Okay ...this chapter is sad. Kinda fluff, but more friendship and comfort. It's gettin' there, folks, rally down now. It's just so sad:( Ok ok, *shakes head* snap outta it.

So yeah, don't own TGH blah blah, OH BUT-I DO, however, own this plot and Lavianna and Caleb and my beloved Oriole. And in advance; I'm super sorry about the short chapter, I just thought it was a good place to end. Sorry but enjoy and REVIEW LIKE THERE'S NO FREAKING TOMORROW PEEPS:)

Stay cool

~Jenna

FIVE

The next few days are pure happiness. Even Annie lightens up with a smile on her face round the clock.

My mother later tells me that it's because she's so happy to see Oriole so happy. She says that back home, things have been getting bad. Annie's getting worse, and Oriole has almost abandoned his goal to go to university in Four for politics. He stays home, all the time. Has lost contact with most his friends, and deals with his mothers breakdowns. She's his full time job.

I didn't realize how bad it was.

When I look at him I try to see what goes on in his ahead, I can't seem to make sense of it.

Anyways, despite my trouble thoughts and sadness about Annie, I'm happy to have them in our lives once more. We sit around the fire, sipping hot chocolate and telling exciting or funny stories. We eat meals together, go on walks, talk, sleep in. It consists of everything that makes me happy. My family, Oriole and Annie. Everything except one key piece.

I missed Caleb.

•••

On the fourth night, three days before the Odairs are scheduled to leave, I find myself in the empty attic. It's a fairly good sized room, the walls slanting upwards to meet each other at the peak of the roof. It's pure wood, no paint, carpeting or tiles. There's a huge window that takes up one of the two triangular walls facing the forest. Through it, the soft moonlight flows through the cold glass. It's a clear night, no stars. Just the moon and some clouds and me.

The space is scattered with a few unopened boxes, tools, and two chairs that look too old to even be standing. Everything is covered in a thick layer of white dust, except for the small corner of the room with the window and ladder that leads to my room. I usually sit here when I want to think. Or just want to get away from it all. The world.

I sit there, cross legged leaning on a box, diagonal to the window. I hold my flimsy, old ,dusty lavender-coloured friend, Bunny. Playing with his ears, I think about that night between me and Caleb. The kiss. I think about losing him. I think about Annie's sickness. Losing her. I think about my mother, still waking me due to her screaming in the dead of the night. I think of my father, doomed to have a break down if stressed too much. My little brother, Caspian, who isn't so little anymore. Haymitch, Jo, Finnicks spirit that seems to live in everything Oriole does.

Oriole. I think of him the most. What's happening. It seems to be the same. I still love him. We're still best friends. He's changed though. We all have, but him, I'm afraid for the worse. His change is hurting him. It's wrecking the gentle soul inside him. He can't deal with all this by himself at eighteen. I want to help him. How?

I can't. But I wish I could just...

As if on cue, I hear creaking on my ladder beneath the floor. My face falls, I don't want my mother or anyone up here with me as I try to clear my jumbled jar of thoughts. I look away out the window and mumble, "Go away."

The footsteps come closer and I hear shuffling beside me.

"But this is our hideout."

I smile to myself but still don't turn around.

"Well if you insist. Okay. You can stay."

I hear him shuffle as he plunks down next to me. We just sit there for a bit, staring out the window.

"It's beautiful."

His whisper sends something through me. I turn my head around to see his glassed-over green eyes. I look deep into them, and he only stares back. I get lost in that sea of green and blue and gold, and I can't seem to get out. I finally snap out of it, looking down at my bunny and stretching my legs straight out in front of me.

"Yeah," I say softly, glancing at the full moon.

I hear him take a deep, shaky breath.

And I take a chance.

"What's happening to your mother, Or."

It wasn't a question, I don't think. It kind of sounded like it, in the way a small child would ask something they couldn't understand. But I knew. And I understood perfectly.

And so did he.

The sharp intake of breath I heard made me regret the words. But not enough to take them back.

I wanted to know. I needed to know for sure.

"She," his voice cracks. He clears it. "Shes...sick." He starts, but never finishes.

I nod microscopically.

I know. He knows. He probably knows that I know.

He never looks at me. Only the line of cracks along the splintered boards under us. Branching out in different directions, closing and gaping in different places. Darkening and fading, like the life was fading out of his mothers body.

I reached over and hold his fingers, and pull them to my knee. My slender ones running over his larger, strong ones.

"Are you scared?"

My voice is so soft it surprises me how gentle it sounds.

I don't dare to look up at him, only his fingers. His beautiful hands. I thread my fingers around his, spacing in and out, tracing the veins and lines on the back of his hand with my finger. I turn it, shaky and tinted white, and follow the lines of his palm with my nail. Sliding over his wrist, pressing slightly on his pulse, steady and strong.

Unfortunately, it might be a little bit stronger than his actual being right now.

I finally look up, and his head is down, staring at our fingers. His ashy-blond hair falls into his eyes. I bend my head, making him look at me.

His eyes are terrified. Blurry and confused.

He nods ever so lightly.

"Yeah."

I have no words. None.

*sniff*