The 70th Hunger Games- Fliss' Story

35

I am being dragged down multiple corridors, the men holding my arms. I have now stopped fighting against them. Knowing no matter what I do I am not going to escape. We are so far underground it is pitch black. We can only see the pathway through the feeble light the men's torch gives out.

My dress is torn and dirty, no longer pretty. Just like me.

I have scratches up my legs and bruises on my arms.

I am not sure I will ever see the sun again. I will certainly not remember the way out. I will probably rot down here.

We make it to a heavy metal vault door. One of the men enters a code onto the panel on the side of the door. It swings open with a creak.

I am pushed inside and the door closes behind me. It shuts with a bang that echoes. I'm never going to get out.

I snap around as all the lights go on.

Crumpled on the floor in the middle of the room is Ash.

He is broken and bruised. He looks worse than he did when he came out from the arena.

I run to him, planning to hug him in my arms.

A glass wall blocks my path. Ash is imprisoned in a glass cube.

I bang helplessly on the glass willing it to break. Tears stream down my face. And it's my fault. It's all my fault.

Why did I ever think that they would let him go? I let him go through with MY plan on little more than hope.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Miss Barker."

The cold voice of President Snow greets me.

"What did you do to him?" I ask. I try to make my voice hard but I can't.

"Did you really think we would let him go?" He says blatantly ignoring my questions. "If you of all people could do something like this and walk away, what would stop other people? I need to protect the Capitol. You wouldn't want a repeat of the dark days would you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You have defied the Capitol Miss Barker. And I can't let that go unpunished. You thought that you could trick us into thinking Ash was dead by using sleep syrup then we'd let him walk so you could go live happily ever after? You must be insane."

When he puts it like that I have to agree.

"Not only did you do that but you used the arena as a weapon."

"What?"

"The force field. The force field you used as a weapon. You used its properties to help you. It was not meant to be used. Everything you've done in the arena screams defiance. If I let Ash go, I would be telling the world about this defiance. People would assume they could do the same. And I could not let that happen."

"What are you going to do? Keep me here? People would notice that I had gone missing."

"But you won't be staying here. You will go home. He won't."
I turn to look back at Ash, at his broken body.

Snow grabs my face and forces me to keep looking at him, tears spring to my eyes again.

"Look at what you have done to him. This is all your fault. Look at all the pain and suffering you have caused."

The image of Ash burned into my mind. I know I will never be able to forget it.

"If you do anything ever again that speaks defiance, I wouldn't be to surprised if something happens to your precious Ash. I think you know what I'm talking about. Do we have an understanding?"

Somehow I manage to choke out the word.

"Yes."