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

Thirty: yo i am straight up not livin la vida loca rn

DAPHNE

°•. ✿ .•°

"Mom, can we go home?" I ask, my smaller hands clasped tightly around a trident. My mother spears another fish effortlessly, lifting it out of the water and placing it in a crate. It'll be shipped off at the end of the day, cleaned by more workers, and finally sent to the Capitol for their own enjoyment.

"In a little while." She tells me. She's trying to keep the exhaustion out of her voice, but she isn't doing a very good job. I nod, forcing myself to look away as I spear another fish. "What do you want for your birthday? It's tomorrow, and you still haven't told me."

I shrug. I already plan to walk into the Justice Building at dawn and sign up for the tesserae. "I don't know. Maybe we can just play it by ear."

"Sweetheart, is everything okay?" She asks, planting her trident in the wet sand. I nod, not meeting her eyes as I spear more fish. "You just... you seem so sad, lately."

I shrug again. "I'm fine. Just a little tired."

"If you're sad, you can talk to me, Daphne."

"Okay." I say. A wave rolls in, and stray seaweed gets wrapped around my leg. I don't bother peeling it away as we continue fishing.

"Daphne?"

I groan loudly. "What?!"

My mom's face turns cold. "Don't give me an attitude. I'm trying to help you."

"I don't need help." I retort. "I just want to work, and go home."

"You're depressed."

"I'm fine." I grit. My mother impales another fish. She looks like she's calculating more words, but I don't want her to continue speaking anymore.

"Is it because you're turning twelve?"

"What do you think?" I snap. My mother says absolutely nothing for the rest of the evening. We walk home at Sun's Death, which I watch with teary eyes, but I clear away my pain as we walk home. We bathe, we eat, we sleep.

I can't sleep. My head is reeling with fear. I'm twelve, now. I'm able to be Reaped for the Hunger Games. With stealthy feet, I slip on some shoes, and slip out the door.

I walk along the beach, not quite in the water. Moon smiles at me, almost evilly, and I cry as I listen to the gentle waves at the shore. I see crabs creeping all around, barely visible in the darkness. I stop at the Victors Village, gazing into it.

This is what they get for killing people. They've murdered children, and they're rewarded with money and luxury.

I turn around, walking away again. Will I have to do that? Will I have to kill children? Will I have to be locked into an arena, forced to slit someone's throat? The idea is haunting me. What if I do something like that, but I don't win? What if someone just does it to me?

I want to talk to someone. Not my mother. Not my father. Kym and Triton are only seven, so there's no point in me telling them. I have no other family, not a single friend in the world, nobody to talk to about my fear.