Sorry for the slightly late update, I'm drowning in homework! Thanks for reading and reviewing!
My listlessness has evaporated, and I pace back and forth across my room, trying to ignore the pain in my shoulder, which still aches from Hanshaw's bending machine, and the burns that sting on my back. The worst pain of all comes from the thoughts that swirl mercilessly around my head.
I switch back and forth between agonizing over Katniss Everdeen and the Avox that slipped me the note. When he looked at me so intently before, I could have sworn it looked as if he knew me. And now that I think about it, there is something familiar about him. I feel like I've seen him before, but perhaps that is just my confused mind playing tricks on me. Where could I have seen him?
I feel like I should know, like it's on the verge of my realization, but I can't reach it.
I don't know what became of the note the Avox gave me. Perhaps Hanshaw got it away from Johanna, or perhaps she managed to destroy it. It doesn't matter, either way. Hanshaw saw it. I feel frustrated with both the Avox for giving it to me, and myself for being so careless with it. Why couldn't he have given me the message when he was certain we would be alone?
Fight back. He has seen, just like Johanna, that I've given up. I wonder bitterly how he can tell me that when he has clearly stopped fighting, himself. Why should he care if I give up hope? What am I to him but another Capitol prisoner?
I can't settle down enough to go to sleep, and night falls. My Avox does not come. I wait and wait, walking round my room more times than I can count, but I'm not a fool. I know that he will never come here again. I wonder bleakly what they did to him; I hope they executed him in a merciful way, though that seems out of character for the people who invented a sport that kills twenty-three children yearly.
I refuse to let myself sleep, maybe as self-punishment for letting Hanshaw see the note, and after one of the longest nights of my life, dawn breaks. I stand in the middle of my room and numbly watch sunlight trickle through the heavy curtains that cover my barred window. I can feel my body quivering with tension and exhaustion, but I can't bring myself to care.
Because I have given up, haven't I? It's over for me.
I want to believe this. It would be so much easier if I did. But those two words keep ringing in my head.
Fight back.
My door opens and the usual Peacekeepers stand just outside, peering in at me with stony expressions.
I look at them wordlessly. I want to tell them that I won't go to Hanshaw, but I don't have a choice. I tried rebelling once, and it got me nowhere.
"President Snow wishes to see you," one of the Peacekeepers says stiffly.
I continue to stare at him until he makes an annoyed sound and leads his fellows into my room. They surround me and usher me out into the hallway. I walk obediently in their midst, hating myself, hating everyone.
We descend several staircases and enter a room I've never seen before. It is large, with a high ceiling and heavy curtains pulled over the windows, casting the room in a dim light. It's cold, and goose bumps immediately rise on my arms. There are Peacekeepers lined against the walls, more than I'm used to. My own escort leads me up to where President Snow sits in a high-backed chair, calmly inspecting his linked fingers.
"Hello, Peeta," he says. I don't say anything in reply and he raises his eyebrows, a slight smile on his lips. "I said hello."
"Go on," one of my Peacekeepers whispers in my ear, his hot breath pouring over me. "Be polite and greet your president." He shoves me so that I stumble, but I manage to keep my footing. The other Peacekeepers sneer at me, some of them obviously amused.
I give Snow a slight nod, and he must know that that's the best I can do, because he smiles again and turns his gaze to someone behind me. "And our other guests of honor have arrived, I see," he says.
I look back over my shoulder and see through the ranks of my Peacekeepers two people being pushed roughly forward to join me. The first is not a surprise; I knew Johanna would be here the second they said Snow wanted to see me. The other person confuses me.
I know her, I think, but my exhausted, jumbled mind can't quite reach a name. She's beautiful, but her eyes are wild and terrified and she moves in a way that reminds me of a cornered animal. She shrinks away from the hands of the Peacekeepers, who leer at her unpleasantly.
"Get your hands off her," Johanna snaps venomously, fixing the Peacekeepers with a look of hatred.
"Johanna," the girl gasps, face white, voice shaking with fear.
"It's all right, Annie," says Johanna in a low voice. "I won't let them hurt you." She gives the Peacekeepers around the girl another harsh glare, as if daring them to try it.
Annie. I remember that name. I struggle through my heavy thoughts, searching for how I know, and it suddenly comes to me. This is the girl that Finnick loves. The realization sends a shock through me, making my muddled brain a little more alert. I did not know that she was taken to the Capitol as well. She does not look beaten and abused like Johanna and I do. I can't imagine she would have any information regarding the rebellion. So why is she here?
"I think we can begin with the presentation now," Snow says.
Warning bells instantly chime in my head at the word "presentation."
"Now," the President says, continuing to observe his hands like they are the most interesting things in the world. "It is time to demonstrate to you what happens when you try to fight against the Capitol…and when you withhold information." His eyes flicker to Johanna and then fix on a point at the head of the room.
A side door opens and more Peacekeepers march through, and my heart lurches as I recognize my Avox with them. His eyes are on the ground and his head is low, and I have the sudden urge to scream his own words back at him. Why isn't he fighting?
Another Avox is pushed after him. Her eyes are wide and her lips are pressed tightly together. I recognize her as well, though she is a ghostly memory, a memory somewhat distorted. I remember her from before the first Games. Katniss knew her…
An electric jolt runs through me as I think of her, and I violently push her out of my mind. I can't think about her now.
My eyes slide away from the redheaded female Avox, back to mine. My heart twists in my chest because I know I know him from somewhere, and I just want to know where, but I can't summon up the memory—
My thoughts break off as another figure follows the Avoxes in. My throat tightens with rage as Hanshaw sends me an eerie smile from across the room.
"Johanna, you are still reluctant to share what you know with us," Snow says. "I'm afraid that we are losing patience. We know for a fact that you have valuable information about the rebellion." He tips his head slightly to one side, surveying her. "Observe what happens when you do not cooperate."
"Why do you have to drag Annie into this?" Johanna says coldly. "She doesn't have to see this."
"I thought it might be…healthy for her to be reminded of exactly where she is," Snow says, smiling at Annie, who flinches away from him.
Then his eyes turn to me, and he smiles emptily. "And Peeta, this is to remind you that you belong to the Capitol, and that will never change."
Ice spreads through me and I stare back at him for a moment before slowly turning my gaze to where the Avoxes stand. I notice that their hands are bound, though I can't imagine them trying to escape. The Peacekeepers stop them and face them toward us. The red haired Avox keeps her eyes down, but my Avox looks up at me, our eyes meet, and I remember him. I remember him from District 12. He was a Peacekeeper there...his name is Darius.
My heart pounds with this realization, but I don't have time to dwell on it.
"These two Avoxes have shown disloyalty to the Capitol," says Snow. "They have helped the enemy, and they must be punished."
Hanshaw approaches the two of them. The eyes of the Avoxes follow the syringe he holds in his hand. The girl starts to look even more afraid, but Darius just catches my eye again, and I can see a challenge in his gaze. Will you fight? he seems to ask.
Hanshaw presses the syringe into the arm of the female Avox, and her eyes bulge as he injects its contents into her system. For a moment nothing happens, and then she lets out a long, garbled, high scream and collapses, shuddering, to the ground. She writhes for a moment before going still, her eyes glassy and staring sightlessly at the ceiling. Annie wails along with her, horrified by what she sees.
I look at Darius, my Avox, as Hanshaw readies the syringe for a second time, and I give him a small nod. This is the last thing I can do for him. I can promise that I will keep fighting.
He holds my gaze until the very end, until his legs give out beneath him. He makes no sound though I know he must be in agony. At last he stills beside the girl, and silence envelops the room as we stare at their bodies.
"Consider that," says Snow softly, his voice ringing in the large room, "your last warning."