Amelia woke up to the night still playing and the stars dancing away with one another, winking at her in conspiring ways. Green eyes flashed open and for a moment time stood frozen. The poppies caught in the wind, blowing towards her. The air smelled sweet and faintly of untold decisions. Trees held their ground.

Them suddenly, light. Filling the sky. Deaths, so bold and vivid. Real. Telling names and showing pictures but missing out on so much of the lives they had lived. Not explaining how or why--just a simple, horrible truth.

"I'm still alive," she whispered, "and I have to keep it that way." Saying it aloud makes it real. "Amelia." I'm real too. "I'm Amelia." I'm here, I'm alive, my heart has yet to stop beating. "I'm Death, like a poppy, blooming up and nearly forgotten about, but always creeping away until finally everyone but myself is dead."

Her words flew like poetry from her mouth and illuminated the world. Or perhaps it was simply the glow from an artificial moon and stars that coincided with the lights that still played out the last three deaths.

Electra died? There was a small prick in Amelia's chest that grew at the sight of her face. Electra had looked fierce in her picture. Vivid. Striking. Everything except for dead. It simply didn't make sense--how can she be dead?

"No," Amelia said. Her voice cracked.

For a moment she just laid there, her head rested upon the ground and her body tightly coiled together. Electra, the girl who saved her life, the girl she saved, the girl who wasn't what she appeared to be, was dead. If she's dead where does that leave me? We were the same! She wasn't supposed to die.

Electra flashed in her mind--Short, five foot if Amelia was guessing right, and a head full of curly brown hair that was matched by dark brown eyes. She had pale skin and had been almost shy if not for her big mouth. Electra had worn that damn light-up dress to her interview. Her brother, the one with the weirdo name, had been there. He was cute.

Amelia was feeling and regretting and a million things popped inside all at once. Electra, running off. Dashing into the woods. Electra, with her fading smile. If Amelia has went with her, if Electra had...a million and one ifs but none that would ever work.

There only was one world and no one could change it. Once something happened it happened. It wasn't a game, it wasn't something that could be started over. Not a book or a deck of cards. No, life was tangible but not moldable--it was death and Amelia knew that. So why did it hurt?

No, Amelia couldn't think about it. Too much time was wasted in the little details and Amelia had far worse things to bother about than the death of a girl she hardly knew. I am death, she thought, I'm stronger and better than she was...I have to be. I have to be. With that as her driving force, she stood and began to move. The lights ended and Amelia stretched, feeling her scabs stretch as well--this time not breaking open again, thankfully. Pain radiated from her core but it was a pain she liked. Enough to make her want to get out of the Games and back home, to her soft bed and to a drink of water and an aspirin. To people who adored her.

"I'm hungry."

A simple statement that led to her walking through the woods again, leaving her safe hideout in search of that pond she'd seen earlier in the day. Or was it yesterday? Time was blending together, day kissing night until the two fell fast asleep in a warm, yet deadly cold, embrace.

The pond wasn't too far off, only a mere seventeen hundred feet. It didn't look bad from afar, but she spat in it just in case. The spit didn't melt and nothing seemed too acidic, so she leaned down, crouching on her knees and sniffing the water. It wasn't sweet, wasn't sour. Just water. Plain. Her reflection was in it but Amelia didn't bother to stare for once. Instead, she dove headfirst and screamed. As the bubbles flew past her she stopped and lifted her head out, watching as droplets fell down her nose one by one. A few landed on her lips and she sucked them until the water was swiveling around in her mouth. It was then that she really leaned down and took a drink, loving the way it tasted.

Everything was vivid. Not in a drug type of way, not in a dream type of way, and not in any sort of unusual way. It was realistic. Amelia liked realistic.

"Who's left? Danelieux, from One. Me. Corradhin, Amani, and Neri. That Reed kid, too, if he hasn't died yet," she said. Her mind felt fuzzy at those details. "Are we really the last ones left? Reed's from Seven, Neri from Six, I guess they stepped it up this year to make it to the big times. Amani and Corradhin are both from Four, aren't they? My partner...Venenius is dead now. Just me."

Names are weird. Again, Amelia stood and began to walk. Her body was tired and complained every second of the way, but with so few competitors left...she had to get a move on. If I'm lucky they'll all just kill themselves and get it over with. The original group she was in was barely hanging on--not that she'd cared for them too much anyways. Danelieux was hot, she could give him that, but he was candid and hummed far too much for her liking. Corradhin she'd been hoping to see more of--God, if I'd just gotten a taste--but he was off limits. Amani could have been her friend, had the two been a little more alike. But she'd liked Corradhin, that was insanely obvious. The two were enough to deal with for the one day she had been with them.

Still, they had been better than nothing. "Maybe I'll find them again," she mused aloud, "maybe I'll be the one to kill them. One fell swoop, before it gets too light outside."

There wasn't much she could do besides walk until the sun came back up and it began to grow painfully hot again. It rested mainly on the East side, letting her know it was hardly nine or ten o'clock. She paused for a second against a tree, loving the way the rough bark felt against her back and playing with the leaves on the vines that grew plentifully around it. The arena is holding itself back, she figured. Keeping it from actually hurting me. It was restrained ever so carefully, letting her know that whoever made it wasn't playing around. They crafted things down to the smallest of details. In other words, absolute perfection that almost was a rival to herself.

A wind picked up throughout the world and she breathed in deeply, smelling the dirt and the blood and the wild mixture of flowers that lined the trees and bushes surrounding her on every side. It seemed like everything was safe.

Crack.

One small, poised noise. Amelia's head jerked around and she felt herself stiffen up at the sight. There, just through the trees a little to her left, was the intimidatingly large figure of a woman fit to kill.

Rigid. That one word could describe the tributes' every being. Oh fucking hell, is that...Amelia knew that tribute--it was that chick from Eleven that no one saw die. She was just found dead, torn apart by some mutt. An uneventful death for a girl who held enough terror in her being to win the entire Games. As the dying sun glinted off her brown skin and hair, Amelia could almost find her beautiful in a rough, evil way. Her dark eyes were basically black in the shadows that stretched outward from the harsh lines of her face.

Meticulous. During the Games she had paid attention to everything. Amelia had watched as she watched the other tributes, as she stood by warily as they approached, as she didn't miss a single detail.

Scary. That was another way to describe her. Ebony Holbrook had died--Amelia had seen the body. The tribute standing there cocked her head to the side. She was contemplative and barely holding herself back, ready to attack, ready to kill. Not a fast death, no, otherwise she would have already attacked. That tribute--that creature--was out for horror. It wanted to put on a show and was willing to let Amelia run so that way it could hunt her down and give her a slow, torturous death.

Abditive. Despite all the time Amelia spent pretending to be an idiot, she did know quite a few things. That adjective described Ebony perfectly--having the ability to hide or restrain itself. Ebony had hidden in the bushes until just the right moment and Amelia knew the girl was barely restraining from attacking again.

One movement.

One movement from Ebony and Amelia would run, and the same vice-versa. Abditive. Yes, that's the word. Abditive.

"Fight me already," Amelia said. Seconds trickled down as Ebony slowly cocked her head to the side. Shifting, Amelia tried to stay focused, to keep herself able to run at a moments notice, but that moment grew longer and longer the more she waited. "Fight me!" For some reason Ebony wasn't listening to her. She wasn't doing what was asked. She was disobeying. Amelia had enough of people not paying attention to her. Without waiting Amelia took a step forward and that was all it took for the tribute to roll back her shoulders and charge.

Oh shit.

Much as she'd like to stay and fight, Amelia knew not to play games. Ebony was a competitor, a dead one at that, and she was downright creepy. She ran fast and Amelia only got fifteen feet before being tackled to the ground with all the weight of a one hundred fifty something girl. Air escaped her lungs as she gasped, feeling her side heat up as it hit the ground far too hard. Stars danced in the sky again before they were kicked away by Ebony's fist connecting with Amelia's jaw. It let out a snap as her fingers dug into the ground and Amelia forced her legs to wrap around the girl's middle and squeeze hard before flipping her over. There, Amelia gained advantage and she headbutted the girl and rammed her fists into Ebony's middle. Bones snapped, but whether it was her hand or Ebony's rips she couldn't tell. Pain radiated off her in waves, forcing her to make every move count.

"Give up," Amelia grunted, "I'm going to kill you."

"No."

Ebony freed a hand from under her and went straight for Amelia's side, pushing past her pretty shirt and scooping away at the scab. Screaming, Amelia grabbed her arm with both hands yet was unable to pull her out. It wiggled around inside of her muscle like a termite invading soft wood. The nails scratched with all the sharpness of dull, jagged blades trying to skin an animal. Dark skin was soon coated with blood as she continued to dig deep into the wound, sending lightning and fire racing down Amelia's mind and body. "Stop!" she screamed, her voice growing hoarse, "stop!"

With a plop, Ebony pulled her hand out and shoved it into her mouth, careful not to let it drop onto her cheek. She licked each finger clean, tongue dancing over the skin to greedily lick up every bit of blood. Amelia slid off her and onto the dirt, hardly able to breathe as she tried her hardest to stop the bloodflow. Too much. There was too much blood. It overwhelmed her and the red began to cloud into her vision. Her jaw throbbed but it was nothing compared to the hole inside of her that wouldn't quit. I'd rather have Mother Nature's bleeding hole than this shit.

A sickening chuckle left Ebony's lips as she removed her hand and pulled out a long, bloody strand of hair. It dropped down onto the ground, bright against the dark green leaves. "I'm sorry," she said. Her voice was dark and almost robotic, "did I hurt you?"

Amelia's teeth chattered and she shook her head just barely. Everything trembled as she managed to pull herself back into a standing position, looking down at Ebony's grinning figure. "Y-you didn't hurt me," she whispered. A quiver was inside of her voice, the pain just barely restrained. "I-I'm going to kill you."

At that Ebony let out a full laugh that bounced off the canopy of trees. A great pod of birds arose and flew off at the noise. Her eyes narrowed and became entirely black as she began to stand, her body creaking as each limb found a stronghold and reached for the heavens. That grin was fading away into a challenging stare, hard and unnameable. "Run," she said. Amelia didn't need to be told twice.

She ran.

Time again froze but Amelia didn't--she kept going, kept running, doing her best to keep Ebony at bay. Pain ached up her leg in long bursts of hot fire that extended into her still wounded side. The blood still poured down but she had to keep going. Ebony would only let her get away for so long before coming back to torture her until the end finally came. Every so often she'd stop to lean against a tree before running again, keeping her feet busy and her mind in a constant state of shock.

Beeping distracted her and Amelia stumbled when she reached a small, metallic ball that sat down on the ground. Quickly she grabbed it and continued to run, tossing the top off and pulling out a ball of rope before dropping the rest. Fucking hell! Yes! Hell yes!

There was no real time to celebrate, but with the pain growing Amelia still managed a small grin. Her lips parted right after as the pain escalated and she bit down on the rope, barely keeping the pain from escaping her throat and filling the air with it's loudness.

Teeth gripping down hard on the length of rope, Amelia knew she had to come up with a plan. Something, anything, to get away. No mutt ever created lasted that long, and that was what Ebony was...right? A mutt? I have to beat her. She'll trip, she'll--If I can get ahead of her I'll tie the rope into a trap, luring her into it.

The only problem was the first part.

Thud thud, thud, thud thud. Heart beating fast, she stopped, spit out the rope, and tied off a piece to one tree and then, bypassing the next, ties the other end around the base of another. Then she jumped up and ran in place, waiting on Ebony. It was close to the ground.

Abditive Ebony is gonna see that, Amelia thought. What if I distract her? She has to look at my face and only my face. It hit her almost as hard as the wound. "I'll talk to her," she whispered aloud. "Ebony! Come and get me, Ebony!"

With each word Amelia walked backwards, keeping her eyes on where Ebony would soon come into view. Moments passed in the dull silence that was only accompanied by her ferocious heart beating. Thuds connected with thuds as she tightly grasped her side to reduce the blood flow. It had gone down to a trickle but she knew that until it could be tied up and treated there was no hope.

Ebony came just as planned.

"Look," Amelia said, her voice radiating amusement, "you get to die twice."

Ebony smirked and tilted her head back. "So will you." She ran forward at that and for the first time in ages Amelia did something right. She tripped. The ground shook with the impact and Ebony let out a dissatisfied roar as she let go of all restraints. No more abditiveness.

Dried blood stained Ebony's hand as she used it to grab Amelia's leg, slamming her down. Grunting, Amelia grabbed a rock and bashed it down on Ebony's arm, only to receive a swift kick to the ribs. Die! Bone against bone, skin on skin, they fought, losing all control. Ebony once again reached in her hand and the tears fell almost as badly as the noise that left her mouth. The animalistic pain, the grey shouts, the hatred that filled the artificial world was more than anything Amelia had ever done before. Die, you bitch! As Ebony searched for organs she reached out and took ahold of the rope, pulling it from both trees with ease before wrapping it around Ebony's neck.

Both shouted and squirmed. No! Fucking hell! Die, die, die! The world grew darker as a cloud passed overhead, leaving the two to struggle in near darkness. Amelia couldn't hear, she couldn't hardly move, the only thing she had strength left to do was hold on tighter to the rope. Thudthudthudthud...thud...thudthudthud...thud...thud.

Silence.

Everything went limp.

Black, darkness. Amelia's vision faded.

Thud.

The barest movement. A cry of pain.

Thud thud.

Pain shooting as the hand fell limp, exiting the now fist sized hole. Another cry. Darkness again, in spots that coated the world. Blood gushed out. Who...has this much blood? She'd lost too much--everything was mixing together and had a reddish tint to it. Everything was giddy.

Ebony lay motionless. There was nothing left. No more spark, no more fake-life, nothing left of the genetically made tribute crafted to hunt and murder all in her path. Just a shell.

I killed her.

Amelia hadn't seen the life leave her eyes. She hadn't seen Ebony die. But that didn't matter. All that mattered was that she lived. I'm still alive.

Panting, she pushed off the dead weight and breathed. The blood soaked the ground and her once beautiful shift was ruined. It would do no good to rip apart to create a bandage...but Ebony's white tee would work perfectly.

A laugh bubbled from her lips. Amelia pulled off Ebony's shirt without a care in the world. "I guess you're not the only one who can strip dead tributes of their clothes," she told Ebony. The dead girl bothered not with responding.

Grimacing, Amelia tied up her side and took off the ruined shirt. Fingers fumbling, it took several tries for the knot to hold. Silly Ebony, didn't you know? The pain was almost becoming her friend. It left her weak but it wrapped around her like a blanket, warm against the prickly world of chills. I'm death, so I can never die.

*

Good? Bad? Longest entry I've written.