Lost at Sea || Finnick Odair x OC (DISCONTINUED)

One: you ever receive a death sentence? 0/10 do not recommend

DAPHNE

°•. ✿ .•°

Waking up in District 4 isn't so bad, really. I love it when the breeze from the ocean drifts through the opening in the wall I have dubbed a window. Originally, it wasn't there. But, being a wooden house that is on stilts- in the water- we get a lot of mold and mildew, and the wood rots away after a certain amount of time. That patch was particularly bad, so I cut it out. During colder months, I cover it with a sheet. Usually, though, it isn't very cold here. We're so far south, so close to open water, that I've never even seen snow. It's simply not cold enough for it. We get plenty of rain, and a tornado can touch down once in a while towards the east, but that's about as much weather we get.

Today, waking up is dreadful. It's the Reaping, of course. Being District 4, we're in a different time zone than most other districts since our entire land stretches across the west coast. I've read that some districts are so vast, they have two separate time zones. Here, we're the last ones in the country to wake up. Our reaping is scheduled earlier so they can air all twelve in rapid succession afterwards, only seconds after young children are sent off to die.

For example: District 12 is far to the east. They are technically three hours ahead of me, but their Reaping is scheduled at 2p.m. by their time so it airs last. My Reaping is set for about 11a.m. here, which makes it technically around the same time.

See? I can do math, unlike most people I know.

I am luckier than most of the people I know. At least, the ones who work the way we do. Most of our District is fishers, but some are merchants of some sort, or they offer small services. Typically, they are wealthier than us. Less sick. Usually, their children end up the Careers, and they win the games.

With my group, not so much. Most of these people are beat down from days in the sun, working with nets, spears, tridents. Even when it floods, we're forced to work. Even when lightning cracks down and sets things on fire, we're forced to work. I can't even begin to even touch how much money is spent at a Healer's shop, paying for them to bandages our bloody, soggy, raw hands. Some people cut themselves on a spear. Others on a fishhook. Others have simply been netting and working knots all day, they've rubbed the skin off their poor fingers, and bleed everywhere.

I am luckier than most. My father suffered an accident a few years ago. A shark bit off one of his hands. Shark-fin soup is a delicacy in the Capitol, but only we are the ones to suffer from harvesting these animals. Without a hand, he couldn't do much. You can't tie knots with one hand, wrestle an eel, it messes with the balance of throwing a spear. He was laid off.

But, he was not helpless. He learned how to put himself to use. He is the one that washes our clothes, cooks our meals, cares for the children. My mother solely works, and brings little scraps of money. My father shops for our food, plans things around schedules. Several times now, people in the District laugh and mock him for "taking a woman's role". My mother sent them a couple punches and hard looks, and that was put to rest.

I am also blessed with siblings, which many see as a burden. It is only me and my mother who have to work at the docks and in the water. We've got my younger siblings- twins named Kym (her real name is much longer, but nobody will ever use it unless she is reaped) and Triton- working as apprentices to Vance, a merchant known for making all of our clothes and shoes. My father tends to the house, so when we come home from work, we simply have a pleasant conversation, eat, clean ourselves, and go to bed to repeat the cycle.