The Chamber [Sequel to Silence]

24

 Time passed slowly. I watched Riley scream with feral intensity, clinging to Milo’s body with desperation, as though her touch might raise the dead. I bit my lip and held back tears, averting my eyes for a moment to compose myself. When I looked back, I saw that Elianna was tight lipped, tears silently falling down her cheeks. She didn’t make any attempt to stop Riley, for she knew as well as I that Riley would not let go of her friend. A hovercraft came to collect the body, but still she clung to him, like a baby monkey. She wouldn’t let him go. In the end, a man was forced to sedate her with a dart gun. Her body went limp, but her eyes still moved, still spilled tears as she watched them take her friend away from her. Only then did Elianna scoop Riley into her arms and hold her close. From then on they only had each other.

 One of the women I was sat with sighed sadly, almost tiredly, dabbing her eyes carefully so as not to smudge her makeup.

 “Well, Mr Rider. That certainly was eventful,” she said “And I have come to the decision that I would like to sponsor Otto.”

 “What? Why?” I said sharply, hoping I’d misheard her. The woman tutted.

 “You really shouldn’t discourage me sponsoring one of your own tributes! And the reason is simple. Don’t you understand, Mr Rider, after all these years? I want a winner. That mess of a child is not going to win. Yes, I feel sorry for her. I am not heartless. But only one can be victorious. And it will not be her.”

 I could feel fury rising up inside me like an inferno. Clenching my fists, I stood angrily and walked away. I could hear the woman calling after me, but I had no time for her. In that moment, I felt something I hadn’t felt since the moment I became a victor in the Games. The desire to kill. I imagined slashing a knife through Otto’s face, snapping the neck of the ghastly Capitol woman who wished to support him, an axe burying deep into the skin of my enemies.

 I punched a button in the lift, stumbling inside and sinking the floor, hugging my knees as I rose to the seventh floor. But when the doors opened, I didn’t leave. I stayed there, trying to calm myself down, attempting to see through the cloud of blood that had invaded my mind. I was slowly losing my sanity, but I clung to it desperately. It was all I had left.

 For the first time since arriving in the Capitol, I allowed myself to think of Pandora. I’d kept her sheltered in the back of my mind, as though even to think of her might get her hurt. Our love was dangerous, but I needed to think of her to grasp reality once more. I pictured her in my head the way she was when we first began to fall in love, allowing myself to be sucked into the past.

 Pandora and I took a walk together around the very bottom floor of District 13. I had felt the need to be alone with her for a long time, and so had invited her to join me on my walk, but still I kept my distance from her, restraining myself from reaching for her hands and kissing her lips. Silence surrounded us, because of course, Pandora could not speak. But it wasn’t an awkward silence. In fact, it was calming. I allowed myself to steal glances at her, forbidden darts of my eye taking in her blonde hair, loose and falling over her shoulders in a soft curtain. My eyes skimmed over her blue ones and took in the shape of her lips, slightly parted and pink. She walked slightly stooped, her head bowed, mostly out of habit. She was used to having people giving her orders, kicking her down, forcing her to show them respect they didn’t deserve by ducking her head. I wanted to tell her how much she mattered, how courageous she was, how much I admired her for the life she’d lived.