A fate worse than death~~A Finnick Odair story~~

25. Hello Melinda

I was there when her name was reaped, I was there when she had her interview, I was there when she survived the carnage, and I was there when the dam broke. Everything happened so fast, yet so slowly, from a crack, to a leak, and then it just burst. The arena was flooded with water, and since Annie was the best at swimming, she was the one who emerged victorious. I won't deny that she killed, she stabbed a man in the water, the last man, a man who would have died anyway, but I wonder if she would see it that way.

She was taken straight to the medical wing. As all the victors before her had been. She got a drip and her lungs were pumped frome water, over all she wasn't too bad. Not as bad as I was when I came in. She would have to stay for a few days at most. Yes she was okay, would be okay.
At least physically.

We meet again my dear book.
I have to admit that the sight of Annie in the hospital bed scared me, both for what she has been through, and for what she will go through.

I can't help but wonder if she'll make it, and, and if this is how Finnick felt when I came back from my arena.

I had chosen to turn to my diary with my feelings.
Yes, now I had Finnick to talk to, but even he had been Annie's mentor, he surely had his own thoughts to fight whit.

And now that I think about it, I hadn't actually seen him all day, I hadent seen him since he was invited to a celebratory party in Annie's honor, yesterday.

So I didn't think much of it when I got the idea to checking his room.
After all, it was the middle of the day, and the chance that he was just down to see Annie was quietbig, she was supposed to be discharged today.

But one opened door and a shocked Elizabeth later, and it was clear he wasn't down at Annie's. No, Finnick Odair was lying in his bed, face down in the pillows, but naked. Butt naked! And here I was, standing dumbfounded and extremely shocked in his door opening, safe to say I closed that door as quietly and quickly as I opened it.

Anyway, the man didn't need much more beauty sleep. Because shortly after that there was a knock on my door and, a fully clothed, Finnick asking if I wanted to come down and get Annie. Not that she needed to be "gotten" it was just a tradition the mentors of four had to make the new victor feel more welcome.
Something both Mags and Finnick hade done for me, and something that now, I would get to do.

That evening we ate soup, also a tradition. Now one might wonder, why soup? But it's pretty clever really. You see, for soup you only need to use one more spoon, and bread if you want, no pointed fork and above all no knives. Because believe it or not, most victors who have just been forced to kill to survive usually don't want to pick up a knife the first thing they do when they're out of the arena.

However, there are things that cannot be avoided as easily, so when we sat at the dinner table we talked strategy again. Annie would have many interviews ahead of her and above all a coronation, but me and Finnick, and now Mags too didn't have much time to prepare the young girl. On top of that we also had our own interviews, only I would prepare for an interview with Annie and one with Finnick, so really, none of us had any idea how many the newest victor would have to do.

~~~

If I'm honest, I don't have much to say about our interviews. Mine were as usual, but Annie's, hers was downright boring. Now moss, get me right, I understood her. She had become more shy and didn't really want to talk about her time in the arena, I understand that 100 percent, the girl had gone through something terrible and traumatic, but I feared what the capital would do to her if they soon saw her as entertaining.

Despite that, she was crowned and we were sent home, and as soon as the doors of the train car were opened in four and the salt water smeal and seagulls screamed hit me, it felt as if everything could be okay, if only I got to stay here, at home.

We did the same nonsense for Annie as we hade done for me. She got to see the new house and we went through it room by room. It was a copy of what my house looked like when I moved in, what Mags' house looked like when she moved in, and how Finnick's did when he did. Yes, all the houses in the victory village were indeed just copy paste. Not the slightest difference.

Except that I got a pool, no one else had a pool.

When the cameras finally stoped and we all got to go home, I was relieved.

At least until I entered my own entrance, and saw a pair of shoes I didn't recognize, a pair that hadn't been there before, someone was here. Slowly I grabbed the nearest thing to me, a shoe horn, and then I began to search downstairs, until by the time I reached the kitchen I almost died, of a heart attack that is.

"Hey Lizzy, I've missed you."
"Good gods Melinda! You almost gave me a heart attack!!"
"Sorry, sorry, but I just want to talk!" "You do realize this is technically break an entrance right?!"
"Sorry!! But I just want to talk, it's like you've been avoiding me since your games and I and I--!!"
"You?"
"Fucking god Lizzy, you don't live at home, you don't go to school, you never sought me out, I just wanted to give you some space, but I I don't know what to do I just feel so alone!!”

She was right, I had done all that, I was a crappy friend, but it still didn't excuse breaking in to my freaking house!

"Did you even know Otis is dead!!"
A stab of pain shot through me at the words, but I had known, hadn't I?
"Melinda, I'm sorry...."
Lousy words, I if anyone knew they didn't mean anything anymore. Coulmaybeundo anything, but maybe they meant something to her.

"I just need someone to talk to, talk like we used to, please can we do that?!!"
"We can."
It was a weak response, but what else could I say, but before I sat down on the bar stool next to her I said.
"Do you want something to eat?"
She nodded in response, and as she did, I realized how stupid the question was.

Yes, I always had food in the fridge and pantry, but there were still poor neighborhoods in four, maybe not as poor as in other places, but still poor. If only I could do something to help.