Chapter 38
"What do you mean they're dead?"
"They died in an accident Finnick!"
"What kind of accident?"
"Mom and Dad were going down to the boat. Dad wanted Mom's help to bring in the fish he caught. They did and after they were finished Dad was going to move the boat back into the arena but, when he turned on the boat it exploded it killed Mom, Dad, and two other people. The strange part about all of this is Dad recently had the boat checked and they didn't see anything wrong."
Did Snow do this? I remember what Haymitch told me "Finnick, Snow doesn't take refusals lightly if he said there would be repercussions he will probably take it out on you personally" No that's crazy Snow wouldn't kill my parents… would he?
"I don't know what to say."
"There is nothing to say Finnick. They're dead. They're dead! THEY'RE DEAD!" my sister is crying uncontrollability.
"Fiona are you alone?"
"No Mags came over here once she heard."
"Can you put her on the phone then?"
I can hear the phone being handed to someone.
"Hello Finnick." Mags says with sadness in her voice.
"Is it true? Are they really… dead." I whisper the last word.
"Yes Finnick I'm sorry but, unfortunately things happen in life that we cannot control."
"What am I supposed to do now Mags?"
"We will figure that out once you get home, you should be back around this time tomorrow. Just try and get some sleep, I'm sure you are tired."
"How can I sleep when I know my parents are dead!" I shout into the phone.
"Finnick, there is nothing that you can do, accept it and move on." She say this kindly
"But I don't want to! I don't want them to be dead."
"I'm sorry Finnick. I think I should get off of the phone and help your sister. I will see you tomorrow."
She hangs up the phone and I am left in the room alone. I woodenly walk back to my bedroom and lie on the bed.
My parents are dead. My parents are dead. My parents are dead. My parents are dead.
I keep thinking those four words until I fall asleep.
I get a knock on my door. I have spent most of the day in here. I know we won't be in District 4 for a least another three hours.
"Finnick are you alright?" James asks through the door.
"No." I say without even thinking.
James comes in
"Who was on the phone last night Finnick?"
"My sister."
"Oh what did she want?" he says this happily he probably thinks she was calling just to check on me.
"She wanted to tell me something… something important."
"What?" James says he sounds concerned now
"She called to tell me that there was an accident, an accident that killed my parents and 2 other people."
"Finnick I'm so sorry."
"Do you think President Snow did this?"
"Finnick, don't start believing Haymitch's theory. I'm sure it was just an accident."
"No, but when I saw Snow I turned down an offer he wanted me to be a part of, he said there would be repercussions. What if this is a repercussion?""
James thinks about this for a minute. "I'm sure it is just an unfortunate coincidence. Trust me Finnick Snow has better things to worry about. The country of Panem is not as peaceful as you might think it is."
"What do you mean?"
"It's nothing for you to worry about Finnick. How was your sister on the phone?"
"She was crying, and upset because our parents are dead and I think I killed them."
"You didn't kill them. It will be alright. Do you know if your sister was left alone? If she was I can call Mags to come and stay with her."
"No she was already there. She was trying to help my sister. "
"Good she shouldn't be left alone and neither should you." He looks at me as if I might go crazy. I wonder if it has to do with how I acted last year.
James and I sit in my room in silence until we make it back to District 4. When we stop at the train station I run out of the train. Instead of talking to the mayor and make a speech about the dead tributes, I run to my house. I don't care about them, I didn't know them, I did know my parents.
A soon as I make it into the house Fiona runs up to me and hugs me. She holds me so tight I can barely breathe but, I don't care because I don't want her to let go. She is the only person I have left. She is the only person I care about. She is the only person I love.
Fiona and I probably stand in the foyer for 20 minutes just hugging each other. We don't say anything we just stand there. We know that, this is saying everything we don't want to speak. Mom and Dad are dead. You are all I have left.
"Finnick, Fiona." Mags is in the kitchen I don't know if she was watching us the whole time or not but, it doesn't matter.
"I made you something to eat."
"Not hungry." We both say.
"Fiona hasn't eaten anything since yesterday morning and I'm assuming you haven't either. You both need to eat something."
We stop hugging and head to the kitchen but Fiona is holding onto my hand. The meal Mags made is nothing special. It is soup and some bread. Probably doesn't want us eating anything too difficult. She knows we don't have the will to eat anything too complex.
"What happens now?" I ask aloud.
I don't know what happens after someone dies I'm only 15 .Are there papers I have to fill out? Do I have to plan the funeral? What happens to their house?
"What do you mean?" Mags asks
"What happens to their possessions? What happens to their bodies? What happens to…" I don't want to ask any more questions.
"I took care of most of that already. Fiona inherited everything because she is the oldest living family member."
"What is this everything?" Fiona says with disgust.
"The house, the money they had left, and the…" I feel like Mags is going to say and the boat but it blew up I doubt we will get another one.
"The boat blew up, it killed them why would I get that?" Fiona says in anger
"Well your parents did own another boat." Mags says
Fiona and I look at each other. We didn't know our parents owned another boat. We just knew about the one that killed them.
"What do you mean another boat?" I ask
"In the papers it says they owned another boat. It is in the arena in plot of 2364."
"Why wouldn't we know about it?" Fiona asks
"I don't know. It could have been an older boat they stopped using, or stopped working but, they didn't sell it probably had sentimental value."
"I want to see it." Fiona says and gets up to leave.
"I think you should wait for a little while." Mags says
"No I want to see it now!" Fiona shouts
"Alright I know I won't be able to talk you out of it." Mags says she grabs an envelope and hands it to me.
"Go with her Finnick"
I nod and open the envelope, inside are keys and the number of the plot in the boat arena 2364.
"Why do you think they didn't tell us?" Fiona says with anger as she is running to the boat arena.
"I don't know, it probably doesn't mean anything Fiona." I say
"Of course it does! There has to be a reason behind it and I want to find it!" Fiona shouts and gets many onlookers attention.
I grab her arm. "Fiona, don't get your hopes up. It could just be nothing but a broken down boat. Just because they didn't tell us doesn't mean it has a special meaning."
"Yes it does!" she shouts
"No it doesn't!" I shout back
Many people in the town are staring at us their eyes are full of pity.
"Yes it does!" she shouts back
"Why? Why does it have to mean something?" I shout
"Because I want it to! I want there to be some bigger meaning that they left us." She is now crying
She hugs me
"Fiona don't get your hopes up, you will just end up disappointing yourself."
We get to the boat arena and get to the station were we have to sign in.
"Plot number and name?" the man says
"2364, it should be under Odair."
He nods "No one has been it that plot since the boat was put there. It doesn't matter it is to the left just follow the number signs it shouldn't be hard to find."
We get away from the check in station. "It hasn't been checked out since they placed it here, if they used it until it was broken down, it would have left the arena." Fiona says
"Maybe they forgot it was here?"
"Finnick, boats don't coast just a few dollars. They wouldn't forget something like that." Fiona says
I know she is right but I don't expect to find anything here I don't want to get my hopes up.
"2364, 2365, 2364. There it's that one." Fiona points and runs off to it.
We arrive at the boat. It is a sail boat. They are cheaper so they must have bought it when they had less money.
We get to the boat and I notice the name.
"The name of the boat is F.F. Odair" I tell Fiona.
She comes and looks at it. "Fiona and Finnick Odair." She says confidently
"It could mean something else."
"You really think that?"
"No, but I'm not getting my hopes up."
We walk onto the boat and head to the lower level where the bedroom and kitchen area is usually located. It has one bedroom a kitchen and a loft area.
"This is bigger than it looks on the outside." I say
"Yeah." Fiona says
She goes to the bedroom to look for something I don't know what. Something in the kitchen catches my eye. On the kitchen table it looks like there is paper on it.
I walk to it and find 3 long envelopes. The paper is old and yellowing but I can still read what is on the front. On one of them it says Fiona on the other one it says Finnick and on the third one it says Open First
"Fiona"
"What did you find something?"
I hold up the envelopes.
"What do you think is inside?"
"Well we are going to open them."
She grabs her envelope and is about to open but I stop her.
"Wait, we are supposed to open this one first."
"Okay."
I open the letter and read it aloud
Dear Fiona and Finnick.
If you are reading this it means your Father and I are dead. I hope both of you are reading this and have not died from the Hunger Games, and also that you are adults. There should be two other letters on the table, one labeled for Fiona, one labeled for Finnick. In the envelopes should contain multiples letter from your Father and I. We both have written letters for each year you were alive. In the letters we talk about the important events that happened and things we thought of saying but never did.
There is another paragraph that looks like it was written more recently.
The older you got the more pages the letter has. We both loved you more than the air. We don't want you to feel sad about our death because hopefully the memories you made with us can last a lifetime. Make sure you look in the cabinets in the boat before you leave.
We love you and will miss you.
Mom and Dad.
When I'm finished reading it Fiona and I both have tears falling down our face.
"We should open them." Fiona says
I open the letters. The years one through six are basically talking about all of the accomplishments I made walking, talking, reading. But for the rest of the years it gets deeper. They talk about things that we had at school and the troubles that we faced. When I get to the ten letter my mother talks about how afraid she was because this is when we started to train for the Hunger Games.
When I get to the year 12 letter my mother and father talk about everything they feared for the my first reaping in the Hunger Games. They had the same thing in every letter always worrying that they would lose me and in all of them they said we knew if you got called you would die. After I get to year 14 I stop.
Do I want to read year 14? Lots of bad things happened that year.
"What's wrong Finnick?"
"I don't think I should read year 14."
"Yes you should. I feel like that would have the most emotion."
I nod and open the letter. The beginning talks about every day stuff but then I get to the page that is dated with the day of the reaping. I hold my breath and start reading.
Finnick this year you were chosen to compete in the 65th Hunger Games. When I heard your name get called out I felt fear and sadness because I had a feeling that I would never see you again and that I would have to watch you die with the rest of the country.
When the games started I was happy that you had an alliance because I knew it would help you get further in the game. When you made it far I knew you would have to kill people it get back home but, it is one thing knowing it and another watching it. When you killed that girl I was afraid for you to come home because I feared that you would never be the same person again.
After you came home from the games you seemed fine but when you feel asleep and you started yelling we thought maybe someone from Elle's family came to kill you because you killed her. You were just having a nightmare though. You got worse and my fears of you never being the same person seemed to be true.
Your father kicked you out of the house. I was devastated he talked about doing it but, I never thought he would go through with it. When you got to the house in Victors Village things seemed to be getting better.
When you went off for the Victory Tour your father and I spoke for a long time and he explained why he did what he did. I still didn't agree with him but I was glad he could swallow his pride and admit what he did was wrong. I was just hoping you could forgive him.
Mom
The letter from Dad was pretty much the same accept he talked about the sorrows he felt watching me go crazy and how he shouldn't have thrown me out of the house and how happy he was after I let him back into his life.
"Was it worth it?" Fiona asks
"Yes."
I open my last letter. I notice it is slimmer than the other ones. That is because they died before they could finish it.
After you got home from the Victory Tour you were the same Finnick I remember apart from having a nightmare every so often. I kept pushing you to fix your relationship with your father because I knew it would help you and I knew he deserved it.
Eventually you gave in after you just turned 15. Your Father was so happy. Especially when you said he could come over for dinner every night. It felt like we were just a family again. I knew you would never go back to the old house but, you still brought everyone together.
When you went off to mentor for the 66th Hunger Games I was worried that you would start to have bad affects again. I hoped that wouldn't happen but, I would just have to wait until you came home. Even if things did go back to the way they were I would love you always.
Then the letter ends. She never got to know if I was alright after the games.
Tears start to fall out of my eyes. I'm glad I have something that I can hang onto but, I'm sad she never got to know, that her son was alright and still is.
"Did you finish yours Finnick?"
"Yes."
"We should take this back to your house."
She gets up to leave but then I remember in the first letter make sure to check the cabinets.
I open up the kitchen cabinet
"What are you doing?"
I pull out a box and open it. It is filled with pictures. Fiona checks the other cabinets and finds a small box but, it looks like I found the main treasure.
We head back to the house and spend the rest of the night looking at the pictures and remembering the good times, when things were much simpler and when they were still alive.