When two worlds collide

chapter 6

Chapter 6-

Tris POV

The siren turns off all at once, and Coin makes an announcement that I don't really pay attention to. But as soon as she finishes, a bomb hits. My body stiffens; I feel it everywhere in my body. I look around, nothing broken and I sigh. I relax the tension in my muscles. The lights go out, and I'm reminded of the dark hallways at dauntless. I see both Tobias and Christina also look unaffected by the lights.

 A hum of a generator plays and a very dim glow of light turns on, it's almost silent except for the faint voices of people talking softly. However I hear a voice of a girl near us.

 "...it's all right baby, it's all right. We'll be okay down here" she says softly in comforting tone.

 I'm smiling slightly, when I realize it's the blond girl that Katniss was with earlier, her sister, Prim. Was she talking to Katniss? I'm slightly amused by the idea but I hear a small meow, and I remember the cat, the one she went back to get. They made quite the scene. I thought she was crazy, she risked her life for a cat! I shake my head. I'm glad she was able to make it.

I turn and face Christina, whose legs are swinging in the air, quite close to my face, as she sits on the bunk on top of mine. She's staring at her hair. I look at her incredulously as I realize what she's doing. She looks down at me,

"What!?" she asks defensively, looking down at my face.

"Your hair," I say, stifling a laugh.

"Oh, whatever, I'm just trying the look. Don't make such a big deal about it!" she says.

But she's already unraveling the braid she was working on that resembled Katniss'.  Tobias turns around from his sitting position on his mattress on the floor and smiles. She sticks out a tongue at us both.

Katniss POV

"So what do you think they'll do to him?" I ask quietly to prim.

She pauses, "Whatever it takes to break you."

What will break me?

 It's the question that' eats at me, over the next three days. As were locked between thick walls of safety.  Over this period of time we are hit by four more bunker missiles. I guess what they really want is to keep me off the screens, not destroy the distinct completely, though they are doing a lot of damage. Sometimes were given time to socialize, and turns out that buttercup is now sort of a celebrity, both adults and kids are extremely entertained by the game "crazy cat" that I made up many years ago. I just wiggle a flashlight beam on the floor and buttercup tries to get it. On the afternoon of one of the nights, while I was waving the light as usual, playing this game, A girl about 16 or 17 with dark hair and skin moves toward me. I can't think of her name, but I do recognize her from that first day when we were in the woods. She's now standing by me, looking down at my sitting form.

"Hey," she says, smiling. She seems enthusiastic, but at times I think I see something flickering in her eyes, where her smile doesn't quite reach her eyes. I again wonder what exactly happened before they met us. I shake away my thoughts as I greet her back. 

She slowly sits next to me, I glance at her from the corner of my eye as I absently move my wrist that's holding the flashlight side to side, so that buttercup is still jumping around. She bites the side of her lip, as she stares intently at buttercup, every once in a while glancing back down to my hand, that's holding the flashlight. I smile, understanding what she wants.

"Could you keep up with cat game? My wrist is starting to hurt, but I think people still want to watch" I say, and rub my wrists to add to the illusion that they hurt, her eyes immensely light up. 

"Really? Yes! Absolutely." she says almost taking the flashlight out of my hand.

She turns her eyes back down at my hands and as she realizes her amount of eagerness, because she pauses and apologizes quietly.

I waive her apology away but, she's already turned her attention back to Buttercup, moving the light this way and that, once in a while chuckling at Buttercups' frustration.  As I'm watching Buttercup, my eyes grow big, and I fold my hands together, placing them between my thighs. I sit there on the floor breathing, keeping myself together because this crazy cat game all of a sudden has become a metaphor to my situation.

 I am buttercup. The light is Peeta, the thing I want so badly to secure. As long as Buttercup feels he's got a chance he doesn't stop fighting, and that's how I've been since I've left the arena, with Peeta still alive. But once I turn off the light buttercup is always momentarily confused and upset, but then he just moves on. That's what would happen if Peeta died. If that light is hopelessly out of reach, buttercup is useless, pacing below, wailing until the light is turned off. That's the game I'm playing with snow, and it looks like he's got the upper hand... for now.

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"I struggle to find any truth in your lies" - Awake my Soul by Mumford and Sons