entwined . charade

[cass]

audrey hale.

"Fuck, Ames, you're actually kinda heavy."

Audrey readjusted, tugging on her twin's arm as they continued their exhausting stumble towards their house. The movement must have sent pain into her sister's fresh injury because she quickly found herself cringing as she let out a loud yelp. Audrey bit her lip, stopping herself from telling Amelia to keep it down. It was hardly fair of her to ask her to not yell in pain, she had been shot.

She didn't even know what it felt like to get shot.

Amelia had already come up with some confusing excuses to tell their parents. It seemed like a lot and Audrey was already struggling to piece together the story in her own mind. The adrenaline from the evenings activities had already faded. Her own body ached from carrying her injured sister down a few alleys, smashing into a brick wall and Ripred knows what else had happened. It was all a bit of a blur in her mind.

They were lucky that their pursuers had seemed to vanish, disappearing within the evening light like flames on the horizon. By the time they were safely out of Seraphim territory the night sky stretched out before them. An endless sea of stars their only guide as they continued their weary trudge home.

"We're so fucked," Audrey sighed, as she turned her gaze to the sky.

Their mum was going to be pissed, and she could already picture the disapproving frown on her father's face. Their parents were always putting up with their antics, supportive smiles on their faces ninety percent of the time. In return, when the two of them were asked for small favors like 'come home for dinner' or 'can you do the washing' the obliged with eager nods. It was rare to have such kind and gentle parents in this district and Audrey was thankful every day that hers were.

"Maybe we just tell mum that we'll do the dishes for the next month," she liked it when they did sweet little things for her. "Get dad the newspaper?" She questioned, readjusting Amelia once more with a grunt.

She hoped that they could bury any anger with hurried apologises and somber pouts. In the end, she'd probably have to let Amelia do the talking, she really couldn't remember the excuses that her twin had come up with.

elegant

[charade]

amelia hale.

"I weigh the same as you!” Amelia protested weakly. “So congrats, you just called yourself—Fuck!” She stepped off the curb and it sent a jolt of pain rocketing through her body. This was bad. Running odd jobs for people in district nine’s underworld was a good way to make extra cash. Usually. She’d never gotten hurt this.

Dammit!

Sometimes it was Audrey’s volatile nature and quick mouth that got them into trouble. But sometimes it was her plans. She was the one that talked to people. Found jobs that needed doing. Offered their skills.

She hadn’t planned for this.

“We’re so fucked.”

Amelia nodded in a tired agreement.

“Think they’ll believe we were collateral damage in a gang dispute?” Wrong place, wrong time. That was believable, wasn’t it? People got hurt all the time. Little turf skirmishes erupted at every territory border every other week. If she ever got the drop on the people that had jumped them—

She sighed. She’d been too busy being shot to look for any identifying marks. She had no idea what gang they’d been from, and it was doubtful that Audrey had even thought to look for anything of that nature. Audrey suggested that they do the dishes and start getting the newspaper.

“Maybe we should just run away,” she replied, gritting her teeth. “This fuckin hurts, Drey.” She couldn’t function like this. Think like this. They had to throw themselves at their parent’s mercy; which wasn’t a terribly hard thing as they doted on their twins, but lately they’d been staying out later, they’d had too many things to explain away.

What would their parents think if they found out their daughters were criminals? Even the kindest people had their limits. Somehow, she didn’t think doing extra chores was going to make up for this one. It was worrying, about as worrying as the fact that there was blood seeping through her shirt again. She lost her balance and pitched forward, Audrey catching her before she hit the ground.

“Don’t ever get shot,” she mumbled. “It sucks.” Hopefully she hadn’t lost too much blood. But she was feeling lightheaded, and the throbbing ache in her side was getting worse.

“Audrey?” she said quietly. “I’m scared.”

elegant

[cass]

audrey hale.

Audrey didn’t find the idea of running away very appealing. That seemed like a lot of effort, she also wasn’t a very good cook and that’d mean cooking for herself. Besides, she loved her mum and dad, they were great and leaving them behind would break their parent’s hearts. No, that wasn’t one of Amelia’s better ideas, but that was okay, Audrey blamed it on the fact that she’d been shot. She was sure that the damage hadn’t reached her brain, but who really knew?

A moment later Amelia is pitching forwards, stumbling over the curb. Audrey reacted quickly, moving to catch her and slowly sit her down on the ground. Where Amelia had the brains, Audrey was definitely the more physically gifted. She liked to believe she had cat-like reflexes and was always the one that pulled of the more delicate manoeuvres in the jobs they did.

As Audrey pulled her hand away from her twin’s side, her eyes widened, mouth gaping as blood coated her palm. She moved quickly, tugging up her shirt to reveal the wound. Blood seeped from the stitches and Audrey sucked in her cheek, mind racing over every step she had taken to stitch up the wound. Had she done something wrong? She was sure she had done it right, get the bullet out, clean the wound, stitch it up. But then why was it still bleeding?

“I fucking bet being shot hurts,” she agreed, brows creasing with concern as her gaze flickered to Amelia’s pale face. She didn’t look too good at all, and the next words that fell from her lips only confirmed the situation they were in.

Fuck.

She’d never heard Amelia sound so soft, words laced with fear that made Audrey’s heart beat faster. Panic instilled itself in her movements as she tugged Amelia back onto her feet. They couldn’t just sit here!

“Where’s the nearest doc?” she asked, already pulling them onwards, dragging Amelia with her. She couldn’t stop the panic from leaking into her voice.

“One of the gang docs on our side of town? Four-eyes- the one near the tattoo parlor three blacks from our house is good, right?” She was almost frantic, tripping over the words and her movements. “We’ll go there, yeah? He’ll fix you up, there’s nothing to worry about.”

The reminder was just as much for herself as it was for Amelia.

elegant

[charade]

amelia hale.

Thank God Audrey could think clearly. There was indeed a black market doc not that far away. Tommy the Tinker or some shit like that. Cheaper than most, but still, they’d be asking a lot. Every step she took threatened to drown her in the sea of unconsciousness. This wasn’t fun. Up until now she’d viewed things as a game, a challenge. It was cool, being associated with the gangs of district nine.

This was not cool. It hurt.

Amelia grimaced as they passed under the shadow of the brothel the Pride ran. Mr.Rothul was a scary, terrifying man, and they’d only run one job for them before politely turning down any further offers, citing a very full list of clients they had to attend to first. It was good being a freelancer, and Amelia had quickly learned that making it clear that you were neutral was the best way not to step on anyone’s toes.

Most people could respect simply doing it for the money if you were up front about it.

Amelia’s only loyalty was to her sister.

“Make a left here,” she murmured, inclining her head. They hadn’t been back this way in a while, but she kept everything mapped out in her head. “The password—“fuck, what was the password? It changed every couple of weeks. How long had it been since the last change? Would the one she knew still be valid?

“Rosemary,” she said weakly. “Knock twice, wait for them to ask for it.” Shit. The fee was gonna wipe out the take they’d pulled in over the last fortnight. Not to mention that this was going to make them get home even later than they already were. Their parents had probably passed the point of anger and slipped straight into worry. They’d be frantic after a few more hours.

People had a way of disappearing in the night.

“Sorry sis,” she grumbled. “I’m supposed to be the smart one…”

elegant

[cass]

audrey hale.

Audrey obeyed quickly, navigating them down the streets until they arrived at the docs door. She reached forwards, knuckles wrapping on the wood twice. The silence between knocks lengthened and Audrey’s anger only grew as she clung onto her twin who was bleeding out. Where was this guy’s sense of urgency? She was about to reach forwards again, when a gruff voice echoed from behind the door, demanding the password.

There was a moment where she had to think, before she was able to speak, “rosemary.” A moment later, there were a few clangs, the sound of a half dozen bolts and latches being pulled open before the door finally revealed four-eyes. He was as ugly as she remembered, grimy glasses and stained hands. But he was known as one of the best in the business and he charged like it, she knew Amelia wasn’t going to be happy about the cost.

“You are the smart one,” Audrey said through gritted teeth. She was confused as to what her twin was implying, after all, without Amelia she wouldn’t even know which way to go to get to the doctor. Ripred, she hadn’t even remembered that they needed a password, her plan had been to bang loudly enough until she could get him to come to the door. Maybe threaten him? Hit him until he agreed to help her? Amelia probably would be dead by the time she even found the fucking place.

It didn’t bother Audrey, she’d give her own arm and leg, liver or kidney, to make sure her twin lived. She hoped she wouldn’t have to, she was sure the bullet hadn’t hit anything important, but she wasn’t a doctor so like maybe it had?

She scrambled for his name, but before she could even speak or ask him a question, he stepped aside and ushered them into the building. Audrey dragged her sister, glancing back to see him pull the door closed, clicking each lock back into place.

“What happened?” He asked, leading them into a room with a single bed. He helped Audrey pull Amelia onto the bed, already pulling at her shirt where the blood was pooling.

“She got shot,” dumbass, what’d he think had happened? She’d tripped and fallen onto a bullet? Did he want her to point out the wound as well, tell him how to do his fucking job?

Audrey huffed, pulling her arms over her chest. “I took the bullet out, but there’s something else wrong. Fix her,” she demanded.

elegant

[charade]

amelia hale.

"Thanks, Tommy,” She murmured as they were allowed to enter. Audrey did Audrey things when he asked what happened, and Amelia was too tired to admonish her. The man needed to know what he needed to fix.

“Fix her?” the man said in annoyance. He helped her to a chair and examined the wound briefly, checking her eyes, her pulse and a few other things. It was lucky that he was always on call. The gangs in the area kept him busy. “She’s dehydrated for one,” he stated, staring at them reprovingly.

“The blood loss. Her body is going into shock; you can’t move an injured person around willy-nilly like this! You're lucky it's a flesh wound. She shouldn’t have been moved after you sealed it,” he angled his overhead light over it and examined the stitches.

“Poorly, I might add.”

He muttered something about the Capitol injecting tributes with a chemical cocktail of pain blockers and giving people unrealistic expectations of what bodily harm really did to a person, but she barely heard anything and he began his work, cutting the stitches open and redressing the wound with antiseptic and gauze before plunging a needle into her arm. Her arm felt cold where he’d started the saline drip, and her eyes felt heavy. The taste of metal was in her mouth.

The hand not hooked up found her sister’s and she clasped it hard. “I’m gonna be okay,” she whispered unenergetically. Even in this state, her mind kept going. “But you’re right. Mom’s gonna kill us.” She finished wearily, with just a hint of a smile tugging at her cracked and bleeding lips.

“Don’t forget to pay me, after this.” A voice grumbled. “Goddam Hale sisters.”

Amelia would have rolled her eyes if she wasn’t so tired. Her head nodded down, her last reserves of adrenaline seeping away. She smiled as she slipped back into unconsciousness.

Audrey was there.

And as long as she was with Audrey, she was safe.

elegant