☆ CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE! ☆
029. tight lips sink ships

|| DYING IN LA ||
❝you looked at death
in a tarot card
and you saw what
you had to do.❞

➳➳

I COULDN'T FIND the strength to focus for far too many hours that followed.

I didn't know a lot, one thing I did know was that I had been scooped out from the boiling water pretty soon after I stopped trying to swim. I also knew that they had carried me somewhere else before I could adjust to the cold Capitol air- they didn't give me a moment to breathe before I felt a buzz; the hum of power was within me as I jolted in my chair or as the ends of my hair stuck out from it's heavy mess of knots.

The chair wasn't cold or warm- it wasn't noticeable compared to the itch on my back that begged to be scratched. There was something ravenous about the Peacekeeper's need to see me in distress that became apparent as the elecricity they used on me was finally turned off and I heard him sigh. That was all I heard- the feeling of their gloved hands was all that I could feel.

They had momentarily paralyzed me.

Despite the eerie loneliness that could of been shattered at any moment, it made my cell a Heaven on Earth after hours of being dipped into boiling water or electricity; the darkness and hollow silence that was occasionally filled with the sounds of cries in the distance or shouts filled up with agony from my friends had become the highlight. I no longer worried for my friends- I worried about the things I might see if I waited one second more in the darkness after so much stimulation, and I worried for my sanity.

I continued to shiver even after a full day had passed.

Peeta was the worst when he screamed- me and Johanna were almost silent compared to his- when it did laps around the room like it was trying to beat it's own personal record. When I really listened, I could pick out parts of it that reminded me of the people I missed the most, or the people I was terrified to see again after so long. I was worried who would appear out of the shadows next to taunt the fact I couldn't stop my muscles from contracting, but that hardly compared to the actual panic when I saw the outline of a foot.

Or when their arms swayed against their hips so gently that they could of been caressing an invisible ache. As I sat in the corner of the room, my body only kept in an upright position due to the uneven and porous wall behind me, it seemed as if his steps were getting longer.

"What did they do to you?" Johanna's voice croaked between the space in the wall. I could glimpse her head (that was now shaved bald) when I glanced away from a face that made me want to scream until my throat bled, but nothing else. I didn't have the strength to try and see her actual face.

"They b-b-boiled my." I tried to speak as little as possible. "E...e....electricty."

I stuttered horribly, my bones jumped inbetween my words as I spoke to a girl that I thought had reserved a seat at my family table . And yet, when I did, the migraine got stronger to remind me of what she had done.

The man took his final step into the light when his blonde hair became almost too pure for the box he was in, and his eyes shed salty tears that could of come straight from the centre of his own ocean trenches. Now, these trenches in his eyes had so much definition the blue and green could of been mistaken for fish that tried to swim within it, and the white around it could of been painted over with red watercolours.

My hands stopped shaking when I caught a glimpse of Johanna's face, so did my arms as they reached out to the boy that had finally come to see me.

"Fi-Finnick.You ca..n't be he-here." I whispered as quickly as I could manage, entangled in strings of shame almost as violent as my trembling stomach.

"Ironic isn't it? Distict 5 probably gave them that electricty." Johanna muttered half heartedly as she continued to watch me frown at the other Victor. She looked terribly sad- she looked like she was watching somebody she loved slowly disappear within their own body.

"P...p..p... please." I stuttered out, right as Finnick crouched down to where I was on the floor. "D...d..don't waste yo-your chan..ce at free-dom."

"I'm sorry Lor." She finally spoke loud enough to grab my attention, right as Finnick reached out to put his hand on my cheek. I turned it away just before it hit- that didn't stop me from feeling the chill of wind against me as I went right through it.

"I should have gotten you out. You're my friend, and I couldn't save you. I've ruined so many lives- but I regret ruining Finnick and your's the most."

In the darkness my lips curled upwards. The shaking in my ribs was beginning to lose it's severity, as had the tingling sensation that came barreling along each limb from the tips of my fingers and toes. I hadn't ever heard her say sorry- it wasn't part of Johanna's character- but that seemed to be the closest me or Finnick had ever come to getting the confession out of her that she could make mistakes.

Finnick was smiling at her too, something which I needed to tell the girl.

"W...We for-forgi-ive you." I tried my best, one last stutter taking over when I tried to choak out the words.

She sighed, but not in relief. It only seemed to make her sadder as she watched me try to reach out for Finnick's awaiting arm- only for it to disappear as my arm swiped through it with all the energy had left. He wasn't there, but I was so sure that the others were that I couldn't be sure I hadn't just lost perspective of where his arm actually was. He didn't disperse as I did it again, but I didn't hit skin either.

I didn't know a lot.

"I-I'm going to K-kill him Jo. Even... i-if it kills me."

➳➳

My back was strapped to a metal table, while my arms and legs were held back by yet another set of restraints. A Peacekeeper was situated either side of me with their hands lingering on levers that lead to who knows where, and masks that could barely make them look human after all the things they had done. On the screen, projected onto the ceiling so that he could still stare at me with his beady eyes, the President was content.

"Anything you'd like to share Lorna? Has the rebellion's location finally come back to you?" President Snow teased maliciously as he watched yet another machine shift out of the ceiling. It looked like a snake shedding it's skin to reveal a more dangerous print, and a set of fangs that could leave even the strongest human being in a puddle of fear and death.

I pushed against the retraints around my mouth to try to speak. My lips stung immensely but it was small compared to what I had already faced; I could feel the blood drip into my mouth as I bared my teeth towards him like an animal.

Snow looked hopeful as he waited for me to catch my breath, as if I was finally going to give him all the answers he was looking for.

"Hard to talk w...with clamps on my mouth." I panted out, defiantly looking away from the hologram. He scowled before gesturing for the Peacekeepers to clamp my lips shut again.

"I see. I think you'll like this one Miss Titan." Snow dismissed.

I could here the wirring of mechines around me- I could feel the clamps all over my body as they got tighter by the beat of the metal structure's smaller parts. When it was pulled together a body shaped exactly the same as mine had become began to lower itself towards me, with ridges all along the perimiter of the metal bars. The device came down until it was easy to see what the ridges were; they had made the clone of my silhouette with teeth on the surface that resembled Enobaria's fangs.

The face of the body wasn't filled with the ridges, and there wasn't any near my main arteries and veins that could of killed me instantly- they were trying to avoid death.

The machine didn't stop, the fangs hit my skin like needles.

It felt like my whole top layer was alive and moving as they dug under each layer of tough but dirtied skin. Then it went deeper; I screamed as tears didn't just pool in my eyes but run down my face in streams. The fangs dug in still.

"

Don't be afraid to hurt her."

None of them were, not even for a second.

•••••••••
1478 words.

*screams in evil
author*