I knock on the door, deciding to start off with some type of manners. I've planned this so that Annie wouldn't be home when I came because I didn't want to bother her anymore. She has to deal with enough.
Annie's mom opens the door. She must have been baking because she is still wearing her apron with a kitchen towel tucked in the apron pocket. She seems sweet, from a distance.
"Oh, hello Finnick! Annie isn't here right now," she greets me.
"I'm not here to talk to Annie. Can I speak to you actually, in private?" I phrase it as more as a demand instead of a question.
"Yes, sure. Come in," she replies. She takes off her apron, rolls it in a ball, and puts it on the carpeted steps that lead up to the second floor. She leads me into the living room and I take a seat on the couch. She sits across the room.
"I found these while we were looking for the wedding plans and upon further examination; I found some very disturbing things. I just wanted to know what is going on," I explain. And pass the letters to her. I got copies of them earlier in the day to make sure that I would always have them in case she burned them in a fire or something.
She picks up the letters and scans them over, but not for long. She immediately recognizes her handwriting and Snow's handwriting and the words she wrote. She looks back up at me and instead of being the sweet lemonade lady; she has turned into the lady with the eyes of fire.
"Who knows?" She whispers harshly to me. I have to think quickly. I don't want to hurt Annie, so I think it would be best to leave her out of this. She probably forgot it ever happened anyway or at least I hope so.
"Only I do but I'm not scared to tell this to everyone. All I have to do is hang these up in the town square and you will be exposed unless you tell me what these have to do with you," I tell her. I'm not as quite polite as her in the volume of my words but not quite yelling, yet.
"I'll explain, seeing as that is the only way I can get out of this. You must promise not to tell anyone and if I hear anything, you will pay. Understand?" I nod my head and she gulps before she begins to tell me the reasons for her actions.
"The year before I graduated high school, I was chosen from the people at the training center to go into the arena. But, I couldn't. My mother was having another child and I knew more than anyone else that I wasn't the best one in the training center. I only went in because all my friends were there. I told them no, but they said I had to. They said the president had interest in me; I was serving my country, I was sure to have all the sponsor gifts. I just couldn't," she sucks in another breath. This story is obviously a hard one to tell.
"They let me go and picked some other girl. Taylor, she won that year, you've met her. Two years later, they told me that they let me go once and they wouldn't anymore. I had to be their spy, trying to find people that seemed like good people to pretend reap or whatever else the president wanted me to do. I sent him letters and made up excuses for when I left while really I was in the Capitol," she stops again. I know that the best part is about to come.
"The letters that you saw were from when Rosie was sent into the Games. That year, they asked me to pick someone that was really cute and would draw lots of sponsors. I knew that they were planning to kill her with their own motives. I had to make sure that she wasn't too young or otherwise people would volunteer," I think she is about to finish or maybe she is already there.
In District 4, volunteering is a secret thing. It isn't as public as I've heard District 2 does it. They tell the people they want to volunteer in secret and they aren't allowed to tell anyone. Sometimes they don't even pick one. In my case, everyone thought I was supposed to volunteer anyway and no one volunteered. I don't know if it is a good or a bad thing they didn't.
She takes a long break, so long that I think she is done.
"You found a letter that I wrote about Rosie and at the end, about you. Everything that I told you then wasn't exactly the truth. Yes, my son did contact the Capitol to make sure that Annie got home and he was told to burn your dad's boat. They really were fake bones, but that is where it stops. After the boat, I was told to kill him because the Capitol had to get their bloodshed someway. I couldn't, especially not their own son. I told him to go out to the cave and sealed it. A few days later, I came back, took out the body, and put in the sea. No one's found it yet and when they asked about his death, I told them that it was a private ceremony because of the Games and that he died of hypothermia," She stops, this time not talking again. I guess she is waiting for me to say something, but I don't want to. I always knew that District 4 wasn't safe, but I never thought that spies lived among us. How many were just like her? How many innocent deaths weren't so innocent because of the Capitol's doings? How many people had committed to the job of bloodshed on the home front?
"Thank you. I promise I won't tell anyone. Just, one more thing. Please never do this again. I can get you a job at the bookstore if you need money," I offer her. I want to play it nice even though the anger is bubbling up inside me. She stands up and puts her hand on my shoulder.
"I would love that. Thank you," she says, almost about to cry. She leads me back to the front door and I leave. I don't have any doubts that I'm not going to tell her, but I do worry about myself. What if I've just created a deeper hole for Annie and me? What if I'm the next mysterious death that no one expects?
I walk home, glancing back every few seconds because it feels like someone's watching me. I have to get rid of this feeling somehow. The best way to do it would be to win the Quarter Quell and restore my glory as mentor.
I enter my house and head up to my room, pretending to think about Noah's wedding. But really, I'm thinking about the Quarter Quell, the one that will determine my fate.
This is the last chance you have to enter the contest! You must review by this Monday, May 28th. Winners will be announced on May 29th along with their prize. The answer to last week's question was any game between 7 – 13. This week's question is:
Who do you think should play Finnick in the Catching Fire movie?
I would love to know who you think is the perfect Finnick! As always, thanks for the reviews!