Chapter 53 is here! Finally, they are back in District 4!
Annie's POV
The train ride is taken in excruciating silence. I wish Finnick would say something; even something incredibly stupid would be okay right now. But I can't stand the silence. Even Caleb's stopped speaking to me as well. The silence is deafening. With no words to concentrate on, the roar of the train consumes my mind. It's grating.
Imagine metal on metal and amp up the sound by a thousand. And then listen only to it for a whole day.
Finnick and I are just sitting, neither of us talks. I keep thinking about CeCe. I'm sure, positively sure, that Finnick was mistaken. How could CeCe die? My father would never let that happen. She's probably perfectly fine. She's alive. I know it.
I look over at Finnick, who actually kept the destruction of District 4 from me. He seems to feel really bad about it, so I can't really hold it against him. His eyes are dark around the edges and have been darkening ever since I met him. Maybe they have always been like that, just covered by make-up and other Capital tricks to make one look beautiful. As if he needed them. His bronze hair and sea green eyes make him the conversation of any event. His height and muscled body probably make every girl alive drool, which is totally barbaric.
The whole world thinks of him as a man. But he's just a boy to me. A sad, lonely boy whose whole world is constantly being torn apart. He looks over at me and smiles, gently and sorrowfully. This is the first time he's getting to go back home since my reaping.
Since the games.
I haven't really been worried about how my life back home would be affected by the games, but now I see that our whole district has had to bear my punishment. The tsunami killed hundreds of people. Destroyed most of the buildings. Scared all of the fish away.
Now a victor, I probably wouldn't have to fish illegally anyway, but the fact that I can't just makes me feel even more like a victim.
Finnick informs me that we are almost here. It's night, so I probably won't really see much of the damage done to my home. Knowing myself, that might be a good thing to not see all of it at once. Gradually take it in.
Of course that's probably not going to happen, but I can try.
Finnick's POV
Home is where the heart is. What a stupid saying. "Home is where the fish is." seems more like reality, for victors anyway. Because I don't think we have hearts. Annie does, Mags does, but the rest probably don't. I know I don't. When it comes to Annie, I feel, but the things which I had enjoyed before the games are lost to me. Sailing is just a motion. Fishing is not really necessary anymore. Swimming into long forgotten caves has no hold over me.
I had wanted to try these things again, to try to reawaken myself. But I had always been too afraid that it wouldn't work, meaning I was forever cursed to be this way, that I couldn't bring myself to do those things. But now I might not ever have the chance to do those things again. Sailing will be impossible with all the debris. Fish will be too scarce. Swimming would be considered a selfish activity now that there's so much work to be done.
My thoughts are avoiding Annie. Because it's definitely my fault that her baby sister is dead. I saved Annie and killed her sister with the press of a button.
It's thundering now. Lightening illuminates the wreckage of my home. Fallen light posts, crushed fish market, town square has been reduced to a pile of wood and spoiled fish guts. As we ride though the district heading towards the train station, I notice that the Victor's Village has been left untouched. How coincidental.
Annie is simply shutting her eyes through the whole ride and I don't blame her. I want to do the same.
With a lurch, the train finally comes to a stop and I jump out of the train. I can't help it. It's been so long since I've smelt the sea. Felt the night breeze caress my face and ruffle my hair. But then there's something I definitely don't associate with District 4. Screaming. Annie's dreadful cry as she steps off the train and into her parent's arms.
They embrace her with many tight hugs and a river of tears. Annie's frizzy hair keeps getting in her mother's face and Annie almost rips it out trying to get it away from her face. Her parents are ecstatic, more than other parent's I've seen. Probably because Annie is their only child left, circumstances that are solely because of me.
Annie manages to mouth a thank-you before she's dragged away by her parents, towards her new house in the Victory Village. It's kind of comforting to know that she'll be my neighbor. I miss living in a place filled with kids my age.
Annie forgot her bags, but I don't really mind taking them as well as mine. I pick them up and turn around, dropping them like jelly fish.
I run to her and crush her in a hug. I haven't seen her in so long that I thought I might be getting responsible. Mags smiles and calls me "Salty," a name she reserves for her favorite people. I don't really know why she does it, but I like it better than my father's nicknames for me.
I didn't ask about them because I don't want to know. I won't ask Mags. I won't ask anybody. But I'm dying to know. And once I do know, what should I feel? Should I be relieved or devastated? Relieved that my parents are alive or relieved that I don't have to make things right with them? Devastated that I never will get the chance or that I don't have to?
Lighting crackles overhead, followed by thunder that shakes the ground. I pick up the dropped suitcases with one hand and take Mags' arm with the other hand and, together, we make our way through the rubble that was our home.
The footage on TV doesn't even cover the details. In the dark I can make out the outlines of buildings and houses. Boats and houseboats, too beaten and battered to float, aren't docked anymore. I wonder where their occupants are living, not everyone has a victor for a daughter and, therefore, no huge house in the Victor's Village to go to.
The lighting strikes right above my head and I start to wonder if this storm is man-made or just has a funny sense of humor. Whatever the case, Mags and I pick up our pace and practically jog the rest of our way home.
I drop Mags off at her house just inside the gates and then make the remainder of the walk at a full out sprint. The lighting is a bit too close for my case.
My house is plain white, starting to yellow. The door is a dark shade of wood and I open it slowly. The smell of cleaner greets me instead of my house-keeper, a woman that practically begged to clean my house for reasons only known to her. Maybe she's aspiring to be a professional house cleaner, at least that's what I tell myself.
I toss all the bags in the living room, Annie won't really care about them right now, and head up the stairs to my bedroom, where I promptly fall asleep, fully dressed and not caring a bit.
It's good to be home.
Yay! It feels way better writing this than the last couple of chapters, just because they finally came home! The story doesn't end here guys… I might be skipping some though, but probably not next chapter. Next chapter will probably be the next day and then the next one after that will probably be a couple of days or weeks after.
Be sure to leave me a review because I stopped watching LordOfTheRings to come write this for you guy… So REVIEW! =)
