Hijacked

The Capitol

I jolted awake and flew immediately into a fit of coughing which resulted in me throwing up everything I had eaten that day onto the cold, hard, metal floor. Metal? Sitting up and wiping my mouth with the back of my hand I found that I was no longer in the arena, no longer surrounded by trees that held deadly secrets at every hour, no longer trapped there in that sense. I was trapped somewhere else and this somewhere else had bars and cold floors.

I tried to call out for help but found that it was hard to speak much less yell. Where was Peeta? Finnick? Johanna? A sudden rage filled me at the thought of Johanna. She tried to cut my arm off. I ground my teeth as I attempted to get into a standing position. If I ever got the chance I would rip her arm off. I must have blacked out, there was a lot of blood, but then.. Who won? I didn't win. What happened?

Staring at the bars I gripped them tightly, just to test their strength. Then I tried to squeeze myself through them. I thought I would be small enough. The problem was my head, it was wider than the bars. There was always nothing nearby I could grab and the ceiling was pretty high up. If I was a bit taller I could pull whatever light fixture was hanging down and I don't know make use of it? I decided calling for help would be better.

"Help..." It came out chocked and weak like I hadn't been able to drink water for several days. "Help!" I managed to say a bit louder. Then finally, "HELP!"

"Help isn't coming sweetheart." Startled I turned around and found a similar cage nearby. Just like mine with bars that were too close together and a single light hung over it. Someone lay just inside of it, directly in the middle on their back. When they lifted their head up I recognized them immediately. "Ain't nobody here to save us Girl on Fire." Johanna.

"Where are we?" I demanded marching over to the bars and glaring at her. She scoffed and dropped her head back down as if offended I would even ask such a stupid question.

"Where do you think we are? The Capitol." A cold shiver ran down my spine. The Capitol? No way. They would have killed us. They should have killed us. "Wondering why they haven't killed us yet?" Johanna had lifted her head back up again. "Yeah me too. I just wish they would get this over with." She muttered. She didn't sound defeated, just tired.

"How long was I out?" I asked. Johanna shrugged.

"It's not like they keep clocks in here." I didn't reply as I squinted at the darkness.

"Well how long have we been here?" I tried again.

"Check your arm sweetheart." She grumbled. My arm? Looking down at my arms I found that my right one, which would have held the tracker, the one Johanna had cut into held a long thin pink scar. No. That's not right. Even with the Capitol's medicine I wouldn't have a scar. I must've been here for... "A month at the least." Johanna finally said again.

"No. Johanna, we were just in the arena. We were just.. We were just there. We couldn't have been out for weeks." She said nothing. Did nothing. "Johanna look at me!" I shouted. With a heavy sigh Johanna sat up and looked at me.

"What Girl On Fire? Do you want me to hold your hand or something? You do this every other week. Wake up like you can't remember a damn thing. Wake up!" She screamed launching herself at the bars of her cage. "You're not in the arena anymore! Remember what they've done to you!"

I don't know how to quite explain it. It was sort of like the screaming of a whistle in the back of my brain that grew louder and louder before hitting a barrier in my mind and shattering whatever block my brain had set up. It was painful to say the least, all those memories rushing back at once. I know what drowning feels like and this was it, except I was above water and my memories were chocking me.