400 Lux
"We're never done with killing time. Can I kill it with you?"
Four hundred minutes isn’t very long, only around six hours, but when you’re Katniss Everdeen and all you have to do is sit in a hospital bed and count the minutes, it can feel like a long time.
Katniss sat alone in a hospital bed, counting every minute since the aircraft had left, taking all the accepted soldiers to invade, and eventually, destroy the Capitol and kill President Snow. Katniss wasn’t one of those soldiers. She’d had a breakdown, complete with screaming and punching the ground when she found out she was too “physically and mentally unstable” to fight in the Capitol.
It had been three hundred ninety minutes since the door closed on the aircraft and it took off. Katniss had started counting then, second by second, minute by minute. It had been over six hours and she was still counting, staring at the clock, and she had no intention of stopping.
Just as she reached four hundred minutes, the hospital room door flew open, and a fuming Johanna Mason entered. “Can you fucking believe they went off without us? We’re victors for Panem’s sake! We’ve won the Hunger Games two times, and they deem us too ‘weak’ to fight?” She snarled.
“Johanna, I’m so sorry,” Katniss said softly. She knew how hard Johanna had pushed herself in training, in recovery, in classes, in just about every aspect of her life, just so she could help overthrow the very thing that had made her unstable.
“C’mon. We’ve got so much time to kill, let’s go get our minds off everything,” Johanna said in a gentler voice than usual, “Everyone probably thinks we’re both out of our minds, so I doubt we’re of any use down here. Let’s go outside.”
Katniss shrugged on her father’s old hunting jacket and let Johanna help her up. She had to sway from foot to foot for a moment because her legs had fallen asleep and she needed to regain some feeling before she walked.
The two walked side by side in silence until they got outside. Katniss took a deep breath of the fresh night air. Despite the fact that she’d been counting the minutes so long, she hadn’t really realized that it was dark out.
“What do you want to do, Everdeen?”
“I want to get away. I want to stop thinking about what’s no-doubt going on in the Capitol and just-” Katniss’s voice cracked and her throat tightened. She coughed and continued, “What I want is for this to all fucking stop, but that’s nothing but a pipe dream. Let’s go into the forest.”
“Watch your language, Girl on Fire!” Johanna snorted in a fake Capitol accent. In an odd moment of affection, Johanna grabbed Katniss’s hand and the two walked into the forest. They reached a small river and sat down by it.
“I used to have a river by my house back home in 7. I would take my little brother there when he got stressed out, usually during the Games. When my baby sister was born, we kind of stopped that, but every once in awhile, he’d wake me up before anyone else got up and have me take him.”
Katniss didn’t say anything, waiting to see if Johanna would continue. She knew Johanna didn’t vent often, and she didn’t want to interrupt her.
“I miss my family, you know? I refused to sleep with Capitol citizens and become a fucking prostitute, so Snow set up an “accident” where my house burnt down with my family in it. My little brother was only fourteen, and my baby sister was just four.”
Johanna let out a sigh and Katniss thought she saw her wipe her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Johanna. We’ll get revenge on the Capitol. You know, even though I’m not fighting, I still fully intend to kill Snow myself.” Katniss said quietly.
Johanna changed the subject after a long pause. “I’m going to jump in.” she grinned and flung herself in the water fully clothed. She came up shivering but smiling. Katniss figured she didn’t have anything better to do, so she threw herself in after Johanna. She dunked her head underwater and, somewhat against her will, began to laugh when she came up.
Katniss hoisted herself out of the water as the communicuff she forgot she was wearing began to beep, telling her to report to President Coin immediately. “We’re gonna have a fun time explaining this to Coin, aren’t we?” Johanna shivered, getting out of the water after Katniss.
Katniss and Johanna arrived at Coin’s office, sheepishly standing at the door. Coin, who was preoccupied with the Capitol invasion, just said, “Eh, it’s better than you stealing drugs,” She nodded at Johanna, who snorted. Coin continued, “Go back to your compartment now, but if I catch you out again without permission, there’ll be punishment.”