To Save a Victor

Chapter 16

Part 2-
Things didn't change much in the next 6 months. I laid low. Daily runs down the beach became an everyday occurrence. When I was exhausted the nightmares were not as bad. Sometimes Hank joined me every once and a while and we would run and talk. Him and his girlfriend had broken up after the night my mother died. He told me that it wasn't a big deal but I had heard her screaming at him in the street more than once. He said that she didn't understand how he could hang out with me. To be honest I couldn't understand it either, what kind of person wants to be around someone like me, someone else who is so broken she doesn't know what price goes where? Whatever his reasoning was I was grateful. You see, Hank was the only person who could keep me from screaming. His girlfriend had called me crazy, and that is what ended it. She wasn't wrong of course. I was crazy, if I wasn't how come I had blackouts and screaming fits? For a while I had tried to distance myself from him, for her sake. She really was a nice person, and Hank was really happy with her. I decided that I wasn't going to be the reason that another person was unhappy. The only time I saw him was when he came over to get sugar for his mom when she ran out. My efforts had been in vain however, because a few weeks later he had showed up on my doorstep with tears in his eyes, telling me that they had broken up. I had hugged him and we had gone on a run. I told him that it was the best way I had found to numb pain. "If you're lungs hurt enough, you can forget about the hurt in your heart." I was thinking about this as I ran this morning. It was early, maybe 4 am. The sun hadn't come up yet, and it wouldn't for another few hours. The sea air was cool and crisp as my feet pounded across the sand. I had been running for a few hours now. It wasn't uncommon for me, I would wake up screaming, pull on a sweater and go run until I felt I was tired enough to go to sleep. Sometimes it took 10 minutes, sometimes, like tonight, it took hours. I was grateful that I could run now though, when I hadn't been able to walk due to the nature of my leg injury all I could do was lay in bed and cry. This was better. I jogged up the steps of my back door and pushed the door in. I always come in the back door. I only come in the front if absolutely necessary. I dusted off my sandy feet. I ran barefoot, partially because I liked it but mostly because when I felt the need to get out of the house I wanted out then and now. There was no time for putting on shoes. As I walked towards the kitchen I started to pull off my now sweaty t-shirt. When it was about halfway over my head I heard a voice coming from the kitchen.
"Sage? Sage, you home?" it was Hank's familiar voice. I he must be here for sugar but it was really early.
"Yeah, one sec!" I yelled and struggled to pull the t-shirt back over my head. Somehow the damn thing had tangled up in my hair and it was stuck half on half off. I could hear Hank's footsteps coming around the corner.
"Hey I was just wondering if..." his voice trailed off.
"Yes?" I finally ripped the t-shirt back over my head.
"If you had any extra sugar." he finished. His face was as red as his shorts.
"Yeah, I do." I put my head down and half walked half ran to the kitchen so he wouldn't see my quickly reddening face. Thankfully I had had thought to put a bra on, but it wasn't much of one. It was one of the fancy frilly things that they sell in the Capitol. I had bought it on a dare from Chess, and it was so expensive that I wore it a lot. I stepped into my pantry and grabbed a bag of sugar from the floor. I only kept it in the house for Ash. I couldn't bake but she always seemed to run out, consequently I had made it a point to keep some at all time.
I placed the heavy bag in Hank's arms.
"Thanks," he said looking at his feet.
I smiled, "You're welcome, did your mom run out?"
He nodded and gave me a small smile in return, "Yeah, she saw your light on and told me to come and check. Sorry it's so early."
"Don't worry about it, I was already up. It's a little early for her isn't it?"
"It's a PTSD thing, she wakes up in the middle of the night and just starts cooking."
"I know how that is." "What's yours?" he asked, and I paused. "My what?" "Your coping mechanisms, you know? My mom bakes, Finnick ties knots, Mags makes fish hooks." "I guess I read, I run, and I like to dance sometimes." "You dance?" "Yeah, not well," I said sheepishly, "I tried painting, but I was terrible at it. Before they took Cedar away I braided her hair every morning before she went to school." but that wasn't an option anymore. "You can braid my hair," he said with a grin, "If it made you feel better." "Only if it made me feel better, of course," I chuckled, before a rap on the door made me jump. I hurried over to the door with Hank on my heels, I jerked it open to reveal the last person I would have thought to see in District 4 at 5 in the morning.

"Chess?" I exclaimed, before he hugged me. "What are you doing here?" He held me so tight I felt like my ribs were going to crack. "Chess, what happened, I thought I wouldn't see you until the Games."
He pulled back, "I'm just glad you're still alive, where's Finnick? We need to have a meeting, now. "
"Finnick is next door, but," I turned to Hank, "Is your mom home, like right now?" He nodded, his eyes that had been bright with laughter a few moments ago went cold. "Yes she is."

    About fifteen minutes later we all sat around the Bodie's dinner table. Ash had made all of us a cup of hot chocolate before she would let Chess start talking. I spun my gold ring with the mocking jay stamped into, Chess had given it to me a while ago as a symbol. Finnick had a similar one and Chess wore a round pendant with the stamp. Ash had a bracelet. Hank had a spooked expression on his face as he watched the four victors sitting around his dining room table.
"Okay Chess," Finnick started, "How about you tell us what you came all the way from 2 to tell us."
Chess took another sip of his drink before turning to Ash, "I'm assuming we are meeting in your house because there aren't any cameras?"
She nodded, "I check for them every week, but we have to be careful that all the cameras on Victors don't all go out. I'm the least 'interesting' victor in 4 so they don't really notice because they don't check on me that often."
"There are cameras in our house?" Hank asked, "Why?"
I looked at him across the table, "To make sure we don't do something like this," I gestured with my finger to all of us sitting around the table. He nodded and Ash looked at him with a worried expression, "Maybe you shouldn't be here, the less you know,"
"No," He cut her off, "I want to help, I may not have experienced the games but," he paused and looked at me, "I've seen what they do to people."
Chess nodded, and took a deep breath, "Alright, I got a tip from one of our friends in the Capitol. Snow is mad" "He's always mad about something." I snapped and Chess looked at me with hard gold eyes, "He's going to wipe us out. He thinks that the Victors are like a cancer. We are so dangerous because we hold so much influence and we know what he is. Something big is coming, I don't know what it is yet. But it's going to get ugly." I felt the blood drain from my face, "He's going to try and take out the Victors?" I said, dumbfounded. "That's a lot of 'accidents''" Finnick said and I nodded looking at Chess, "did you here this from Plutarch?" He nodded in affirmation but said "No. I haven't spoken to Hevensbee since the games." I took a drink of my hot chocolate, burning the roof of my mouth. "Well, you wanted fire boys. Here it is."

Well, well, well, guess who's back! I'm going to pretend that it hasn't been over 6 months since I have been on here. So for that I am sorry. Hopefully I will be able to finish this book in a timely manner. Anyways hopefully y'all like this chapter!
All the Love and it's good to be back!
Buckaroobelle🖤