Chapter 1
I wake slowly. Someone is shaking my shoulder softly and calling my name. It's Marie, our housekeeper. No one else would be waking me at this time. I do my best to ignore her and try to fall back into my blissful dream, with her. Her with the delicate lips and the emerald green eyes. Her with tears that can brew up devastating storms and her with the twinkling laughter that can turn the oceans still.
I feel Marie leave my side and I'm almost back with my green eyed angel. Suddenly, I can hear my tall bedroom windows fly open. I jump up from my pillow, wide awake, looking for any signs of danger. But it was just Marie. She stares at me, worried I will hurt her like my father hurts her. But I just laugh it off. I would never like to be compared to my father. Never.
"Marie," I say with a sigh of relief,"You scared me. I can be very dangerous when I'm scared."
She looks back, picking up on my mock-seriousness and I can see a small smile spreading across her face.
"That's what you were trained for, Master Finnick. My apologies for scaring you." Her accent is thick, so anyone can tell that she's from District 12, where they mine coal. She's short, middle aged with olive skin and long black hair piled up on her head in a bun.
She began to plump the pillow where my head was a moment before. My eyes follow her around the room, empty of suspicion and I yawn, run my fingers through my short, bronze curls and look around my bedroom. My blue and green walls, painted to look exactly like the rolling waves of the sea, are pristine clean. My golden trident glimmers as it rests against my oak desk.
"Marie?" I ask.
"Yes, Master Finnick?" She stops plumping my pillows and fetches my training clothes.
"Did you tidy up in here?" She gives a modest nod and picks up my fishing nets,"Well, it looks great! And thanks for waking me up," I say, truly grateful.
I swing my legs out of bed and let my feet dive into the deep, soft carpet. I stand up in just my pants and let the warm rays of sunlight bounce off my body. Marie has been with my family ever since I can remember, so she's seen me semi-clothed loads of times. I let her hand me my fishing shirt. It is white with a single 'F' over where my heart is, for 'Finnick'. I pull it on, letting the soft cotton cling to my muscular torso. Marie then walks downstairs, probably to make me breakfast. I pull trousers on over my swimming shorts and walk across my room to the door.
Out of the corner of my eye, I catch my reflection in my bedroom mirror. As I stare at myself, I can't argue that I'm not one of the most stunning, sensuous people on the planet. My tall, athletic structure. The curve of my nose. My handsome face. I could have any of the girls (and probably most of the women) in District 4. But what did they matter? Who were they to me? No one. The only one I'm interested in is her. My girl. No, girl isn't a strong enough word. Angel. No. Goddess. Goddess fits perfectly. I turn away from my duplicate across the room, pick up my trident and fishing nets, then walk into the hallway and close the door behind me.
I creep silently past what used to be my parents' bedroom, but is now just my father's. My mother died when I was eight. That was the first and last fishing trip my father took with her. She'd always been afraid of the the sea; her parents came from the Capitol and brought her here at a young age, where she fell in love with my father. But, somehow, my father persuaded her to come along on one of his fishing trips. An unpredicted storm burst up from the sea, and hit my father's ship. The whole thing was torn to shreds. My father was thrown into the blue abyss. When he resurfaced, there was no sign of my mother. He only survived because of his powerful swimming. He sent hundreds of men to search for her, but she was never found.
Time went by and my father launched himself into work. It paid off and now we live in luxury; we're almost as well-off as some of those in the Capitol, but it doesn't compensate for our loss. Now he just sleeps and orders Marie around. He'll only ever get up to go to extravagant parties at the Capitol. There, he is a rich and well-respected man, coping with the loss of his wife bravely. Here, he is an arrogant, lazy and rude man that can't handle the responsibility of a son. But I'm fourteen now. I can look after myself, even though Marie still fusses over me. But I don't stop her; she's the closest thing I have to a mother now and I'm grateful for her. I'm at the bottom of the stairs now and I can see her pottering about the kitchen, packing bread and cheese for today's fishing and training. I walk over to her, stuff my nets in a shoulder bag, wrap up the food and place it in the bag. I turn to Marie.
"Thanks for lunch, Marie. I'll have a feast." I can see her blush through her dark skin.
"My pleasure, Master Finnick." She says shyly. I give her shoulders a quick squeeze, then walk into the hallway and out of the font door.
The sun is warm and I can see that in the east, the sea is calm. Already, I can tell this will be a good day as I look across my town.