❝We were so in love, yet apprehensive about it, we never got to live.❞
The winner of the 68th Hunger Games, Ella Rose White is ready for revenge when her name is called for the second time for The infamous Quarter Quell. She is enveloped in blinding...
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CHAPTER FIFTEEN, PUNISHMENT AND ALTERATIONS
Ella White was a girl who always looked for the best in people, she stood out always in her classes and in her neighbors who was the only one to not talk about murder the way the other kids were. She was sweet and loving and was the last person who deserved to be put into a world like this, a wold where the color red came from a violent history.
People adored her striking blue green eyes, so bright and full of life, it had become her favorite feature on her face, something that could never be taken away from her, with all the cuts and bruises, it would always stay with her.
When Ella opened her eyes, she heard voices, many voices, talking quietly and too complexed for her to understand what they were saying. She was scared, for the first time since she was 17 and when she first entered the games. She was too scared to open her eyes to see what was planned for her but she had to know.
Ella was laid in a white room, arms, legs and waist strapped to a bed, her eyes squint as she looked for the area she was in. When her eyes finally adjusted to the brightness of the room, she lifted her head to spot two men in lab coats and a dark, tinted mirror which was obviously a two way glass, which meant someone was watching.
"She's awake, we may now proceed with the experiment." One said, nodding his head to the other who agreed, they came closer to her, fixing the gloves on and grabbing a syringe filled with a yellow-ish golden substance.
Ella moved around, struggling in her restraints as she tried her best to move away from the men in white. Despite her efforts, the experimenter pushed the syringe into her arm making the girl let out a yelp. Her head hitting the back of the seat edge, eyes drooping as her chair was lifted, putting her in an upright position.
"Patient has woken up a week after the first injection of Tracker-Jacker venom, she has now been injected with the second doze to see more results, so far the Patient has shown resistance to the treatment and has not had any memory impairment." The second man recorded into the camera, looking at the monitor beside his screen.
"What the hell did you do to me?" Ella yelled, pushing her body towards the man in hopes of trying to get to him but she was tied down, unable to move.
The monitor started to play a video of Katniss, she was humming a song into the camera, singing softly but loud enough for her to hear it. Ella was confused, not understanding why this was a punishment for her. The scientists watched her closely, observing her every mood as if she was a robot in experimentation. Her heart thuds against her chest as the scene changes to slaughter, red covered the screen, blood splashing everywhere, it all seeming so very real.
"She's the enemy, Ella." One scientist said, him staring deeply in her eyes, coming closer as she blinked rapidly. "Let's begin."
Ella, confused, widened her eyes, starting to struggle in her restraints, she moved up and down, left and right, maneuvering her way to get out of it but it didn't work as a few weapons started to be placed in the hands of the experimenter. His eyes were scared, as if he wasn't sure if he could actually carry out the experiment. He took out electric shockers, then nodded at the other man who stood with a board in his hands, writing down the girl's vitals.
He used them, pressing it into her abdomen as Katniss' singing got louder, Ella screamed in pain, her eyes squeezed shut, her body spazzing in quick movements, jittery with electric waves pumping into her bloodstream. Her hands closed, her nails digging into her palms as her knuckles turned a pale white. The shock stopped but Ella was still left in a mess, her body convulsing every second. The venom was starting to take affect, her eyes became droopier, the scientist then turning to grab whip, her singing continued before the video cut to Finnick and her in the games.
A tear leaked out of her eyes, her staring into his face deeply, a small cry leaving her lips as she squeezed her eyes closed, humming to herself should she wouldn't hear anything, the man in the white coat used the whip to slash her, her keeping her head low so he wouldn't hit her face. A hiss left Ella's lips, the leather whip coming into contact with her skin. Another cry left her lips as she did her best to focus on her cried rather than the screen, wanting everything to go wrong in their experiment.
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Peeta hadn't seen Ella White in nearly two weeks, after her attempt to escape he knew he shouldn't have suggested it in the first place and the guilt was eating him alive more than the experiments were. He could only imagine what they had done to her after her capture, he had found out because of a walkie-talkie on a Peacekeeper.
He sat in his bed, practically malnourished, biting his lip impatiently just like he had the other few days before, he was bruised, beaten and skinny, only his bones visible at this point his blonde hair was dirty. Joanna was seated in her bed, her hair was no longer there and part of Peeta wondered if Ella was bald too, not understanding why they would do that anyway.
As the cage opened, his eyes snap open wide, his head turned to see Ella pushed into the cage, her body sickly thin, bruises and blood all over her top. She was whimpering to herself as she walked past the guard who led her in, she almost collapsed into the boy when he rushed to her, her droopy eyes and weightless feeling making her dazed and confused. Peeta embraced her, her head falling straight onto his chest as the girl cried her feelings out, her pain, her thoughts, her memories poured out of her as she sobbed into his t-shirt.
Peeta led her to her bed that had been unoccupied for a few days, made and perfectly done without any wrinkles in the sheets, she squeezed her eyes shut, clutching onto the boy harder, tears flooding out of her like the highest waves in District 4. It was that moment that the two tributes had realized they had no soul left, they were shattered into tiny pieces, unable to pick themselves up without the hope.
Sometimes Ella wondered if Finnick had already forgotten about her, if he was finally living a happy and comfortable life with her brother and friends. If he still cared about the way she still did. As hard as the Capitol would try to torture her with the hijacking, she knew her brain could never accept Finnick as the enemy, no matter how many alterations they tried to make.
Though a certain hesitance had started to enter her mind with Katniss due to her not being as close to her as Peeta had become, she still reminded herself the cause and why she had risked herself in the arena just to save The Mockingjay and her lover.
Ella White was slowly losing her sanity, but one thing the capitol could never take away from her was her love for the boy she had spent most of her life with.
