Chapter Forty-Six: The Shift (pt2)
Maize lost time again.
She wasn't quite sure when or how she'd gotten out of the shower, only that she'd ended up in the same wet clothes from the night before and was curled up into a miserable ball on top of the bed-soaking the silky sheets. Maize couldn't be bothered to move. The cramps in her lower stomach were painful and her back twinged with every minute movement.
It was still dark out.
Maize had never closed the blinds this morning. Tears were no longer streaming down her face, she'd probably just run out since her eyes were definitely swollen... but sleep just wasn't coming to her.
Absentmindedly, Maize realized that someone was calling her name. But her limbs felt heavy and she didn't have the will to call out. Her voice stolen. Footsteps approached the bedroom before the door was quietly pushed open.
"Maize?"
It was a man's voice, not one that belonged to her stylists, but a somewhat familiar one all the same.
"Maize- there you are." the man whispered softly before coming closer and carefully kneeling down so that they were face to face, "Seeder's been trying to get a hold of you. She's been really worried for you. She- She asked me to come and check in on how you're doing." he explained as he pushed one of her errant curls behind her ear and out of her face.
Maize blinked up at Finnick.
So that was what the noise had been.
Some time ago she'd started hearing a ringing sound, it was what had brought her out of her head the first time. It'd been Seeder. Her Mentor had been calling her... Maize wished that she hadn't been so stubborn and allowed the woman to accompany her, but she hadn't wanted the older Victor to see her like this.
Broken.
Used.
Tired.
Empty.
"Hey," Finnick called out softly, "there we go. Lost you for a moment."
A raspy hum escaped from her throat.
"Thirsty?"
She nodded, though the motion caused her to put more effort into it than it ever had before.
Oh, he disappeared.
Nope, he was back.
And this time he had a glass of water in his hands. Finnick placed the cup down on the night table before helping Maize sit up against the headboard, hissing commiseratingly when she squeaked and moaned in pain, before pressing the glass to her lips. Maize took a few sips, the cool liquid felt wonderful on her dry and parched throat before he placed the cup back down.
"-irst client?"
Oh. He was talking. When had he sat down on the bed?
"Was that your first client?" he asked again when she focused on his face. Maize nodded.
Finnick sighed as if the world were solely resting on his shoulders, it looked like a heavy burden to place on one person's head, "It gets easier. Some nights will be more difficult than others, but it won't always be like this." he whispered as if to reassure her, but it sounded more like he was promising himself that than her.
Poor Finnick. He'd been doing this for so long... since he was a child. -He was still a child.- It was wrong. Maize's once listless hand twitched, Finnick was staring off into space, looking trapped in his own mind much like she was in hers. She let her fingers slowly trail against his weathered palm, making Finnick flinch for a moment in surprise before remembering where he was as she grasped his hand with hers. He looked every bit like the awkward teenage boy he was supposed to be for a moment.
"Coming back now?"
"Y-Yes." she croaked, "Hurts."
The older Victor hummed with empathy, "You got an appointment tomorrow? For the doctors?" when Maize nodded once more he continued, "They'll give you something for the pain, if- if anything got torn down there they'll fix it."
"Kay." she whispered. When it looked like Finnick was about to get up and leave Maize tightened her grip on his hand, panic thrumming through her veins at the very thought of being left alone. Of being left to get lost in time once more. The word "S-Stay." was blurted out of her lips as her heart pounded harshly inside of her chest. "Please. Jus' till I fall asleep."
The nineteen-year-old looked startled before realization bled onto his features and he settled down beside her, "Okay, move over." Maize scooched towards the empty left side of the bed -ignoring the way she throbbed and swallowed down a scream because somethingwasnotright- so that the older teen could lean against the headboard. "Just until you fall asleep. I got a client in the morning." she squeezed his hand gratefully as the admission tugged on her heart.
"Thank you, Finnick."
Feeling infinitely safer with the older Victor watching her back.
Maize was asleep within minutes.
When she woke up again, Finnick was gone. Maize would have chalked up the whole thing as a strange hallucination if it weren't for the abandoned glass of water on the nightstand and the blanket now wrapped around her scantily clad form. Gratitude and embarrassment briefly clouded her features before she schooled her face as she heard Goldie burst through the apartment.
"Maize, darling? Where are you? Don't tell me you're still in bed at this hour?" a loud gasp escaped from the Capitolite's lips as she got to the doorway, "Wh-What on earth happened!"
Maize shrugged as her lower back twinged, "She was too rough."
"I- Well, I never-"
"What time is my appointment? The nurse said they'd give me something for the pain."
Goldie looked confused and a little disgusted as she twittered closer, "Oh, darling. That savage-"
"My appointment Goldie?" Maize interrupted her as another flare of pain struck when she sat up, "Please. I jus' wanna go home."
The honest admission surprised her and Goldie. The older Capitolite seemed at a loss for words at the situation. Maybe her escort really hadn't known what Maize would have to do with the client from the night before. Maybe Goldie was starting to see what exactly her precious President Snow had just forced her to do. Either way, Maize was tired. Maize was hurting. Maize just wanted to home. She didn't have the heart or patience to coddle the older woman.
"T-The appointment is in half an hour." Goldie murmured after a moment. Maize nodded as she forced herself to stand up on shaky legs. The world seemed to be spinning on its axel. The hangover from all the alcoholic drinks she'd downed the previous night was starting to hit her now.
"Good." a grimace pulled onto her lips when even trying to undo the zipper of the dress proved to be painful, "Could you help me, Goldie? Please?"
The escort quietly assisted her, a small disbelieving whine escaped from the older woman when the dress slipped off and the marks -bruises littering Maize's flesh like a battlefield- made themselves known before she cleared out her throat. The Capitolite didn't say anything when Maize asked her to bring her a comfortable outfit, she didn't say anything when Maize hissed in pain or let out a cry and blinked back tears when the escort helped her redress either.
"Thank you." Maize murmured in genuine gratitude.
The colorful and usually opinionated woman was still uncharacteristically quiet.
Maize only sighed softly as she tamed her wild curls into a tight braid, "Do- Are there any shakes? I'm a little hungry."
That seemed to snap Goldie out of her funk as a plastic grin stretched across the pink-skinned woman's face, "Oh, of course, darling! Anything for my favorite Victor!" The escort led her to the small kitchen in the apartment with gusto and demonstrated how to work a complicated-looking smoothie dispenser with trembling hands. Goldie filled the air with nonsense chatter about the latest Capitol gossip as Maize languidly sipped on the mango shake until it was time to head downstairs for her appointment.
Maize moved around in a trance-like state. Not really becoming self-aware until she was back on the train heading for District 11. Heading for home. She could vaguely recall the medics treating her, smearing special creams onto the raw flesh of her thighs and wrists so that the marks on her skin from last night vanished as well as the spray they'd aimed at her privates that made it so that it finally stopped pounding painfully with each breath or movement. She'd torn something, the doctor's offhanded comment confirmed that... but the spray made it disappear like it never existed in the first place. Like it was never real. But Maize still felt wrong so it must have been. One of the nurses had given her a shot for the pain when she walked in needing Goldie's assistance and then gifted her a small baggie with medicine on the way out with the explicit instruction to take a pill in the morning if the pain somehow persisted.
She also vaguely recalled answering a phone call from President Snow during the car ride to the train station. The vile man had congratulated her for a job well done before promising to contact her for her services in the future sometime soon. Maize couldn't remember the conversation word for word, only that she demurely agreed.
But none of that mattered right now.
She was going home.
-Maize still felt wrong.-
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