Hello lovelys! Here we are. Chapter 12. The story picks up three years after the Victory tour, after Willow has fallen fast to rock bottom. And she broke a couple limbs on the way, too. She lost Finnick. Her dad died in a mine explosion. Her friends died of starvation. She lost the people she cared about. She harms herself. The worst has in fact happened. Who can save her now? Even if it is from herself...
I wonder mindlessly around my house in Victors Village. Three years since my Games and there have been, surprisingly, three more District 12 victors since then. District 12, won four years in a row. What's funny is that I mentored all them. The only other district that has accomplished that is 2.
I wonder into the kitchen, grabbing a large, sharp knife and dragging it across my left arm. The pain is dulled. But still there. I still remember the last time I kissed someone. That someone was Finnick.
After the arena, I came home to no one. My dad died in the mines. Carra starved and Primrose was stung by trackerjackers. I came home to a district that didn't care for me. So I stopped caring, too.
Blood drips down my to my finger tips as I hear a knock at the door. My wobbly legs carry me to entry hall. I haven't eaten for days. I haven't been hungry for years, though.
I open the door with my knife-wielding hand. It's Kaiden, the victor I first mentored. He was eighteen in his Games; we are the same age.
"I need to borrow-" He cuts himself short as he see my condition. My frail, thinning, petite body. Wrist dripping with blood. Knife in hand. "What did you-" my knees buckle and I fall. Kaiden catches me with his strong arms. "Oh my-" He carries me inside and to the kitchen.
He sits me on a chair as he says, "I am going to fix you up, okay?" His voice is deep and enchanting. Like Finnick's.
I can barely nod my head. I watch as the 20 year old searches the drawers, eventually finding my stash of bandages. He soaks a wash cloth with water. He walks to me and kneels, placing the wet cloth on my self-inflicted-wound. I put the knife I am still holding on the table.
"Why did you do it?" He asks me harshly.
I shrug and say, "Because I don't care anymore. I stopped caring the moment I got out of the arena."
"I saw you with-" he stops himself because he knows never to say his name. He learned that when I was mentoring him. He said his name, and I completely lost it. I was sobbing, screaming, and throwing things. I scared Credinsa half to death. "And I know it must be hard. But don't you have someone you can talk to?"
"No. They're all dead." I say bluntly. I'm surprised he doesn't know that already. Kaiden wraps the bandage around my arm. When he is done, he looks into my eyes with his blue ones. He has the merchant look. He's the new baker's kid.
"I'm not. You can talk to me any time." He stops, getting up to make me food. "I was in the arena to you know."
I don't reply. I just watch him move around the kitchen as he makes me Everdeen bread, to get nutrition into me. He also prepares chicken soup, but enough to feed a family. Oh no. An intervention.
Kaiden invites over the other two Victors, without my consent. The youngest is Matten, at the age of 16. Beatrix is the latest in the Games, though. She is 18. Matten was 14 in his games, and Beatrix 17.
Matten has a very strong personality. He is very perverted and he is not afraid to speak his opinion. You can see that in his Games when he tells off a careers that is about to kill him.
Beatrix is not loud and blunt like Matten. She speaks weirdly. You have to know her to know what she means.
When the food is done, Matten, Beatrix, Kaiden and myself are sitting at the table. Kaiden next to me, the other across from us.
"She is doing it again." Kaiden announces to the others. Beatrix sighs. Matten says,
"I thought we made it clear that if you did it again we would tie you down and spank you, Willow."
"Matten!" Beatrix says. "Worry is not necessary. You just need love." there she goes again.
"Kaiden, I still think we should spank her." Matten says. If we were a pack of careers, Kaiden would be the leader. And I would be his bitch.
"Willow, we made our point last time we had an intervention. Even if you don't feel like it, you still have purpose." I say the last part with him.
"Yeah. Okay. I won't do it again." I take a bite of bread dipped in soup.
"That's what you said last time. She won't get the point until we spank her!"
"Matten!" Beatrix says clearly annoyed. "We are not going to spank her! Grow up!" And she is back to normal.
"Willow, take this seriously." Kaiden says then pauses, looking at the other two.
"We don't want you to keep doing what you are doing." Beatrix finishes.
I keep eating, listening to their complaints and reasons for a while, until everyone is done eating.
"Willow! You're not paying attention!" Kaiden yells. "Stop with this cry for attention."
That hit home. Obviously never leaving my house at my own will because I get so sick to my stomach is a cry for attention. I will have to fix that for his fucking approval.
Kaiden storms out of my house, leaving the door wide open. Matten runs after him, leaving me and Beatrix to clean up.
"Mind them. Don't. I mean. Yeah, don't. Kaiden is an idiot." She says putting dishes in the sink as I wrap up the left overs.
"Yeah, I know." I mumble, not minding her crazy language.
"And Matten is still little. Pervert. Spanking, I mean, really? Did he think that Kaiden would be okay with him spanking you?" See, Kaiden is the leader.
When I finish, Beatrix is still babbling as her red ringlets bounce with her every move. Her natural color is of course blonde, but she gets expensive dyes from the Capital. I run my fingers over the bandage Kaiden put on me, and think of what Finnick would think if he was here. Try to answer some questions for myself.
Would he comfort me? I know he would. What would he think about my choices? No idea. What would he think of the others?
My thoughts are cut short by Beatrix waving her hand in my face and saying 'Hellloooo?'
"I'm here." I say and giggle. "Hey, Bea, would you lock up down here and turn off the lights and that stuff? You have a key, right?" I question.
"Yeah, sure. Do you feel tired? Of course you do. It's late. You go and I'll do that." She says.
I smile and walk up stairs. I go to my room, and light some candles. In the candle light, I examine myself in my full-body mirror.
My figure was thin and small. My thick dark hair was to my butt, and crimped from my usual braid. I strip down naked, braid my hair, and climb in bed. I haven't been able to sleep with clothes, it just hasn't been comfortable.
I wake in the middle of the night, shaking with fear, as I leave the terror that comes to me every night. Every night I relive the entire arena. Every night my heart breaks over and over. Every night I watch Finnick die as I stand by, watching. Not able to move.
I look around and see I forgot to put out the candles. Finnick would have put them out for me. I sigh and stand on my wobbly legs. Just as I am about to put out the last candle, the urge to be with Finnick is so overwhelming, that I act on it.
Kaiden's POV
I hear a knock on my door. Who the hell is knocking on my door at 1:30 AM?
I run down the stairs in anger. Who ever it is, has hell coming for them. Waking me up at 1 fucking 30 in the god damn morning.
I open the door angrily and say, "What the hell do you want?" Then I see that it is Beatrix. She looks panicked.
"Willow bled out." She says quickly.
