That Fine Line

Chapter 1 - The Trip

The governor's mansion was exactly as I remembered it. Dark, woody, and tidy. The trip to the Capitol wouldn't take too long, but the train departed from District Twelve, so it would take a while for it to get here. I sat down on the floral printed couch.

"You did the right thing, you know." 

Finnick. Oh how I hated his voice. Every time he opened his mouth, no matter who he was talking to, it sounded like he was trying to entice them into doing his bidding. There was just some sort of weird edge to the way he talked that made me dislike him even more than I did before.

I flicked my gaze at him. He was staring at me with this sort of surprised look on his face and what seemed to have been admiration, but I'd looked away too quickly to confirm it.

A clamor of voices erupted into the room. His whole family had arrived to say their goodbyes and wish him luck. A sea of bronze hair surrounded him, fussing and sobbing for that vile, calculating menace of a human being.

As expected, my mother didn't show. She no longer cared for me. In fact, she hadn't cared for a long time. Ever since we'd been banished to the districts and were reduced to peasant fishermen, there was no place for me in her heart. My father wasn't around, so all the blame was placed on me. I mean, she wasn't wrong. I was the one who'd let the cat out of the bag anyway.

Out of the corner of my eye, the more I watched the family next to me and half-listened their fretting, the worse I felt about myself. I didn't know why. They had nothing to do with me. Why would I possibly care about what they were up to?

I got up off the couch and sat down in front of the small television in the corner of the room, diverting my attention instead to the replay of the reaping. Squinting, I scrutinized myself on the screen. I looked fairly well-dressed in my light blue blouse and dark blue shorts. My hair was neat and presentable, exactly the way I'd wanted it to be. That moment was the official beginning of my long-awaited vengeance. Of course I needed to look good.

Then, I turned my attention towards Finnick on the screen, dressed in white. I almost laughed. How ironic. This prostitute of a victor had adorned himself in the color of innocence. Goes to show just how much of a fraud you are.

"The train has arrived. It's time to go," announced a Peacekeeper.

Ignoring the embodiment of sentimentality on the couch, I made my way outside and onto the train compartment designated to District Four tributes. The train was the beginning of my trip down memory lane. Not the memories of my experience in the Games, but the memories from my childhood of the glamorous Capitol I'd grown up in before I ended up here.

I took a seat on one of the luxurious couches, leaning my head back to stare at the sparkling crystal chandelier hanging above my head. The ceiling and walls had a lovely, antique design on them that gave the room an aesthetic I'd missed out on for so long, while living in the depression-hole that was District Four.

Unable to look away from the hypnotic beauty of the lights that reflected off the chandelier, I listened to the footsteps that alerted me of Finnick's entrance onto the train. I wished tributes could have separate living rooms. I could not stand being in a room with him, even if it was just for forty minutes. Unless they'd let me kill him.

As I listened, I realized that the footsteps were still oncoming. They were headed this way. I jerked forward, sitting straight up, ready to defend myself in case he was sneaking up on me. 

"Whoa," Finnick put his hands up as if to indicate his harmless intentions. "I just wanted to give this back to you." He handed me my dark blue satin bow. "I saw you wearing it at the Reaping, so I figured you dropped it."

Wordlessly, I took it back from him and stared at it for a moment. I'd almost lost my bow. My only proof, my only reminder, that I had of my early days at the Capitol. My identity as a citizen of the Capitol. Not of the Districts. The Capitol.

I felt his weight next to me on the couch. "It's real pretty." He smiled patronizingly at me.

I was planning on giving him the cold shoulder again, despite him returning my most treasured possession, when the train jolted forward with no warning. I completely lost balance and fell sideways. 

Right into Finnick.