Chapter 4 - Imprisoned

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(Warning; this chapter has some strong language)
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Apparently there is an underground jail in some unknown building in the Capitol. It looks like it's only one floor, but I don't know how wide the room is. The first thing I thought of was the darkness; it's pitch-black air with tiny sources of light in very few places. I can tell that the place is huge, I can't see it, but I can feel it. Every sound echoes off of the walls, it makes everything so much louder.

The peacekeepers take me down a long hallway, with cells lined up on each side. When we first came out of the elevator, it was like entering a completely different world. I had glanced around the room before they pushed me down the aisle.

From what I saw, it looked like there were three long hallways of cells. All of the cells are made completely out of bricks, except the door, which is made of small metal bars crossed over each other in a diamond pattern. The doors are wide enough that you can see inside, but I refuse to look into any of them. As they escort me down the hallway, I can hear different types of panicked breathing coming from some of the cells.

Every other cell has a dim lamp hanging on the wall beside the door. That's the only lighting in this entire room. The ceiling is almost completely pitch black. I can tell that the bricks are painted white, but it's hard to see because of the darkness. There are no real walls, just cells. They don't even touch the ceiling; they seem only nine feet tall, whereas the ceiling is extremely high up.

The air is silent besides the echo of footsteps on the cement floor. This place smells abandoned and old. How old is this place? Has it been here ever since President Snow became president? Or before even that? It definetly seems old-fashioned, with maybe a few sloppy touch-ups.

My prosthetic foot clanks against the floor indifferently in comparison to my real one. The floor is cold and smooth, looking like a menacing gray color in the poor lighting. After a couple minutes of walking, a muffled gasp emerges from a cell to my right,

"Peeta!"

My head turns to the familiar voice, and a woman's face appears from the shadows behind the patterned bars.

"Johanna?"

I quickly walk over to her cell, departing from the peacekeepers. A small pale hand reaches out from behind the bars,

"Peeta, listen I'm sorry I didn't know wha-"

A peacekeeper leaps forward with his arm out, gun in hand, and slams it against the cell door. As she staggers back, the other one firmly grasps my shoulders, pulling me away from her cell. I attempt to push myself back to her direction, but the peacekeeper manages to drag me away.

"Hey! Don't push me asshole!" Johanna shouts.

The second peacekeeper swings open the door to the empty cell next to Johannas. The other peacekeeper pushes me in, so hard that I stumble forward, almost hitting the ground. When I turn back around, they're gone, and the dungeon door is locked. I am officially a prisoner.

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My first couple of hours in that dungeon wasn't so bad for being imprisoned in the Capitol, but I immediately had a change of thought after the next few days.

All I could do was stare at the floor, unable to sleep for more than what felt like a couple minutes. My brain always worked too hard thinking about betrayals, rebellions, and how soon my death might be.

Then the screams.
New screams every time, assuring me that every person before was probably dead. I never know how they get killed; I can just hear the begging, pleading, and following screams. Each scream lasted at least an hour, reminding me too much of the Quarter Quell.

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