can't remember to forget you ✶ finnick odair (revising)

iii. ▬▬ zee and mars

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003 ▬▬ ZEE AND MARS
𓄲 ࣪˖ 𓏲 › 4.2K WORDS

i made a bloody mess / in the kitchen
sink / i tried to fix myself / but i didn't
think

─ ALEX G, PRETEND

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(rewritten jun. 09, 2024)

 "Where's Uncle Zee?" A fussy girl asks while huddling closer to her brother to avoid brushing skin with other people.

The train station begins to crowd as the anticipation for the newly crowned Victor grows large. With the added body heat from the nearby patrons, the room grows unbearably hot. Sweat trickles down their foreheads as they fan desperately at their faces with handheld fans made of from old linen clothes they grew out of. In her arms, jackets from this morning from when the fog spread across the district and the breeze left them shivering. Four's weather is far too unpredictable.

The young boy, named Lazarus Alon, turns to his sister with his brows knit together. "You're right," he muses at his sister, Helena. He's so deep in thought, that he barely acknowledges the lack of her family's presence. There is a damp spot growing on his back, but Helena doesn't say anything.

After much begging, their mother, Thetis, reluctantly allowed them to visit the station for an early reunion with their childhood friend. And while, yes, she and Lazarus were destined to be friends due to the friendship between their fathers, he is still Davy's friend.

Was.

Right, he thinks to himself, Davy's dead.

Watching the Games with both your friends on the screen is the hardest thing a child can do, especially knowing that only one of them can come home. Watching your best friend kiss, then kill, your other close companion is... Haunting. A part of him is relieved that Nerissa gets to go home, but another part suffers as he looks at a screens. His head gets light -- and his heart heavy -- at the thought of her returning home in one piece while Davy returns in a casket and a slash through his abdomen.

But he supposes that it is a little strange her family isn't here yet.

Knowing Zealand, or Uncle Zee, he would have gotten up at the first crack of dawn, closed the shop for the week, and got his children out the door by the time half the sun peaked out the horizon. If he could, he'd have camped out at the station.

As the time for the train's arrival nears, the Hong family is still nowhere to be found.

"Maybe he overslept," Helena suggests in a whisper, giggling at the thought of the punctual Zealand Hong arriving at the station in his pyjamas and dark under eyes.