Barbed Wire
Written by Loverly Souris
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Chapter 3 – White lie
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Something wakes Wiress up long before the alarm goes off, and when she opens her eyes, her heart almost stops at the sight of the bloody girl lying on the other bed. She doesn't move besides breathing, but even that causes her extreme pain seemingly, her blood is painting the grey sheets red.
She gulps – she is terrified of blood, but she has to help her, because no one else will.
Wiress gets out of her bed and steps carefully to the unknown girl. Though the smell clenches her stomach, she tries to inspect her injuries – it seems she doesn't have any severe wounds, but she has countless of them, bruises, gashes, scratches. It is like someone had beaten her first, then they cut her with a blade randomly. She notices some strange marks on her wrists. Handcuffs?
As she cannot tell whether the girl is conscious or not, Wiress gently touches her shoulder where she isn't wounded and leans closer to her head. "I'll go get something for your injuries. Don't move from here, okay?" she whispers in order not to scare her. The girl lets out a small groan and Wiress turns towards the door. That's when she notices the trail of blood from the entrance to the bed.
The crimson path continues outside as well, across the corridor and down the stairs. Here and there she can see big pools of blood where the girl must have stopped to gather her strength – Wiress imagines her struggling to keep herself from fainting, and her urge to help doubles as she runs.
She stops when she reaches the dorm supervisor's room and knocks on the door.
"Come in!" a deep male voice says and Wiress enters.
"Mr. Quake," she starts but has to pause to catch her breath. "Can I borrow your first aid kit?"
The large man looks at her curiously. "And what do you need that for, Creever?"
Wiress knows Leonard is just teasing her – it can't be that he hasn't noticed the red trail leading to her room yet. "There's a girl with injuries in my room. I want to help her."
"Then why don't you take her to the doctor?"
"I can handle it. And she is in pain, I don't think I could drag her to the doctor." Wiress stops and her voice is lower when she adds, "Besides, her injuries are strange. I'm not sure if she wants anyone else to see them."
"Are you sure her injuries don't require a pro's treatment?"
Wiress nods. "It's nothing some bandages and a few painkillers can't cure."
Leonard watches her for a long second, then reaches up for a red box on one of the shelves. "I really hope you're right, Creever."
Me too.
When Wiress gets back to her room, she finds the girl staring at the ceiling with emotionless eyes – she looks briefly at her, when she hears the door open and close, then she reverts her glance at the greyness above her.
"I brought a first aid kit," Wiress says as she walks to her desk, grabs her chair and carries it to the blood-stained bed. "We have to treat your injuries. Um… do you feel any particular pain anywhere?"
The girl looks at her again and lets out a snort. "Everywhere?" she mutters sarcastically and starts to lift herself, but Wiress gently pushes her back onto the mattress.
"Stay still," she orders and the other obeys.
"Alright, Miss Doctor. It fucking hurts anyway. My chest."
Wiress removes the ruins of the undershirt the girl is wearing. Several other wounds adorn her chest, including a bad bruise on the right side that probably indicates a broken rib, because as she gingerly brushes the tip of her finger over it, the girl yelps in pain. "Sorry," Wiress says and she reaches for the kit to find the painkiller. "Here, take these."
The girl swallows two of the pills and the effect is instant – her breathing slows down and her face turns calmer. "Wow… this is some strong stuff."
The following hour is spent disinfecting gashes, cleaning away the dried blood, putting ointment on the bruises, searching for more broken bones and bandaging everything that can be bandaged. When Wiress is ready, she helps the girl get up very carefully and take two steps to her own bed where she lays her down onto the clean sheets.
The sound of the alarm fills the morning, and Wiress sighs. She doesn't really want to leave this girl alone. "I have to go," she says. "Try to sleep, okay?"
She looks at Wiress and for a long second, she is just inspecting her in silence. "What's your name, Miss Doctor?" she finally asks, her brown eyes never leaving her.
"Um… my name is Wiress."
"Thanks, Wiress," she says and a small smile appears on her lips. "I'm Lectra."
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Clinging onto her for dear life is the only thing she can do. If she refuses to let her go, maybe they will not take her away. They cannot do that, can they?
They can.
But it doesn't matter at this very moment. As long as she can feel her hand stroking her hair, the faint smell of the cigret still lingering around her from last night, the warmth of her body, she knows that she is here. Even if only temporarily, she is here.
"Well," Lectra says suddenly. "I guess I don't have to write that History essay after all."
Though she is trying to joke, it is ruined by her voice cracking and a tear silently running down on her cheek.
Wiress doesn't say a word – she is incapable of doing anything but crying and holding onto the older girl, the most important person in her life. The cruel tick-tocking of the clock reminds them that time is slipping away with each second, like sand between their fingers. And for them, even the most precious diamond is as worthless as an ordinary stone compared to time.
Finally, it's Lectra's voice that breaks the silence again, "I have to confess you something that you probably already know. Do you remember the day we first met?"
Wiress nods. Of course, she would never forget it. Lectra continues, "Ever since that day, I've been haunted by a thought constantly. That was the day when I realised that somehow, they'd find a way to kill me."
She gently peels Wiress' arms away from her waist and makes her look into her eyes. "You know their favourite proverb: "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down". I was sticking out even before my attempt to escape, but when I fled and they caught me and beat me into a bloody pulp and gave me those extras… well, I guess that was the moment they decided that I'm dangerous."
"I'm scared," she adds after a short pause. "Despite acting all cold and negligent, I'm terrified. I don't want to die. But then again, maybe it's better this way. If I die, they won't hurt you because of me either."
"Lectra…" Wiress whispers, her voice weak from crying. "If you win… if you win the Games then they won't hurt you… They can't hurt a Victor… I know you can win, you're so strong… so please…"
If only I were as strong as you think, Wire, Lectra wants to say, but she doesn't have the courage. Not under Wiress' desperate black eyes. "Maybe," she mutters and turns to stare out of the window. The familiar crowded square in front of the Justice Building seems to be a distant, unreachable place. Winning is not an option for me.
Wiress understands though – but knowing the truth is not the same as accepting it. "Please, Lectra… do your best. Come home…" Denial is easier. Much easier.
Lectra does not look into her eyes as a promise that she already knows she will never be able to fulfil leaves her lips, "I'll come back. As a Victor. And then, I won't let them hurt us anymore."
Not all the lies are bad. Some of them can give hope to carry on. A glimpse of that hope shimmers on Wiress' face at Lectra's words – a faint sunbeam breaking through the storm clouds.
"You don't have a district token, right?" Wiress says on a much calmer tone and slips her hand into the pocket of her coat. She takes out a small piece of copper wire, quickly weaves it into a small loop and places it in Lectra's palm. "Here."
Lectra looks at the loop for a moment, then reaches up to her right ear. A long time ago, she pierced it herself, to show that she was not like the other students clad in the same uniform, walking in the same pace, wearing the same expression, having the same thoughts. But now, she honestly wishes she could be one of them.
She carefully pokes the wire through the hole in her earlobe and secures it with a few twists. "Thank you, Wire," she smiles for the first time since that smirk on the stage.
Suddenly, the door opens and a Peacekeeper steps into the room to take Wiress away. "Time's up," he barks without any emotion. However, for the last time, Lectra grabs the smaller girl and hugs her tightly.
"No matter what you see on the screen, please, don't break down, okay? No matter what I do… remember, it's not me."
Wiress lifts her head and places a kiss on Lectra's cheek. "I know. I know you, Lectra. Take care and come home."
Lectra cannot answer. She just stares after her best friend as the Peacekeeper separates them and drags her out of the room. When the door is slammed behind them, she breaks into tears.
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Wiress and the Sector students are allowed to stay on the square and watch on the large screens as the two tributes of District 3, along with the two mentors and Rufus get onto the silver train that will take them to the Capitol. Before they depart, the cameramen ask Lectra and the boy to stand in front of the window and wave goodbye to the crowd.
For a long minute, Lectra's overly sweet smile is almost frightening – it's clearly fake, along with those kisses she blows into the air. But then, something happens.
The smile disappears from Lectra's lips and an emotionless expression takes its place. She reaches and tears down the copper-coloured ribbon from her neck, then holds it out for everybody to see. With her other hand, she fishes out her lighter from her pocket and with a swift motion she sets the ribbon on fire.
The tension is tangible on the square, especially in the group of the students. Nobody would ever consider such a major crime as purposely ruin the uniform, at least not between the barbed wired walls of the Sector. But she's not in the Sector anymore, she can do what she wants, Wiress thinks as she watches Lectra throw the burning ribbon out the open window and it lands at the feet of the cameramen. A really strange emotion starts to grow in her heart – happiness.
The Sector was destroying Lectra, but she will never have to return. Never. In one way or another, she will be free.
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Since the Sector of Talents doesn't have any community room or places where the students can gather, they always watch the Hunger Games in the dining hall. Their working hours are reduced to three hours between one and four o'clock, and after that they are given an hour to prepare for the following day. At five o'clock, everybody goes to the dining hall for the recaps.
That evening, though Wiress tries to inspect all the tributes while watching the programme on the Reapings, in the end she can only recall a few of them. Both the boy and the girl from District 1 are blonde and beautiful. The District 2 tributes look fierce. The boy from District 5 has lavender eyes. The girl from District 8 radiates a very warm, reassuring aura and has a gentle smile. The District 12 kids are terribly young and malnourished.
Seeing Lectra called to the stage again is as painful as for the first time, but Wiress notices that her attitude is perfect. Despite of her short height, the powerful emotions on her face and the smirk make her a tribute who should not be underestimated. She is almost as intimidating as the Careers.
Her male counterpart is a Sector student, too – he is that boy who was staring at Wiress during work. For a second, she feels sorry for him, but then she remembers that he is Lectra's enemy as well. He is short, black-haired and scrawny, and his necktie is crooked. No impression – Wiress doesn't even remember his name.
After they show the tributes, the narrator introduces the mentors. There have been only two Victors for years, so the woman doesn't waste too many words on them – everybody knows them anyway.
The older one, Nostra Kant always frightens Wiress. He is taller and more muscular than the majority of the men in District 3 and his eyes are dark like bottomless wells. His Games were famously bloody and he won because he turned out to be a well-oiled killing machine. He is the mentor of the boy tribute, but by the look on his face he would rather have Lectra, who is mentored by Beetee Heller.
Beetee represents the mistaken idea of the District, because he is the only Victor so far who used to be a Sector student despite how many of them have been sent to the arena. Every time Wiress hears his surname, it triggers a faint memory in her head, a picture of a white lab coat, but she cannot place it, so she lets the feeling drift away.
Wiress remembers his victory from several years ago – he electrocuted the Careers with a trap he constructed in the middle of a pine forest. Although it was a mystery how he could do it, it was effective. She thinks that Beetee has a streak of insanity which occasionally appears. Like a mad scientist. But at least most of the time, he is not scary at all, contrary to Nostra – he even looks comical often as he has the habit of peering under his glasses.
They show the departure of each pair of tributes and, to Wiress' surprise, they didn't cut out Lectra burning the ribbon. As a matter of fact, instead of regarding it as something unforgivable, the reporter actually squeals in excitement saying, "What an attitude! District 3 has a really fiery girl this year!" and she giggles at her own joke. Wiress smiles to herself. If the Capitol people get to like Lectra, she will have sponsors and thus an even higher chance to survive. It's enough to feel depressed. Let's just hope for the best.
This thought follows her until she goes to bed and falls asleep. After all, she promised she would come home.
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Thank you for reading chapter 3. :)
Hurray for Beetee who finally managed to appear. :D From now on, every chapter is going to have some Beetee in it, so stay tuned. :)
Also, the updates are going to speed up – hopefully –, because after two entire months of suffering, my finals are officially over tomorrow, so I'll have more time to write. Not that my exams could keep me from writing – which is clearly visible in my results. :D Anyway, there is a great difference between "writing fanfiction legally" and "writing fanfiction while pretending to be studying Philosophy". :D
So, as usual, I'll ask you to tell me what you think. Reviews are like cookies for my soul. :)