Puzzle Pieces • Finnick Odair

C H A P T E R 4 7

Another couple of minutes, hours, days? Well, they didn't know how long but some time had passed. The four sat in silence.

"Did I ever tell you how gorgeous your new hair looks, Darling?" Jessica jokes, referring to Johanna's bald head.

"You didn't, sweetheart, but I forgive you," she jokes back, matching Jess' humour, "it takes forever to style though."

"I can imagine," a light chuckle can be heard from Annie and Peeta's cells, which encouraged Jessica to carry on. If it made them laugh, she'd do it for hours, so they did.

"What's on the agenda today?"

"You know, a little drowning, a couple electric shocks then I might go grab a bite to eat, you?" Johanna jokes as Annie and Peeta stifle laughter. Though some might've found it insensitive, this was how the two girls coped with their pain and, as an added bonus, it kept the other roommates entertained.

"Tight schedule today. I've got a fog session in the morning, then I might go for a walk, you know listen to the birds sing, look at the colour of the sky, then I have a heavy beating scheduled which might run over into my first ever tracker jacker appointment."

"What, no electric whips today? They going easy on you now, huh?" Johanna joked, trying desperately to keep her friend in a good mood, it was no surprise to any of them that she got the brunt of the torture.

The others had noticed that Annie didn't get any beatings whatsoever and, though they never spoke of it, they knew why. They could tell because Jessica got extra torture.

Johanna was drenched in water then electrocuted, Peeta got the tracker jacker venom which altered his memory to trigger fear but Jessica got the fog room, regular heavy beatings, occasional electric whips and would soon be getting tracker jackers too, different to Peeta's however.

Jessica was that badly beaten that she couldn't even be used for interviews anymore. No amount of makeup could hide the constant purple bruising and scarring.

Just as Jessica was about to answer, peacekeepers came in. The four waited in silence to see which one was the lucky winner.

None of them were surprised to see it was Jessica, again.

She was dragged out of the room, the peacekeepers having zero care in the world that they were practically cutting off circulation their grip was that tight.

She was, as she had assumed, taken to the gas room, then the beating room, then a new room. This room resembled a hospital room: white walls, unknown chemical and pills, syringes and scalpels, and a bed with restraints built in to the sides. Okay, kinda feel like I'm in a mental asylum or some shit, she thought to herself. She was strapped into the bed and injected with tracker jacker venom. It was the same method that was used with Peeta, but they were trying to get a different outcome.

Her screams could be heard in the room consisting of Annie, Peeta and Johanna.

"Why does she do that?" Annie asks quietly.

"Do what?" Peeta asks back softly, his voice a broken whisper.

"Cause herself more pain so others don't have to." Silence. "Cmon we all know it's not coincidental that she goes through four different tortures and I have none. She is willingly taking extra beatings and pain for me, and probably you guys, to save us from more suffering. Just like how she volunteered for me. Why?"

"She's a good person." Peeta says simply.

"She'd rather go through a world of pain than let someone she cares about die."

After another unknown amount of time, Jessica wakes up. Johanna is gone and Annie is asleep. "Peetabread? You awake?"

"I'm here." There's a moment of comfortable silence. "What was it like?"

"Different to yours.. I think." She goes quiet as peacekeepers come in with a surprisingly still conscious, but wet, Johanna. They put her in her cell and chuck her an old towel before leaving.

Jessica continues, "it hurt like hell but.. they didn't alter any memories," the others stay quiet and let her speak, "they made me see things."

"You mean hallucinations?" Johanna asks, her breath shaky as her teeth chattered from the cold water.

"Yeah. But it's not just sight, I heard them too, but I couldn't touch them, as soon as I got close enough to touch them, they'd disappear under my hands. I- I couldn't help them. Like earlier I saw.. I saw Dales dead body. I heard the canon sound."

"So you see your memories?" Peeta asked, confused.

"I don't think so. Some things I had never seen before, they were fake, altered projections. I don't know. I think I see things I don't wanna see. Like my biggest fears."

It was known to everyone who knew Jessica Miller, including everyone in the room, that Jessica's biggest fear is losing the ones she loves. Mostly because it's happened so much in her life, either losing people, like her parents or people she loves being threatened.

AN: I know this chapters full of torture and stuff but can we just appreciate Jess and Johanna's relationship ☺️