Rising Rebellion [#3]

Chapter 21 - Dark And Twisted

There was no way they could count the days that passed. They never had any sunlight to guide them. They were sitting in a hole somewhere deep underground without the possibility of seeing the sun or hearing the rain. There was literally no way for them to count the days that were passing now. Snow hadn’t honored them with his presence lately either. What John had told him earlier had really gotten to him somehow. They were all smart to think it, but John was even smarter to say it. Perhaps that’s all it took for Snow to really see what was happening in Panem. With a victor receiving praise from several Districts and the President trying to take her away from them, there would only be a matter of time before the Districts started rebelling. The thing was, before Katniss even came to everyone’s attention, the rebellion was already happening. The rebellions had already been making plans before she came along.

During this period of time, Annie had been calm. Of course whenever they heard footsteps she started rocking herself back in forth while covering her ears. Whenever that happened, John tried to calm her down by trying to make her think of one of her happier moments with Finnick. It always calmed her down. Sylvia was just lying on John’s lap. He would stroke whatever hair was left on her head every now and then, but it never got any easier thinking about what they had been doing to her. If there was one thing he craved for more than anything at the moment, it was revenge. Revenge on President Snow for the people that John had lost, and revenge for what they had done to Sylvia. He didn’t know how deep it stuck in Sylvia, but he knew it was deep enough to cause her to not want to talk about it. It made him angrier than most.

John knew that if his father was still alive and was there with him, he would tell John to not give into his anger. At this point however, John wasn’t a boy anymore. He was 23 years old and had had a harder life than most in his age. He had lost his innocence after the reaping to the first Games he was reaped to. He was a rebel now. Ever since he won the Games, he had been, he figured. There wasn’t one part of him that supported what the Capitol stood for. He had been forced to of course, but he didn’t do it by heart. The rebellion however, he supported with all he had. It was his chance to do something about the life he was living. About the life they were all forced to live, victor or not.

But then he got to thinking about all the scars as he looked down at a sleeping Sylvia. She had been through the worst the Capitol could do to her. John knew that for sure, but so had he. With all of this anger and how he planned on releasing it, he suddenly felt like he was five years back in time when he had won the Games. He was so scared about becoming someone he wasn’t. John knew he wasn’t the angry or aggressive type. That had always been Sylvia. But he wondered if she ever would be that person again. Maybe it was his turn? But what would he become then, if he gave into his anger? Would he still be the same boy or would he turn himself into something he wasn’t? Something that nobody around could recognize, not even Sylvia?

As he was in the middle of his thoughts, he flinched at the sound of a scream. It was a male’s scream. Annie sitting right next to him started covering her ears again. Sylvia barely woke up as it got quite noisy around her. “What’s going on?” She asked as if she had forgotten where they were. John tried to calm down Annie as he answered Sylvia’s question. “It seems like the last one of us is getting the worst kind of treatment.” John answered. None of them seemed too eager to listen closely and find out who it was, but they all had their suspicions, at least John and Sylvia did. “It must be Peeta. Snow’s using him to get to Katniss, wherever that princess is.” Sylvia then said. John nodded in silence. “Yeah, that’s got to be him.” John then said before he heard footsteps coming closer and closer. They then heard a key turn and the door opened. Annie’s rocking back and forth was even worse than with the screams earlier. But no peacekeepers entered this time. They just threw somebody inside and the locked the door.

Annie was the first one to recognize him as he was thrown into the cell. “P-Peeta!” She said. John turned to her. “You saw him here earlier?” John asked her slightly confused. Peeta got up on his four limbs as Annie answered. “W-we sh-sh-shared a c-cell earlier…” She answered stuttering. Peeta sat up against the wall. As John looked over at him, he could tell that something was different. He remembered when they first met in District 7, that Peeta was that kind of man who was sweet, pure, not aggressive type at all. That was all changed when John looked at him. Peeta wasn’t the type that would kill just because he wanted to either. John remembered that because he said it after killing Brutus in the Arena. “What did they do to you?” John then asked him. Peeta looked over at him. “The same as usual, John. It’s been going on for several days straight now.” Peeta then added. John nodded weakly as he looked down on Sylvia. “Probably our turn next then.” John managed to say. Peeta seemed to shake his head. “They’re too busy trying to keep the Districts on their side. I’ve seen images of broken homes in your districts…I’ve also seen the face of the one responsible.” Peeta added with a darker voice.

They should probably have counted on that reaction from the Capitol. Whatever the victors did in the Arena could easily make the Districts pay for it severely. It was Snow’s way of getting to them: killing innocent and defenseless people. What John didn’t quite understand, was that part about who the responsible one was. “The responsible one, isn’t that obvious at this point?” John then asked him as it turned quiet among the four in the cell. As Peeta looked at him to answer, John could definitely tell that the boy who was willing to die for Katniss was long gone. This was a different kid. They had done something to him to make him consider Katniss the enemy. “Of course it is, John. It’s because of her! Every death in Panem these days is her fault!” He started.

Sylvia had heard Peeta’s words and outraged sat up, no matter how much her body protested. She directed herself at Peeta. “Come to your goddamn senses, baker-boy! Snow and the Capitol are doing those things! They are the ones who are taking innocent lives! If there’s anything your pretty princess is guilty of, it’s fighting for them, fighting for their rights as human beings, just like you have!” Sylvia managed to say before her strength came to a halt and John caught her and led back down to his lap. She lied there catching her breath as Peeta answered back immediately. “She’s not a princess at all, Sylvia. She’s the one that’s causing all of this! She’s is the reason why the people in the Districts are dead!” Peeta answered outraged. As he was screaming, John was sitting there taking it and at the same time trying to calm down Annie.

As he looked up at Peeta, he could see that the boy Peeta once was, wasn’t there. “The real Peeta wouldn’t say such things about the girl he was willing to die for. The real Peeta would understand what she’s really doing out there, the sacrifices that has to be and has already been done. We made sacrifices for you two.” John answered as he tried to catch his breath. “In here we still are.” John then managed to add as Peeta was just looking at him with nothing to say. John barely had the strength to keep awake, and now he was shouting it all out at Peeta who was now someone else entirely. “The Peeta that I met in my own District, and at the Quell, wasn’t anything like you. He was much better, kinder and he understood the meaning of the word sacrifice.” John started again. “They’ve been doing something to you, Peeta. You might not see it yourself, but you’re not yourself. If you want to know if anyone is exploiting anyone here, it’s them, Peeta, the Capitol. They’re using you to get to her.” John then said as he took a deep breath.

“Whatever feelings I had for her, they are gone. What the Capitol made me realize is that people are dying because of her. We need to stop fighting in order for there to be enough people in this nation. We are not enough to fight after the last rebellion.” Peeta said in the same dark voice as earlier. Sylvia managed to turn around to face him. “And yet they find it that there are enough children in each District to send off to a slaughter Arena every year?” Sylvia then asked him at first. “If we aren’t enough people to fight a war, how is it that there are enough children to punish the Districts? How does that fit into your logic, prince?” She then asked sarcastically as she settled back into John’s lap. She fell asleep shortly after.

John then looked at Peeta. The boy hadn’t responded because honestly, what Sylvia had said to him made sense. “People are dying, that’s true, Peeta. The question however is if every death is a step towards something better…because if it is, it will be worth it in the end.” John then said as it turned quiet in the cell.