Finnick Odair, aged 14. The Arena
It's about mid-afternoon when Finnick next opens his eyes. Immediately he knows something's wrong from the way Rupalia is leaning over him with worry painted all over her face. She raises her hand to his forehead, and then drops it again cursing. However, Finnick doesn't remember what happens next as his vision becomes fuzzy and his head starts to pound, causing him to close his eyes tightly.
The next thing he remembers is a boat, moving down the frozen river. It's a small sailing boat, with white sails, much like the boat his father owns back in District 4. The boat that he used to take Finnick and Hayden out on to show them how to catch fish, and how to mend nets. Finnick remembers watching his father's quick fingers enviously as they tied tight knots in the ropes. When he himself tried the string all seemed to loop together and cause a messy heap at his feet. It was this that caused him to try again and again determinedly until his fingers bled. Night after night, sitting on the porch steps until he could get it right. He remembers the day he makes his first proper net; remembers bringing it to his father proudly, smiling with his gap teeth. He remembers the way his father held it up to his eyes closely, examining it, before deeming it a worthy net, and placing it with the others. That moment, his father's approval, made all the other failed attempts worth it. He didn't even care that Hayden had been making useable nets for three years by then, and looked at Finnick with disdain when his father praised him. Hayden hadn't been praised on his first net.
And as all these memories run through his head, and as he watches the boat with the white sails, it suddenly occurs to him how strange it is that the boat is drifting down the frozen river, solid with ice. So he calls Rupalia, to ask if she can see it too. She appears above his head still with the same worried expression on his face, and instead of answering his question she hands him a cup of warm soup, and urges him to sleep.
As she disappears again, he gazes up through the branches above his head to the sky and sees the stars. He wonders if they're real or perhaps just projected up onto the giant screen? And it's about then that he begins to confuse his reality with his dreams; both seem to spin together, leaving a trail of starlight to dance upon the insides of his eyelids.