flawed

s e v e n t h

District_692
year 02 post great shock
•••

Amara POV

"Who's next?" I asked, swinging my freshly sharpened knife playfully through the air.

"Me!" Kaylee cried, running forward and taking her sister's spot on the stone.

I smiled, bending down and gently brushing her long, tangled locks through my fingers before pulling the hair taut and lifting my knife to it; cutting it with practiced skill.

As I cut Kaylee's hair I once again felt Thomas looking at me.
Ever since the storytelling night he seemed to be in a deeper sense of contemplation than usual.

I finished up cutting Kaylee's hair, so it fell to her shoulders- just like Alicia's- and sent her on her merry way, picking up the strands of fallen hair and brushing them into a pile.

When I turned around I found Thomas sitting on the stone, hands crossed in his lap.

"Oh. Thomas..."

"We need to talk, Mara. I've been watching you and there's so much you're not telling us- any of us. And I think it's time you tell the truth. About everything that happened. Without sugarcoating."

"I don't know what you mean," I mumbled with a cough, pulling my hair into a bun on the top of my head.

Thomas rolled his eyes.
"You talk in your sleep sometimes. And I've heard little phrases now and then that the others ignore, but I can't help but feel are clues to the larger part of your story."

I rubbed the back of my neck.
"And what... phrases... do I say?"

Thomas sat up straighter.
"For example-" he began to imitate my voice- "Chelsie- its just one prank- we will be fine..."
"I don't want to die yet... help me..."
"Survivor? Where are you, boy? Destiny..."
"Peter, come back to me... I miss you..."
"You will die before you lay a hand on her..."
"I don't think I'm coming back..."
"My end is soon, at least I can say I saved the world- or tried to...."
"Doctor Levine! He's behind you..."

I held up a hand. "Okay! Stop!"

My skull was aching and I buried my face in my hands, grimacing in pain.
I wanted to forget.
No,
I needed to forget.

Thomas reached out to gently rest a hand on my arm.
"You've always taught me and the others that we can't run from anything. That every problem we face is there for a reason. And that reason is for us to overcome it. I think it's time for you to take your own advice, Mara."

I looked up at him, at his eyes that bored into mine. "When did you get so wise?" I joked weakly.

He smiled. "When I started listening to you, big sister."

I pulled Thomas into a hug, holding his skinny body to my own. "I don't know if I'm strong enough to face the past yet, Tommy. Because I know it might break me."

"Nothing has ever broken you, Mara."

No thing maybe... but someone once managed to.

I felt emotion rise up in me, causing my eyes to sting with tears. Tears that I kept inside, because I had to keep fighting. I had to be tough for these kids.
There was no room in my life for love... and besides, Peter was sure to be dead.

Or else he would have found me by now.
Unless....
unless he didn't want to.

•••
District_103
year 02 post great shock
•••

Emma POV

"He's burning up," I called out to Dani, gently stroking Logan's sweating forehead with the back of my hand.

He was mumbling quietly, the words nothing but gibberish.
His breath came in wheezing gasps, and I could practically feel the pure heat radiating off his body.

Dani was at my side in a moment, a dirty rag in her hand. She dipped it in water, mopping at Logan's forehead.
I reached down and brushed one of his wavy locks away from his forehead.
"Come on little dude, come on," I murmured.

"How's the knife wound?" Vince asked quietly, striding over.
I tentatively pulled up Logan's shirt enough to see his wound, and I felt bile rise in my throat. "Not good."

The boss knelt down, glancing momentarily at Dani. She caught the hint and moved aside, I did the same.
Vince pushed Logan's hair completely off his forehead and effortlessly lifted him up off the ground with one arm, using the other to remove his shirt.

I gulped, fighting the urge to look away, not wanting to see the gaping stab wound in Logan's soft skin.
My best friend needed me.

"Dani, go get more water and a clean rag. The bleeding has stopped, but he seems to have a fever, we need to bring it down before it escalates anymore. Em, take off his socks, we need to get him cooled off."

My jaw unhinged the slightest bit. This was a side of the boss I'd never seen before.
He glared at me, looking up from Logan's wound. "Sooner, rather than later," he growled.

I shook myself off, turning back towards Logan and pulling off his hole-ridden socks and rolling up his jeans, looking around for anything cool.

Dani soon returned with the cloth and Vince set to work, moving with expertise that seemed to come naturally to him.
After what seemed like hours but couldn't have been more than 30 minutes, Logan's sweating and shivering ceased, and he seemed to fall into a peaceful slumber.

Vince stepped back, standing and brushing his hands off. "Continue to watch him and keep him cool, come get me if anything seems to change for the worse." His sharp eyes clashed with mine.
"That's an order."

Dani and I watched as the boss stalked off, and silence fell between us.
Our gazes simultaneously shifted to Logan's sleeping body.

He looked so exposed... so boyish, despite the obvious muscle earned from time out in the streets, and near-constant hunger.

"I'm gonna kill whoever did this to him." Dani suddenly spoke up angrily, her brown eyes burning.
I looked tiredly at her.
"You've got to find them first."

She tightened her jaw. "Leave that to me."
With that the young woman stood up and left, recognizable anger in her every step.

I turned to Logan- laying on the hard, uneven ground beside him, keeping a foot or so of space between us.
I than rested my head on my arm as a pillow and slowly drifted off, the last thing I see before falling asleep being Logan's precious little face.

•••

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