~Nyrah POV:

I step off the train and the first thing I hear is the gentle crash of ocean waves. I'm home. I look around the train station until I spot Neru. I run straight into his outstretched arms for a long missed hug. He squeezes me tightly. I can't help it, I cry. Half my tears are for joy: I'm home and my older brother is here and safe. But the other half is for sorrow: Nash is gone, my guilty killer conscience, and my new life ahead of me. Each individual tear has a deep painful meaning as it runs down my cheek. So much for dignity.

Neru finally lets go and steps back. I wipe my tears and then I notice a dark haired girl standing next to him. I raise my eyebrows, "I leave for like what? Six or seven weeks? I come back and you have a girlfriend! When did this happen?"

Finnick walks up behind me and says, "Hey Annie, how are you?" in a gentle voice. Annie? Who is Annie? Then it hits me. She won the 67th Games, two years after Finnick won his Games, when she was eighteen. If I remember right, it was because they flooded the arena and she could swim the best. She went mad after that. They never showed her on tv like they showed other victors. But why is she with my brother of all people?

Neru sees my struggling to put things together and says, "Annie comforted me when you and," he chokes for a second, "Nash were reaped. Later she helped me move our stuff into the Victor Village. And one more thing, Ny, she isn't my girlfriend." I nod, still pondering it. It makes sense, sort of, but isn't she crazy?

My new house is huge with so many buttons, it would take me forever to figure out what all of them do. But I guess I have all the time in the world. Neru doesn't have to work anymore, but almost every day he escapes to sea in the new boat I bought him. He says he misses the water, but I think he does it to avoid me. I can't be the easiest person to live with right now. I just basically mope around, and occasionally break things.

I tend not to answer the phone anymore; it's always some psychiatrist trying to get me to tell him how I am coping. What am I supposed to say to that? Oh, life sucks, I have a serious guilty conscious, and I want to kill myself? Yeah, that would go well.

Life moves on though, slowly. I have nightmares that keep me screaming for hours. Most of time, Mags or Annie will come over and just be with me. It helps some. But usually I am on the beach. The water relaxes me better than anything else.

~Finnick POV:

Damn. It's two in the morning and Nyrah is screaming again. I live right next door to her, so it is loud. I shouldn't be complaining because I know I was worse after my Games five years ago. I hear a door slam and footsteps running out of the house, pounding down the road towards the boardwalk. Well, there is no way I can go back to sleep now. So I wearily crawl out of bed and take a hot shower.

I head down towards the beach. No one is out this late, or I should say early. The half moon illuminates my path and reflects off the ocean. I see Nyrah standing thigh deep in the ocean arms spread wide, letting the wind whip her red hair. I walk up behind her, but she doesn't respond. I put a hand on her bare shoulder, she jumps, startled, and puches me soundly in the face. Ouch she can throw them.

"Oh my gosh, Finnick! I'm so sorry! I can't believe that! Sorry! You scared me, and,"

I cut her off. "Chill out. I understand. Instinct takes over. Apparently you fight, not flight." I rub my cheek tenderly, "I just can't believe you hit my face, that is the moneymaker! Without my flawless beauty, who is Finnick Odair?" She laughs nervously and then shoves me into the water. It takes me by surprise, but on my way back to the surface, I grab her ankle and pull her under.

After an epic water war, we both go and sit in the sand with the water coming up and lapping at our feet. "The beach calms me down, helps me focus on life." Nyrah whispers. She turns to look at me, her green eyes glowing like a cat's in the moonlight. "Have you ever thought about suicide?"

The question startles me, but I smile and say as nonchalantly as possible, "Who hasn't?"

She is quiet for a moment then says, "I don't know why I'm telling you this, but right now, I really want to kill myself. I think about all the lives I have ruined and I just well," she stops speaking and just sits there with her head resting on her knees. She finally continues, "On top of that everyone is really fed up with me right now. I can't go anywhere without moms pulling their little kids away from me or creepers trying to hit on me. I just don't know how to handle it I guess."

I really don't know what to say. Without thinking, I say, "Why don't we escape 4 for a week? We will take my boat and head out to sea, just you and me. Chill out." She looks at me for a long minute, studying me, before she agrees. I add, "How bout we leave this morning? Grab some clothes and tell your brother. I'll pack food and meet you on the dock in thirty minutes."

~Nyrah POV:

Spending time with Finnick helps. He has been what I've been through, and he just understands me, unlike so many other people.

After a while, life developed a pattern. I will go out to sea in my boat at least four times a week, sometimes just for a day, sometimes for extended trips. Sometimes I went alone, but usually Finnick went with me.

Once a year I will go to the Capitol for the Hunger Games. Luckily, I haven't had to mentor yet. A middle aged Career victor named Pearl loves to do the job, so she always does it for me when my turn comes around. Whenever I am in the Capitol, I'm usually doing the whole prostitution thing. Whenever I wasn't, I was doing what Beetee calls living la vida loca-it must be Latin or something because I don't know what it means and Beetee is just smart like that. Usually I go to dance clubs and fancy restaurants or just hang out with other victors. I've made several friends from many Districts that way. That's the best part about the Hunger Games, befriending people that I would normally never meet. One of my closest friends is actually Johanna Mason. Friend isn't a good enough word. She is practically my sister from District 7. We even act the same most the time.

The worst part of winning the Games is, of course, the prostitution. I do learn juicy Capitol gossip in bed though, and sometimes I hear something that will help the Rebellion, but those tidbits are rare. What was even worse was having to explain my, um, new occupation to Neru. He kind of lost it when word got back to District 4 that I was a slut. Let's just say it took a long time to convince him how it wasn't my idea. Neru didn't exactly believe Finnick when he tried to take my side, mainly because of his own not-so-innocent reputation, but he did listen to Pearl and Mags. It was a start anyway. Life is moving.