Glass Coffin
Familiar flashes of light splayed through the windows of the train. The wheels churned against their metal path. The silver bullet was gliding on the rails as if it were floating. At first a mere glimpse, the city lights quickly grew, only a few moments passed before the elaborate towers of glass, marble and steel were looming over them.
Every person on the train turned their attention to the platform as they rolled in place. Pandora grappled for coat, clumsily adjusting the wrinkles that had formed in it. Adric was close by, though it became clear that she was the one following him and not the other way around. At the open train door her feet abruptly stopped.
Spring had not yet thawed the winter air, its icy tenor still hung close to the skin and lungs. Her brown eyes hesitantly peered around. Apart from the wind, the far off echoes, and the gushing of steam from the train, there were no other sounds.
Pandora was taken aback. At the very least she expected to be fully exploited upon her return to the Capitol, but there they were…completely alone.
Perceiving her uncertainty almost immediately, Adric studied her face and arched his eyebrows, "They don't even know you're here."
"What?"
"You were expecting applause—a crowd, maybe? They don't know."
Relief swept over her. Again, she looked around. So this was what the Capitol unfueled by the Hunger Games looked like. It was still intimidating, still breathtakingly, mechanically artistic.
Frost-laced wind cut through her coat and pants. Her dark hair wildly flew around her face and shoulders. Slowly, her eyes moved upward, ogling the monuments of technology and vanity. It was a sight she could really never wrap her head around, a sight that left a bittersweet taste in her mouth.
Adric led her to a car waiting at the back of the station. Before climbing inside Pandora peered down the streets. People were going about their business, waltzing along the ornate paths lined by decadent streetlights.
"They have no idea I'm here?" She repeated his words in doubt.
"No, although I'm sure word will spread."
The cynicism of fame flushed her cheeks. Her fingers rigidly clawed at the side of the car as she maneuvered her way onto the leather seats.
Inside, she shivered.
Pandora's gaze rose to the dazzling city lights, to the screens with moving advertisements. Screens that were almost as big as the buildings they were anchored on. There were advertisements with familiar faces, but the most identifiable was Caesar Flickerman in an ad for cosmetic teeth enhancements. Her eyes widened at his pearly whites before she slouched into the shadows and began twirling a bit of thread nervously in her fingers.
They were driving down roads she hadn't seen. Pandora had only been in Capitol twice before. The first was for the Games, where she was shoved into the Hunger Games Municipal Tower. The second was for the Victory Tour, only taking place in the City Circle. The roads they traveled on were just as awe striking as those that she had previously seen, but in a different way. These buildings seemed to be made purely of neon and steel.
She pressed her hand against the glass. Her breath fogged the window. The neon lights were mesmerizing.
"You look amazed," Adric suddenly said.
She peered to her side. He was watching her.
Self-consciously she leaned back, returning to her thread twirling, "I've never seen anything like this."
"I can imagine—we call it Energy Corridor. Many of the young people of the Capitol come her for drinks or music, to fool around I guess."
She twitched her eyes back to the streets outside, noticing the large amount of youthful women and men along the way. Some looked her age, others a few years older, but they were all young. Extravagant hairdos and edgy decoration stared back at her.
"You come here often?"
"No—" he seemed to laugh a little under his breath, "No, I don't have much time for fooling around. My father—well—he wouldn't like that very much."
"You do everything you're father wants?" She arched her eyebrow inquisitively and watched.
He wasn't looking at her but in the darkness of the car she could see a smirk form on his lips, "Life for most of the Capitol might be relatively easy. For some of us—more—"
"Elite?" her tone was judging.
He shifted his eyes away, "We have certain duties to uphold for our families."
Pandora's brow creased in thought. The memory of Adric's interaction with Artorius Flemming broke through the fatigue and confusion. Artorius and Adric had spoken to each other as if they were close, something she hadn't thought of much until now. After all, to Pandora Sullivan one Capitol scum was like the rest. The idea that there was social stratification within the cesspool of the Capitol was a new discovery, one that for one reason or another intrigued her.
"You know Artorius Flemming well?"
Adric was surprised at how much interest Pandora was suddenly taking in Capitol affairs and current events.
"Uh—yes—my father and him are friends. I grew up with Artorius's son."
"Must have been a wonderful childhood."
"The sarcasm is noted, Miss Sullivan."
"And here I was thinking that you weren't catching on…"
Again, her eyes moved towards the windows. The scenery had changed. This time, miraculous buildings of glass and iron curled, shot, and sprang into the starry sky.
"I suppose you call this place the Glass Cupboard, then?" She slyly remarked, corner-eyeing Adric.
He couldn't restrain the laugh that past his lips.
Pandora wasn't fond of Adric Pedersen, but at least he was quick with a joke or clever remark.
Her lips parted. She was just about to speak when the car suddenly came to halt. Her eyes shifted around nervously. Her head jerked from left to right. She was on the defense again, her muscles flexed.
"Here we are!" the driver called from the front, dusting off his steering wheel before he nodded to the building across the way.
Without speaking Adric pulled his officer's cap on and left the car, it took him brief seconds to open her door and beckon.
She hesitated, cowering into herself.
He furrowed his brow perplexedly, gesturing to her once again. "C'mon we don't have all night now."
Her eyes narrowed. She pursed her lips as she stumbled onto the obsidian street, ignoring the hand he had offered.
Pandora noticed that her actions had caused another smile to form on Adric's lips. It wasn't an obvious one, it was a smile that was discreet and tamed.
"Follow me," he whispered, flipping his coat collar up before dashing past oncoming traffic. She winced at the sight of it.
Cars were zooming by so fast and close that she could barely wrap her mind around the way Adric wove his way through them.
He turned around halfway across the street and shrugged.
"What are you doing?!"
Silently she shook her head, stepping back as another set of cars sped by.
"C'mon!"
Her eyes widened. She wasn't about to dart into a death trap, at least not another one.
Adric stood there for a second, scowling. He glared at her before making his way back. The pause his steps took was brief before he grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the hive of vehicles. She yelped and recoiled, not blinking for a second as she felt Adric yanking her across the street.
When they reached the other side, she finally breathed and pushed him away, "What was that?"
"You wouldn't move."
"I don't need you to lead me!" she hissed, peering back at the cars.
"You wouldn't move," he repeated it more sternly this time and widened his eyes, "Now, let's go."
She had to force herself to follow him. Her face sourly contorted and her eyes narrowed. She glared at him long and hard before moving.
They were walking towards a towering building made from glass. Rotating doors churned like a spinning top. From the outside looking in, she could see warm lights glowing.
They passed through the doors quickly and entered into a huge foyer of more glass with trimmings of a dark stone Pandora had never seen before.
"Why—Mr.—Mr. Pedersen!"
Her eyes twitched to a man behind a crystal desk. He was wearing a strange outfit and had a green beard.
"Hello there, Yuri."
Adric took off his cap to be polite.
"To what do I owe the—" Suddenly the man caught sight of Pandora, "Pandora Sullivan!"
She stumbled back as he advanced. Instinctively Adric took a step between them and smiled, "She's tired, Yuri, no time for pleasantries I'm afraid. I was hoping I could have the keys to Penthouse 4."
Yuri stared in amazement at her for a moment. He looked like he wanted pounce on her. It frightened Pandora.
"Yuri—" Adric said again, waiting for the man to look at him before continuing, "Keys, now."
"Of—of course."
He moved like a jumpy raccoon. In a spastic flash he scrambled behind the desk and snatched a gold key that was hanging on the wall.
The glossy look in his eyes grew as he came back out. Instead of handing it to Adric he tried to get past to Pandora. He only made it a few steps before Adric moved in the way again.
Yuri looked up and sheepishly smiled. "Here—Here you go."
Adric stared at him briefly before taking the key, "Thank you, Yuri."
Pandora watchfully looked between Adric and the man. She could tell that the man, named Yuri, had a level of respect for Adric. Respect that she wasn't used to seeing a middle age man give a 19-year-old boy.
"Of course, Mr. Pedersen."
"Please—call me Adric."
This seemed to excite the man, "Alright. Of course, Adric."
She heard Adric's military boots thump against the floor before she realize he was to her side.
"Come along," he whispered to her as he twirled the key in between his fingers and nodded towards the elevators.
Occasionally she would peer around to the man at the desk, each time she saw Yuri eagerly staring back.
It wasn't until they were inside the glass lift that Adric spoke again, "You have a lot of fans. You should be proud."
Her eyes moved swiftly away from him. Her arms crossed in annoyance. She ignored his pointed remark, instead focusing her attention on the obvious question at hand.
"Where are we?" She asked.
The elevator chimed before he could speak. Silently, Adric motioned for her to walk first.
She eyed him, suspiciously. He could see Pandora's body physically hesitate before she forced herself to walk.
As they marched through the corridor it was hard to tell what was a window and what was a wall. Everything was glass or a mirror. In a strange way it made Pandora feel on the brink of insanity. Glimpses of her own reflections and shadows could be seen as traveled along the crystal floor.
The only door along the hall was a single black one, with the gold number 4 dramatically decorating the center.
She could feel her heart quicken. Every hair on the back of her neck was standing up. Pandora was sure that Adric Pedersen was leading her to some obscure torture room, or even worse…to President Snow. But with one glimpse of his face she knew it couldn't be all that bad. Although he wasn't exactly smiling, he appeared unstrained and calm. Her jaw clenched at the memory of what Adric had said to her before the train. He had told her he was going to prove her wrong, prove that he wasn't the monster she thought he was.
It was strange, she thought to herself. Adric Pedersen was undoubtedly a part of the equation, part of the Capitol, but there was an absence of malice and hatred inside him. He walked a fine line between darkness and wide-eyed innocence, something Pandora never realized existed until she had met him.
Feeling her eyes, Adric fleetingly peered to her.
Clumsily, she looked away.
This made a glimmer of a smile flash in his eyes.
"Where are we going?" her voice faltered.
He revealed the key from his pocket and delicately let it slip into the lock. His eyebrows arched as he stared at her, "Penthouse 4, of course."
Pandora stared at the gold number 4 in confusion.
Her ears perked up to the sound of the lock clicking. Suddenly a white panel to the side of the door lit up.
"Identification necessary," a robotic female voice stated from some anonymous source.
"I'll need your hand."
"My what?!"
Adric smiled slightly and grabbed her wrist. She was so baffled that she didn't fight back when he pulled her closer to the panel and pressed her hand against the rectangle.
She gasped in shock as something beyond the panel scanned up and down several times. She saw serial numbers flash across the screen and had to look twice when a thumbnail picture came up in the upper left hand portion of the panel that looked like her.
One beep sounded.
Then an echo of metal clanking peeled.
"Welcome home, Pandora Sullivan."
Her eyes shifted to the door just as it opened.
"Home?" she whispered, furrowing her brow.
Her feet were anchored to the floor. Her eyes were as wide as saucers. Whatever was beyond the doorway was cloaked in darkness.
Pandora took in a deep breath as she stepped forward. She was just inside when lights started to automatically turn on.
The sight before her was something that she was not expecting.
It was a loft, very large and very ornate. No longer were the floors glass, but wood and marble. As she continued on, she passed through a kitchen, then a dining area with an opulent glass table, further through a living area, until she finally reached the last rooms: a bedroom with a connecting bathroom. The west side of the loft was made of pure glass that allowed any viewer to see outside onto the urban sprawl of the Capitol.
"I—I don't understand," She said after a time, looking over to Adric in a daze.
He was standing in the living area, glancing through the windows, "What?"
"Home?" She asked once more.
He looked to Pandora. On Adric's face was an expression of halfhearted peace and exhaust. "This is your new home, Pandora."
She stared at him silently, unsure if she was dreaming or not. Her eyes lowered to the wood floor as she stepped forward, "The floor is wood."
"An astute observation."
She only lifted her eyes for a moment to glare at him before looking away, "Isn't it a primitive material for a Capitol architect to pick?"
"The President thought you'd enjoy it…it's from the woods of District 7, to remind you of home."
Her lips parted in disgust, "The President?"
Adric was studying her reaction, noticing the flinches in her face and change in her posture, "Yes—he—well he helped design the penthouse for you. He said he wanted to make you as comfortable as possible."
When she looked about the room now she was looking for any signs of Snow, any cameras. Her brown eyes peered around every shadow, every nook. Suddenly details she had never noticed shouted at her. As Adric had said the wood floors were from District 7, and created in the District 7 carpentry fashion. Wooden trinkets and carvings were dotted around certain shelves and bookcases, some were more abstract but others were identifiable.
"Tomorrow he's asked to meet with you."
This single sentence sent waves of sickness through her. She shook her head, ignoring the statement. Her eyes were still scanning the loft, looking for details.
Near the edge of the one of the end tables she caught sight of a photograph of Caesar and her from a year ago, during the closing interviews. Her fingers shook as she grabbed for it.
She grimaced.
"You don't like it?"
Sadness filled her eyes. She backed away in solemn anger. Pandora was about to let it go, to scream. She hated Snow, more than anyone on earth. He was rubbing her face in it. He was poking fun at the fact that she would never again see her home District. Snow had created a glass tower to keep her locked in.
Her lips harshly tightened as she lifted her eyes to Adric. From the expression on his face she could tell that he was ignorant to everything, although how much…Pandora couldn't be sure.
"It's—" she took a deep breath, "It's fine. I'm just overwhelmed."
"I see…"
Her eyes lowered to the framed photograph in her hands. She brushed over her image with the tip of her figure. She was wearing the dress that looked like a million diamonds, she was smiling so brightly.
Pandora could feel the blood drain out of her face. It was then that she realized—no matter what choices she would have made, no matter what roads she could have taken, they would all lead her here. Escapism was obsolete. Her lot had been thrown in before she was even born.
"Fate…" she whispered the single word.
"What was that?"
She blinked her eyes to him, she was trying to hold back the tears but they were so obviously brimming that she didn't see the point.
"Do you believe in fate?"
"I'm not sure I understand the question."
Suddenly she felt suffocated. Her head tilted to the ceiling, her mouth parted with a gasp.
"It doesn't matter."
When she dropped her eyes to the picture again she shook her head with sadness. The smiling girl staring back at her was a stranger. In her heart she knew that change wasn't coming, it was already here.
Shaking breaths simmered past her teeth, she whispered it so quietly, so solemnly: "…nothing matters anymore."