Chapter Twenty-Five: nOtdEaD
One moment she wasn't and the next she was.
And wasn't that the most jolting and terrifying thing that she had ever realized.
A purple-tinted nurse smiled widely –fakedangerous- at her, "She's awake!" the woman announced.
Maize Galloshire was alive.
Nonononononononononononono.
Someone was screaming. It was a high-pitched ugly thing. The sound an animal made when it was mortally injured and dying.
"Sedate her!"
Someone was attacking her face, nails biting into her cheeks, no doubt drawing blood from how much it stung. Hands grabbed at her, trying to restrain her flailing limbs. The screaming sounded more desperate now, shrill and unforgiving.
Nonononononononononononono.
A man in white jabbed her in the leg. Injecting her with something. The screaming was tapering down and Maize's throat burned something awful.
(Ah. It was me. I was screaming.)
The world turned black.
The second time Maize woke up she was restrained. It didn't go much better than the first time around and would have probably been worse if Seeder wasn't there beside her. Maize wailed. At times almost choking on her tears as mourned. Mourned for Cana. Mourned for Annie Cresta who wasn't supposed to drown. Mourned for all of the tributes that had died in the arena. Mourned for all the tributes who had ever died because of the Hunger Games (Aloe's young face blurred across her vision) and those that would in the future. She mourned for Seeder and Chaff. Maise mourned for Finnick Odair. Mourned for all of the so-called Victors of the Games.
Maize mourned for herself.
They sedated her again.
The third time was the charm. She woke up feeling numb. Her eyes crusty with its unnatural sleep, she blinked languidly before staring up at the white ceiling. The room is bare of personality and lacked any visible windows or doors and smelled strongly of antiseptic. She was probably in a recovery room. She was naked underneath the silky sheets covering her frame, her right arm had an IV inserted into the crook of her cubital in the most visible vein. Her side, where she'd been stuck with debris still ached something awful and the skin surrounding the wound was puckered under her gentle fingertips. With her left hand, she pressed her palm to her eyes.
Maize would not cry again. But it did not mean that she wasn't tired or even morbidly displeased with her apparent survival. A male Avox entered the room when a portion of the wall slid open, holding a small tray of food in his hands before placing it on her lap and pushing a button on the bed to raise her into a sitting position. Just as silently as he had appeared he disappeared, the dooring shutting silently behind him. Maize looked down at her lap to find a creamy looking bowl of tomato soup and a small plate with mango slices on the side.
Mechanically she eats the soup, spoon by spoon, until it is all gone. The mango is sweet and juicy, leaving trails of sticky yellow fluid to drip down her fingers and onto her hand. When all the slices disappeared, she licks the juice from her hand in a manner that she was sure would make Goldie cringe. Absently, she thinks of Seeder. Maize may have been somewhat out of it earlier, but she knew for a fact that her mentor had been by her side when she'd previously woken up. She could practically feel the shadow of the woman's gentle hands on her skin as she caressed Maize's face and rubbed her back as she sobbed.
Her hand was bare.
Panic filled Maize's body. Where was her ring? Where was her Nanya's wedding ring? Where was Cana's token? She had to bring it back home! A scream was building up in her throat as she breathed in and out harshly as if she'd been running for miles without pause. The world was darkening around the edges of her vision once more.
When she wakes up again, it is to the frustrating knowledge that they keep sedating her whenever she displays any form of emotion. As if to punish the newest Victor for being human. Victor. God, she was a Victor. The Games were over. She would go home. She would be enveloped in the arms of her baba and mama. She would hold Birch, Piper & Brier, Hibis, Lilac and her infant twin brothers in her arms once more. Amla would throw her skinny arms around Maize's waist in a hug. Life would go on.
Except that in a way, it wouldn't.
Cana would never go home.
Cana would never be embraced by his mother or his sisters.
Cana would never play with his brothers again.
Cana was gone.
Maize was also gone. The girl that had been taken from her District was gone and in exchange, a broken individual wearing her face would come back.
When the same male Avox came in once more she numbly ate the food before once more sinking into the welcomed oblivion of the drugs being pumped into her arm. The next couple of days followed the same pattern. Wake, eat, sleep. Until she wakes up to find that the needle that had been housed in her elbow crease was now gone. Her skin is strangely clear of any imperfections that had gathered over the years, smoothness reminiscent to that of a newborn babe's. Her side didn't bare any marking from where the debris had ripped through her, and her hair fell into perfect little silken curls around her face like a curtain. There, at the end of the bed is a replica of the outfit she'd worn in the arena. Free of tares, dirt, and blood that had clung onto her during those last hours.
She stares at it blankly before standing, her legs surprisingly strong under her, not caring that she was now completely naked in the room (all of Panem could be watching her now and she wouldn't give a single flying fuck). Her hand was already holding the jacket before she even consciously thought of grabbing it before nimble fingers unzipped the pockets. There!
Like a marionette with its strings cut, Maize sank to the floor in relief. A wooden star bound to a thin leather band clutched in her hand along with her Nanya's ring. She shakily slipped the ring onto her right index finger before lifting the necklace over her head and letting it fall onto her collarbone. She would wear it at all times until she could personally give it Cana's mama. Standing up once more she pulled on the underwear laid out before letting the uniform mold onto her body like armor, zipping up the hoodie all the way like a shield. The wall-door slid open and Maize walked out unafraid for the first time in what felt like a long, long time.
Words: 1,145
Edited February 11th, 2020