kill for your love - the hunger games

(070) what was wrong with her?

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KILL FOR YOUR LOVE.

act three.

(chapter seventy, what was wrong with her?)

hospital ward, 75 ADD.

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KATNISS EVERDEEN'S MORPHLING WAS not helping. Juniper Hale and Johanna Mason took turns in attaching themselves to her morphling bag when the coast was clear for the next two days, avoiding the nurses and Katniss's cousin, who turned out to be named Gale. But the little amount of the strong drug was not helping Juniper. 

Her ribs were getting better, yes, but her mind was still crowded with thoughts, emotions she didn't want to have. She had a hard time keeping them under the covers with tears brimming her eyes that she would have to quickly brush away before anyone saw or utter rage that she had to control unless she wanted to be zip-tied again. Dr. Aurelius didn't help with his constant presence either. 

"You haven't slept in days," he would say. "You're going to pass out at any moment."

And it was true. The lack of sleep, the fear of the darkness was causing rings to circle deeply around Juniper's eyes and there were times where her head nearly lolled down, but she would snap up soon after. She still had enough sanity from the continuous meals she was eating and from the small doses of the strong morphling that Katniss was being admitted, but there were times where she couldn't even snap open her curtain because of how tired she was. 

But she couldn't sleep. She didn't want to. She was too scared. Juniper could see the tendrils of the darkness crawling across the tiled floors, aching to get towards her. And she feared that if she closed her eyes, she would be back in the cell. She didn't want to be back in the Capitol, she wanted to be here in Thirteen. But it was only two weeks and a bit since their rescue. Nothing was set in stone. 

But Juniper Hale needed more morphing to dispel those thoughts and emotions and so when the nurses put all the lights out and the other anonymous patients settled down, the woman waited for the door to close, for the nurses to bumble down the hallway. And then she stayed for another moment before quietly swinging her legs over her bed frame, trying to ignore the stab in her ribs as she got up. 

She unhooked her morphling bag off of the stand and carried it, detaching herself from the monitor that beeped to her heart rate. It went quiet and Juniper breathed slowly as she began to walk, feeling the coldness of the ward infect her being. Her legs were trembling as she did, cradling her ribs as she walked past Johanna. The woman's eyes were shut and Juniper rolled her own. She'd probably bump into the Victor from Seven in the hallways. 

Juniper made her way to the end of the long ward, reaching out to the handle of the door and pushing it open. Once she did, she was greeted with another long hallway that was lined up with doors, all labelled. All of them were patient rooms or wards and Juniper clenched her jaw as she felt her ribs ache. 

Where would the supply cupboard be? The Hale woman figured that the hospital itself in Thirteen would be very big and didn't know where the supplies would be. Because of this, Juniper began to walk down to her left, entering the reception area, which was a circular room that had screens littered around, showing up with patients' faces and where they were. Juniper clenched her jaw as she looked around. There were no doctors or nurses around with the lights dimmed.