N/A: Hey guys! This is the last chapter of it all! No worries though, I'm writing an epilogue and an alternate epilogue. But other than those two upcoming segments, that'll be it for the Finnick and Annie trilogy...omg. what. Pleeeaaassee review this up because I really want to hear what you guys think! One of my favorite characters is sort of the star in this one.
Love you guys to the moon and back! xoxo Karlee
Chapter 22- Home
Finnick's P.O.V
She's home. She's safe. She's won. These words circle my mind as I sprint towards the room my Annie's kept inside. People run at me, telling me to stop, but after beating up three security guards I think they've realized there is no stopping me. My Annie is home.
I get to the door at last and realize that that no, someone wasn't playing a drum; it was just my heart beating up against my rib cage, begging to come out of its enclosure. I look at the door. This is the only thing that closes off Annie and I. No more arena. No more cameras. When I get in there, it's just me and her.
"Boy, what the hell do you think you're doing?" a slurring voice comes from behind me.
"Annie…she's here," I say back.
A few beeping sounds come from my left and the sound of a lock being undone comes from the door. "Then go in there. No one's stopping you."
I still don't look at the man who speaks to me. My eyes are trained on the door. Go in, I tell myself. But I can't. I can't go in there.
"Open the damn door before they get in here."
"Who?" I ask.
"The guards! We're holding them back for you, you idiot. No one's in there except for her. Get in there."
"I…I can't."
A firm hand clamps down on my shoulder, "Stop being a drama queen."
"She'll never be the same, will she?" I ask.
"No, she won't. She's been through hell and back because she had the misfortune of falling in love with you. She's in pieces. She can't form complete sentences, she screams every few minutes, she sees things. She's broken," the voice says from behind me.
"I can't go in there," I say.
"You owe it to her."
That slaps me out of my daze. I do owe it to her. This is all because of me. I'm the one that had her in the games because of my mistake. I'm the one that fell in love with her. I'm the weight that dragged her down into this. The least I can do is swallow down my fear and hold her. I need to.
My shaky hand comes upon the handle of the door. With all the force left in me, I bring it down and force it to open. The hand on my shoulder falls and I turn around to see who it belonged to.
Haymitch.
"Fifteen minutes, Odair." And with that he shoves me in the room and closes the door.
The first thing I notice in the room is that it's cold…freezing. My breath comes out in puffs of white air. The second thing I notice is that there's only one beam of fluorescent white light coming from the ceiling. It cascades upon white tile, a window showing the darkness of the Capitol city at night, and a couch. And on the couch…a girl.
My breath is taken away from me as she lifts her beautiful eyes to meet mine. She's bandaged around her head, arms, and a few places on her legs. Everywhere that's not bandaged is bruised. Her red hair is matted down with the bandage. She stares at me and I stare at her. My mouth is completely dry.
Silence.
Minutes go by.
Silence.
She speaks first, and her voice warms me immediately, "Why are you here, Finnick?"
My name in her voice. It stuns me. The drum in my chest starts again as I answer, "I…I missed you."
She laughs. It's not the laugh I remember. "It's only been a couple hours, silly. Don't you remember?"
I walk toward her slowly, like a man edging toward a wild lion, and speak: "No, I don't remember, my love. I'm sorry. Tell me."
She smiles. "You came in a couple hours ago and gave me my medicine. It hurt a lot, but you told me I had to or else I'd scream again. I don't like screaming, so thank you."
I take her hand and squat on my knees in front of her. The cold tile numbs my flesh and freezes me, but I swallow down the discomfort and speak. "Why do you scream? I'm here, and you're safe." I take my other hand and touch her cheek. She nuzzles into it.
"I keep on seeing the man, Finnick."
"The man?"
"Yes, the old man. He smells like roses and blood. White hair and red eyes."
She's broken. Haymitch's words come to me as I continue.
"Anyone else you see?"
"Yes. I see the girl with the red hair. She always cuts me, see?" She rotates her arm to her forearm where five long cuts stand raw. I place my fingers on them and notice that they're the same distance apart as fingers. Annie did this to herself. I check her nails and see that my assumption is right; her nails are crusted over with blood and a few bits of skin.
I swallow down the bile that crawls up my throat as I speak again. "Annie, my love, there's nothing for you to fear. Do you think you might be imagining things?'
"No, I know-" her words are cut off with a deafening scream. It takes me a minute to realize the scream belongs to her. She starts shaking and turning pale as her eyes widen in pure fear. She looks to the corner of the room that is covered in darkness and points to it. She's still screaming. There's nothing in the corner of the room. Nothing.
She can't form complete sentences, she screams every few minutes, she sees things.
No. I can't let her do this. I grab her face and force her to look at me. Her screams stop as soon as her eyes find mine. She still shakes violently as I look at her. I don't know what to do. Should I kiss her? Keep looking at her? Her breathing becomes shallow and short.
I clear my throat, but I keep my hands on her face. "Annie, you're sick. Your mind is playing with you. The things you are seeing are not real." The rims of her eyes flood with tears as I continue, "You can do this, Annie. Nothing is going to hurt you. You are out of the Games. I will protect you. I won't let anything hurt you." Her shaking ceases as tears fall down her bruised face. I brush her hair away from her ear and lean in to whisper three words. These three words are all we have, all we are, and all we will be: "I love you."
Suddenly, the door from behind me breaks off the hinges as four guards storm in. Annie screams and grabs my hand as they target their stun-guns at me. I stand and cover Annie with myself as a shield. They will not touch her.
Then, as if it happened in slow motion, the guard to the left of me pulls on the trigger, and a bolt of shock runs through me. Annie's screams are the last thing I hear and her hand is the last thing I feel as the world turns black.
As soon as I come to, the first thing I hear is beeping. Then, the feeling of crisp sheets beneath me. Soon after that, the smell of….beer. I open my eyes out of curiosity to find a tired Haymitch staring right at me to my right. I'm in a hospital room, that I can tell, but what I can't tell is why. I feel completely fine. I'm not tired, I'm not hurting, and I'm completely conscious. I don't understand.
"Is sleeping beauty finally up?" Haymitch says in a deep voice.
I groan instead of answering. I don't know why, I just don't want to talk. All I remember is Annie's screams. I shudder, and Haymitch nods in understanding.
"This whole thing is screwed up isn't it, boy?" He says. With a few stomps of his feet, he pulls up a chair next to my bed and sits there with a beer in his hand. "Everything, all of it. It's all a Game. And we are the unfortunate souls that are obligated to endure it." He sighs then, an overwhelming smell of liquor coming with it, and gesture to the drink in his hand, "That's why I took up drinking. When I'm drunk, I don't feel."
Finally, words find me. "Why are you here?"
He lifts an eyebrow, obviously offended, and answers. "Well excuse me. I was trying to make small talk before going to the beef of everything. Thought it'd be better for the little patient here," he takes a rough hand and ruffles my hair too violently to be considered friendly. He takes a swig of the drink and continues, "So you want me to tell you, do you?"
I nod, "Yeah. And I want you to tell me why you helped me out there. I want you to tell me everything. Tell me everything I missed since Annie got in those Games."
He rolls his eyes. "So demanding," he then clears his throat and starts. "Look, I don't know what you know, so I'm just going to tell you everything. Nod if you're okay with that." I do. He leans in, letting me smell the full extent of how drunk he is. "People are pissed off with what they saw in Annie's games. People are mad. The people in the districts want justice for her. They took a perfectly innocent little girl and terrorized her into madness. The district people are more mad now than they've ever been before."
I interrupt him, "Before?"
"Hell yeah. Damn nobody tells you anything do they? There are forces brewing that are strong enough to stand a chance with the Capitol, Finnick. High-up forces that have authority. There are very important people with very large guns that are made at the Capitol. There are thousands of people that want the blood of President Snow on their hands. It isn't just you, kid."
He takes a gulp of his drink and I use this moment to speak. "I don't want to kill anyone."
And with that, the drunk starts laughing. "Come on. It's just me and you. We're someplace safe that nobody can hear us in. Don't lie to me; you want to kill President Snow."
"Wait, where are we?"
"That doesn't matter. What matters is-"
"Where are we?" I saw with more force.
"Good Lord you ask a lot of questions for a guy that just got knocked out. I'm going to tell you where we are, but you have to promise not to ask any more questions until I'm done. Got it?"
I nod.
"We're in District Thirteen."
Silence. He waits for me to have it all sink in. Thirteen. District Thirteen. Okay, it's sunk in. I nod, waiting for him to continue.
"Don't you want him dead, Finnick? Don't you want to watch the life ash out of his eyes as his blood pools beneath you? Dead. Gone. No more. That's what he would be. Think about it: that's what he did to your parents, right? He blew them up! That was just another match lit on another bomb to him. Two people gone. No…big…deal. Your parents are dead because of HIM. You will never be able to hold your mother's hand because of HIM. You will never be able to ask your dad how to be a man because of HIM. You have no family, Finnick, because of him."
Haymitch is shaking now, and I realize there are tears lining his eyes. Maybe he's not talking about me anymore. Maybe he's talking about him. But tears are still coming from me too, so this is to both of us.
"And your girl, oh your girl. The only thing that keeps you living. You loved her, right? Hell, you wanted to marry her, right? She was the only person that could put a smile on your face. She was the only person who you could kiss and feel like nobody else mattered or existed. Love in its purist, deepest form, Finnick," he starts yelling. "Guess what? She's gone too! She ain't dead, boy, but damn she's close to it! She can't even talk to you without screaming into darkness. She'll never be who she was. You may still love her, but you and I can both agree that you'll secretly miss who she was. She's gone. The girl you love is gone. It's all because of HIM!"
His tears fall to the bleached sheets beside me. He breathes in and out, trying to compose himself, and gulps down the last of his beer. He breathes in and out for some time, letting the alcohol take away his feelings. Finally, he sets the beer bottle on the table beside the bed and clears his throat.
His voice comes out hushed and raspy as he continues, "They're all gone. The people you loved most in the world are gone. Ain't that what life is all about? Love? Well, he took that away from you. I know what it feels like, alright? He killed my whole family. My younger brother just barely turned seven before he was nothing but a pile of bones. My mom was shot dead and I had to find her body, cold as ice, in the kitchen. My girl was tortured first. They sent me videos and forced me to watch her endure it. They finally put her out of her misery. I had to watch that too. Trust me, boy: it takes ten times longer to pull yourself back together as it does to fall apart. "
He wipes the new tears from his eyes and clears his throat.
"It doesn't stop here. Learn that now. He'll never stop killing the people that you love until he's dead himself. Do you get it?'
I nod.
"Aren't you mad, boy?"
I nod.
"Don't you want to look into his dying eyes and say 'This is for them' and see his body slump to the ground?"
I nod.
"You're not alone. Finnick, you're not alone. There's a group of us victors who have joined the rebels. Instead of sitting here feeling sorry for yourself, you can join us. We're doing something about it. We're fighting for the people who died for us. And soon, President Snow himself will beg for the mercy he never gave us."
I look at him, unsure of what to say.
"Join us Finnick. Fight for a better future. Fight for your parents. Fight for Annie."
For Annie. That's everything. That's all he had to say. Ever since I met her, everything I've done has been for Annie. Every waking moment has been dedicated to Annie. Maybe it's time I do something for myself and her. Together.
The next two words come out a lot stronger than I thought they would. "I will."
Haymitch smiles with tears still shining on his cheeks. He nods in approval. "Good choice. You aren't the Famous Finnick Odair anymore. You're Finnick: the Rebel."
He slaps a proud hand on my chest.
And that was when my life began.