Thanks a lot for reading the first chapter. Here is the final chapter of Forever. I hope that this chapter will win your hearts.

Chapter 2

The mighty sun was taking its leave when my train halted on the station. I walked on the platform and my gaze halted at the glorious sky of District 4. The sky looked as if an artist had playfully splattered streaks of yellow, orange and red on it, in a chaotic yet mesmerizing way. My sea green eyes were searching for any trace of Mags and Annie, but they were nowhere to be seen. It was unusual because every year both of them would be at the platform, with their arms open to embrace me after mentoring the killing spree famously known as Hunger Games.

I was engineering my way in the crowd when a small boy, probably of five years, pulled the sleeve of my leather jacket and introduced himself as Dan, the youngest son of healer Brice. He asked me to accompany him as Mags was at their home. My heart skipped a beat! When I was leaving for Games Mags was seriously ill. I thought she had died and Dan was refraining to disclose the truth. I followed the boy to his home with a heart shattered into millions of pieces. She was the only motherly figure in my life who had taken me under her wing when I was an adolescent boy and had raised me into a fine man. Tears were threatening to surface in my eyes so I focused on the sweet memories we shared. I was just thinking about the time when Mags had dived in the sea to save me from a shark when the boy again pulled my sleeve and knocked at a wooden door. Moments later, the door creaked open and Karen, Brice's wife, greeted me and led me to the lounge which was often used as Brice's clinic. I took a deep breath and entered the lounge. There Mags was lying on the dining table and her wrinkled arms were heavily bandaged. When the hazel eyes of Mags found the sea green eyes of mine, she gave me a gummy grin and brought me back from oblivion. I ran towards her and carefully embraced her. She looked frailer than a copper leaf in autumn. I kissed her cheeks and hands and asked Brice about her condition.

Brice and Karen led me to another room and offered me coffee which I declined without thinking twice. When I repeated the question they looked in each other's eyes as if agreeing on something and then Brice cleared his throat but did not speak a word. Impatient. I balled my hand into a fist and was about to slam the mahogany table with all my force when Karen blurted out that earlier that day, Annie had a flashback from the arena. She was screaming her lungs out while tightly pressing her temples. When Mags heard her shrieks, she went ahead to comfort her. Annie thought she was a mutt from her flashback so she clawed her arms. Soon another Victor noticed that and brought Mags to them while Annie stayed in the Victor's Village ashamed of her behavior. I tried my best to digest the news but shock was written all over my forehead. Brice hugged me and whispered in my ears:

" If you can help the tributes in the arena every year then you can surely sort this out as well"

He again offered me the coffee which I accepted and quickly gulped it. It burnt my throat but it was nothing before the inferno trapped in my heart. I collected myself and again entered the lounge with a lopsided smile. Mags again flashed her pink gums at me and I cradled her in my arms announcing we were going to her home. On the way, I apologized to her for Annie's treatment but she kissed my hand, indicating that Annie was forgiven. I carried her to her home, deposited her on the bed and fed her some soup and bread after a lot of ranting from her side and begging from mine. I smoothed her salt and pepper hair until she was peacefully asleep and then went outside to face my Annie.

I walked to Annie's home and was about to knock at the door when I found it to be opened. I entered the home and called Annie's name, but all I heard was my own voice echoing in the vacant house. I checked all the rooms but Annie was nowhere to be found. I entered the kitchen, to my most terrible horror Annie was not there and all the knives from the counter were missing. I thought my heart had stopped beating! I was thinking about the places Annie would visit whenever she was depressed. She could not go to her parent's home as they had disowned her, she could not be at Mags home otherwise I would have seen her and she was not in her home that meant that she was at my home. I sprinted like a panther and stormed into my home. I checked all the rooms but my Annie was not even there. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Where in the world would that girl go? I entered my kitchen to soothe my burning throat when I found Annie's scarf smeared with blood and her boots and jacket on the counter along with the knives. I blanched and collapsed on the floor. The world seemed blurring, my ears were not registering any sound, my hands were not obeying me and had tightly clutched the blood-smeared scarf of the girl I truly loved. I thought I had died. I was a lifeless man who had lost his most valuable asset, my Annie. The world, which I had built for the two of us, had shattered before my eyes and I could do nothing. I was not ready to face the truth, accept it and search Annie's lifeless body, so moments later I collected what remained of my charred soul and headed towards my best friend, the sea.

I carelessly kicked the expensive Capitol boots, wrenched the jacket from my body and was about to remove the tunic when I noticed a stranger with long, curly cinnamon hair, waist down in the deep blue sea. I dived into the sea with my clothes on, as drenching my clothes was the least important detail, and quickly swam near the stranger. I tapped the shoulder of that person and the person turned. A pair of emerald eyes met the sea green eyes of mine and relief flooded through me! My Annie was in front of me, alive! I hugged her tightly and we both started to laugh and cry at the same time. We gazed at each other for an infinite moment and then I asked her about knives, blood and most of all her absence. She swam away from me and gazed at the idyll moon, shining majestically in the midst of dimly lit stars. She was bathed in the moonlight and looked like a younger and prettier sibling of Aphrodite. She looked at me and smiled and then told me that she wanted to make dinner for me as a homecoming bequest. My home had no knives for safety purposes so she brought knives from her home to slice the seafood. She was just filleting a fish when Mags fell from her chair. She got distracted and sliced her finger. The blood oozing out of the wound brought the flashback and when the elderly woman tried to comfort her, she clawed her mercilessly. When she regained consciousness, she was too ashamed to face Mags so she also headed to her best friend, the sea.

We swam towards the shore together and like always she reached the shore first. She was the best swimmer of the whole district as it was her swimming, which had made her a Victor. We were fully drenched and Annie was shivering so we both headed towards my home with a silent agreement. I bandaged her injured hand and deposited her on her sofa. I rushed to her home and brought her clothes, which she changed, in my guest room while I went to my room to clean off and a warm shower did calm my nerves. When I got down stairs, she was sitting on my sofa, her feet tucked under her legs. She was immersed in reading a book, which I had brought from Capitol two years ago, but had never read it. I sat beside her and she enquired about the recent Hunger Games. She seemed impressed by the chivalrous huntress and laughed out aloud at my mental note of flirting with her. We were enjoying each other's company when my stomach growled and she smiled my favorite uneven smile, announcing she was not even entering the kitchen. I went to Mags home and brought some fruits to silence our growling stomach. I was tired from the journey and just wanted to sleep so Annie headed to the guest room while I headed to my room.

I was lying wide-awake in my bed, but sleep was refusing to come so I came downstairs and quietly slipped in Annie's bed. She was also wide-awake. She smoothed my hair with gentle strokes and was singing me a lullaby in that sweet voice of hers when she softly asked:

'Finnick! You love me. True or not?

I replied without opening my eyes:' true'

Her fingers never left my hair and she asked: 'since when?'

It was then I opened my eyes and replied:

'I felt butterflies in that stone heart of mine when I first laid my eyes upon you at the reaping. The butterflies turned into strange stirrings in my heart whenever you were in front of me in Capitol. When I watched you being launched in the arena from the control room, I was enveloped by a bizarre uneasiness. When the game makers flooded, the arena and you remained submerged for five minutes. Trust me! I held my breath throughout the time and was about to faint when you surfaced like a sea creature and as the ultimate Victor of 70th Hunger Games. It was then I realized I was a gone. You had crept on me, my love!'

I held her hand and asked:' Annie do you love me?'

She smiled my favorite smile and placed her head on my shoulders. She the spoke: 'I do! I do love you with all my heart and soul. You are the owner of my heart since my Games and will remain forever'

I again closed my eyes and Annie resumed the lullaby and gentle was then I asked her: 'Never leave me alone. Even the thought of living without you kills me'

She replied: 'I won't. I'll stay with you forever'

'Forever': I agreed.

We both slept peacefully that night and it was the first nights after our Games, which were not plagued by nightmares. Annie was indeed the fruit of the good deeds I had committed long ago in my life

THE END

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