kill for your love - the hunger games

(065) silence

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KILL FOR YOUR LOVE.

act three.

(chapter sixty-five, silence)

...

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IT WAS LIKE SHE was flying, floating on a cloud midair. She was gliding as a soft, familiar sensation trickled through her system. It tickled the tip of her fingers and toes, waltzing through her veins into her arms, spreading through her chest like medicine, dancing to the steady beats of her heart, up towards her brain. It was soothing. Juniper had been on morphling many of times to know this was exactly what it was. But there was something else. 

Morphling never made her as sleepy as she was now. It was like her eyes were snapped shut and she couldn't open them. She was trying to, but something wasn't allowing her. But whatever it was, with her eyes closed, it was like a dreamless sleep. There were no nightmares. There were no flashbacks. Juniper Hale's eyes were simply closed, putting her into a warming rest.

Any pain she had felt was numbed. She could barely feel her fractured ribs as she took deep, slow breaths. In fact, she couldn't feel anything. It was like there was no agony in her being. It was like her soul was finally allowed to have some rest. Her mind was at ease, empty. No thoughts came rushing in. It was like it was comfortably hollow. 

Did Clampitt give her morphling and something to help her sleep? Juniper didn't quite remember. One minute, she was talking to the doctor and the next she was... at a Reaping? She didn't question it. If she questioned it, her soothing state might disappear. And so, Juniper allowed whatever was being pumped into her systems to remain there. It was like heaven.

But suddenly, that calmness, that comfort began to disappear. Pain started to arrive ever so slowly. A beating agony was making its way up from the tip of her toes and fingers, racing harshly through her veins as it trickled up her legs, towards her stomach. It sprinted through her chest, nearly making her gag, before settling to the top of her head. It was infecting every limb, muscle, and bone and the morphling was disappearing. 

The comfort. The soothingness. The calmness. The rest. They all began to disappear into thin air and whatever had put her soul to sleep, it was leaving her system. Her eyes, which had been snapped shut, were opening and as they did, she was greeted with a blinding light. Juniper winced as she felt puke rise. She was moving. Why was she moving?

As the torturous pain came flooding back into her, eyes open yet blurry, Juniper was looking upwards. She had to be going down a hallway since lights lined the roof. There were fuzzy faces peering down at her, some wearing masks and lab coats. Were they doctors? 

Juniper could feel herself becoming worked up. She couldn't move. Who was staring down at her? She nearly croaked out in pain as whoever was making her move took a sharp turn. Then there was commotion. Uproar. People were shouting orders. There were sounds of wheels being turned. Whatever it was, more people peered down at Juniper when she stopped moving. How was she moving laying down?

"She's extremely emaciated and dehydrated," one said, their voice muffled. "All of them are." 

All of them are? Who were all of them? Peeta, Johanna, and Annie? And why did someone care if she was underfed and dehydrated? Did Clampitt finally realise they needed food? Juniper was panting as her vision slowly started to become clear.