Hey everyone! Yes I update this story a lot because I just LOVE IT! Thank you to my fabulous friend BananaLlama6 for the honorable mention in her story "Forever And On" which you should read if you haven't because your missing out! Anyway, I'm VERY proud of this chapter so enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Hunger Games, if I did Finnick, Prim, Cinna and more would still be with us, they all belong to Suzanne Collins
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Chapter Four: The Games We Play
Johanna's POV
I know it's unnecessary, and probably the wrong thing to do, but right now I want to distance myself from Annie Cresta-Odair as much as I can and considering that I officially live in her home now, that means her in the kitchen and me in the living room with Torrence. The young boy has practically been begging me all morning to sit with him and of course I don't object, no matter what animated shark movie is on the television.
"Auntie Johanna!" Torrence cries as I sit on the couch next to him.
No matter how menacing I look he still climbs and clings all over me like a normal excitable six year old, he doesn't seem sad at all about all that's been happening in his life. I begin to think he doesn't know the intensity of what his mother and his aunts and uncles have been through or why his daddy is never home.
"Hey there, little fella." I half smile.
"Watch Sharky Explores the Ocean marathon with me!" He giggles.
"How about we play a game instead?"
"I wanna Sharky!" He pouts and I can't help but smile at his little face and those annoyed sea-green eyes.
"Auntie Johanna has a better idea, let's play a new game that I bet mommy has never played with you!" I make sure Annie is out of earshot before I say the next part. "It's called Real or Not Real and all your aunts and uncles and even your daddy used to play it!"
Torrence perks up at the mention of his father and begins bouncing up and down, making the couch cushions fly off the couch and nearly knock over a shell display that is sitting on the glass coffee table. I grab ahold of his shoulders and make him sit.
"How we play?" He inquires.
"Well I'm going to say something about your life or an event that happened to you and your gonna answer real if it's true and not real if it's fake. Ready?" I explain. At first I'm met by a blank and confused stare but Torrence perks right back up.
"Go!"
"Okay..." I rummage through my thoughts and decide to start out small. "Sharky Explores the Ocean 2: Saving the Mermaid Princess is your favorite Sharky movie of all time. Real or not real?"
"Real!"
"Good! Now your favorite food is spinach! Real or not real?"
"Not real!" He exclaims in utter disgust as he sticks his tongue out.
"Now you have the basic gist of the game." It tell him. "Do you want to keep playing?"
"Yeah!" Torrence starts to bounce again but I quickly calm him down.
"Here now you do one for Auntie Johanna." I tell him.
"Okay! You like Sharky! Real or not real?"
I sideways glance over at the TV to see the stupid shark himself staring back at me with his three sidekicks in the background, seemingly pressuring me to say real for Torrence's sake. With a delicate yet convincing smile I look the boy in those amazing eyes and choke out what may or may not be the truth.
"Real!"
"Yay!" He squeals with delight. "I win! Where my prize?!"
"You little bugger you don't get a prize! There is no prize in this game!" I laugh as he pouts again.
"Auntie Johanna I want a prize!" Torrence pounds his fists into the padding of the couch, throwing a tantrum.
"Fine!" I cry, defeated at my own game. "I'll be right back with your prize."
Torrence agrees to stay put and watch TV as I run around looking for something that I could give him. Maybe he wouldn't notice if I gave him one of his own toys but I decide it's too risky. I run around, picking up everything I see on shelves and inspecting them, only to set them right back down. Apparently I'm making quite the ruckus because Annie walks out of the kitchen into the grand foyer to see me inspecting a shelf with pictures on it. She's got oven mitts on her hands and a warm smile on her face.
"What on earth are you doing?" She stifles a laugh as I shift back into the my slouched standing position.
"I was playing a game with Torrence and he wants a prize." A minuet passes before I look around and say: "I can't find a prize."
"I can fix that. C'mere into the kitchen for a moment." The red haired woman waves me over.
I've only been in this kitchen once before, when all the survivors of the revolution came to bring Annie back home to the house that her and Finnick would've lived in. It was probably one of the worst days of my life with everyone crying and snapping at each other. Since then, the kitchen has become a much lovelier place. There's a granite island in the middle of the floor with a small rounded table that holds a vase filled with white daisies. The walls are painted to look like the District 4 docks and near the refrigerator I can see two shops that I'm oddly familiar with. "Odair's Boat Fairs" and "Cresta Nets" sit side by side overlooking the ocean. I don't know what happened to the shops but they still stand on these walls.
Annie walks over to the oven and opens it, pulling out a cookie sheet that is cramped with, you guessed it, cookies.
"You can give one of these to Torrence as his little prize." Annie smiles, I can see she's still rather uncomfortable since I recently confessed my love for her husband, but she keeps this little happy act up anyway as she has always had to do.
"Thanks. I have a feeling he wouldn't have been happy if I didn't bring anything else back." I say as I take the cookie. I look closely to see that it's in the shape of a cute little fish.
"It's nothing. Our breakfast will be ready soon." The woman tells me sweetly.
"Got it." I nod as I leave the room to make my way back to Torrence who is hypnotized by the bright colors on the television screen. As soon as he hears my footsteps, his head whips around.
"Did you get my prize?!"
"Here you go, winner." I say bluntly as he takes the cookie and examines it.
"It's a fishy." He looks up at me confused.
"It's a cookie now eat it and say thank you to Auntie Johanna."
I plop down on the couch next to him and after a couple more seconds of thoroughly looking at every ridge in the cookie, Torrence takes a small bite and then gobbles the entire thing down happily.
"I wanna play again!" He says with a full mouth that I don't bother to scold him for, Finnick would probably do just the same. A pang of sadness hits me for the fact that Finn will never to be able to joke with his son like that.
"Okay. I'll go first." I begin. "You love to swim. Real or not real?"
"Real! Big real!" Torrence spreads his arms out so wide and so forcefully that he falls right over. It surprises me, but makes me laugh all the same.
"Do you like to swim, Auntie Johanna?"
A cold chill runs through my body and screams echo throughout my mind. I find myself taking a throw pillow like I would an axe and swinging it at a lamp like it's some sort of Capitol monster. Torrence rears back in horror and I scream out things that little boys probably shouldn't hear but right now I'm living in a nightmare. I'm thrown into a pool of water and shocked until I have nothing left to feel or live for, Peeta screaming like a madman is nearby and I can make out distinct and tortured cries of "FINNICK!" Soon arms encircle me and I know that I'm dead until I wake up in reality, on the floor with a small figure huddled on top of me. It's Torrence and he's breathing heavily, but whispering soothing words that have brought me back to the present.
"Auntie Johanna...not you too..." He heaves.
I sit up slowly and hug him as Annie runs into the room, a wildly protective and scared look in her eyes. Once she sees me hunched over hugging her son she wipes her tearing eyes and collapses next to us. I can tell Crazy knows exactly what happened.
"I'm sorry, I just r-really don't like s-swimming." I stutter.
"It's okay...your safe. Your both safe." Torrence coos lightly to his mother and I. Another chill runs up my spine and I can feel it in Annie as well as we could've both sworn that Finnick was here calming us both down.
The three of us make our way to the couch eventually and Annie puts the lamp back in it's rightful place while her son retrieves the thrown pillow like a puppy retrieving a bone.
"What game were you playing?" Annie sniffs as soon as Torrence sits down.
"Auntie Johanna taught it to me. Real or Not Real!"
The woman's sea green eyes fly open and her mouth goes dry. The little color that resides in her face is gone and her hands fly over her lips. She remembers when the squad was playing with Peeta back in 13. She remembers hearing about them playing it with him during the mission and during the mission her beloved husband was snatched away from her.
"I have one more for Auntie Johanna" Torrence continues.
"What would that be?" I ask solemnly, trying to catch Annie's gaze. She's not mad about the game, she just remembers.
"You love my daddy. Real or not real?"
My heart stops beating in my chest and my eyes fly open as wide as Annie's usually do. Closing the door during the fight wasn't enough to contain my voice and I realize now that I should of kept my fat mouth shut or at least my loud voice quieter.
Stealing a saddened glance with Finnick's widow, she nods telling me that I should tell the final and ultimate truth. My lips fumble together as I try to gather that one word in my head, thoughts are jumbled around making it hard for me to find a grip on the truth and then I look right at Torrence Finnick Odair and see a reflection of the man that I loved so dearly when he was on the earth. I sit up proud and look the little boy in his eyes, such a gift to be blessed with them.
"Real."
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CLIFFHANGER. Yeah I'm sorry I just had to do that. I have big, big plans for this story so please favorite, follow, and REVEIW! Every if your anonymous you can still review! It doesn't take that much effort I mean really. Goodbye for now! ~PurpleKittyFangirl
