Cold Hearted Chapter Thirteen - Small, Small World, a hunger games fanfic

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"Stop . . . "

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"Go away . . . "

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"Please . . ?"

An icy shudder ran throug Gryffon's body, keeping count with the pulsing. Every time the sound quieted, his body grew colder. He knew he would probably end up just freezing to death there. No apparent escape from this world of darkness and silent sounds showed itself to him, so he figured he might as well get used to this sort of cold . . . this sense of foreboding.

Gryffon couldn't say he was frightened, or anything of the sort, but he was certainly confused. He was confused and desperate but was forced to suffer in silence, which he perhaps didn't mind as much anymore.

The room he crouched in allowed no light to filter through, only distant murmurs and sighs that drifted through in invisible strips of grey. Gryffon could swear someone was trying to talk to him from another room beyond a wall, but he couldn't hear them properly. He was locked in this single room with no one but himself to talk to.

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" . . . Hey . . . "

His head snapped up and his eyes immediately searched for the source of the greeting. Who was there!? Did they allow someone else in . . ?

"Wanna help me?"

He knew that voice . . .

Slowly, Gryffon turned his head around, his eyes wide. A light blow of air made him scrunch up his nose. It reminded him of a dead breath, a cold one, like the breezes that passed over his district in autumn.

But there was nothing there that he could see or feel aside the cold breath and the scent of apples and peaches.

Maybe he was going crazy . . . He couldn't remember the past three days, couldn't stop hearing and feeling his own heartbeat, and now finding imaginary beings in his . . . dreams, was it now? He couldn't understand it . . . Why? Why did it have to happen to him? Why now?

"Please help me . . . I can't breathe . . . "

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Gryffon stiffened and felt his eyes widen. Hanging in front of his face, barely an inch away from his nose, hung a head. Just a single head, no body.

The wire noose wrapped around the stub of a neck and left the rest of it hanging upside down. Its - no, her - lips were badly sewn together with blood trickling down the side of it, her nostrils were sewn together, and her eyes even more tightly so to keep her from seeing - but somehow she still spoke, still heard. She was but blind, that's all she had been rendered: blind and suffocated.

"Are you going to help . . ?"

He gave no answer, and visibly, he saw how much his silence angered the head.

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All at once, Gryffon felt an overwhelming sense of dread, hate, regret, and despair, and -

"Gryffon!"

His eyes flashed open and he awoke gasping, unaware of where he was until Jay's figure came into focus.

"Don't scare me like that . . . " She let out a sigh and curled a strand of loose hair behind her ear before she went on, "we took a rough dip and you stopped breathing for a second . . . "

She hardly looked sorry, Gryffon noticed, but whatever . . . He was just tired, just as much as she was, he could understand . . . "I said I'm fine, didn't I?" And in any case, what she thought wasn't important as long as she didn't think she could do this on her own. She needed him, Gryffon had to make sure she did. He had to make this worthwhile, he had to make it count. "Just stop worrying about - "

The boat tilted back and water sprayed into it from the sides, wetting both tributes. A light weight pushed Gryffon back against the side of then boat and left them to scramble for balance as they fell, but all the moving and struggling they did caused the boat to crash into the slight waves, now different in color.

The lighting changed drastically after their fall. Originally everything had been its regular color: red, purple, green, yellow, pink - everything was bright and colorful, serving as its own light to guide the boat along the stream. Now everything, even the brightest blue lily, had colored itself dark. The violets and reds became grey and black with the occasional indigo here and there; the greens and reds darkened into something muddy and disgusting, reminding Gryffon of the color of a rotting body, an image of himself vivid of himself decomposing entering his mind for one reason or another.

He screwed his eyes up and turned away from the walls that surrounded them now, but the sight of the water was no better. What used to be a crimson red color was now the color of mucus - very bloody mucus at that.

"Gryff' . . ?"

He turned toward his district partner who practically lay on him now, her face pale, or maybe it was reddened? He couldn't tell.

"Did you come by here?"

"No, but we made a turn, I hadn't. The current changed itself," Jay answered, pushing back on his chest before letting herself plop back down. "L-look at that . . . " With a shake of his head, Gryffon tilted his head in the direction she indicated and found himself staring again.

Eyes. So many eyes stared back at him.

Large ones, small ones, blinking ones, moving ones, ones that were green or blue or brown or even yellow. They all collectively stared, and as they watched the boat drift along the river, giggling sounds came from farther up.

"They're on both sides . . . " Jay notified, taking away Gryffon's curiosity from checking the other side of the boat. "They're not even doing anything . . . "

But they were. They were making noises. He could hear them.

There were whizzing sounds, quiet popping sounds, or sounds of bolts turning and screws squeaking themselves into place, mechanic laughs, and even the soft clicking sound as the eyes blinked closed and open again.

"Pay attention, Jay . . . Sh," he whispered. His eyes strained on all the little glares that guided them down the river. Ahead of them rose an arch from either side of the river, held up by the walls, creating a sort of sign. When they were close enough, Gryffon saw the rainbow the colors were arranged in, as well as faintly make out the words Welcome to Our Small World. As the boat cruised under the arch, the walls lit up as if on cue and jutting out from each wall were several ledges in a sort of stairs format; lined decoratively on each ledge were dolls.

Hundreds upon hundreds of dolls: mechanical little dolls in cars, in buildings, flying kites, walking dogs, running over meadows, climbing trees, holding balloons, or just simply sittings around the dining room. They all had wider-than-wide smiles, each grin stretching from one ear to the other. Their eyes continued to follow the boat, but they seemed more alive, like real human souls were trapped in them.

Gryffon caught the eyes of one of the dolls set in a running position as he flied his artificial kite and noticed that on the kite was District 9's district emblem. Each doll held or wore something with a district's symbol or number, indicating what district they would belong in if they were real.

"What the hell . . ?"

He jerked his head around and gritted his teeth at what he saw. One of the 'younger' dolls held a little dolly of her own and stood closest to the edge of the bottom-most ledge, making it seem if they were to stretch their arm out, they would be able to touch it.

The girl opened her eyes and her rusted arm twitched upward, then down again, in a sort of static wave, the Capitol emblem engraved into her palm. "One, two, three . . . "

"Gryffon . . !" Jay breathed, sinking back against him. They did nothing but watch the girl as she counted from one to ten slowly, her voice echoing down the river.

Then the entire tunnel burst into a colorful parade of blinking lights at the count of ten, and all of the dolls came fully to life.

"It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all . . . "

Gryffon and Jay shared a glance, their gazes equally as baffled by the sudden outburst of singing voices.

"It's a small world after all, it's a small, small world."

The little girl marched after the boat's gradual movement and kept her eyes on Jay as she walked.

"It's a world of laughter and a world of tears!"

Gryffon watched as the lighting changed from dull colored to bright, and Jay curled up beside him. Her silence turned to giggles that rapidly progressed into loud sobs, as if she didn't know if she wanted to laugh or cry. It happened so fast, Gryffon barely had time to realize it had happened when the lights flickered again and returned to their colorful strobe. Gryffon choked up again, his breathing getting cut short, but his eyes widened in curiosity and a smile tugged the corners of his lips up into a smile.

"It's a world of hopes and a world of fears . . . There's so much that we share, that it's time we're aware it's a small world after all."

The little girl looked down at her doll and her smile seemed to grow wider as her voice appeared to raise above all the others.

"It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, it's a smal world after all, it's a small, small world."

Gryffon lifted his glare to her, hands clutched to his throat, as the girl marched on as happy as could be. The others hummed and sang and blurted the tune happily, their mouths opening wide to get as much sound out.

"There is just one moon and one golden sun!"

He flinched away from the doll as the walls flashed first silver then gold as she referred to both the moon and sun. Too many colors . . . Too many sounds and pitches . . . Every doll sang out of tune to the one beside it, creating a mess of pitches that Gryffon couldn't comprehend. Each word sounded like another to him, but he was given no time to get his head together.

"And a smile means friendship to everyone! Though the mountains divide and the oceans are wide, it's a small world after all! It's a small world after all! It's a small world after all! It's a small, small world . . . "

The quiet came suddenly. It was relieving, but it left an echoing buzzing sound in Gryffon's ears. He preferred the song . . . Oh, god, return the sound! It hurt too much to sit in that stoney cold silence!