I've always hated waiting, but the amount that I have to do it doesn't get any smaller. Now, I'm back to the waiting game. This time, I'm waiting for news about the mission that went into the Capitol to save Annie, and of course, Peeta and Johanna. I'm excited for them to come back, even though my hopes aren't very high. I've been told many a time that it will be hard to get everyone in and out alive. I just hope that my story helped Annie to get out in time.
First, we have to go to special defense class. It's just like the old days in elementary school, when all I wanted was to go outside and play. School seemed to drag on. This class also does as well. I know I should be paying attention, but the situation has taken away all of my focus. When class is over, it's around lunchtime. We head down to the cafeteria, but don't eat anything. Today's soup is left uneaten, just pushed around in the bowl. It's another instance of knowing I should eat, but I don't get the want to eat. So, I don't.
We head downstairs to the shooting range. Since everyone else is at lunch, we have first choice. For some reason, blowing things up seems to help with the waiting. We spend time launching grenades through the barrier. I don't really like the explosions. After this part of training is through, we bring out the ropes and start making knots.
Katniss asks if any updates have come in. We decided she should ask because she's at a higher power position than I am. She comes back with bad news. The team isn't allowed to update in case they get detected. Finally, it's time to head into Beetee's lab. For the next sixty minutes, we watch as my story mostly is told. It's strange to see myself on television, something I've never really liked. Beetee is keeping the channel in control. This is good. It means the Capitol is too distracted to even try to get rid of the interruption on the television. I can only hope that the distraction isn't the group pulling Annie out.
"If they're not out of there by now, they're all dead. It was a good plan, though. Did Plutarch show it to you?" Beetee asks, once all the clips have run through. Beetee then leads us into another room, decorated to look like a prison. As he goes through the steps, it's hard to follow.
After that, we head to Command, figuring it's our best chance to get the information first. We wait in two chairs off in a corner, tying knots. It seems like days go by, but it's probably only a couple of hours. I give up once my fingers start bleeding. Annie wouldn't like that.
"Did you love Annie right away, Finnick?" Katniss asks me, holding up a noose she made.
"No. She crept up on me," I tell her, pausing between statements.
"They're back. We're wanted in the hospital," Haymitch says, bursting through the doors. The clock above says it's midnight. I'm so shocked I just sit there. Katniss takes my hand and leads me through the hallways. A gurney passes by us. Even though her skin is bruised and her hair gone, I would know that face anywhere. It's Johanna. My heart drops for her. This could've been me.
"Finnick! Finnick!" Annie shouts, another voice I would know screaming from a mile away. My attention is thrown from Johanna's bruised condition to Annie. Her dark hair is tangled. She runs into my arms and we just hold each other for a long, long time. I had settled with never seeing her again, but now she is back with me. I'm transported back to a time when I hadn't been in the arena for a second time, when I wasn't thinking that the Capitol would kill me soon, when Annie hadn't been tortured, when I was perfectly okay with accepting the fact that district thirteen was no longer existent. All of the waiting I've endured seems okay because now, I'm finally with Annie. And that's all that matters now.
"Finnick, Annie has to go to treatment now," Plutarch gently says, appearing next to us. I slowly let Annie go, staring into her green eyes that remind me so much of home it hurts. Annie follows Plutarch and I follow Annie, all the way down the hospital hallway until they won't let me enter into her room. I watch her from the small window in the door, now alone in the hallway. I cross over and look through that window too. It's Johanna, veins pumping morphling to her.
"What's happening at home?" I ask Plutarch. He's leaving Annie's room, closing the door gently behind him.
"Four is in full scale rebellion. Two boys, Daniel and Noah, are leading it. Not many deaths there. Your family is okay," Plutarch explains. I sigh when I hear about Daniel and Noah. They shouldn't have been doing that, but I can see why. I'm proud of them.
"What about seven?"
"Same. Johanna will take longer to recover than Annie. She paid terribly for what she knew," Plutarch says.
"I know," I cut him off. "Can you bring me dinner? And maybe a chair?"
"Finnick, the kitchen's been closed for hours," he says, sounding sad to deliver the news.
"Breakfast then? I haven't eaten," I tell him. Plutarch nods, promising food, and heads off down the hallway. I hear whispers about Peeta and Katniss at the other end, but I don't bother to figure out what's going on. I'm staying right here, between my lover and my best friend. Maybe I'll figure out what happened tomorrow.
But for now, I'm staying right here.