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VOL. TWO; CH. NINETEEN ༄ ————you can run but you can't hide
Elodie's exhales are thick as they come out. She's heaving as she attempts to catch her breath. She allows her eyes to fall closed, her skin picking up on the flutter of her eyelids. She allows her neck to lull, the adrenaline that came with the prolific outpour of emotions fading, leaving behind the state of numbness that had been slogging up her mind for the last month. Month and one day, she reminds herself hollowly.
Her senses slowly come back to her as the sound of her heartbeat fades from her ears. The feeling of the waves overtaking her ankles; of her fingernails scratching lightly at the muscle of her thigh through the jeans she was wearing. The sound of the waves crashing over themselves as they rush for shore. All sounds and feelings that she expected.
The next sound she picks up, however, is unexpected and entirely unwelcome. The squelch of the sand slowly nearing her, footsteps. The time between each movement is dawdling, the owner of the footsteps hesitant to make themselves known.
"Elodie?" Finnick calls slowly, voice quiet. Elodie's hands clench at her sides and she lifts her head back upright so she's looking out at the waves again. Her whole body chills as she realizes he probably just saw her entire breakdown.
"What the hell are you doing here, Odair?" Elodie's voice is rough as she asks the question, throat sore from the strain she put on it after weeks of neglect. She grimaces after the words have come out, knowing he's bound to pick up on it as well.
"This is my beach," Finnick states. Maybe it was meant to be a joke, maybe not. Either way, Elodie's response is just as cold as the night air that was slowly taking over.
"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" Elodie asks. Her legs are going numb from how long she's been standing in the same position. However, moving and sitting down would mean turning to face him, and she's not up to letting anyone in at the present moment, much less him.
"I guess not," Finnick replies. A silence hangs heavily for a few seconds before she hears him moving around again, the sound of the sand shifting easily recognizable. "Elodie?" Finnick repeats, voice lower than before. He had sat down, Elodie realizes.
"You should leave," Elodie states in the form of an answer. Finnick lets out a sigh but doesn't move. Why the hell didn't he move?
"No," Finnick states. Elodie can practically hear the smirk in his voice as he says it and it makes her feel nauseous. "I don't think I will."
