Nightmares And Seashells

chapter one

It was raining the day before the reaping was to take place.

Avery Winters, a girl of only 11 not old enough to be reaped yet. Found herself running down the beach after checking his house, and the market in town. Looking all over for her best friend Caspian, as he wasn't in class today.

Seeing him sitting in the sand just as soaked to the bone as she felt. She sighed in relief. Plonking herself down next to him she realized. He'd been crying.

"Cas? Is it about the reaping tomorrow?" she asked.

Without looking up from the shell he was fiddling with in his hands. He responded, still sounding choked up.

"I can't lose him Aves.. it didn't seem real until today you know?" He says with a sniffle.

"If he gets reaped.. well everyone knows the young ones never come back. No matter how strong or clever."

Wiping his dirty blonde hair away from his face, Avery finally caught his eyes.

"You know as well as I do him getting picked is unlikely. The older kids have their names in way more times, and sometimes the academy kids volunteer when it's their last year." She said trying to comfort him as best she could.

When he didn't respond she looked down and picked up a shell similar to his own,

"But if it makes you feel better, come here."

Avery pulled Caspian to his feet and walked them into the waves up to their knees. They were already drenched anyway.

As Caspian looked at her curiously, Avery brought her own shell up to her face.

"I Avery Winters, wish that Finnick Odair will not be reaped tomorrow." She then threw it as far as she could out to sea.

"Now your turn." She said looking at the shell in his hand expectantly.

Rolling his seafoam blue eyes Caspian replied.

"This is childish Aves, it's just a shell."
Retorting quickly Avery responds,

"We ARE children Cas, just belive! Okay?"
Closing his eyes he brings the shell up to his face.

"I Caspian Odair, wish that my brother Fin will not be reaped tomorrow." Opening his eyes again he hucks his shell with all his might into the waves.

Feeling a slight weight come off he chest he smiles over at Avery,

"Alright fine, that felt good. Now come on!" He says walking back to shore.

"I'm freezing my butt off, and you're spending the night at my house."
Laughing as he dragged her down the road she said

"Okay okay, but I have to be home early to get ready."

That evening Lillian had outdone herself with dinner, they had clam chouder and fresh oysters and she even got some bread and crackers to go with it.

Money wasn't a huge problem for the Odairs. But after losing her husband, Lillian had to work much harder to support both boys. Mags often tried to help. However unless she sent Avery and Caspian home with pre-made dinner, Lillian was quite stubborn on accepting what she thought as charity.
She knew others needed it more.

During dinner they talked about anything not game related.

"So Caspian, Avery what did you learn today in class?" Lillian asked looking at her youngest and his friend across the table.

Avery swallowed quickly, knowing Caspian hadn't been there she responded for both of them.

"We were learning about what the different districts provide for the capital, theres a whole block on it. Then in training we learned the different headlock techniques, for different sized opponents."

She said offering the older woman a smile.
Then hearing finnick snort, Avery gave him a warning glare before going back to her food. Finnick also knew Caspian wasn't at school, as they all usually walk together. He just didn't know why, and planned to ask later.

"Well that's nice, and what about you Finnick?" She asked again looking over at the boy.

"We did a bunch of fishing hook lures, the best of the class will be actually sent to the docks when we finish. I'm sure mine will be among them."  Finnick said giving his mom a smug grin.

Avery and Caspian looked at each other sniggering quietly. This made finnick send them a glare of his own.

"You should've seen it mom! We paired up with the younger class and little Aves, couldn't take me down a single time! And we all know Cas here can't ever beat his big bro. " He added laughing at the girl, while still covering for his brother. Avery quickly stopped laughing to scoff.

"Well Finny, I'm sure a headlock would work better, if your big head wasn't full of so much hot air!" Avery retorted sending him an innocent smile.

"Mom?!" Finnick complained as Caspian gave his best friend a low five under the table.

"Now kids, play nice. We're trying to have a lovely dinner. I wont have it full of bickering. " She scolded, although you could see in her eyes she was enjoying the banter.

"Okay, sorry mom."

"Sorry Mrs. Odair.."

Avery and Finnick chimed at the same time.

"What!? I didn't even do anything!"

Caspian added indignantly, making both finnick and Avery look at the boy, with similar are 'you serious right now' looks on their faces.

"Right, yeah never mind sorry mom.." He added after clearing his throat.

Once it was time to clean up, Lillian sent them all to get ready for bed.
As she was finishing up the dishes, she could hear giggling from the other room.

So while drying her hands on a small towel, she walked to the entryway to the den.

There she saw all three children, on a pile of all blankets and pillows from the den and both boys rooms.
Sitting together in the center of the room, lauging at who knows what. The sight brought a smile to her face.

She loved nights when they would do this. Whenever one was having a hard time the other two would grab every blanket and they'd stay like that until all was right in their world again.
Even today with all the horrors of this world, those three little faces so full of joy brought so much light to her life.

She just wished she could protect them longer.

A/n

So this chapter isn't super long.. but let me know, would you prefer long or short chapters?