Double Trouble

Chapter One

??? POV

My head... It's pounding... All I could feel is the excruciating pain in my head and cold stone against my legs. The screams of horror and pain rang throughout the halls of District 48 as there was yet another victim to the hellish torture that we all had to go through. My sister trembled next to me, huddling close to me as I tried to make her feel safe and secure. Her soft half black and white hair mimicked mine precisely, her electric blue eyes adding to her unique features. Only, horrendous scars, burns and gashes lined her body and mine. They were all painful and ugly.

The sound of someone else whipped echoed nearby, making her whimper like a frightened puppy. "Who was that?" The guard's voice boomed as she opened her eyes in fear, keeping her mouth shut. I took in a shaky breath and hugged her. "It'll be alright... It'll be alright..." I continued to whisper to her as the footsteps got louder and louder. It's no use, it's only us and one other person in this district. The one whom the guard just had killed and whipped. The others are all rotting in their own blood.

"Tch, you two?" The large man grunted as he looked down at us from the other side of the electrical bars. My sister shook uncontrollably in my lap, trying to look at the guard but failing to do so out of fear. "Hey you! Look at me!" The man barked, frightening her even more. "Stop it! You're scaring her!" I accidentally shouted at him, I think pissing him off. "What did you just do you little brat?" He switched off the electrical current and opened the cell, picking me up by my tattered clothes. I squirmed helplessly, my twin sister shaking on the ground and rolling up into a tight ball.

"Did you just fricken yell at me you little b*tch?" He snarled in my face, the foul breath of unbrushed teeth for who-knows-how-long making me gag. Giving me a hard punch to the face, I collided into the hard stone wall of my cell and coughed up blood, a tooth falling out of my mouth. My chest pounded as I breathed in and felt something pop. I broke a rib...

He then looked down at my sister. "Was it you who made that sound like a squeaking mouse?" He pulled out a whip and she immediately let out a scream of terror, terrified of the pain that she was going to face. "S-Stop..." I gasped, reaching out my bony hand for her. The guard lashed out his whip at her, leaving a red mark on her thighs. She screamed as she put her hand over the place that he whipped, only leaving an opening for her already whipped arms. He punished her again, this time directly on a wound that was already bleeding. Screaming again in pain as she tried to get away from him, the terror obvious in her eyes.

I could only stare despite my pain for her. I want to do something... I have to do something! But what? I'm only a five year old boy who has a broken rib and several missing teeth. I'm a useless little runt who can't even protect someone who I hold close to me... I'm powerless.

As the guard whipped her back several times on the same spot, I began to cry. Cry? I never cried. But that's what my sister is doing too. She was crying in pain in fear, while I was crying in anger and frustration. This isn't right... I have to protect her no matter what.

"Don't you dare touch my sister again!" I screamed at him, making him stop immediately and stare up at me. Tiny sparks of electricity sparked at my hands, not visible to his view. Kicking her out of the way, he slowly made his way towards me. "Did you not learn your lesson?" He picked me up and slammed me into the wall. I gasped in pain as I felt my broken rib pop right back in and out again as I took a breath in. At least he stopped with my sister...

Pulling me back and repeating that process at least five more times, I kept back my screams of pain, my eyes staring at the limp body of my sister's against the wall. This would be all for nothing if she was dead.

The guard picked me up again, throwing me onto the ground forcefully and pulling out his whip once again. I could smell the blood on it, rich fresh blood and old dried up blood. My own would only be added in the combination....