"i think that little by little, i'll be able to solve my problems and survive." -frida kahlo
_________
Thist stood by his word. While laying down in the cell, my body twitched in pain. Numerous burns and cuts made me want to scream, but I did my best to hold it inside. I barely talked to Johanna anymore - it was like we both lost our voices.
Laying on the ground, I begged God to let me die. Convinced that there would never be a rescue team, and I'd be stuck in the Capitol for the rest of my life, being tortured.
I knew some of the deeper cuts were getting infected, and the burns were starting to itch. Marks of deep purple lined below my ribs where they had electrocuted me. I could feel the taste of iron in my mouth, and I thought of only one thing. Snow. How he disguised the stench of blood from wounds that would never heal with roses enhanced to smell strong.
***
Dragged into another torture session, I expected more knives pressed against my body, stabbing into my skin, but the peacekeepers brought a cage with a single bird in it. I shook my head as I realized what kind of bird it was. A jabberjay. The peacekeepers put the cage just out of my reach, and left the room. Well, all except for Thist.
"We bombed what was left of them. These screams? They're as real as it's gonna get. I wonder who you care about the most." He said, a smirk on his face. The tall, muscular blonde man left the room, chuckling to himself.
Finnick.
There were no other screams but his. It sounded worse than the screams that came from Johanna's mouth, and those got pretty bad. I wanted to cover my ears, but my hands were chained down.
"Finnick! Finnick!" I screamed. The bird wailed my name and I could hear bombs in the background. If it was true - if they'd bombed what was left of the rebellions; killed Finnick and my family...
I had no reason to live anymore.
I thought of ways to end it. Maybe Peeta could strangle me? I mean, they have his mind all screwed up. Maybe if I pushed Thist to the breaking point, he'd shoot me in the head or slit my throat. The wooden chair I was chained to sat higher than my head, and while I listened to the horrid screams from Finnick, I hit my head against the wood as hard as I could. I did this over and over again until I felt the world going dark. Before slipping out of consciousness, I could see peacekeepers rushing into the room.
***
To my great despair, I woke up.
I was laying in a pile of my own blood, both old and new. I could see Johanna out of the corner of my eye, and I spoke to her quietly.
"Please, Jo, kill me. I can't take it anymore. Strangle me, break my neck, anything you can do with your hands chained." I begged. Johanna stayed silent. Sobs left my body, and I knew that Johanna and Peeta were probably fed up with it.
My sobbing stopped when the power went out, causing the three of us to stop wallowing in our pity for at least a second.
Why would the power in the Capitol go off? I could tell it wasn't just in our cell, as I could hear peacekeepers outside yelling at each other. What would cause a power outage? District 5 was in charge of power and electricity. I thought for a second before I remembered seeing it on my victory tour. The hydroelectric dam practically powered all of Panem. Was it a coincidence, or was it an act of defiance against the Capitol?
I mumbled to myself, which I knew looked insane. I hissed in pain as I moved the wrong way, remembering how harshly one of the peacekeepers had grabbed me. I was sure my shoulder was dislocated. I looked down at my wrists. There was an expanding redness around the wounds, with pus occasionally making its way out of the puncture wounds. I think I have a fever.
My whole body ached, and I couldn't stop sweating.
I forced myself to back up when I saw men dressed in black busting into the room with guns. I screamed, putting my hands over my ears. As one of them tried to grab me, I screeched, trying to hit them, but not having much luck because of the chains. To my surprise, the person unlocked the chains.
"Underfell, it's Gale Hawthorne. Katniss's best friend. We're here to save you." My eyes widened as I tried to stand up, but started to fall because of how weak I was. Though I was dizzy, I knew that Gale had picked me up, and we were headed towards a hovercraft.
As we got into the hovercraft, they immediately started checking my wounds, making sure none of them were life threatening.
"They killed Finnick! They killed Finnick! They killed my family!" I screamed, not wanting to be in a world they weren't in.
Gale took his mask off, and I realized it's the first person's face I'd seen without a helmet on besides my cell mates and Thist.
"Finnick is alive. Your family, too. They're all alive back in district 13." Gale explained, and my eyes widened.
Somehow, I had escaped the Capitol.
Somehow, Finnick was actually alive.
Somehow, there was a district 13.