CHAPTER 3.9
'Oh, I hope I'll make it out of here.
Even if it takes all night or a hundred years.
Need a place to hide but I can't find one near.
Wanna feel alive.'
"Good morning, Miss Summers. I hope you had a good night's sleep." President Snow greeted walking over to where the girl sat motionless on the metal table.
She had yet to be strapped down but everyone in the room was aware that the blazing fight in her had burned out a long time ago. She wasn't about to make a break for it or attack President Snow anytime soon. Indiana had accepted her position as a prisoner of war. Snow couldn't help feeling smug at the fact that he had broken the wild spirit of Indiana, and he was well aware that the poor girl had slept little last night due to the small bouts of insanity she had suffered all night.
On top of that, Annie Cresta had been muttering furiously to herself, Johanna had been sobbing in her sleep and Peeta had been missing – all of which had left the blonde woman spending the night fretting about her fellow imprisoned friends.
Indiana remained silent, too docile and emotionless to respond. This routine had become her norm. Nothing would break the cycle that had become her life. She was never escaping from this prison.
"Do you have any information you wish to divulge? Any memories that appeared suddenly in your consciousness?"
The questions were always the same. The routine as familiar to her as the insides of her own eyelids.
"I'm not telling you anything." Indiana gritted out, giving up on pretending as if she was oblivious to the rebel plans.
Snow knew for a fact that she was withholding valuable information about the events that had unfolded during the 75th Hunger Games but Indiana refused to give the slimy bastard anything that would aid him in squashing the rebels.
"Perhaps a little incentive." Snow murmured.
Indiana braced herself for the inevitable onslaught of pain that occurred every time she refused to give in to Snow's demands or did something he deemed unsatisfactory. However, the excruciating pain never came.
"I'm afraid I have some bad news for you this morning, Indiana." Snow laid a hand on her frail soldier as he stood behind her, smirking when she noticeably flinched. "An old couple by the name of Kentwell were executed in the Town Square of District One this morning on the grounds of treason. It was brought to my attention that they classed you as their last living kin so their possessions will be released to you when you leave here; which could happen sooner than you think if you just tell me what I wish to know."
Barely giving the tormented woman time to process the devastating news, Snow asked once more if she was privy to any knowledge that would be beneficial to him, Tears dripped down her porcelain cheeks as she processed the fact that there was nothing and nobody left in District One. Everyone she loved was dead and gone. Defeat coursed through her and her shoulders slumped forwards when she realised there was nothing left for her to fight for. No one was coming to save her but she had made her peace with that.
She had to give in.
All it would take was a few simple words and her pain would cease to exist. Perhaps Snow would be merciful and grant her the freedom of death. After all, there was no use having the freedom of life when you were forced to spend it alone. Indiana had no clue where Cato was hiding or had to communicate to him that she was free of Snow's reptilian clutches.
Her mentor, Jamie's, words about never giving up had stuck with her since her first day at the Academy but now they were dissolving before her very eyes.
Opening her mouth, lib wobbling in despair, Indiana was so close to giving in when she saw a shimmer of hope in the far right corner of the white sterile room. Smiling sadly, she glanced up at her aunt.
"Indie, you can't tell him anything. The moment you tell him what he wants to know, we'll disappear." Cashmere warned, praying that Indiana would continue to endure the pain.
"You can get through this. You mustn't speak a word to him." Gloss added, appearing at Cashmere's side. "Keep going, Baby Girl. It'll only hurt for a little longer."
Spurned on by the encouraging words of her aunt and uncle, Indiana glued her mouth shit and clenched her eyes closed in preparation for what would come next.
"Proceed."
This time, words were not the harsh treatment she received. This time, the pain came.
"You lied to me." Peeta whispered into the dark room.
The lights had been dimmed half an hour ago and the room was cast in a murky gloom, filled with the soft sounds of three sleeping people. Knowing sleep was futile and this conversation was inevitable, Indiana sat up in bed and turned to face Peeta's direction. Eyes adjusting to the weird light, she could just make out the outline of his figure, his back pressed against the bars separating their cells.
"What are you talking about?" Indiana sighed tiredly, voice gruff and throat raw.
If the lights had been switched on, Peeta would've been able to see the pain coating her features, her bloodshot eyes and tear tracks staining her fair cheeks. But, they weren't and so Peeta had no idea how much this conversation would add to her hurt.
"You know exactly what I'm about. That night in the arena. The alliance. You lied to me and told me you didn't know anything about it.
"Peeta, you don't under-."
"I just want to know why."
"To save you. I thought you not knowing would make Snow leave you alone and to some extent, he did." Indiana climbed off the bed and shuffled over to Peeta, pressing her head against the cool bars and welcoming the relief it gave her sweaty brow. "I'm surprised you didn't figure it out. After all, why else would I let Katniss live?
"You forgave me and I killed you."
"Katniss killed Marvel, Cato and Uncle Gloss. She killed the people I love, the people I was fighting for. You killed me when I thought I was ready to die. At the time, you did me a favour."
"But not anymore." Peeta said, coming to the realisation as to why Indiana had yet to give in.
"Pardon?"
"You said when you were ready to die. If you still wanted to, you would've told Snow what he wishes to know. But you don't want to die anymore, do you?"
"No."
"Why not? I mean, you'd be reunited with your family. There's nothing left for you in District One." Peeta had no qualms about being blunt anymore. Life was proving to be too short to skirt around the truth.
"You're right. I'm not returning to District One but I refuse to go down without a fight. So many people have died for me and if I just give up, their sacrifice will have been for nothing. I know that every day I refuse to tell Snow about the alliance, it's another day spent honouring their memory. I may have no one left in the world to care about me but I refuse to let down those who did."
"Cato cares about you and you have me."
Indiana didn't reply.
~ One Week Later ~
Dried blood caked her arms and hands but she paid no attention to it as her two Peacekeepers walked into her cell. Her small bed was stripped of its white sheets, now stained brown and red. She ignored the heavy gazes from her fellow prisoners.
In the cell next door, Peeta couldn't stop staring at the blonde girl in horror and at the mess she had made. He ignored the Peacekeepers that entered his own cell. He couldn't help but feel responsible for the disaster before him; he knew that their emotional chat about never escaping from the Capitol had hit her hard last night.
However, he had never expected strong, stubborn Indiana Summers to do something so damaging. In fact, he could've sworn that when she moved, he caught a glimpse of ivory bone under the mess that had become her arms. Indiana barely felt the human contact when her Peacekeepers gently pulled her from the prison (two others stayed behind to clear out her cell).
Shoving open a door, they brought Indiana to stand before President Snow, gently sliding her down to the floor so that she was sitting comfortably; one was taking extra care to ensure that was alright.
Staring down at the young girl on the floor (who was absently staring into space), the eldest Peacekeeper felt a strong urge to protect her, feeling strong sympathy when he saw the state she was in.
"What is the meaning of this?" Snow asked, agitated that his breakfast was being disturbed and that the woman from One had been removed from her cell without permission.
Placing her delicate arms in their gloved hands, the Peacekeepers held them up to show Snow the state that they were in. The oldest Peacekeeper wished he could hide the vulnerable woman behind him and away from the poisonous man. Unable to contain his horror, Snow gasped and pressed a white-gloved hand to his mouth.
"How did this happen? How did she get her hands on an object sharp enough to do this?!"
"Sir, she um, she did this to herself. Using her own hands."
Huge chunks of flesh had been ripped away; claw marks marring the parts of her arms that had been fortunate enough to avoid being torn and shred. Blood congealed in the open wounds and some of them were deep enough that blood was still pouring out. Flesh, blood and skin had dried under Indiana's fingernails, with some having been ripped away due to the viciousness of her own act.
President Snow wasn't even ashamed when he turned around and threw up his luxurious breakfast.
'Isn't it lovely, all alone?
Heart made of glass, my mind of stone.
Tear me to pieces, skin and bone.'
