the arena was bad enough. Do you know what they'd do to you if anyone heard it out here?"

"Kill me?" I scoffed. "You already said they couldn't do that."

"You'll wish for death—"

"I already do!" I snapped, interrupting him.

We stared at one another in heated silence mixed with hatred. I looked at him and blamed him for being alive. He was the easiest target as he was the only one around. Meanwhile, he looked at me as if recognizing himself. Pity softened his expression.

I shook my head. "Don't do that. Don't look at me that way."

"I'm sorry..."

"No!" I shouted, yanking at the cuffs that tied me down—breaking the skin around my wrists to form thin red lines. Hot tears burned the sides of my face. "I don't want your pity and I don't want your condolences. I want to die! Let me go back to them... Let me see them just one more time..."

"Romulus is gone."

"It was never about Romulus!" I couldn't stop shouting. I was on the verge of hysterics as my face burned with anger. "Sure, we formed a bond of sorts, but it was always about Harlan. It was about saving Harlan and I failed him. I failed them all!"

"You're going to tear open your stitches," Caius warned. He held up a finger before I could interrupt him with some pitiful interjections. "And if you do that, the medics will rush back in. They'll pump your system full of morphling and only wake you up long enough to send you out on stage before knocking you out then shipping you back home to district nine."