Come Back to Me

XXIX

Cordelia startled awake, struggling to breathe for a moment. After that she was surrounded with silence, oher than a steady beeping, which after looking to her left she learned that it was a machine tracking her heart rate. So, though it was probably a good sign, she hated the sound with her core. It did nothing for the searing ache in her head, and that wasn't even mentioning the great sense of paranoia it was feeding.

"Welcome back!"

Cordelia's head snapped in the other direction, trying to gain the sight of her attacker. She went to raise her arm, only to find their was a tube jabbed through the skin on the back of her palm, keeping her movements more gentle. Then her eyes met Reno's, and her expression softened slightly, a breathe coming out deep and shaky. He was so happy, so bright.

"What happened," He let out a genuine chuckle, and something about it forced her into more of a sitting position, "I'm gonna throw up."

Reno didn't even step towards her, he just pointed frantically to the white bucket sitting beside the bed she was laid out in. She grabbed it just enough time to curl over and hurl into it. She couldn't even remember the last time she had eaten, or even what but whatever it was, was now piled in front of her in wretched chunks. He asked her if she was alright and she gave him an overenthusiastic thumbs up. She was given a moment to calm down, before Reno went forth with his explanation excitedly.

"You won my dear," He beamed with pride, so much so Cordelia thought he might explode. Now that'd be something, "you're the victor of the seventieth hunger games!"

Her face fell as she looked at him, really looked at him, taking in the fact that he was right in front of her and real. Up until that very moment she had thought she was dreaming, probably in hell. Though now, it still seemed pretty likely but, her heart was still beating and everything around her was still real. Then, the memories started coming back to her. From her killing Carter, to her final fight with Lucky. She reached up to touch her cheek to feel nothing but smooth skin.

"They reconsturcted your cheek to get rid of the scar," Reno nodded encouragingly, like that would make everything behind the mark dissapear with the mark itself, "not the other one though, it was too deep. The wanted to do an operation on your chest but, Finnick gave them too tough of a time over that. Then combined with your injury they just decided to skip it all together."

Her shaky hands grabbed ahold of the thin neck of her hospital gown and pulled it out so she could see it. The thick scar ran from the center of her chest, all the way to just above her belly button. A sudden rage was starting to build up inside of her. Sure she had a rather small chest but, it was her's, not anyone else's. Who could've possibly had the right to decide what would and wouldn't be done to her body besides her? She wouldn't even grant her parents a say in that conversation.

"Still it looks better than it did, and you're still alive. Besides, you can always reconsider things like that in the future."

She was still alive. Though funnily enough, it didn't feel as great as she thought it might, or as she'd hoped. So far it was... well it didn't really feel like anything.

"Yeah," Cordelia sighed tiredly, "how good for me!"

Her escort scoffed at her sarcastic tone. Of course, how could she be ungrateful?

"It absolutley is good for you," Exclaimed Reno. He wore a confused expression, not understanding why she wasn't as estatic as he was. Why she wasn't as grateful, "gosh everyone in the Capitol has been anxiously waiting for you to wake up for a little over a week now, people are starting to grow impatient!"

Her hazel eyes were beyond bloodshot, her focus almost burning a hole in the tiled floor. He spoke to her as if she chose this. As if she had any control over the situation whatsoever and had made the wrong choice. The first feeling broke through her blocked up, over medicated heart.