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KILL FOR YOUR LOVE.

act three.

(chapter fifty, clampitt)

the white room / somewhere, 75 ADD.

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CLAMPITT. 

THAT WAS THE first thing Juniper thought about as she woke up, panting in the bed. She had known Clampitt. Clampitt was the one to convince Snow to not make Juniper do a post-Games interview nor the Victory Tour. Clampitt was the one that had sedated her when she first awoke from the arena three-years-ago. Juniper knew she had seen the doctor before. 

(And even as a dark-haired doctor with glasses came in to sedate her, the girl was still muttering to herself)

(From what Juniper could see as the woman peered over to look at her, she was wearing a white lab coat. She swore she had seen her before)

("Do you remember me, Miss Hale?" The woman asked. Juniper could recognise her face, but not her name. She had seen her before, but not from when she was laying down, trapped by an invisible force. Juniper had seen the woman in the Capitol years ago. When was that?)

And then the next thing Juniper thought about was why? Why was Clampitt here? The woman had deemed the Hale girl, at the time, crazy and psychotic so she didn't have to do the interview with Caesar Flickerman or do the Victory Tour. She had convinced Snow to cancel it all because of Lucy Stevens's wish to send Juniper back home to Ten. So, if Clampitt had done all of that, why was she here? Why was she the main person in Juniper's capture and solitude? Why was she showing her clips? Why did she handcuff her? 

Three-years-ago, Dr. Clampitt was helping Juniper Hale. She managed to persuade Snow. She stood up to Seneca Crane. She was decent to Lucy Stevens. And so, what changed? What made her put Juniper in the white room of hell? The Hale woman could feel her heart thudding, pounding as if it was going to burst out of her chest any moment. 

Clampitt was always there. She was always in the shadows. Watching, waiting. How long had she planned this? Did she think about putting Juniper in the white room of hell the minute she had to sedate her in the room with no windows or doors? Or was she simply just following orders? Juniper could feel herself getting worked up as she began to pant, holding her head in her hands.

And Lucy Stevens had spoken to her. She thanked her. Had Lucy seen her before when Brent won? Juniper didn't know, but she could vividly remember the dream, the memory she had locked away in the chest that resided in her heart. She could remember Seneca Crane. Haymitch and Finnick. Lucy. Clampitt. Brent. The dark-haired doctor was always there, always in the shadows, tending to the newest Victors' whilst planning Juniper Hale's death. 

(And as she walked past the girl, she offered her a smile)

Clampitt had smiled at her. She had known Juniper since she was seventeen. She watched over her whilst she was in that bed in that room. She sedated her. She gave her all the drugs that made her feel numb. And she was a person Snow trusted in. Someone who Snow would listen to. The thought made Juniper sick as she could feel puke rising. 

Feathers. Dirt. Stars. 

Oranges. Double-knot. Switching knives. 

The three blurred figures came back into Juniper's head. But they weren't as vague before. The Hale woman could now make out eyes, and mouths, and noses on the trio. One looked oddly like— 

"Miss Hale." 

The white door blew open and there stood Clampitt. And Juniper noticed how she looked exactly the same as she did three-years-ago. Her features were still sharp and bony. The same glasses sat atop the bridge of her nose. Her black hair was done in a tight bun that settled at the nape of her neck. And her lab coat still swished around her knees. The only difference was that Clampitt still had the bruising around her neck from when the woman attacked her. 

"It was you," Juniper said before the doctor could continue. She noticed how there were two Peacekeepers' again. "I remember you. You were the doctor that sedated me. You convinced Snow to let me go home." 

Clampitt raised a brow. 

"Three-years-ago..." Juniper muttered. "You stood up to Seneca Crane. You told him and Lucy that you could convince Snow to let me go home after I won. You were the doctor that looked after me. It was you."

The dark-haired woman clenched her jaw slightly, before saying, "Yes, that was me. I figured you would remember soon enough. Did you dream it? You have been knocked out for a day." 

"What changed about you? You seemed decent enough, you looked after me. But now, you have me locked up in this hell." 

"I was just following orders, Miss Hale," Clampitt told her. "But I'm also a doctor. You were my patient, I did what was best for you—" 

"Aren't I still your patient?" Juniper sneered. "Shouldn't you still do what is best for me?"

"No." Clampitt shook her head. "The moment you left for Ten, you stopped being my patient. Wade Rankine became my patient. And then Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark were. None of them remember me, especially not the pair from Twelve, but I don't care for you. I'm not here to look after you."

"Then what are you here for?" 

Clampitt didn't answer, but instead nodded at the two Peacekeepers'. They walked forwards and grasped ahold of each of Juniper's biceps before launching her up onto her two feet. The woman raised a brow as she stood. 

"It's been around four weeks now," Clampitt explained. "And I'm sure you've gotten sick of this white room. We're moving you." 

Before Juniper could even raise a brow or question what was happening, the two Peacekeepers' began to force her to walk. They took her past Clampitt and entered the hallway. And everything was white. Peacekeepers' were everywhere. Doors were everywhere. Lights descending down from the ceiling were bright. Tiles were on the wall and floor. 

"I think you'll like your new room," Clampitt told her and suddenly, with a loud noise, the door slammed and the Peacekeepers' began to drag her. But Juniper didn't struggle. Instead, with wide eyes, she watched everything that went by. 

There were winding corridors, all white and tiled. Peacekeepers' were stationed everywhere, watching as the prisoner was dragged by with the metal handcuffs still on, tightening their weapons. And it was completely cold. But one thing, Juniper realised, as they took a sharp left into another identical corridor, there were doctors everywhere. People like Clampitt. They wore lab coats and some had gloves and masks on whilst others held simple clipboards. None of them seemed phased by Juniper. 

And then suddenly, at the end of the hallway, there was a metal double-door. Once they reached it, the Peacekeepers' stopped as Clampitt fished for something in her pocket. She then brought out a card and held it up to a device on the wall. It flashed green and Clampitt opened the doors.

Juniper was in utter confusion as the Peacekeepers' continued dragging her. They walked into a large room that was filled with metal, silver tables, shelves, and stands. Vials and tools that even Juniper couldn't decipher were on them. There were also large V-shaped structures that were littered around. It looked like a lab and doctors were working, lingering around. Some looked up to glance at Juniper, but others kept their heads down. The Hale woman blanched at the sight of the modernised television that Clampitt brought it the other day sitting in the corner. Whatever the room was, Juniper had a terrible feeling about it. They passed two large generators when they reached another metal door, but it was flanked by two soldiers.  

They watched as Clampitt got her card back out and pressed it against another device. There were small, little windows etched into the door and Juniper could feel the pain seize her entire being as she tried to look through them. She could see something silver and metal. Was this her new room? The silver room of hell?

Juniper had no idea and watched as the device flared green, beeping as the two Peacekeepers' flanking the door nodded for Clampitt to walk in. And as she pushed herself inside, Juniper being dragged behind her, she nearly blanched. The room they had entered was lined up with cages, cells that were floor-to-ceiling high. And three, on the right side of the room, were occupied. 

And the Victor felt rage soar through her entire being as she settled her eyes on who inhabited them. 

"You have got to be kidding me! Hale?" 

The woman that spoke had been cross-legged on the floor, but at the sudden banging of the double doors, she stood up. And as she did, Juniper got a good sight of her. She was a young girl with a shaved head, flesh covered in bruises and oozing scabs with handcuffs around her wrists. There was a paper robe, like Juniper's, that hung on her skeletal frame, but it was aged with yellow. She was twitchy, but there was fire in her eyes. In her venomous, green eyes. Juniper could feel herself choke as she spotted the freckles, the ghastly pale skin, the scowl painted on her face. 

Johanna Mason.

Then there was a cry. 

There were four cells on each side of the room and at the very last one on the right-hand side, a woman curled into a ball slowly revealed herself. Juniper could barely see her from where Johanna Mason was standing, but as the woman rose, the Victor could feel her jaw drop even more. A woman who held Finnick Odair's heart, a woman whose dark hair was tangled and whose sea green eyes were wide with fear and confusion, wrists brought together by handcuffs, came into view. 

Annie Cresta. 

And then, as Juniper felt herself pant as she stared at the skinny figures of Annie Cresta and Johanna Mason, wondering how they were here, she caught her eyes on someone who was in the first cell. It was a boy. He didn't stand up like the other two did. He, instead, kept rocking himself in the corner of his cell, knees up to his chest with cuffs around his wrists. But the boy didn't look human. He was the skinniest out of the three. Tremors rippled through his entire body. Bags were deeply etched underneath his eyes. His hair was cut short, nearly to the skin. He had a prosthetic leg that was on full display. And it took a while for Juniper to see who the boy, the creature, was. But suddenly, he looked up and the woman knew instantly just by the blueness of his eyes, by the way his lips turned up into the ghost of a grin.

A grin she knew all too well. 

Peeta Mellark. 

(And more importantly, she eyed his smile. His stupid, goofy, lopsided grin that Juniper knew all too well on another boy)

(That was Justice Hale's smile, something she would never forget. And now, for some reason, whether it was those above punishing her or the fate of Panem, it was Peeta Mellark's as well)

"What are they doing here?" Juniper growled as she looked at Clampitt, who had a brow raised in amusement.

Clampitt had told her that she was the only one within the Capitol. The doctor had told her that Plutarch left her there. The woman made her believe that the man left her in that arena because she hadn't done a good enough job protecting Katniss Everdeen. She made her believe that she was the only one captured by the Capitol. But Johanna Mason, Annie Cresta, and Peeta Mellark were there in cells and all three of them looked worse than she did. Did Plutarch really not leave her there? Was everything she had been thinking wrong? 

"What do you mean?" Clampitt asked innocently. She had a wicked smile playing on her lips. 

"You told me I was the only one here. You said I was left there..." Juniper panted slowly. She couldn't seem to tear her eyes off of Peeta. What had they done to the boy? "You said that they got everyone except me."

"Yes, well, I may have told a little lie," Clampitt replied as she nodded to the Peacekeepers'. They began to walk her down the row of cells before stopping at an empty one between Johanna's and Annie's. "But Heavensbee did leave you there. And Miss Mason and Mr. Mellark." 

One of the soldiers began to fish into their pocket for something and revealed a set of keys. They began to flick through them before finding a golden, shiny one, pushing it into the padlock and turning. The cage door opened and the two Peacekeepers' shoved Juniper in, slamming her onto the tiled floor.  The door closed behind her and the padlock was locked.

"I hope you enjoy your new room, Miss Hale," Clampitt said. "At least you have friends here." 

With that, Clampitt and the two Peacekeepers' exited the room, closing the metal doors behind them. And as they did, Juniper felt herself choke on thin air. Everything Clampitt had told her was a lie. She wasn't the only one in the Capitol. She wasn't alone. 

But suddenly, at that reminder, Juniper whipped her head to her right to look at Annie, who was still standing as she wrapped her hands around the bars of their cells. They were all connected, the cages, and so Juniper stood up and wrapped her hands around Annie's shaking ones. 

"Annie?" Juniper sighed. "What are you doing here?" 

How was Annie here? The woman should have been in Four in their Victors' Village. She shouldn't even be near the Capitol. So how was she here? Why wasn't she with Finnick? Multiple scenarios ran through Juniper's mind as she held Annie's hands through the bars. But then she quickly dismissed them as she checked over the woman. She didn't seem to be hurt, not like how Johanna or Peeta were, but she was dirty, paper robe yellow, and eyes filled with tears. 

Why was Annie here?

"Don't expect much talk from her," a voice said. Juniper turned around to see Johanna sitting back down on the floor. "She hasn't spoken since she got here." 

"How is she here?" Juniper snapped as she turned away from Annie. The woman began to whimper. "She shouldn't be here. She should be in Four or with Finnick." 

At the sudden mention of her lover, Annie let out a low moan as she dropped herself onto the floor, hands shaking as tears began to spill from her sea green eyes. She was trembling and Juniper felt her heart break. 

She shouldn't be here.

"She was in Four." Johanna rolled her eyes before letting out a hacking cough that seemed to rattle her ribcage. "That's where they took her from... they've taken other Victors' from other districts, but no-one knows where they are." 

Juniper furrowed her brows as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Peeta was mumbling to himself in his cell, only looking up occasionally to glance at Juniper before looking back down. He looked to be a completely different person. He wasn't the boy that muttered District Ten's prayer with Juniper for Cashmere Nicholo. He wasn't the boy that made up the story about Katniss Everdeen's pregnancy. He wasn't the boy who mimicked Justice Hale's stupid grin. He was like Wiress, muttering utter nonsense as he rocked himself. 

"Did Clampitt really tell you that you were the only one in here?" Johanna asked as she leaned against the wall of her cell. She stunk of something even Juniper couldn't describe. 

"Yes." Juniper rolled her eyes. She walked to the cell door and wrapped her hands around the bars. She now begged to be back into the white room of hell. "Made it quite clear that Plutarch left me there." 

"Yeah, she did that to me and baker's boy over there." Johanna gestured to Peeta. Juniper couldn't help but stare at the woman's bald head. 

The Hale woman winced as she questioned, in a low voice, "What are they doing to him? That can't be just stress from being held captive." 

Johanna clenched her jaw as she eyed Juniper. The woman looked exhausted and sick, but she still had her fire. Her scowl. And she seemed to be the only one out of the three that was sane. Annie was crying hysterically over the mention of Finnick and Peeta was rocking himself, mumbling something. And as Juniper listened more carefully to it, she realised it was one phrase over and over. 

Mutt. 

"I don't know." Johanna shrugged with a scoff. "They take him every afternoon. You should have seen him before, he was a real joy. He's calm now, but his love for Everdeen has quickly diminished." 

Juniper perked a brow. "How do you mean?" 

"He calls her a mutt, which is what he keeps mumbling," Johanna explained. "I don't know if it's what the Capitol is doing to him or he has attachment issues, but he doesn't have anything nice to say about fire girl." 

Juniper felt herself scoff as she took one look around the cells before dropping down to the tiled-floor. She let out a sigh as she shook her head. She wasn't the only one in the Capitol. Juniper mentally smacked herself at the idea of her believing a single word Clampitt said. And with Johanna and Peeta in cells as well, it meant that Plutarch didn't leave just her. That was a selfish thought that made Juniper feel slightly better. 

But then, as Juniper looked around the cells, she took in the states of Johanna Mason and Peeta Mellark. The Hale woman had never liked them and she didn't think she ever would, but she looked at them, studied them. The Victor from Seven was leaning against the wall of her small cell as she stared up at the ceiling, arms wrapped loosely around her legs. She looked sick and Juniper was sure she could see half her bones. And the woman was shaking slightly, tremors running through her entire body. And her head was bald. The Capitol had cut off all of her hair. What were they doing?

Then Juniper looked over at Peeta, furrowing her brows. He looked completely different. The warmness that once enveloped his eyes was replaced with a rage that could match Juniper Hale's. He was shaking as he muttered that single phrase over and over. Mutt. Johanna said he didn't have anything nice to say about Katniss Everdeen. Was he that bitter that he was in the Capitol and she wasn't? 

Juniper let out a low sigh as she groaned, holding her head in her hands. She wasn't the only one in the Capitol. How could Juniper possibly trust Clampitt's word? The doctor had told her she was the only one in the Capitol, that Plutarch had left her there. That's what Juniper had been thinking ever since the dark-haired woman told her. Juniper had been beating herself up for not protecting Katniss Everdeen properly whilst Johanna Mason, Peeta Mellark, and Annie Cresta were just down the hall. 

Annie Cresta. 

Juniper bit her lip as she stared at the weeping woman. She shouldn't be here. She should never be here. Annie didn't even know about the rebellion. What kind of information did they think she possessed? It would be nothing. Annie didn't know anything and shouldn't even be in the small cell. 

Juniper felt hopeless as she looked around the area. There was no escape, just like the white room of hell. The gaps between the bars were too small for anyone to fit their hands through and so Juniper couldn't even pickpocket the lock, not like she would be able to. And the metal doors had to be opened and closed by the two Peacekeepers' that stood guard. There was a door to the left, but Juniper couldn't crane her head far enough to look through the small windows that were engraved on it. And in the high corner of the room, a very big and a very visible security camera sat. Clampitt would be watching them. They were on constant surveillance. 

"If you're looking for ways to escape, there isn't one." 

The Hale woman snapped her head to the side to stare at Johanna Mason. And, normally, rage would fill her up at the sight of the woman and whilst it slightly did, Juniper found herself too exhausted and hungry to even care about her presence. She was sure she would think otherwise another time. 

"How do you know?" Juniper asked. 

"Because I've been in this crappy cell for around four weeks." Johanna rolled her eyes. "Trust me, I know." 

Juniper furrowed her brows. Four weeks? How was Johanna in the cell for four weeks? The Hale woman had been in the white room of hell for four weeks. That was something she was sure of. She had been counting in her head. So how was Johanna in the cell for four weeks? Had she not been in another version of the white room of hell? Whilst Juniper had a bed with quilts, had Johanna just had the hard floor for four weeks? 

"Were you in that white room?" Johanna questioned. Juniper nodded meekly. "Yeah, we all start there. Except I was here in the cell first... then the next week, Mellark came in. Then the week after, Annie came in. And now, you're here. And we've all been told we were the only ones here." 

"Do they have any others?" 

"Enobaria," Johanna replied. "But she's not in any cells or white rooms. Rumours have it she's staying in a nice, cosy room in Snow's mansion. Lucky bitch..." 

Juniper clenched her jaw. Of course, if the Capitol captured Enobaria, she wouldn't be harmed. She was from District Two and so Snow wouldn't even think of hurting her. But Juniper Hale from Ten, Johanna Mason from Seven, Annie Cresta from Four, and Peeta Mellark from Twelve were all exceptions to that. And the woman from Ten began to think about what they were doing to Johanna and Peeta for them to end up like they had. 

Annie didn't look hurt. Bruises covered parts of her flesh, but she looked all right, just shaken. And Juniper felt herself become highly protective of the girl. She wouldn't let the Capitol hurt Annie. They couldn't. If they were ever rescued, the woman couldn't return to Finnick in pieces with a fractured mind. She needed to be whole. She and Finnick needed to be at least happy and if there were anyone in the world to be so, it should have been them. Juniper couldn't tear her eyes away from the sobbing woman. She had told herself, when Annie was Reaped, she would do anything to protect the girl in the arena and even though Mags volunteered, now it was time for Juniper to do that job. For Finnick, at least.

"Have they hurt her...?" Juniper asked as she glanced at Johanna. 

"No." Johanna scoffed, chuckling slightly. "They've shaken her up, but they haven't laid a hand on her...why? Are you going to go all protective over her?"

"I just don't like the idea of them hurting her," Juniper snapped. She could feel the rage fill her up now as her sudden situation came washing back to her. "Not when she's that vulnerable." 

"We're all vulnerable in here, Hale." Johanna scowled as anger flashed across her face. But then suddenly, it disappeared as she sighed. Then exhaustion and pain settled in. "Get used to it." 

Juniper narrowed her eyes at her before looking up at her head, saying, "Nice haircut." 

Johanna snapped her head to stare at her and the anger came back. She would have stood up again, but a painful tremor passed through her leg, causing her to hiss. Juniper raised a brow and wondered what could be causing them. 

What was the Capitol doing to them? 

"Just wait for your punishment, Hale." Johanna sneered. "The Peacekeepers' had been bragging about it all day." 

⇢ ˗ˏˋ matz 🎧 !

— surprise surprise