Chapter 1:
We've all heard of that same old story where the girl waits for her true love to finally notice her and somehow, the boy realizes that she has been there all awhile except that he is naïve and too ignorant to see her, and in the end of the story, the boy will confess his love for the girl and the girl too will admit to the boy that she has been in love with him forever. Well yeah, that kind of story is too cliché for all of us.
Let me tell you a story, a different story where your life is in great danger as you grow older, and there's no time for you to hesitate to tell the one you like that… well, you like him. But in these times, love will cease to exist. You will even grow to hate your siblings if you ever got reaped. Love will be covered in the form of lust. In these times, you will really doubt if there is really love left in this world.
Besides, you won't even have the time to search for love because we are in Panem.
And in Panem lies the…
Hunger Games.
The gentle swooshing of the ocean's waves and the peaceful ocean breeze always calm Finnick's mind. It always helps him forget all gore, violence, and the people he was forced to kill in the Hunger Games. A year has passed and Finnick was still being haunted by the memories that will never leave him.
He always thought that once he'll be a Victor, everything will be fine. Once he surpasses all the killings and survive all of them, he'll try to forget all of those nightmares and live normally again. All of that was just a lie. He never forgot all of those, no matter how he tries; he still remembers every single detail.
Finnick closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Here it goes again. As a set of water covered his feet, a set of memories covered his mind too.
"Ladies and gentlemen, citizens of Panem, I give you the 65th Hunger Games Victor, Finnick Odair!" Caesar Flickerman pointed at his direction, his cue to go on stage. A 14-year old Finnick beamed at the Capitol people below him. He smiled lovingly at them but that smile never reached his eyes. For awhile, he was above all of them. Standing on the platform always gives him a feeling of dominance.
Even at a young age, Finnick Odair already has charm to make ladies swoon for him. His ruffled bronze hair, enchanting sea green eyes, and intoxicating lips are what it takes to make a woman fall for him. Besides, he owes his attractive face a lot. If it weren't for his physical features and added charm, he wouldn't have survived the Hunger Games.
He smiled at his audience again, giving them what they want. After all, this is all for a show.
It was a good thing that he picked this house at the Victors' Village. When he discovered that it has a private part shore behind the house, he immediately took it and arranged everything to his liking. Finnick sighed. Four days from now, the new victor will be arriving at District Four. This year's winner was from District 2, and the Tributes from District 4 who got killed were people he knew. He didn't cry when he saw them take their last breath of air in the arena, but he felt sympathy to their families who just lost a loved one, and he or she will never come back anymore.
Finnick Odair. Why did he even have that name? Right now, he was the most sought Victor in the bunch. He was the apple of the eye for the Capitol citizens because of his looks and everyone is dying to meet him, or even just get a hold of his presence. Every now and then, he receives gifts from random people he doesn't even know but surprisingly, they happen to know his name. Was he that famous?
Even in their district, whenever he passes by to the market to buy some of his necessities, he will always hear girls squeal when he passes by over them or just simply smile. He wasn't known for winning the Games, he was known for being a very good looking guy. It has somewhat hurt his ego. But he can't care less anyway. He has more problems to put his attention to.
Finnick stood up from the shore and took of his shirt. It's a good day to swim today. He flung his shirt somewhere. It's not like he can't afford another one. He's rich now. He has more money than he needs. After taking a deep breath, Finnick run towards the ocean and dived. He stopped thinking for awhile and just focused on his swimming. Making sure that he made real distance from the shore, he took a deep breath and dipped his head to the water, opening his eyes and witness the remaining beauty left in District 4. The ocean in District 4 is still not polluted. Upon seeing the schools of fish swimming in the same direction, the sides of his lips turned upward.
Deciding that he has seen enough, Finnick decided to go back to shore. Anytime by now, peacekeepers will be arriving in the village and escort them to the Justice Building. They'll be briefed regarding tomorrow's event.
Finnick swam back to the shore again. Still with open eyes, he saw something in the water. It's not that clear though. It was standing sturdily on the water that Finnick doubted if it is some piece of wood that has drifted in his part of shore. Finnick ascended into the water once he reached the shallow part of the ocean, much to his surprise, the silhouette that he sawearlier was no longer there. He walked towards his house to change clothes when someone just talked behind him.
"Hello there!"
Due to his experience in the Games, Finnick first instinct was to topple over the being who just talked behind him, and so he did. He straddled the person and it's the person's arms above her, securing it with one of his hands.
"Who are you?" Finnick demanded.
When Finnick focused on the face of his intruder, his eyes widen in shock and immediately let go of the poor girl. Yes. He just wrestled a small, fragile girl. The girl was obviously scared. She was clasping her hands which are above her, her eyes shut closed praying for her dear life and her lips quivering in fear.
What the hell is wrong with you, Finnick? He scolded himself.
"I'm sorry," Finnick panicked. "Uh, here let me help you." He assisted the girl to stand up.
"I-I'm sorry. I was just going… t-t-to ask you s-some-t-thing." The girl stammered looking down in humiliation. She looked at him in the eyes with a pleading look.
"Please don't tell the Peacekeepers," she begged.
Finnick smiled as he guided the girl to his house. "Don't worry. I won't. I just want to know how you got here." He opened the back door to his house and turned on the switch centimeters away from the door.
"Mother?" Finnick called. "I have someone to show you."
A woman in her mid thirties emerged from the kitchen and approached Finnick. Even in this age, Freane Odair is still beautiful as ever. Finnick totally got his looks from his mother. Bronze wavy hair, tall and slender physique, whilst Finnick has sea green eyes, his mother has the most gorgeous pair of shining emerald eyes a man could ever see.
"Who is it, dear?" Freane asked her son.
"I don't know, mother. I kind of found her outside, and I accidentally tackled her." Finnick told her. "But I didn't mean to, it was just you know what it is, mom."
She kindly smiled at Finnick, "Don't worry. I perfectly know." She turned her gaze over the girl that her son was almost carrying. "She fainted?"
Finnick looked at her mother with disbelieving eyes, "Really?"
He looked at the girl and true enough, her head hung low and her legs were not supporting her weight anymore.
"Let me take care of her, Finnick. Just lay her down the divan, please." Freane instructed as she went back to the kitchen again to heat up some water.
Finnick obediently followed his mother's orders and laid the girl down the divan. Seeing that the girl's hair covered her face, he carefully tucked it behind her ear and observed the girl's physical appearance. She's got the common features of a District 4 woman citizen but there is something about her that makes her so unusual in Finnick's eyes. Her unruly light brown hair was very long but still soft when Finnick touched it earlier. Her quivering lips earlier were now calm. It was opened a bit. It has the natural shade of pink that makes Finnick want to touch it.
Wait, what?
Finnick shook his head. What is he thinking? The girl whimpered and shifted. Finnick guessed that she was about to gain her consciousness again so he called his mother.
"She is? Wait a moment. I'm just going to pour down this tea for her to drink it."
The girl seems to be fully awake now that she squinted her eyes, adjusting to the light. She seemed to realize that she is not familiar with her surroundings and she panicked.
"Hey, hey, relax. I don't bite." Finnick gently said. The girl looked at him and Finnick was taken aback by how the girl's jade eyes seem to take some mysterious effect on him.
"I-where am I?" The girl finally spoke.
"You're in one of the houses in Victors' Village, dear," His mother informed the girl. "How did you get here?"
Finnick got the cup of tea his mother was holding and gave it to the still confused girl.
"Tea?"
"Thank you," the girl smiled at him and took a sip from the tea as soon as she took a hold of it.
"Oh. Now I remember what happened." The girl's face lightened. "I was taking a shortcut in the woods. You know, at the outskirts of District 4. I was running away from my household chores so I told my brother I'm just going to take a walk. I got lost, but then I saw houses, and I thought I could ask someone from there- here actually for directions." The girl paused to take a sip from her tea.
"And then I found him," The girl looked at him. "But I thought that you were just an ordinary guy, taking a swim at the sea so I waited for you to go back at the shore to ask you for directions so when you… tackled me. I'm sorry by the way. It was my fault, I shocked you. I sort of panicked that's why I stuttered all the time earlier. That's what I just remembered."
"Oh that?" Finnick smiled at her. "You fainted, but don't worry. You're in good hands and I won't report this to the Peacekeepers."
"Thank you," the girl said sincerely. "Thank you for taking care of me, even in such a short span of time. Now I owe you something."
"Don't worry about it."
"But I still want to do in return for your kindness." The girl insisted.
Finnick went silent for a moment. She's very different from the girls he had encounter. She wasn't… clingy to him and she doesn't seem attracted to him. He smiled unknowingly. He likes her. He thought of something to ask the girl and it struck him. He had just been referring to her as 'the girl.' Knowing her name would be nice.
"How about your name?" Finnick asked while smiling.
"You want my name?" The girl looked at him incredulously.
Finnick and his mother laughed at the girl's innocence. He ruffled her hair, "No. I mean I want to know your name. I just helped you and I don't even know your name."
The girl smiled sweetly at him.
"My name is Annie Cresta."
My very first Hunger Games fanfic :)
Please do say something about this newly created story.
Tell me if I should continue writing or not.
Reviews and criticisms are much appreciated :).
