Hey, guys! Sorry it took so long, I have rewritten this chapter over and over again, and I hope that it's to your liking. Enjoy!
It wasn't long after Charles' announcement that they had herded themselves inside in the hopes of getting a good night's sleep before tomorrow, though they all seemed painfully aware that none of them would get rest easily.
After saying goodnight to the rest of them, Laurien realized that she felt rather odd as Erik walked her back to her room, almost as if something were gnawing on the walls of her stomach, eating her from the inside. The feeling continued to intensify before she stopped abruptly in the middle of the hallway, pulling Erik to a halt as well as her vision clouded.
"Laurien–" Erik started, his voice concerned as he tried to get her attention.
When she didn't respond, he grabbed either side of her face to make him look at her, fear suddenly gleaming in his eyes. "Laurien, what's wrong?"
Snapping out of her reverie, blinking rapidly before remembering where she was. "What?" She asked breathlessly. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"But-" He stuttered, seeming to be at a loss for words before he grabbed her arm tightly and started to guide her back the way they came.
"What the hell, Erik?" She cried out, yanking her arm out of his grip. "What are you doing?"
"We need to go see Charles. There's something wrong with you, Laurien."
She snorted incredulously. "Well, that's pointing out the obvious, isn't it?"
"What?"
"Never mind," She said, rubbing her forehead as Erik's strange behavior started to freak her out. "What are you on about?"
"When you froze a moment ago, your eyes, they just-" He stared at her in complete and utter confusion as she stood before him, crossing her arms over her chest as she waited for him to explain himself until she started to lose her patience.
"Erik, this is really not funny. You're scaring me."
"Laurien." He urged as he grabbed her shoulders, trying to get across to her. "Your eyes turned completely white."
She paused for a moment, but just shrugged in response. "So, I do a lot of weird things."
"So you've done that before?"
"Yeah, it happens every now and then. I've been doing it for years, I just space out sometimes."
She frowned as she suddenly felt the worry coming off of him in rapid waves, realizing that it was genuine concern. She grabbed his hand in hers, squeezing it gently. "Erik, I promise you that I am fine." She lifted herself on her tiptoes to kiss him before whispering against his lips. "Now let's go to bed.
He caved in from her touch, kissing her with intensity that she'd never felt before, as they disappeared into her bedroom, but nothing could interrupt the guilt that filled her heart, that she'd just lied to him. She'd never had her eyes turn white before, and she was certainly not fine. Something was terribly wrong.
It started just as all the others had, with her walking down the street to the house. A few people would pass by, and even though they didn't utter a single word, their distorted faces said it all, causing her to quicken her pace to a run until she reached the front steps. The door swung open of its own accord, allowing her to burst into the house without obstruction. Her breaths came out in shallow puffs as she raced towards the kitchen, a subtle wheezing rising from her throat as anxiety raked its sharp fingernails across her lungs.
She stopped dead in her tracks as she entered the kitchen and looked feverishly around the room, her chest seizing uncomfortably when her eyes rested on the abandoned open cutlery drawer. She couldn't breathe, foreboding was choking the air out of her as realized that the largest knife they owned was missing from its usual spot.
She backed away slowly, suddenly smelling the subtle scent of death, humid and metallic as it exhaled on the back of her neck, sending shivers up her spine. She couldn't help but notice that there was something different in the way that each of her footsteps echoed against the hardwood as she left the kitchen and headed down the dark hallway.
Withholding the urge to call out their names, she gripped the walls of the corridor for dear life, as she seemed to know what would greet her at the end. No, she thought, please God; don't do this to me, I beg of you. The doors to their bedrooms were each cracked open a sliver, allowing a small amount of light to shine through the darkness and the same amount of hope to nestle in her heart as she continued forward.
But as she took another step, she felt something foreign seeping through the layers of her flats and onto her skin. Sickeningly hot and sticky, the unknown liquid coated her toes and weighed her foot down as she tried to lift it in an attempt to see what she'd stepped in. The stench of death intensified as she dragged her finger through the substance and brought it near her face for inspection, causing her to double over and gag as the reeking smell overwhelmed her nostrils.
Swallowing with difficulty and barely breathing, she placed her shaking fingertips against the smooth painted wood of the door and pushed it open. She felt her stomach drop immediately as her eyes widened and her mouth opened to let out a scream, but no sound escaped her lips. The strength in her legs finally gave out, letting her fall to her knees in shock and stare in silent horror at the sight before her.
She didn't hear him come up behind her, not even his ragged breathing gave him away as a sharp pain erupted from her back and as she looked down, she saw the unmistakable point of the missing knife protruding from her chest as his voice hissed into her ear, before the knife was yanked out and stabbed into her side repeatedly.
"An eye for an eye, geliefde."
Laurien awoke with a strangled gasp, chest heaving mightily as her lungs strained for sweet air. She felt as if she were being suffocated, the once comforting covers had wrapped themselves unbearably tight around her, choking her as she started struggling to get out of their hold. She kicked desperately at the duvet, but to no avail, before her hands suddenly lost their patience and ripped the fabric in half, sending goose down flying across the room.
A cry of surprise erupted from beside her, but she barely heard it as she rolled off of the bed, her body collapsing onto the freezing hardwood floor before she scrambled towards the bookshelf, trying to get herself as far away from the explosion of plumage as possible. Unfortunately, she misjudged the distance in her panicked state and crashed headfirst into the shelf, causing a number of her books to fall forward and smack her body hard as they tumbled down.
Breathing heavily, Laurien rested her head in her hands as she tried to calm herself down. Someone's hands grabbed her arms, eliciting a terrified shriek from her mouth as she pushed whoever it was away with her powers, causing them to fly into the opposing wall with a large crash.
"It's not real, it's not real." She gasped, repeating the same useless words to herself even though she knew full well that they wouldn't help one bit, as she heard a slight groan from the other side of the room.
Frustrated beyond words, she screwed up her face and slammed her head into bookshelf again, making more books fall down on her. "It's not fucking real." She growled, her fingernails digging painfully into her scalp as she started obsessively rocking back and forth.
"But it was real." A small voice reminded her from the back of her head, its tone whiny and grating to her ears.
"Shut up." She spat viciously. "Shut the fuck up."
"It's the truth, geliefde." It persisted, elongating the last syllable of the name as its volume rose to an excruciatingly high pitch.
"Stop calling me that." Laurien hissed as she covered her ears tightly with her hands until the voice begrudgingly obeyed her, its words diminishing into a small buzzing sound.
She jumped at the sound of the door bursting open and a nearby bedside lamp was sent hurtling at the wall, shattering into dozens of pieces of pottery. Hurried footsteps rapidly made their way over to her. Just as she was about to grasp another item with her powers, a sudden calm blanketed her mind before she slumped over into a heap on the ground; head lolling limply to the side as familiar gentle hands carefully lifted her and placed her sedated body down on the feather-covered bed.
The low grumble of voices rang faintly in her ears as a soft blanket was placed snuggly around her. Even with all the commotion in the room, she found her mind wandering to the graves, the ones with their names engraved into the stone. People could just walk by and let their eyes glance over the names, before moving on to the next stone without another thought on the subject. It was such a beautiful place, she thought as she felt tears coming to her eyes as whatever she was hit with started to wear off slowly. Why did she ever leave? She should be there, shouldn't she, buried in the ground next to them. But, no, she was so damn selfish that she couldn't even be there for her family.
She only became aware of someone calling her name when strong arms encircled her body and held her close, engulfing her with warmth and reassurance as the tears boiled over and fell down her cheeks. She buried her face into the person's chest; her body jerking as quiet sobs overcame her.
"Shh, it's all right, darling." A voice, which she finally recognized as Erik's, cooed delicately as he rested his chin on top of her head. "You're safe, it was just a nightmare."
"No– no, it w–wasn't." She choked out, her tremors growing even more violent by the second. She felt him look up at whomever else was in the room, and she soon found her vision rapidly growing darker until she lost consciousness completely.
The next morning came all too quickly for Laurien as a ray of sun tickled her eyelids when it shone through the curtains and into Erik's room. She groaned sleepily as she tried to hide from the intruding light by burying her face into the pillow before rolling over slowly in the bed and nuzzling her head into Erik's chest as it slowly rose and fell with the steady tempo of his breathing.
She almost fell back asleep before she the weight of what had happened last night hit her like a brick wall. Laurien winced, feeling her puffy eyes start to well up with tears again, but she fought them back as she slowly detached herself from Erik and carefully lifted herself up off the bed, trying her best not to wake him.
She dashed to the nearest bathroom, not caring when her feet protested as they stepped on the cold tile, before she turned on the tap and let the cool water wash over her tear stained face. She stood over the sink for who knows how long, before her legs gave way and she slid to the floor, her hands curled into fists as they clutched at the scars on her chest and rib cage. She couldn't get away, could she? Not even the fact of being on the other side of the world mattered, it would still stay with her. She couldn't escape the reminders etched on her own skin.
She angrily wiped away the few tears that had rolled down her cheeks and got to her feet, glancing momentarily at the fragile looking girl in the mirror before the glass shattered unexpectedly "I'm not fucking broken." She growled to herself, before leaving the bathroom to get ready.
I saw Spectre last week, and the opening scene just completely amazed me. Hopefully I'll be seeing Mockingjay Part 2 soon as well, though I can't help but feel a little worried, still wish they hadn't split the last book into two films. Hope you enjoyed, please review!