A Tale of a Boy and His Flower

Together

It was the 67th games. Rain had started to become more unstable with her drinking and hallucinating. So I was asked or rather forced to fill her place as the female mentor during the next games. I had been hoping to not start mentoring till I was older, as I was wishing to escape the horrors of the games for longer but I didn't dare go against Snow.

The female and male tributes this year had died in the cornucopia at the beginning of the games so Zach and I were left without tributes to mentor during the games this year. And from the looks of it the winner would be a Career. 

I was currently sitting with Haymitch, Finnick and Zach. Haymitch was becoming very drunk. When he wasn't looking I secretly switched out his liquor for water. Not that he noticed anyway. I heard Finnick laugh as he gulped down water thinking it was alcohol. 

"Hey, no drinking for you." Finnick said grabbing the bottle of liquor from my hands. I pouted. 

"Come on, everyone else is having some! I want some too!" I said trying to take it back from him. Finnick held it over his head keeping me from getting to it. I crossed my arms Giving up. 

"Maybe, when you're not thirteen." He said taking a sip from the bottle. 

"I'm almost fourteen." I mumbled. I pouted about the bottle the rest of the day. 

The way Finnick acted around around me was different then he did with other people, even the he looked me was different. Everyone around me seemed to take notice of this expect me. I remained oblivious to this for years.

The winner of the games was Augustus from District 1. 

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It was the 70th games. I was sixteen now. I hadn't been to the Capital except for the games. I avoided going to the victory parties when I could. District 10 hadn't had another victor since me. 

It was the second day of the games. Somehow our tribute had survived the first day and seemed to be making good progress in the arena. Zach said he would handle the sponsors. 

It was nighttime and I had had a horrible nightmare. I decided sitting out on the roof with fresh air would help. 

"Some day, huh?" I heard the voice of someone I knew. 

"Not really in a talking mood, Finnick." He stayed quiet and took a seat next to me. 

"Nightmares?" He said after a few seconds of silence. I slowly nodded. We sat in silence  for a while. It was a comfortable silence. We would do this often. Especially whenever one of us would have nightmares. 

"I just... feel like I don't know myself anymore. I put this victor mask on so much that I feel like I'm losing myself bit by bit everyday. " I start to say, "But I'm just so tired." I pause, "Tired of putting on a fake personality and pretending like I'm okay...and no one notices." I take a deep breath.

"I feel like if I left this cruel world. No one would care."

"I would."  

I looked at Finnick. His sea colored eyes were looking at me with such emotion. 

"I notice." He says, "I notice how you sit in your room crying for hours after your nightmares. I notice how you try to cover it up and when I ask you always deny it." He continued. "I notice how every year you seem to get more tired." 

I hadn't realized he saw through my acts. 

"Amaryllis," He says softly, "I also notice how much you want to be comforted, but you don't know how." I looked away from him. "But I also notice how kind and caring you are. You always try your hardest to help your tributes, and when they die. You blame yourself."