CHAPTER 9 - LUNACY
Tears threatened to spill from Afflatus' eyes, but she held them in, like she always did. She fucked up so bad; she thought she was sparing Bliss from the knowledge of Basal's impending doom, but understood it felt terrible to be blindsided. She was such a bad friend.
Tears never left her eyes, no, but her body did shake, somatic memories of her Games pulling her under.
Afflatus lay bound, on the verge of death. She couldn't count how many cuts were on her skin, nor how many bones were broken. The soft dirt beneath her was the only comfort. It reminded her how soon she would find herself in a grave.
After their final battle, Walan didn't kill her. He bound her limbs to trees, and cut into her with knives. He beat her. He tested the effects of different weapons on her.
It was rude he didn't let her die.
"Had enough?" Walan asked. As if he didn't know the answer.
"You're a dumb cunt." Afflatus choked out.
Walan's jaw tensed. Maybe she'd provoked him enough to finish the job.
He had other things in mind, first.
"…latus, please. Afflatus?… Afflatus." Someone was repeating her name.
She no longer felt the dirt beneath her back.
"Afflatus?"
She no longer felt the pain that made her wish for death.
"Please… I don't know who to get for you… I'm sorry… Afflatus? Can you hear me?"
Afflatus opened her eyes.
The recent D11 victor, Rhea Tilth, stared back at her anxiously.
Immediately, embarrassment overtook her.
As soon as he saw that she was back, Rhea went to the supply table and grabbed her a bottle of water. He returned, sitting on the ground in front of her. She accepted it, chugging the bottle.
Rhea cleared his throat. "Are you alright?"
"Just a memory." Afflatus non-answered.
"Do you want me to get someone for you?" Rhea asked, quietly.
Afflatus yearned for Muse, but knew the girl wouldn't answer her call.
Serendipitously, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She prayed it was Muse, but likely knew it wasn't.
It was another invitation for a "date."
Tears pricked her eyes again as something evil spread through her chest.
"What is it?" Rhea asked thoughtfully, but somewhat intrusively.
"I guess I'm going on a date later." Afflatus said with loose lips.
"What do you mean, 'you guess?'" Rhea asked, confused.
"I'm sorry, Rhea, I have to go." Afflatus said, shooting to her feet. She needed to be alone.
Her pace was too quick to be considered casual as she bolted for the door; another embarrassment. At least one of the D1 victors hadn't found her, she'd never live it down.
Afflatus didn't hear Rhea's response as she ran away.
…
Basal and Lustre entered the last circle of hell- a barren, windy mess. Basal's paranoia grew by the second. With no obvious threat, what was to stop Lustre from doing… that again.
Lustre eyed Basal as well, usually suspicious.
The boys pressed on.
Basal started to shake. Voices in his head told him Lustre was seconds away from pinning him down and doing horrible things. He looked over at Lustre. Lustre stared at him with narrowed eyes.
"What?" Basal demanded.
"You think you can fight me? You think you can actually take me on and win? Lustre said, laughing at him.
"No! I never said that." Basal said.
They continued to argue back and forth, agitation growing with each comment.
"You're useless." Lustre spat at him. "Not even a good screw."
Basal started tearing up. Lustre laughed again.
Rage spread through Basal, and he lunged for the boy.
Lustre wasn't expecting the sudden movement, and was knocked to the ground. Basal bashed his wrist against a stone, disarming him. Lustre's sword clattered to the ground.
Basal's knees were on Lustre's chest, and Lustre couldn't buck him off. Basal grabbed his other wrist, restraining him.
"How does that feel?!" Basal roared at Lustre.
Fear clouded Lustre's eyes. He didn't have the mass to move the mountainous boy off him.
A cannon boomed, startling both of them. It wasn't enough to dislodge Basal.
A weight began dragging him down, a sudden narcoleptic need for sleep.
His eyes drooped.
Lustre was unconscious. Basal passed out as well.
…
Bliss wasn't ashamed of the silent tears falling down her face in the monitoring room. The other victors had the grace not to stare at her. They'd see a cut of the Games when it was over, and understand why she couldn't keep it together watching Basal.
The pain in his voice as he confronted Lustre was staggering, emotions spilling out mercilessly.
Another tribute in the hellscape arena died before Basal could make a move to kill Lustre, felled by the gluttons when they tried to take food from the table in the third circle of hell.
The death triggered all the tributes in both arenas to lose consciousness.
The monitoring screens went dark, and the tributes were redistributed again.
Bliss kept tally of the death notifications in the arenas, and by the time Basal and Lustre passed out, there were only six left in total, three in each arena.
Basal, Lustre, and Harlem's tribute- the D7 girl who tried to kill Basal and earned crushed ribs because of it, made it through hell.
The tributes were brought back to the heaven-like arena. The tributes already there were sedated as well, so everyone would wake up around the same time.
The gamemakers placed the tributes fairly close to one another. It wouldn't take long for the fighting to begin once everyone awoke.
Bliss huffed in her seat.
"Hey, Bliss?" Rhea's voice came from behind her.
"Yes?" She turned at the sound. Rhea tried not to cringe at the sight of her despair.
"I think you should check on Afflatus." Rhea said.
"Why's that?" Bliss asked, residually anger. It was fizzling, though, replaced with concern. Bliss hadn't seen her in the mentoring room this morning.
"She wasn't… doing well after your argument." Rhea said, beating around the bush. His lack of candor worried Bliss, it wasn't like Afflatus to lose it in public.
"Okay, thanks for letting me know." Bliss said. Rhea nodded, and left. She took a deep breath before standing, bleary.
Bliss wandered to the D1 apartment. Unlike other out-district victors, she wasn't intimidated by the career victors.
Bevel Wythe, the D2 victor of the 43rd Hunger Games- the year after Bliss, opened the door. She'd been mentoring the career Basal killed in the bloodbath, and had apparently been spending her time hanging out with D1 since it happened. She didn't look at Bliss with any more snark than any other career, though.
"Can I help you?" Bevel said.
"Is Afflatus here?" Bliss asked.
Bevel cocked her head. "Why do you care?"
"Come off it, Bevel, this isn't even your apartment." Bliss challenged.
Bevel rolled her eyes. "Whatever. She's in her room. Hasn't come out all morning." The D2 victor pointed to a door down the hallway.
All eyes of the D1 victors followed Bliss as she walked through the sitting room. Nobody protested, though.
"Afflatus?" Bliss called, knocking on her door.
Something thumped against it, like the girl had thrown a shoe.
"Affy, open up." Bliss said.
A beat passed.
The door cracked open.
A pair of sunken, mismatched eyes greeted her. One was red, bloodshot, a stark contrast to the perfect white implant.
"Get in here before someone sees me." Afflatus said, pulling Bliss inside. The room was stuffy and dark.
Afflatus cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, Bliss."
The perfect victor crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself. Bliss couldn't stay mad.
Bliss sat down on the bed beside Afflatus. "I forgive you… I'd just rather know, in the future."
"I understand." Afflatus said, nodding. She scratched at her arms, covered in a thick sweater.
"What's going on?" Bliss asked softly.
"You don't want to know." Affy replied, shaking her head.
"I asked, didn't I?" Bliss said.
Affy huffed. "It's everything, I guess… I keep getting these memories from my games. It's like I'm back there, they completely overtake me. I can smell my arena. I can taste my blood. I can feel-" Her voice broke, and she stopped speaking before she lost control of her emotions.
"And some other stuff. But I really don't want to talk about it." Afflatus finished. She scratched at her arms again.
"That's okay. Thank you for telling me." Bliss said. She wanted to hug her friend, but Afflatus didn't appear to be in a mood where she would receive physical comfort well.
Afflatus was less agitated than when Bliss had arrived, but she was still in no shape to exit her room. Bliss didn't know how to help. Afflatus scratched her arms again.
Bliss reached out, gambling, and took Affy's metal hands. "Please stop doing that. You could hurt yourself." Afflatus shrugged, but didn't shake Bliss off.
Blood dripped onto Bliss' hands, from under Afflatus' sleeves. Her brows furrowed.
"Affy. Can I unzip your sweater, please?" Bliss asked.
Afflatus distantly nodded.
Bliss undid the zip, then worked the fabric off her shoulders. She gasped when she saw Afflatus' upper arms, covered in a mixture of old scars and fresh, weeping, wounds. The cuts extended down to her prosthetic, then dripped over the metal onto Bliss' hands.
"Who did this to you?" Bliss demanded. She'd kill them, damn the consequences.
Afflatus shrugged again, unable to conjure words.
"Please tell me, Affy." Bliss prompted, anxiety swelling within.
At the sound of Bliss' borderline panic, Afflatus answered quietly. "I did it to myself."
Bliss couldn't fathom why, but knew it was the wrong time to ask.
She gathered medical supplies from the bathroom, and cleaned Affy up as best as she could. She hadn't taken care of someone like this since her time in the arena, since she'd tried to help her friend, Plum.
Afflatus was silent as Bliss worked. She seemed far away.
"Is it alright if I help you take a bath?" Bliss asked.
"Why would you do that?" Afflatus said, confused.
"Because I'm here for you, Affy. I'm your friend. I'm gonna take care of you." Bliss said.
A tear fell from Afflatus' bloodshot eye. She quickly wiped it away.
"Okay, sure. Thank you." Afflatus consented.
Bliss was ever-so careful not to stare at the girl's perfect body as she helped her undress, or at the other scars that marred her. She'd cut her stomach and her upper arms to shreds, scars adorning the skin, but never her legs. Bliss assumed there was a reason, but again, didn't ask.
After Afflatus was washed and dried, Bliss bandaged her fresh wounds.
Bliss applied a think layer of makeup to the girl's face, and blow-dried her hair. By the time Bliss was done with Affy, she nearly looked like herself. Nothing could fix the distance in her eyes, though.
"Bliss…" Afflatus said, after a while.
"Yeah?" Bliss turned to Afflatus.
"Thank you." Afflatus said, kindly.
"You're welcome." Bliss smiled at her friend.
"I won't forget it." Afflatus said. She held Bliss' eyes for a moment longer, before flinging the blinds in her room open.
Sunlight filled the messy space.
"Back to monitoring?" Affy said.
Bliss nodded.
Afflatus took a deep breath, then opened the door to her bedroom. The other D1 victors watched the girls as they passed by. Afflatus flipped her hair, saying nothing to them. Bliss followed her lead.