Here we go! Another new chapter, even in exam season I'm writing for you guys.
As always thanks to my wonderful beta Windsongspringheart for keeping this story from getting a M rating for language (and the spell checking is great too)
Invisible
JPOV
What the hell could he want that was so important that he felt the need to track me down to tell? I swore to myself as I walked towards him that if half the base wasn't dead from the witch with a capital 'B' on the other side's new ability to make everyone suddenly contract dysentery, I was going to morph right there and then and rip his spleen, stomach, brain and other vital stuff out.
"You look happy" he stated as his eyes raked out my hastily dressed form, a look that was to be expected really given the metaphorical apocalypse of our people hardly called for style.
"My friends have either left, died, or based on the last time I saw them, are considering one of the above choices so no, happy isn't really on my agenda," I spat at him.
"Well I come with news that may not be that great to hear then, but you better come with me anyway," he sighed as he began to walk towards the doors of the prison block. As he opened the door he turned to check I was behind him. I wasn't. "Come on, I haven't got all day," he added in the same fed up tone of voice as he held the door open.
"I'm not going anywhere. Tell me here if it's so important," I tell him, folding my arms over my chest as I did so.
"Jo, you have been here longer than I have, surely you understand why the details of the departure of a certain girl can't be divulged here," he hissed into my ear, grabbing by my arm and pulling me out of the doors, now surrounded by guards, intent in not letting a certain innocent escape.
"I'm moving old man, there is no reason to grab," I demanded shaking myself free of his grasp but continuing to follow him.
"Yes there is," he replied, as he stormed into the morgue that we had now arrived at and continuing to his cupboard-like office in the corner. "Look," he demanded, thrusting a clipboard towards me. As my eyes scanned over it, confusion became my dominant emotion.
"This makes no sense," I exclaimed, handing it back to him. "How can symptoms match asphyxiation if there are no marks on the body?"
"I don't know, Jo. I'm talking to a girl who morphs into a wolf whenever she pleases and has company which includes a fire hazard and a drowning risk" he told me. However, his icy words froze the cogs into place in my brain.
"What you don't think...no...it couldn't..." I trailed off.
"What, Jo? As I just proved, nothing is really off the table here," he pressed, placing the clipboard on the table he was now leaning against.
"Could water strangle someone if enough force was used and leave no marks on the body?" I asked, dreading the answer.
"Yes. Yes, it could," he stammered, realizing the full effect of what I was saying.
"For %^%'s sake!" I yelled, throwing my hands up in the air and bring them down to punch the wall next to me.
"Jo, calm down," Haymitch said, uncharacteristically allowing a sense of fear creep into his voice.
"No, he killed her didn't he? That's what we're saying isn't it? He £&$ing killed he didn't he!?" I was yelling now and had no intention of slowing down.
"Jo!" he yelled, slapping me across my face as he did so.
"What?" I screamed back, my hysteria only added to with his slap.
"Shut up!" he demanded, slapping me again. "You need to think clearly for a minute. We don't know that Finnick killed her, okay? Nothing has been confirmed yet, and so far there are only a handful of people, that include me, you, and a few medical examiners which can be easily silenced if need be, that know of this. We can still protect him. You just have to stop screaming," he explained, grabbing me by the shoulders for the duration before finally letting me go with his last words.
"And then what? So you mind wipe a few ME's but what happens when someone asks what happened, when people start digging deeper, asking questions? You going to wipe them too?" I questioned, running my fingers furiously through my cropped hair as I did so.
"If need be yes. Finnick is a good kid. You all are, Jo, and he doesn't deserve this hell being thrust upon him," he told him like it really was that simple, like all Finn needed to be was good to escape this hell hole.
"Then what? Sophia is going to want someone to blame and as we both know, the easy target is already ripe for the taking in a cell," I sighed, desperation was starting to take over now, filling me with an immense amount of dread as I thought about the fate of my friend.
"We blame someone else, change the record, make it look like someone else did it," he replied. It was in that moment that I realized just how sick this whole scenario was, to save my friend I had to throw an innocent soul under the bus. Well it was official, Lilly's promise at my mother's death bed hadn't helped at all. I was irretrievably mixed in with this fight.
"But who?" I asked, my voice quietened with fear and regret for what I might do. My emotions were flying everywhere today. Guess it was just one of those days where nothing makes sense.
"You know who, someone Sophia won't be able to persecute even she wants to. Someone who has recently left the premises," he suggested, wanting me to reach the conclusion so I would be to blame.
"How do you know he left?" I asked, dodging the big question he had just laid on the table.
"I'm not stupid, Jo. I saw him dragging his bags on his way out."
"Right. I can't do that, Haymitch. Sophia would never believe it anyway"
"She will. I'm sure I can find a poison that could have done this to Annie and when it comes to your morals, let me spell it out to you: If she blames Finnick, he will die for this. We both know that. If she blames Peeta on the other hand, the most he is looking at is complete memory wiping of all this and being sent back home. There is a way to avoid any more bloodshed, Jo. The question is, are you willing to let me do it?" he asked, folding his arms and leaning back. All of his cards were on the table now, I just had to make my move.
But how could I? This wasn't like choosing the colour of a dress or topping on a pizza. This was choosing which life to destroy. And even if one destruction was only figurative, it still felt like murder. However I still had to make one of my toughest decisions yet. Who to kill: Finnick or Peeta?
So? Who will she choose? Tell me in a lovely review
