|
Post by Millie Cartwright on Aug 2, 2013 22:16:29 GMT -6
Millie waited behind the circulation desk in the library until she saw Kimber walk by. She had completed her form but she didn't exactly seem happy with it.
"Hey Kimber," Millie called out as she walked past. She looked both ways no one else was even within earshot. "Hey can you follow me for a second I really want to talk to you as friends and not as some know it all leader." "If you'll just follow me into the filing room behind us," Millie smiled as she motioned to a closed door all but invisible behind a large pile of books that still needed to be checked in.
"If you don't want to I understand," she tried to flash her usual smile but it came out as more of a half frown, "Whether you believe it or not I trust you more than anyone else here. And as you can tell our alliance has turned onto a bumpy road for the time being." Millie looked at her firend sincereley, "I may be in a bit over my head. I still have hope. Hope that I want to share with all of you. Hope that could get us through this." She looked uncomfortable asking what she did next as if she felt she did not deserve it.
"I need help Kimber," Millie looked determined but she still worried that Kimber would simply be put off by this, "and you're the only one that can help me."
|
|
|
Post by Kimber Beck on Aug 2, 2013 22:37:48 GMT -6
Kimber hadn't expected that. Millie needed help? Why ask her? Millie said she trusted her, but Kimber didn't feel like she deserved that, or being asked to help. Then again, they didn't know each other. Didn't know what life was like for them before this. She thought back to what it felt like being under the influence of the leaves. She wanted to feel like that again. She wanted to feel something at least. Anything before it all ended. Maybe she could start with trust. After all, Millie talked about it so much maybe she was being genuine about it.
Kimber nodded.
"Yea. Okay."
|
|
|
Post by Millie Cartwright on Aug 2, 2013 23:12:27 GMT -6
"Great!" Millie smiled one of her usual smiles, "come on in." Millie looked both ways before they headed into the room. She was a well trained scout so if someone was within range to hear them they would have to be great at hiding their presence.
Millie led her friend through the door and closed it behind them. The only light in the room came from a single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling with a pull chain. Honestly the room was a glorified closet filled with filling drawers containing thousands of filing cards from an age before libraries had embraced computers. She looked around the room. But it would do for her purposes.
"Ok," Millie started suddenly. Her smile dropped but it wasn't replaced with fear or the face of a different personality all together. One that could be using the alliance as pawns. No, her face showed true concern, "I didn't want to show any weakness in front of the others. We're built around a flame of hope Kimber and as long as I can keep that flame alive in the eyes of our family we can make it through this."
She looked Kimber up and down, "Look, you may take offense to this but I feel like I know you better than anyone else here. Even my own tribute mate. Its because you are the one person I have met here who hasn't tried to impress anyone, who didn't seem quick to trust anyone, who seemed fine just to die alone, who didn't believe that someone could believe in her. You ALWAYS speak your mind no matter what the consequences and you have trusted me through all of this even though I have seen so much concern on your face and disbelief in my plan." She tried to smile the best she could given the circumstances, "You don't want to win. You never wanted to win. You just wanted the pain to stop."
"And that," Millie finished, "Is why I trust you completely, why I just want to sit down and get to know you, why I want to tell you everything about my life so that you can trust me, and why I need your help in figuring out the best way to keep the flame alive." "I know you're going to tell me you have nothing to offer," Millie said hurriedly, "but just humor me. Get to know each other, and then answer some questions I have and before you know it we'll be putting together a game plan."
"Oh," she said after a pause, "and don't get me wrong. I trust all of our teammates just the same. I trust David even though he is one of the oddest people I have ever met. His intentions are true. I trust Mallory just as much as you she just tends not to be as blunt and blushes whenever she thinks she has upset me. I don't want to put her through that stress. I want her to remain as hopeful as she was after I first talked to her in the greenhouse. And I even trust Jaden. I know that most of us think that he'd be the first one to stab us in the back but I'll keep a close eye on him. I think he just gets discouraged that his plans don't always resonate the best with the rest of the team. But the way he talks about staying true to each other until the very end gives me hope."
"But right now," She said smiling for the first time they had entered the room, "I need you. Whether you can understand it or not."
|
|
|
Post by Kimber Beck on Aug 2, 2013 23:43:51 GMT -6
Millie led them into a room that looked more like a closet than anything. As Millie talked Kimber was starting to squirm under how accurate she got her. She wasn't used to being under such scrutiny. To be noticed enough to figure out such details. Millie pretty much wanted them to spill their guts about each other's lives. Kimber has never talked about anything with anyone before. It was new. It felt uncomfortable. She didn't know where to start her response. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to find words.
"I... I, uh... I agree about the Jaden thing. I'm a bit suspicious of him since he mentioned the backstabbing thing, but he just wants us to get ahead of the others and attack first, which I understand. David is... interesting, but his knowledge of plants will help us if we can't get food hunting. I don't know too much about Mallory to make an assumption about her. You know her best."
Kimber paused.
"I'm not used to people caring enough to notice things about me. I didn't want an alliance in the beginning, but talking with Derrin got me thinking a little. I have thought about leaving and going back to being on my own, but I figured if I'm going to die I might as well not die in vain," Kimber laughed bitterly. "I was a druggie back in District 6. Morphling. Dulls your senses so you can't feel anything. Don't care about anything. I couldn't help myself when David offered up those leaves in the greenhouse. It sounded like a drug and I wanted some. It had the opposite effect of morphling, though. Made me remember what it was like to feel something again. When it wore off I didn't want to feel like a zombie anymore. I figured I would take it one step at a time, and with you spouting off about trust all the time, I figured I would start there. Don't get me wrong, though. I still don't completely trust you or the others, but I'm willing to try. So it's a start."
She stopped, wondering if she revealed too much. If she said too much or said something wrong. Maybe this was a bad idea. She shook her head. What's the worse that could happen? She made an enemy or someone willing to kill her and she dies. That's what she expected all along right? To die? So might as well take the risk.
"So what were those questions you had?"
|
|
|
Post by Millie Cartwright on Aug 3, 2013 0:01:50 GMT -6
"The questions will come later," Millie said kindly.
"Its too bad I never got to meet this girl who had gone through so much pain so early in her life that she turned to drugs. I mean drug addictions are a serious thing and they numb pain but they dull the senses. And senses are what allow us to see the beauty in a cloudy sky," She was smiling directly at Millie but it was different it wasn't a smile meant to inspire hope it was the type of smile you'd give a family member the first time you had seen them in months, "I, for one, think lighting is beautiful beyond compare and you can't have that if you're so dulled that all you see is the clouds. Drugs can mask the pain but they don't heal it. You need to open yourself to the world for that. You have to let people in so you can discover the worth that others place in you."
Millie sighed, "Now I'm not trying to judge you are change you or anything of the like. If I had met this girl you just told me about I probably would have tried to save her. But you were born twice. You were born as a baby and then died at the reaping. Fortunately we were all born again that day in the green house. You're the Kimber I know. Not the Kimber you remember."
"Please just remember that," Millie said sincerely, "We already died once. There's no reason we have to die twice."
"Now," Millie said after taking a moment to make a point of what she had just said, "what kind of person would I be if I pestered you with all sorts of questions before you even really knew me?"
"Ask me ANYTHING," she said smiling, "or I'll just bore you with my whole life's tale and keep you in here for hours."
|
|
|
Post by Kimber Beck on Aug 3, 2013 17:40:00 GMT -6
Kimber didn't expect Millie to understand being addicted to drugs. The words she said were nice and all, but in the end she was from District 1. The land of the privileged where they got everything they needed because they were taught to fight and were one of the districts to win most often in the games. The careers.
"What is District 1 like? I hear stories, but I always wondered if they were really true. Also, don't tributes from there volunteer at age 18 usually? After they've gone through all their training."
|
|