kill for your love - the hunger games

(088) but could juniper?

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KILL FOR YOUR LOVE.

act three.

(chapter eighty-eight, but could juniper?)

district seven, 76 ADD.

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IT WAS POURING WITH rain and nearing evening by the time Juniper Hale arrived in District Seven. Her jacket was still inside out. Her laces were still undone. She was still wearing her pyjamas. Tears were stained on her cheeks. Mud had dried on her boots and the hems of her bottoms. She looked like a mess and stuck out like a sore thumb once she stepped off the train and onto the platform. 

One thing she noticed about District Seven, even in her looniness, was that it differed immensely from Ten. There was no mud in sight and rather, grass and cobblestone paths were substitutes. Silhouettes of tall trees shadowed everything. Redwoods. Pines. Even the smell was better than what it was in Ten, a crisp, refreshing aroma floating into Juniper's nose that mixed with the scent of the fresh rain. 

But one other thing about Seven was that it was much larger than Ten, town wise. Juniper could barely see the figures of buildings and stations that went on for miles, mixed in with mediocre houses. The Hale's woman vision was hazy with the pouring rain and her hollow head was trembling with thoughts, but she could still conclude that Victors' Village would be difficult to find. 

Taking a deep breath, Juniper stepped off of the platform and onto the stone path, but as she did, she was soaked to her bones in a matter of milliseconds. The rain seeped heavily into her jacket and pyjamas and she could feel her boots becoming filled with water. The Hale woman hadn't compensated for the wind either and was nearly knocked off of her feet when she took another step. 

("... I thought we were starting to like each other..." Johanna whispered, her smirk faltering slightly as she stared at Juniper)

("No!" Orion raised his voice. His daughter didn't even flinch. "You're grieving, Juniper. I know what that feeling is like. I can't leave you like this. I might have messed up, but I can still redeem myself. I'm not going to leave you.")

Juniper wrapped her already-soaked jacket around her, trembling as she began to make her way into the district. Through the rain and fog that surrounded the area, she could barely make out the buildings that she was passing. She figured they were small shops from the little signs that were nailed on the verandas, but they were all empty. It was evening time. No wonder they were all closed. 

What must have been a market place went on for a long time and only stopped when Juniper entered what must have been a residential area. Nearly every house was made out of wood with shabby red curtains and sturdy brick chimneys. Juniper could barely see any of the smoke coming out of them due to the rain, but she could catch a glance of a few people running around to their houses, jackets hunched over their heads as if to stop the heavy and stinging droplets. 

Licking her lips and shielding her eyes from the pounding water, Juniper jogged over to an elderly man who was speed-walking by. He had something that looked like a newspaper over his head and it was soaked with rain, just like the man himself who harboured a freckled face hidden by his wrinkles and brunette hair that was streaked with grey.