Chapter Seventeen

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The second I shut my door, I open the bottle and pour two pills in my hand. I grab a water bottle from my night table and take the pills. I drink the whole water bottle in a minute, hopefully putting the pills in effect faster.

I pace around my room while looking at my clock. Three o'clock turns to three fifteen, three thirty, three forty-five and I don't feel any better. I actually feel worse being anxious for this to work. Are these actually real pills? Was the girl actually a stylist? What if she was a disguised peacekeeper, and this is all another way to torture me?

Screw all of this, I'm taking another pill. If these are meant to torture me, let it torture me. If these are meant to help me ease my pain, why the hell isn't it working? Just one, it will for sure put it in effect.

I swallow the pill and sit on my bed. The time reads three fifty. I fall backwards on my bed and my head hits my pillow. What? How did that just happen?

~

I'm walking on the main road back in district twelve. Everything is in slow motion and faded out except for me, the road, and my house. I start running to my house from the second I saw it. I push my dark red hair out of my face as I run up the front steps of my undamaged home and open up the door.

"Hello? Guys I'm home!" I shout. I close the front door and walk around. I see Hope run down the stairs, but then she freezes when we make eye contact.

"Mom, come down here!" She shouts. Ahh! My mom is here too!

"What is it-" My mom says while she walks down the stairs. She grabs Hope and pulls her close to herself the second she lays eyes on me. "I don't know who you are, just get out of here before I call the cops!" She says calmly.

"Mom, it's me Emma!" I say.

"You look nothing like her. It's bad enough you broke in here, but you now are lying to be my dead daughter!" She yells at me. Dead? She thinks I'm dead?

"No, you don't understand! They captured me and changed me and-"

"That's enough! One more word and I'll call the cops. Get out!" She says as she points to the door. I open my mouth to say more, but all I do is let one tear stream down my cheek. As I open up the front door again, I see Alex come to the door to lock me out.

~

I open my eyes and see that I'm not in my room anymore. I'm in the hallway sitting against the wall. I must have sleep walked out here.

I stand up with my heart in my throat and start walking back to my room. Don't cry here, the peacekeepers will think you are weak. Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry... I find my room and turn the handle to get inside. It's locked.

I slide against the wall and burst out in tears. I bring my knees to my chest and bury my face in my kness. No one is in the hallway so I don't care. The dream... and this? I can't do this anymore! That dream will come true one day, and I don't want it to. Hope's reaction to seeing me, my mom's painful words, and Alex locking me out are all replaying in my mind.

"Scarlett? Are you okay?" I hear someone ask. I push my hair out of my face and look up. Jason.

"No, I'm not." I quietly say. Some of my voice is back, but it's scratchy.

"Here," Jason says as he offers his hand to help me up. I get up on my own and wipe my tears away.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" I ask.

"I'm always a nice guy." Jason says.

"Ha, good one. Remember the time we met? Or the way you treated me before I was tortured? Even after I was tortured! Yeah you're right, you are such a nice guy." I say strongly. "By the way, I know you're the one who had the idea of this." I say as I ruffle my red hair.

"Look, I'm really sorry for the way I acted in all of that." He says as he looks both ways down the hallway. "You wouldn't understand why I did those things if I told you."

"Try me." I quietly say, looking down at my feet as he looks at me.

"Nows not the right time-" Jason says as he looks down the hallway both ways again.

"Why not? And why are you looking down the hallway both ways? Are you waiting to cross a street or something?" I bark at him.

"I'm not supposed to be here okay? See those cameras? Yeah, I was helping out in security this afternoon when I saw you running down the halls with your eyes closed. They were going to call another peacekeeper down to help you back, but I volunteered to." He explains as he pulls something out of his pocket. He swipes his card against the scanner of my door and it unlocks.

"Oh, well thanks I guess." I say with my cheeks blushing with embarrassment.

"If you didn't know, which you probably didn't, the doors lock automatically once it's closed. Keep your key card with you at all times." He explains. "Meet me by the elevator in an hour if you want to know more. I have a meeting to get to now, so if you excuse me," he says as he walks away.

I rub my eyes and step inside of my room. I run over to my clock which reads five o'clock. I have to be at the elevator by six to know why he's been acting like a jerk.

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