Daniel

"What the hell just happened?" I ask June in a loud voice. When I came to talk to her, I sure didn't expect to hear yelling coming from inside of her apartment. When I finally did manage to get in, she was standing wide eyed in the middle of the room with sweaty palms.

"It-it's Trevor," she stutters. We're on her balcony, and the slight breeze is blowing strands of her hair around. June's eyebrows are furrowed and her gaze stares blankly out over the city below us. "He's the one who's been organizing all of this."

"Organizing what?" I ask trying to keep down my frustration. I have enough questions to ask her already, these ones are only causing me more confusion than needed. I wish that I could ask everything that's been building up inside of me ever since I left my apartment. I know that we said we were forgetting the past, but I think I have a good reason to ask about my own death.

"The rebellion. You know the paintings of the flag and all of that? It's him, Day." I grab her arm and guide her back inside, shutting the door behind us. We are standing in complete silence and for a moment, I just study her face. Her wide brown eyes are glossed over. Strands of hair are out of place and I find myself wanting to tuck them behind her ear. It's none of this that catches my attention though.

I carefully lift up her arm. "June," I whisper, "your arm." The skin is a pale red and I can make the outline of a hand. "He did this to you?"

She nods. "Yes, but that isn't what matters right now. Day, I know who's leading the rebels." June walks over and sits down on the bed and I follow her, doing the same. After a moment of listening to the utter stillness and relaxing in the peace that the apartment seems to hold now, she says. "His name is, or should I say was, Trevor Tait." I sit quietly and listen as June tells me the story of her and this boy.

"He, like me, was quite the prodigy all of those years ago. I had skipped over many grades, and as had he. We were in the same classes, actually. But I was 15, and he was 16. At the beginning, I thought that we'd be friends, maybe even more than that. I mean, how often do you have two individuals that excel in about everything? Things changed quickly within a month. Everything we did, whether it be shooting, climbing, even education, I was always better. Somehow, I always managed to get a better score, even if it was only by the slightest bit. Don't get me wrong, Trevor was as sharp as they came. But I was always the one who got the attention. I was the youngest, the smartest. To the rest of the Republic, I guess Trevor just didn't make the cut. He began changing then. Whenever we'd practice shooting, he'd get this devilish look in his eyes, a look that frightened me. Because of me, Trevor changed. I didn't know that that would affect him so much."

"What you're forgetting, June, is that everything affects everything." She takes a moment, considering my words. I remember when I was younger; my mom would tell me about how everything I did affected many other things. If I accidentally kicked a ball through our neighbor window, it meant that she'd have to work overtime to get enough money to pay them for the window. That also meant that my siblings and I would have to wait longer for her to get home and cook dinner. Sadly, this knowledge hadn't kept me from breaking something the not even a week from that day.

"Well, yes, I understand that," June said quietly. "But really, what could I have done? I would have no problem letting him get all of the attention, because honestly, I hated it. I hated being surrounded by all of those soldiers and I hated being the center of attention and I hated having to live up to all of those expectations!" Her breathing is heavy and there's sadness in her eyes that I've never noticed before. "All I wanted to do was be at home with Metais and Ollie and not have had my life be so stressful. And look at me now. I'm going to get punished for having something I never even wanted."

Her words have me pitying her, but my mind is picking at the name she just said. Metais. That's the person from the article, the one that I supposedly killed. It's one of the reasons that apparently led up to my own death. I have so many questions for June. But I won't ask them.

At least not yet.

….

Chapter 22 Preview:

"But what, June? How many more people are you going to hurt before you realize that damage that you're causing?"

"As many as it takes to figure this all out."

….

A/N: Hey so I hope you didn't think that this chapter was boring. I know it had a lot of like memories and stuff but this chapter adds to the plot. You guys all leave the best reviews, thanks! And also, I really thought that you got to see a different side of June in this chapter. I'm guessing that you, much like me, never really thought about how much pressure that must have put on her.

Please leave a review!