kill for your love - the hunger games

(016) i'm fine, i promise

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KILL FOR YOUR LOVE.

act two.

(chapter sixteen, i'm fine, i promise)

victor's village, 75 ADD.

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STEAM INFECTED THE BATHROOM, its vapour moving around the area in mesmerising motions. It danced around the tiles, bouncing off the mirror, coating everything in a thick condensation. It caused the room to be stuffy, making Juniper take deep breaths as she tried to get some sort of oxygen into her lungs. But her sighs and groans were drowned out from the harsh sound of the water hitting vigorously onto her skin and the shower floor, being able to practically hear the boiling water hiss on her flesh, making it go raw and red. 

Juniper Hale currently stood with her head low, arm supporting her as her palm was outstretched on the tiled wall, eyes closed as she cherished the feeling of the water burning her alive. She felt the droplets roll down the skin of her back, felt the water caress harshly through her soaked hair, felt the steam taint her body. 

And there wasn't a single complaint as she stood there, not a single writhe from the pain, merely because Juniper Hale loved hot showers. It provided her with the fact that she could feel. That she was not the heartless monster she was said to be. The cuts in which the water seeped into proved this, also. 

They were tiny, but deep. Somehow, the porcelain bits from the smashed plates and cups managed to dig their way into the palm of Juniper's hands, some on her arms, and a good majority on the soles of her feet. It wasn't her fault, really. It was just sometimes, her emotions got the better of her. And she could still feel the effects now as she felt that rage course through her veins. She could feel herself shudder because of it, making her body go cold despite the boiling water that was still hitting upon her back. 

Besides the relentless noise that echoed around the bathroom of the spraying water and the woman's groans, Juniper could still hear her father bustling downstairs. She felt terribly guilty in leaving the poor man to clean up. She felt terribly guilty for him everyday. 

Orion Hale was perhaps the only person in the entirety of District Ten who did not question her antics. If she threw a fit and destroyed all the plates in the house, like she just did, the man would quietly clean the shards up and go buy new dishes. If she collapsed in a heap of tears for whatever reason, he would hold her tight until that pain in her heart numbed. If she ever slept with a knife close to her chest when her paranoia was high, Orion would silently slip into her bedroom and slide the blade away from her in the fear that she would accidentally slit her throat. And he was the only person who tried to throw away all the liquor and morphling that Juniper had stashed around the place. Orion Hale was the only one who truly cared, which was surprising ever since... ever since...

When Juniper's airways started to constrict, she suddenly turned the water off, stepping out quickly. The showers in the districts weren't as nearly fancy as the ones in the Capitol with their numerous buttons on panels and body-drying mats. Instead, Juniper was stuck with two knobs and a ratty towel, which she securely wrapped around herself. She hated feeling vulnerable, so naked, so open. She had enough of that in the Capitol, the feeling of helplessness with... customers. She didn't need that in her own home.