Electric Heart (Coriolanus Snow)

1

Sally hung like a balance beam in between her balcony and the next, which was a suite owned by her father's employer.

The cool air struck her cheeks curtly as she refused to look down. It was 12 stories high, her building. And her father happened to acquire the apartment on the 12th floor.

She had left for school an hour ago, stiffly hugging her father goodbye and heading out the door. That was before she realized she'd forgotten her written paper that she'd spent all night working on.

After trekking down 12 flights of stairs (the elevators were all taken) she was forced to turn around and come right back up.

Sally's father, Lucien Davenport, hated tardiness. If he could choose between eliminating tardiness from the masses or curing all disease, doctors would still be in high demand.

His hatred for tardiness was exactly the reason why she'd snuck back into the apartment and was now escaping through the balcony window.

Falling to her death seemed like a much more pleasant fate than being tortured with a long speech that would make her even later.

Only two balconies over was the window that would allow her to enter the 12 floor lobby.

Sally gritted her teeth, and felt her chest tighten as she jumped over the ledge, landing on the balcony owned by her fathers' boss. She hoped nobody was home.

Only one more jump, is what she kept telling herself, although it was easier said than done when "one more jump" could really mean "immediate and embarrassing death."

Embarrassing because everyone below would witness her body flailing in the air and then hitting the pavement.
All eyes would be on her corpse and there would be nothing she could do about it.

Sally hated eyes. There were plenty of prying ones at the academy. Not many students at the academy were ones originating from the districts, she supposed that was why. They thought they were superior. They thought her undeserving, and maybe they were right.

After all, it was her father, with his electrical engineering skills that caught the attention of the capital. He was able to conduct an electrical shield experiment, which was essentially a kind of force field. When news got out, he was recruited for the electrical engineering team in the Capital and the rest was history.

Sally was 12 at the time. Now she had no shame and admitting that they were rich. Though it stung her to think of all the struggling people they'd left in their district.

She held herself still before taking in one fast breath and jumping once more. She nearly slipped, but gained her balance and sighed, letting her heart rate return to a normal pace.

Sally pushed the window, which opened easily, and slipped inside the lobby slowly, sliding onto the couch like she'd been there for ages.

None of the people in the room seemed to even take notice of her, and Sally was glad. She jumped up and ran for the stairs, dodging everyone in her way.

By the time Sally reached the first floor, she was sweating, but she didn't care. No one at school sat close enough to her to smell her odor, not that it was even bad.

Sally flung the doors open of the first floor lobby, and ran down the street, where the academy was towering over all the other buildings.