The Retrieval

I looked out my bedroom door, making sure no one was there. Then, I adjusted my bag on my shoulders and crept down the stairs. I was trying to make sure my my black sneakers didn’t squeak on the wooden steps. I could feel myself relax when I hit the last step. It was short-lived.

“What are you doing?” I jumped at the sound of a voice behind me. I turned around and saw Blake leaning on the rail of the staircase, eyeing me suspiciously.

I nervously shoved my hands in the front pocket of my hoodie, “Blake, what are you doing up?” I asked nervously.

“I could ask you the same thing,” He eyed my outfit and raised an eyebrow.

“I just… needed to go out for a run” I lied, shifting my weight to my other foot.

“Then what’s the bag for?”

“Uhhh,” I tried to think of something convincing, but gave up, “Look, Remember a couple of days ago at the Capitol?” I asked.

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Remember my necklace?”

“Dominique, no.”

“C’mon, Blake, have some understanding,” I pleaded.

“I am having understanding, I understand that you’re trying to get yourself killed,” he scolded.

“Hey, if I wanted a lecture, I would have asked Conner.”

“I’m not trying to lecture you, I’d just rather not have to explain to your brother that I had a chance to stop you from facing the death penalty.”

“Why are you two so loud?” Sam grumbled coming down the stairs.

Blake and I exchanged glances.

“If you two aren’t gonna tell me, then I bet you’d love telling Connor-”

“Wait-” I whisper-shouted, then sighed, “I am going to get my necklace from the Capitol.”

She stared at me for a second before speaking, “That’s it? Well, then I’m coming with you.”

I smirked at Blake who began to protest, “Wait wait wait, don’t tell me you think she should do this?”

“It doesn’t matter what I think, we both know she’s gonna do it anyway,” she shrugged.

Blake groaned in protest, “Fine,” he sighed, “I’m going. But only to make sure you two don’t get yourselves killed.”

And just like that, I was planning a heist to steal from the Capitol, again.

Sam, Blake, and I were already inside the Capitol and preparing to split up so I could get into the vault.

“Remember, if anything goes wrong give us the signal and we’ll be there as soon as we can,” Blake reminded me.

“I’m telling you, I’ll be fine,” I assured him.

“Alright alright, stop the lovey crap and get going,” Sam scoffed.

I rolled my eyes and headed to the vault, once I was there, I moved the door just enough to see inside. It was empty and quiet. I headed inside, looking around in case there were any boxes out in the open.

After I made it inside, I heard the vault door close behind me. I jumped and turned around to see two guards standing behind me. I pulled my gun out of my pocket and aimed it.

“Don’t bother,” a voice said from behind me. I froze. I’ve heard that voice before, dread rose in my stomach.

“You’re surrounded, one wrong move and you're dead.”

I sighed and dropped the gun, purposefully forcing it to fire once it hit the floor, feigning surprise when it did. One of the guards cocked their gun and I raised my hands, “Sensitive trigger! It can’t be helped!” I insisted.

“Turn around,” the voice spoke out from behind me.

I complied and, when I did, I saw him: The man that caused all the chaos in my life. The person who killed my parents and tore my life apart, along with the lives of all those close to me. The Head Tyrant. Armad Crawford. Blake should be here by now, what happened to ‘as soon as we can’?

“Tyrant Crawford, isn’t it a pleasure?” I mocked and bowed. I thought, “If I’m going down tonight, I’m not showing any fear.”

“You seem rather lively for someone who’s about to die,” Crawford smirked, “And death would make this necklace quite useless to you wouldn’t it?” He pulled the silver locket out of his pocket and held it out in front of me.

I stared in shock for a moment, before covering it up with seriousness. “Why do you have that?” I asked.

The guards behind me grabbed my wrists forcefully and cuffed them, I pulled against them in weak protest.

“I just thought it was a nice little trinket,” he began, circling the room, “When one of the guards brought it to me, I was beyond worried, I thought, ‘What poor soul does this belong to?’ and decided to hold onto it in case the owner comes to retrieve it. And by the looks of things, they, or rather you, did.”

I looked at him with resentment, feeling the anger boil in my chest. I can’t believe this, I played right into his little game, and Blake warned me too. Wait. My face lit up. Where was-

“You seem to be worried about something, or someone? If it’s your friends I can assure you they're more than alright. Send them in!”

The door opened and Blake walked in, being shoved by his wrists, which were being held behind his back. Sam, on the other hand, walked in without any restraints at complete ease.

“Ahhh, darling Samantha,” Crawford cooed, his words dripped with honey, “It’s lovely to see you again.”

I looked at Sam, confused, but realization practically punched me in the face.

“It’s nice to see you too, Father,” Sam smiled and walked across the room, stopping to sneer at me.

I returned her glare. “Traitor!” I spat.

“We trusted you! How could you do this?!”

“Trusting me was your mistake,” she glanced down at her nails before looking back up at me with a smirk, “But betraying you was easy. I can’t believe you thought I cared about any of you. All you ever do is complain and fight with each other. It’s annoying. I can’t tell you how relieved I was when my father-”

Tyrant Crawford cut her off by clearing his throat.

“I mean, Tyrant Crawford, told me I wouldn’t have to sit around in that pathetic dump you all stay at. It’s sad when you think about it. Weren’t you a Second before you joined your little club? How could someone with so much power fall so low? Your parents must be so disappointed in you.”

I was seething. “Why don’t you let me out of these cuffs and I’ll show you how disappointed they-”

“While I’d love to stay and chat,” Tyrant Crawford interrupted, “I’d much rather celebrate this reunion with my daughter, as well as the capture of two of our most wanted criminals. Guard ple-”

Before he could finish the statement, everything went black, the power went out. Our cuffs fell off of our hands and onto the ground. We heard the guards panic, all guns were useless but that didn’t mean we were at a disadvantage.

I grabbed the hand of the guard behind me and turned them around, holding their arms behind them, and shoving them forwards. I could hear the unmistakable voice of Tyrant Crawford, he was still shouting orders, even in the dark. It’s all he was good for.

I began to head toward the sound, but someone grabbed my arm and pulled me in the opposite direction. “W-wait!” I tried to pull away, but their grip was strong. I was pulled out of the room and led out of the building.

The sun was rising and it was much brighter outside than it was inside. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I realized it was Conner who grabbed my arm. He eyed me with concern.

“Are you okay? What were you doing in there?! You could have been killed!” his questions mixed with worry and accusation.

“I’m fine,” I murmured, looking back at the door to the Capitol. I failed. I didn’t get the necklace. Hot tears pricked at my eyes, I folded my arm, digging my nails into my skin.

“Hey,” my brother called out to get my attention, “What’s wrong?”

I swallowed and took a shaky breath, “Nothing, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure, you aren’t missing anything?”

What is he talking about? “No, I have everything I’m sure,” I snapped, I wasn’t in the mood for any of his games.

“If you say so, but then I guess I grabbed this for nothing,” he pulled a silver locket out of his pocket and held it up.

My eyes lit up and glanced between him and the necklace frantically. “Is that? You-”

He grinned, “I heard you leave with Blake and decided to follow you rather than stop you. When you got caught, Remedy shut down the power. I grabbed your necklace from the Tyrant and pulled you out while she grabbed Blake.”

I reached out and grabbed Conner, pulling him into a hug. “Thank you, you’re the best big brother in the whole world!” I cried out.

“Hey! What about me? I helped out,” Remedy fake pouted.

I laughed and turned to hug her.

Then Blake spoke up, “Hate to break up the reunion, but I don’t think we’re in the clear yet.” He pointed to the door we left from, sitting twenty feet away from us. Sam stumbled out looking around for us with a pistol in her hand.

“We should run,” I said, taking a few slow steps back.

“What?” Remedy asked, ”Why, it’s just Sam.” She wasn’t with us when Sam confessed to her undercover work.

“It’s a long story,” Blake said, and grabbed her arm to pull her along, Conner and I running close behind them.

We retreated to our hideout, like we do after every mission. The only difference was, we returned with one less member. It was a shock to all of us, but there was no time to linger on it. We all needed to pack our things and find a new place to stay. Sam would tell Tyrant Crawford where we stayed; we were still at risk.

“Are you ready to go?” Conner said sitting in the doorway. I pulled my backpack on my shoulders and took one last look around the bare room.

“Yeah, I’ll be down in a minute,” I told him. He left the doorway and I looked in the cracked mirror sitting in its usual place by my bed. Sitting on top of my black hoodie was my silver locket. Inside, was a faded picture of my mother and father. At least that’s what you could see. It also carried memories, dreams, and hopes. Hopes that when this is all over, I could pursue a career that doesn't risk my life every day. But for now, I had to hold onto that dream and keep running.