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"Effie Trinket... reads out the name in a clear voice. And it's not me. It's Primrose Everdeen."
Every day is the same, only much harder. I get up, get dressed, go to training with Johanna and Peeta, have lunch with Finnick and Trixie, go back to training, go back to the hospital, have dinner there, then sleep. I'm on even more medication now then I was before the quell, it's not just one simple pill at dinner; it's a pill in the morning and three at dinner. I don't even know what they're for. But besides from that, what makes my days so bad, is that now my fingers are bandaged, so I can't tie my rope. It turns out that after my first day in training when my fingers started bleeding, my cuts got infected. So now each of my fingers need to stay bandaged until it gets better, which feels like it may take forever.
Trixie's epilepsy is fine. I just found out at lunch from Finnick that she had her first seizure in forever while we were in the arena. I wanted to know how Finnick knew, and he said that Haymitch told him everything that happened while I was away. That reminded me that I've barely spoken to Haymitch since I got here, and it's been almost three months now.
"Stone! What are you doing!" I hear Boggs voice shout at me; I've become a lot more comfortable around him now, and the voices have stopped shouting horrible things about him. I realize he's going to help me, not hurt me.
I look down, and notice I'm sitting in the middle of the running track. Johanna and Peeta are running laps, dodging me when they get here. "Oh, what?" I ask, trying to ply my bandages off.
"First of all, get your hands away from your fingers!" He shouts, pointing at me. I laugh at him getting so angry over such a little thing, and he storms over to me. I stand up when he reaches me, and I only reach his chin. I look up at him with raised eyebrows.
"Boggs, do you know who you're talking to right now?" I ask him, jokingly. I don't think he realizes I've been in the arena twice, willing to kill.
"That I do, Gemma. Now straighten up and start running your laps again!" He shouts in my face like a drill sergeant. I know he's only doing it because it makes me laugh, he's not actually being mean.
I push his shoulder, hard, and he stumbles backwards a few steps. I see Johanna and Peeta stop running, turned to watch us. "Actually, I think I'm done for today." I say casually.
"What? It's only 3 oclock, Gemma. You have 2 more hours until dinner!" He says, lowering his voice now.
I shrug, "Eh. I'm done for this afternoon, I want to go find Finnick. I think he wants to talk to me about something." I turn to leave, and I hear him sigh. I look over my shoulder to see he isn't even going to protest, he's just back to barking orders at Johanna and Peeta. I turn around, "What's wrong with you today? Normally you'd be at my throat to make me stay." I joke.
He gives me a sad look, "It's nothing." Then he smiles, "Just go talk to Finnick. Have a good day. Gemma." I look at him confused before running from the training center; something's up with Finnick, I know it.
…
"Hey you," Finnick says to me; I greet him by wrapping my arms around his waist. I've been starting to remember a few more of my memories of us, the good ones, and I'm not scared of him at all. I still have my moments where I can't let him touch me, but overall he protects me and makes me feel safe.
I don't even bother to say hi, "Finnick, what's wrong?"
He looks to the floor, "Nothing."
"Don't give me that shit, Finn." I say, picking his chin up so he has to look at me. He breaks us apart, and starts to walk, putting his arm around my shoulder. I lean into his body and he tightens his hold when I start to wince at people passing us.
He doesn't say a word to me until we reach his room, "Do you want the good news or bad news first?"
I sigh, "Give me the good news, I guess."
He smiles, "I just got the news from the hospital that you are well enough to move in here with me and Trixie!"
I grin, jumping up and hugging him, "Oh Finnick! That's wonderful! I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever get out of there!"
"They said you made incredible progress, and even though you still break down sometimes, if you always have someone with you you should be fine to stay here." He explains happily.
"Oh, this is amazing. There has to be some kind of catch though?"
"You just have to go back to the hospital every day to talk with somebody…" He whispers into my ear, kissing my neck.
I pull away from him, frowning. "I'm not talking to any damn therapist, if that's what you're telling me to do. I have training everyday, Finn! And I can talk to you or Johanna or Peeta, I don't need to!" My mind wanders to Johanna, having to leave her in the hospital alone, so I bring it up, "What about Johanna?"
He pushes a piece of hair behind my ears, "She's going to be staying with Katniss. She doesn't know it yet, though. She'll love it, won't she?"
I burst out laughing at that, Johanna and Katniss? Johanna will go crazier than me, she's not a big fan of her. I wipe my eyes clear of the tears that are coming from them, "Poor Johanna!"
He frowns, "Hey! That's not very nice, Gem. You don't even know Katniss."
I stop laughing instantly, glaring up at him, "And you do?"
"Yes, I do! We... helped each other a lot when you guys were in the Capitol."
This sends my mind whirling, and the voices come back for the first time in months. "Hm. I see. You seemed to have left that out when you were filling me in." I break away from him and storm off to the door, but he beats me to it, blocking my only exit. "Let me out." I spit.
"No, baby, you don't understand," He says, trying to calm me down. How dare he be kind to me after telling me he basically cheated on me with Katniss.
"What don't I understand? It's not hard to comprehend that you were being a little too friendly with the girl on fire, Finn." My hand reaches for the door handle, and he bats it away lightly. Unfortunately, this is enough to set me off though, and I stumble backwards. My hands rise in fear, "No, wait, don't hurt me, I'm sorry!" I fall to the floor, crawling backwards, not taking my eyes off of him. He gives me a painful look and takes a step towards me. I scream in terror.
"Gemma! It's me, Finn! I'm not going to hurt you." He says in a calm voice. I continue to crawl backward, shaking my head.
"No, you're not my Finn. They took away my Finn. You're an evil Finn that's going to hurt me like always!" I scream at him, squeezing my eyes shut, hoping to get the screaming in my head to stop.
He sits down across from me, not knowing what to do. I stop crawling and just stay there, curling into a little ball and rocking back and forth. "No, Gemma, it's me. It's me, your Finn. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to help you, remember? I protect you." He soothes to me from across the room.
"No, no, no. No you're not. No." I say, continuing to rock. I clamp my hands over my ears, trying to block everything out, and I begin to scream. I feel like I'm screaming forever, but then there are hands on me. It's not Finnick's hands, I know his hands. These are rough hands, peacekeepers hands. I start kicking and punching, trying to get the hands away from me. I'm supposed to be free from the torture, but somehow they found me. President Snow found me.
I feel a pinch in my neck, and I feel the hands fade. Darkness envelopes me.
…
I feel the restraints first. I don't have to open my eyes to know I'm tied to a hospital bed after my meltdown. I'm feeling normal now, though. "Gemma?" I hear my voice being called by a familiar voice, a female voice. I feel hands stroking my hair.
I open my eyes to see Johanna, sitting at my bedside, brushing hair out of my face. "Jo?" I say, clearing my throat.
"Finnick told me what happened… they can't get you anymore, Gem. You're safe now." She says quietly.
"Where is he? I need to talk to him." I say, trying to get up from the bed.
"He's gone." She whispers.
"Gone?" I asked, scared like a little girl. Wait, gone? Like, dead gone?
"Yes… he's gone, Gem." I feel like my heart has been torn out of my chest.
"What do you mean, gone? Is he d-dead?" I whisper.
She looks at me confused, "No, he's not dead! He's gone to district two with his squad. You've been out for two days; that's what he wanted to tell you those nights ago, but you took it wrong." (A/N – I couldn't remember if Finnick actually went to D2 in the book, but in this one he did!)
I let out a sigh of relief, "Oh, thank god." I punch her arm, "You frightened me to death!"
She rubs her arm, smiling, "Well, sorry. You didn't give me time to explain. He'll be back in a week or two, so until then the hospital are making you stay in here just to be safe. I am going to stay in Finnick's room with Trixie."
"Why is he gone to District 2?" I ask.
"They are going to get some video for some propos… they also wanted to see if there was something they could do to get them on our side. Now if you're all calmed down enough I'd love to get you to help me bring some of my things to his room." She explains before calling a nurse in to undo me.
The nurse frees me and I jump up, changing from my stupid robe to normal clothes. I miss my shorts and baggy tops, I'm tired of all of this grey garbage.
"Here," Johanna passes me a box of clothes, and she carries another one. She leads me out of the room and down a few hallways and a staircase to his room. Once we're in there I drop the box on to the ground.
"Where do I unpack these?" I ask her.
"Just put them in the bottom drawer of his dresser, I doubt he got a lot of clothes in there."
I walk over to the dresser and forcefully open the bottom drawer; it's sticky. Johanna was wrong, there's plenty of clothes in here. I take them out, two big stacks, and flick them to the floor. When I hear them drop I hear a Clang!
I look to Johanna, and she comes and sits on the floor next to me. We pass confusing looks back and forth, wondering what it is we just heard.
I slowly lift up the articles one by one, checking each carefully. And that's when I see it.
A little blue box.
I look to Johanna and she raises her eyebrows, grabbing the box from my hands. I roll my eyes and she rips it open before gasping. "Oh, Gemma, you need to see this…" I snort at her amazement, and that's when she shoves the contents of the box in my face.
And much to my surprise,
It's a ring.
