𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 · 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐈

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫, 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐨

˜"*°•.˜"*°• chapter four •°*"˜.•°*"˜

"

yₒᵤ'ᵣₑ, ₗᵢₖₑ, ₐ cₐᵣbₒₙ cₒₚy ₒf ₘₑ

"

When the train reaches the outskirts of District, Eleven, I'm shocked.

The sheer size of it, and the amount of security surrounding it...

It's a beautiful District, that's for sure. But the massive, barbed wire fence manned by post after post full of Peacekeepers somewhat takes away from its serenity. The train passes by field after field of orchards and wheat and corn. District Eleven's citizens are still out, working, supervised by a plentiful amount of Peacekeepers.

My eyes are glued to the window. Linden comes over to stand beside me. "Yeah, that's what I thought too when I first saw it."

I glance at him. "What do you mean?"

He makes a gesture towards the window, looking out. A ray of sun catches his eyes, turning them a sort of golden. "The Peacekeepers."

He doesn't elaborate. "Would you like to clarify yourself?"

Linden shakes his head. "You know what I mean. I hate to be a Finnick, but this really isn't the place."

"Yeah, okay, whatever."

"Callyn..."Linden looks at me. The train is bugged, he mouths.

"Bu-"I almost say, then catch myself. "Oh." I guess that explains why Finnick has been refusing to converse with me. I roll my eyes, than turn back out the window. "Fucking Capitol,"I mutter under my breath.

"Callyn!" Linden says. 

"Yes?"

It is Linden's turn to roll his eyes. "Never mind." He turns to go, then pauses and turns back around. "Just...be careful, Callyn. Especially here."

And then he walks out of the train car without explaining what he means. He has way too much faith in my reasoning skills.

≋~≋~≋~≋~≋~≋

"Remember what I told you the first time," Finnick advises. "Just go out there and get it over with as quickly as you can, alright?"

I nod.

"Okay. Go." Finnick says.

I step out. A brilliant ray of sunlight hits my face, temporarily blinding me. I blink, continuing forward to the end of the stage. I look out over the masses of District Eleven, until my eyes catch on something.

Or rather, someone.

A moving picture of Oak's face is projected behind his family. He smiles, then stops, and then it all loops again. His family...

Three little sisters,  probably all under the age of eight, absolutely sobbing, tears streaming down their face. One older boy, who I'd guess to be around Finnick's age, stands ram-rod straight, looking furious. His mother, with a baby on her hip, just looking utterly broken. And no father.

I freeze.

I can't take my eyes off his family. The horribly broken family, that will never be the same...all because I killed their son. I can't move. I can't speak. And all of a sudden, I can't breathe.

A long, low whistle comes from the trees in the surrounding area. Suddenly, thousands of birds are all whistling, drowning out any noise, and saving me from speech. 

Then gunshots.

Rapid fire gunshots.

Then silence.

I'm jolted back to reality, staring in horror at the Peacekeepers who just massacred birds for the simple crime of singing. I swallow, and step up to the microphone. "People of District Eleven," I begin. The speech comes automatically, words flowing from my mouth without meaning. But the whole time, my eyes never stray from Oak's family.

≋~≋~≋~≋~≋~≋

"Seeder," the woman introduces herself. She's tall, probably in her fifties, and still with the muscled body of a victor. Two other victors stand on either side of her. I recognize them. Chaff and Amber. Amber looks to be in her mid thirties. I can't quite recall the exact Games she won, but I know she gets on well enough with Finnick. Chaff is around forty, I think. Something like that, anyway. He's also missing a hand. Finnick mentioned Chaff, once. He's Haymitch's drinking buddy, I think.

"Nice to meet you," I say, a bit awkwardly. It seems stupid to introduce myself, but also impolite and egotistical not to. "I-"

"Save the introduction," Chaff says. "We won't think you're a prude for assuming we know who you are. We'd have to be brain dead not to."

"With the amount of drinking you do, that's not entirely a foreign possibility," Finnick says, eyebrows raised. Linden and Matthew laugh, and to my surprise, so does Chaff.

"And with the amount of preening you do, I'd expect you to be a peacock by now, yet, sadly, here we are." Chaff responds with a good-natured grin.

"The amount of working out, and I'd expect you to look like Brutus by now," Amber adds. 

Finnick rolls his eyes. "Are we all finished by now?"

"The amount of staring in the mirror, we'd expect you to be blind by now," Linden says seriously.

"The amount of women crushing on you-"

"Okay, I think the point has been made," Finnick says, cutting everyone off.

"Oh, I don't know, Finnick, they all had some good points," I put in.

"Shut up, Rookie," Finnick says.

"Hey!" Amber says. "Don't talk down to her!"

Finnick gapes at them "Are you kidding me? You're defending five minutes after meeting her? You called me 'the rookie' for three years!"

"They're just good judges of character, Finnick," I say, everyone having a good laugh at his expense except for Finnick himself.

"You're, like, a carbon copy of me, how can they-"

"I'm a girl, I think carbon copy is pushing it," I interrupt.

"Not much," Linden puts in.

anyways

so

any recommendations, things you wanna see? LMK PLEASEEEE

xx

maddie