kill for your love - the hunger games

(089) then what do you want?

▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄

KILL FOR YOUR LOVE.

act three.

(chapter eighty-nine, then what do you want?)

johanna mason's cabin, 76 ADD.

SOMEHOW, JUNIPER HAD MANAGED to fall asleep, draped over the red, thick, crochet quilts. When she woke up, her limbs felt as if they were on fire with her bones popping, muscles tensioning. Her hair was knotted, stuck to her skin, and her clothes were still damp.

Groaning, the woman managed to pick herself up before burying her head in her hands. The faint smell of cinnamon and apples still manipulated her senses, causing her to be more wide awake than she normally ever would be. And because of this, she could see that there was a bright light that had an urge to enter the room, but was blocked by the cotton curtains that were shut. 

Feeling her joints ache and groan, Juniper slowly got to her feet and thudded along to the window. She draped the curtains back to see the forest of Seven. Tall trees shadowed everything. Redwoods. Pines. Orange and red leaves were falling to the grassy, weedy floor. The sun was high in the sky, just visible over the branches. But what was also visible was the back porch of the house, which consisted of two sun lounges and one person. 

Johanna. 

And whilst Juniper had an urge to go running down the stairs and out towards her, she suddenly remembered her damp clothes. If she went anywhere near Johanna Mason with a drop of water on her, the woman would go far away from her. And so, with haste, she looked around for clothes she could wear and remembered the cardigan and slacks in the open wardrobe. 

Clenching her jaw, Juniper rid her jacket, shimmied out of her bottoms, threw her top off, and started to put on the green cardigan and black slacks. She had nothing to tie her hair with and so, she tucked it behind her ears and allowed it to fall behind her back. She didn't want to scare Johanna. Especially not with what she had gone through. 

And so, hesitantly and after making sure not a water droplet was to be found on her, Juniper opened the crimson door and went into the hallway. There was a strong smell of caffeine that spread out through the house and it nearly made Juniper gag as she made her way down the squeaky stairs, bracing herself on the railings. The house downstairs looked much like it did the day before, however all of the curtains were wide open, allowing bright sun rays to beam onto any surface it could find. There wasn't even a hint of rain outside. 

Juniper perked a brow, but decided to ignore it. She was about to turn to go towards the sliding door that was on the other end of the cabin when suddenly, she caught a glance of the singular photograph that was on the mantle. Juniper had realised the house was bare of personal possessions that Johanna might have harboured and so, the small photograph perked her interest. 

Looking around, the Hale woman made sure Johanna was still outside before slowly and quietly making her way over to the mantle. She realised, as she neared the frame, that the photo looked cheap and lacked vibrant colours. It was a tan colour and seemed to have turned yellow with age. However, the faces in the photo were still visible and even then, did Juniper clench her jaw. 

Within the photograph, there were five people. A family. There were two figures who were presumably the mother and father. The former had her brunette hair tied up into an intricate bun atop her head with a crimson scarf wrapped around her neck. Her face was narrow and harboured many freckles. And then the father was tall and looked strong with a prickly beard that ran down his cheeks and neck. He, too, had freckles and had wood-coloured hair, but had vivid green eyes that differed from his wife's honey-like ones and curls that seemed to have Juniper in a trance. They both looked solemn as they stared at the camera.