Hello readers! Sorry it's been so long since I have updated this story. I took my time to figure out what I wanted to happen in this chapter. Enjoy!
Also, thank you to RuneQuill23334, The Inked Pen, Lunaticx3, and guests for reviewing.
Chapter 3
We arrive back to the Training Center fairly late. My brother heads straight to his room for bed but I still an issue to resolve. I go to my room and change into a shirt, pants, and sneakers before walking down the hall to my parent's room. I only hope they haven't settled down for the night. I knock softly three times and wait until my father shouts, "Come in!" through the wooden door. I slowly open it and find my parents still dressed in outfits from earlier.
"What is it, honey?" my father asks.
"I need to talk to mom." I quietly answer. My father goes to leave the room but I tell him to stay. It might be good to have him here. He decides to unpack their suitcases, giving us a little bit of privacy.
"What is it?" she asks rubbing my back.
"Who's Prim?" Her hand tenses against me and I know I've awoken something inside her.
"Where did you hear that name?" she asks, the anger now evident on her face.
"She is you sister, isn't she?"
"Was." she corrects me.
"How could you keep that from me? You said you were an only child!" I shout out.
"It wasn't important to tell you. She's dead…has been for a long time."
"And you think Gale Hawthorne killed her?" I accuse. This brings out even more rage. I can feel the fire in her eyes. I don't think I've ever seen her this angry.
"You have no idea what he did."
"Haymitch told me everything."
"If it wasn't for that stupid bomb he made, she'd still be there."
"But he didn't know."
"Do you have any idea what those bombs did? They killed hundreds of children. How could I ever forgive him for that?"
"But he didn't drop them. He couldn't have known they'd be used in that way." I fight back. By now my father is walking towards us.
"He killed her! If it wasn't for him, she'd still be with me!" my mother cries out. Tears are now flowing rapidly down her cheeks. She lunges toward me but my father holds her back before anything happens.
"Katniss, calm down." he mutters into her ear. She collapses in his arms, crying uncontrollably as she whispers her sister's name over and over. I can feel my chest wrenching. I didn't mean to make her this upset.
"Mom, I'm sorry." I apologize. She doesn't acknowledge my words. I quickly exit the room, feeling horrible. Tears run down my face as I make my escape. I didn't think the conversation would lead to that. I've never seen my mother in such a fragile state. Right now I wish I could run away into a forest and hunt to distract myself from the exchange I just had. The Capitol has nothing close to the woods near home. I resolve to find the training area within the building. Maybe something there will help to take my mind off what I just did to my mother. I jab the button outside the elevators until a bell chimes and the doors slide open. After studying the grid of buttons, I opt for the button on the bottom, not marked with a number. I feel myself descend lower until I reach what must be the lowest level. The doors open to reveal a dimly lit hallway. I open the door at the end of the short walkway and behind it reveals what I was looking for.
I survey the space. There is an obstacle course set up in the middle with several stations circling it. I take in each station: rope tying, knife throwing, hand-to-hand combat, among others. It isn't long until I find the archery station. I run to the bow, gingerly taking it in my hands. I inspect the design and pluck the string to test the tension. There are arrows lined up neatly on the rack above where the bow rested. Standing in front of me are targets, which resemble the human body, bulls eyes marking vital body parts. It's unsettling to see these targets. I've never even pointed an arrow towards another human being, much less shot at one. It's the only thing I have to practice on. I pull the arrow taut on my bowstring as I aim for the target over the heart, my arrow landing directly in the center of it. I proceed to hit every other bulls eye on the target. I place the bow back in its resting place and walk closer to the target to inspect my work, seeing how close to the center I got.
"Good shot." I hear a male voice murmur, close to my ear. I spin around, almost losing my balance as Finnick Odair appears into my view. He braces me, making sure I don't fall to the ground.
"What are you doing here?" I gasp as I try to retain my composure.
"Couldn't sleep. Decided to do a little exploring."
"You shouldn't just sneak up on people like that." I reprimand him. He doesn't apologize.
"You ran off earlier." he mentions.
"I saw my Aunt Johanna. She's not my real aunt…just what we call her." I babble on.
"She my Aunt Johanna, too." he says with a smirk. "She was good friends with my parents. She mentored with my father." I sink to the ground, still shaken by his sudden appearance. He lowers himself, sitting close to me.
"I didn't see your father here." I comment.
"He died before I was born." he says with a hardened expression.
"I'm sorry…I didn't know." I quickly apologize.
"I thought everyone knew about my father."
"I don't know much about that stuff. My parents don't talk about it."
"You see their Games?" he asks me. I shake my head.
"No, just photographs in textbooks." I reply. I look to him and narrow my eyes. "Why, have you seen your father's?"
"Yes, and my mother's too." he tells me. "It helped me understand why she acts the way she does."
"I don't know what happened to my parents. All I know is my mother has bad nightmares and my father has flashbacks." I say, not sure why I'm talking to him about it. I've never talked to anyone about this.
"Would you like to see their Games?" he asked.
"Of course I would. I finally might understand why those things happen to them."
"What if I told you that you could?" he asks with raised brows.
"How?" I ask turning towards him.
"They have copies of them in the archives at the history museum. That's where I watched them."
"Come on." I say taking his hand and tugging him towards the elevators.
"Whoa, slow down Poppy. You'll have to wait until tomorrow…museum's closed." he says with a laugh. I glare back at him, not amused. "Hey, not my fault. Listen, meet me in the lobby at 9 tomorrow and I'll take you there myself."
"I don't think I can wait 'til then." I admit.
"You've waited this long. A few more hours won't kill you." he claims. I huff in frustration, not satisfied with his response. "Ok fine, we'll just have to find a way to pass the time." He walks past me and I can't help but wonder where he is going. I follow him, jogging to catch up with him.
"Which stations have you covered?" he asks.
"Just archery." I tell him. He stops in front of the knot tying station and takes a seat on the ground. He throws me a length of rope before I even have the chance to sit down.
"You know any knots?" he asks me.
"No."
"You're a hunter and you can't even make a snare?" he asks, giving me a skeptical look.
"How you do you know I'm a hunter?" I ask, ripping his piece of rope from his hands as I glare at him.
"Aunt Johanna told me." he says, taking back his rope.
"Why would she tell you that?"
"Had to find out about you somehow since you wouldn't talk to me." he explains. I'm starting to realize why Mom can be so annoyed with Aunt Johanna sometimes. She sure doesn't mine dishing things out to people.
"I had more important things to do. I'm here to find answers and this weekend is all I have." I say with vigor. I see a smile creep up on his face, although I can't imagine why.
"I like you. You have spunk." he says, smirking at me.
"Just show me how to tie that stupid knot." I demand.
We play a little game. He shows me a knot; I try to replicate it. He starts with easy knots and makes them more difficult.
"I give up." I say when I come to a knot that is downright impossible.
"Ok, time for a new station." he says standing up. I join him as he begins to walk. There is something about the way he saunters around like he owns the place that I do not like. Who does he think he is, anyway? He walks past some sort of computer-based station and begins to pass the hand-to-hand combat station.
"This one." I say stopping him. I feel the need to take out my aggression on him.
"This one?" he snorts as he laughs at me. My expression must have shown him I'm not joking around. "Fine." he says. I quickly study the diagrams on the wall while he counts up to three. I attack him, kicking his legs from under him causing him to fall on his stomach. I sit on top of him and pull his arms behind his back. As I have him in the hold, I can't help but think of how easily I defeated someone of his size. Anger courses through me and I throw his arms to the ground before standing up.
"You let me win!" I shout with fury.
"I don't fight girls."
"Why, afraid you'd lose?"
"I never lose."
"Well you haven't met me." I sputter. Somehow, we are both seething, standing only inches away from each other.
"I won't go easy on you." he says with furrowed brow.
"Good." I reply. Before I know it, our hands are on each other as we try to take the other down. We both struggle for dominance over the other but the other always manages to pull a move that frees us. I eventually succumb to him. He's over a foot taller than me and is almost all muscle. He hovers over me, pinning my arms to the ground.
"I win." he murmurs as his eyes bore into me. I can't help but notice how accelerated my breaths have become. I'm not sure if it's from the fighting or his proximity to me. He doesn't seem to have any intention of moving. He just continues to stare.
"Next station." I mutter as I free myself from him. I settle on the ropes course and begin climbing the rope closest to me before he can say anything. He takes the rope next to me and starts to climb. I nimbly ascend the length of rope and before I know it, I'm sitting on some metal scaffolding near the ceiling. I look down and watch him as he struggles to make it up. He's determined, though, and has no intention of giving up. I shout out tips to help him and it appears that he takes them because he does reach the top. He sits beside me, still catching his breath as we look below on the training room.
"It's sick what the Capitol put our parents through." he murmurs.
"Things were different back then." I say, not really sure how to respond.
"You'll see tomorrow. It isn't pretty, Poppy."
"I wouldn't expect it to be. I've heard the way my mother screams in the middle of the night. It would have to be something terrible for her to react like that. She's the strongest person I know." I reveal in a low voice. I turn to face him. "Your mom…" I begin before I stop myself. It's none of my business. "Sorry, forget it."
"You want to know why she acts so crazy." he says, his voice devoid of any emotion. "If you saw what she went through, you'd understand. It's bad enough watching it on the tapes. I couldn't imagine experiencing that in real life."
I want to ask him what happened specifically but I hold back. We are nowhere near being as close to each other for him to divulge that.
"You sure you want to watch the tapes? Once you see it, it's seared in your brain. It can't be unseen." he warns
"It's the only way I'll know what happened. My parents aren't speaking about it. Even Haymitch won't tell me…or Aunt Johanna. They have some sort of secret pact." I say rolling my eyes.
"We better call it a night, then. Tomorrow's going to be a long day." he says before starting down the rope. I follow him, carefully making my way down to the ground. We exit the training room together and take the elevator, him pressing button 4 and me pressing button 12. The bell chimes when we reach the fourth floor and the doors open. He looks over at me with a sadness in his eyes that I cannot place. He doesn't even try to exit the lift.
"What's wrong?" I mumble to him.
"Just being here, experiencing the places and things he experienced. It's a little overwhelming." he admits. I don't know what to do. Should I comfort him? I barely know the guy. "I'm staying in his room…probably a mistake."
"So pick another one."
"All occupied. District 4 had their fair share of victors." he comments.
"Then stay with me for the night." I reply, immediately regretting my words. The last thing I need is this. He'll probably tease me or make some suggestive remark. I quickly think of something to add to make it sound like I'm not after him. "We can make sure the other is up early for tomorrow so we don't waste time."
"I'd like that." is all he says. I hit the button marked 12 and we ascend. I only hope that I'm not making a huge mistake letting Finnick Odair share my bed for the night. The doors open and I instinctively take his hand, silently leading him down the hall to my room. The floor is quiet, with everyone asleep. We slip inside my room and I let go of his hand as I make my way to the bed. I kick off my shoes off and climb under the covers. He does the same. He whispers goodnight to me and I close my eyes, quickly drifting off to sleep.
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