Chapter 1: farewell for now


I'm not sure wether I will go through with this story. It depends on wether anyone actually wants to read it. I haven't proofread this to thoroughly so I apologise if there is any spelling or grammar mistakes. Feedback is very important to me, so please review and I hope you enjoy!


Annie It's the morning of the reaping for the 75th annual Hunger Games. I'm lay in bed in Finnick's arms as the early morning sunlight streams through the window. After hours of restlessness I gave up on trying to sleep and instead took to watching Finn sleep. He lay beside me, one arm thrown above his head, the other hung loosely over me. I watched his chest rise and fall peacefully, envying how well he could sleep under such distressing circumstances.

For the third Quarter Quell, the male and female tributes were being chosen from the existing pool of victors. For district four this meant Finnick, Mags and I, and because Finnick was the only male victor, he was definitely being reaped. He would be forced to go back into the arena and kill more people. Except this time he'd be killing people he'd known for years.

He was a skilled fighter, he had a lot of experience and training and he was strong. I however was not. Both me and Mags had won our games by surviving, not killing, neither of us had any training in self defence. I knew that if I got reaped Mags would volunteer for me, and part of me wants to say that I would do the same for her but I just don't think I could do that. If we both go in then there's no chance we'll be able to be together again.

I'm shook from my dark thoughts as a pair of bright green green eyes meet my own. The corners of his mouth turn up into a smile and he lifts his hand up to stroke my cheek lovingly. "Good morning beautiful."

"Morning," I reply tiredly and he frowns, his eyes crinkling and little lines appearing on his forehead. "Did you get much sleep?"

"A bit," I lied, and he frowns further. I reach my hand up and trace the frown lines on his face. "I had to much on my mind."

"You should have woken me up, I don't want you worrying for hours like that." I snuggle closer to him, choosing not to reply to his last statement. I hadn't wanted to wake him and let him worry with me, it wasn't fair.

We stayed in bed for as long as we could, not wanting to let go of each other because we know that this could be the last time we ever hold each other. Neither of us can stomach breakfast so we don't get up until half an hour before the reaping starts.

I pick out my clothes while Finnick's in the shower, a loose fitting white dress and a turquoise cardigan. Nothing too fancy, but something I only wore on occasions. I wasn't usually seen out in public, as most people know that I'm 'unstable', but I know that it's because I'm mad. Finnick tells me that I'm not, that my mind just works differently to everyone else's, but I don't believe him. I'm crazy, mad, unstable and everything in between, but I have Finn, and that's all that matters.

You won't have him for long, a voice in my head reminds me.

And my little bubble of optimism is popped. Thoughts of Finnick being attacked in the arena and Finnick dying and Finnick in pain attack my brain. And suddenly there's blood on my hands, and all up my arms and Finn is lying dead on the floor, his head lying a few feet away from his body and someone's screaming and it's all to much. I'm scraping at my arms but the blood won't come off not matter how much I try and the room is spinning and someone's still screaming and everything's going blurry and-


"When I grow up, I'm going to be a mermaid." I'm sat on the beach, braiding my my younger sisters hair as we watch the waves crash against the rocks. Her hair is soft between my fingers and the sun is warm and the air smells salty like the ocean.

"Oh really," I say, humouring her. Lila nods enthusiastically and I scold her for moving her head and almost messing up the braid. I liked braiding, it's like tying knots except there's more detail and it looks prettier. "I'm going to have really long hair and I'll have pink scales and I'll talk to all the fishes and the dolphins in the sea." She says grinning and I smile softly, amused by her childish imagination.

"I think you'd be a beautiful mermaid," I say and she giggles. "Can I be a mermaid to?"

"Yes! And Momma and daddy and Leo!" Leo appears on cue, kicking the sand near us, even though our mother had told him a million times not to.

"Noo, boys can't be mermaids, that's too girly!" Leo protested his face scrunching up in disgust. "I wanna be a shark!"

"No! You have to be a merman! Sharks are scary!" Lila exclaims, and I smile again at their cute sibling banter. They continue this discussion until Leo finally gives up and storms off to build a sandcastle.

"Tell me more about our mermaid family." I say as I finish off the braid, securing it with a clear elastic hair tie. She scoots around in my lap to face me and babbles on about fish and scales but I'm not listening anymore. My vision gets blurry and I feel like I'm waking up, I try to fight it, I want to stay with my sister, I don't want to leave, please don't make me leave...


I'm lying in Finnick's arms when I 'wake up', with my head in the crook of his neck. He's rocking us back and forwards and I notice that we're on the floor. My arms sting and I look down to see red claw marks all down them. Oh.

After five minutes I've calmed down enough to let Finn help me finish getting ready. He helps me into my dress and brushes my hair out for me, whispering about how beautiful I am and how much he loves me. He puts on my jacket and we walk over to Mags' house, which is only next door to Finnick's. She greets us with a smile but her eyes look sad.

We walk to the town square in silence, the peacekeepers meeting us halfway to assist us through the crowds. It's unnecessary for them to be there, because we'd be perfectly safe on our own but Snow doesn't want anything happening to us before the games. It's stupid, really, considering we're most likely going to die anyway. The bad thoughts are back but I push them back, not now.

They take us behind the stage before leaving to stand near the crowds. As soon as they're gone Finnick grabs Mags and I and pulls us both into a tight hug. "Whatever happens, I love you both so much." He says before putting on his act. The only people who knew about my relationship with Finnick were Mags, Johanna and Haymitch. When we were around anyone else I had to pretend like Finnick was just my friend. But keeping my relationship private wasn't the hard part. No, the hard part was seeing him have to flirt with every woman that threw themselves at him. Or when he'd leave for days to be used and abused by various Capitol men and women.

We're escorted onto the stage and the crowds start screaming and cheering, but it's mostly for Finnick. He's walking in, a huge smile on his face as he waves at the population of the district, but I know it's just a facade. The women go crazy when they see him, shouting his name over and over. The only thing that gets me through these public events is the knowledge that really I'm the only woman Finnick wants.

We stand on either side of the stage, next to the bowls containing our slips of paper as Mayor Nawfar introduces us and says his speech. "Welcome, welcome! Isn't this exciting! The third Quarter Quell! Now as you all know, this year the tributes will be reaped from the existing pool of victors. However I've been told in the last few minutes that President Snow has added yet another twist! This year there shall be no volunteers, so if your name is picked you are most definitely going into the games! How exciting!" My heart leaps into my throat and I feel sick. Finnick lets his mask drop for a moment and his expression looks panicked as he and Mags exchange a look.

"Now let's get started!" I feel Mags place her hand into mine and I feel marginally better, but the sinking feeling doesn't go away. "Now as we only have one male victor, our brave tribute will be Finnick Odair!" More screaming from the crowd and his mask is back up as he smiles cockily at the crowd. "And now for the ladies," Nawfar gives me a leering smile but I ignore it, he's always creeped me out. His hands reach into the pot and pick out the paper. Everything seems to go in slow motion as he reads out my name. I drop the floor shaking, and crying and the world seems to be crashing down around me. My brain begins to get fuzzy and it hurts to think to much but there is only one thing I'm certain of.

I am going to die.