The Mermaid

Chapter 2

Katniss couldn't shake off the creepy feelings President Snow gave her. Especially after his visit, where he told her about the possibility of unrest in the Districts, and threatened to kill everyone she loved. She had to convince him of her love for Peeta, but how? She didn't love him, or she didn't think she did. He was her friend. Nothing else. Right?

~

The next morning rolled around and I awoke to Finnick shaking me awake.
"Mari!" He whined like a five year old, kneeling beside me. I opened my eyes, squinting at the bright light streaming through the window. Immediately I began to think about the Quarter Quell, and thought about how today was the day Snow made his announcement. It seemed as though the Quarter Quell was eating away at my mind.
One year for the Quell, the tributes from the Districts were voted for, while the other twice as many tributes were thrown in. That was the year Haymitch Abernathy, a now drunk, had won. Cope, that's the key word, and this was how he coped. And I couldn't blame him. 
"You wanna go for a swim? It's a great day for it," Finnick smiled, turning up the charm to sway me. I snatched at his wrist, steadying it to look at his gold watch that I had gotten him for his birthday to look at the time.
"Finnick, it's only 7:00 in the morning!" I exclaimed, propping myself up with my elbows.
"The sun is up, and so should you!" He protested, dragging me out of bed. Sighing, I admitted defeat and pulled off my socks, dropping them on the floor and following a giddy Finnick out the door and down the stairs.
We pulled our clothes off as we neared the beach, opting to swim in our underwear. Finnick ran off the dock, diving underneath the surface gracefully before popping up moments later.
"Come on, Mermaid!" He called, using the nickname given to me by the people of the Capital. I rolled my eyes, following suit and jumping in after him. He was right, it was a good day to go swimming. The water was warm and alive with sea life. Minnows swam around our feet, darting away as we treaded water.
Finnick ducked under the water, coming up a second later and shaking his head like a dog, soaking me.
"Aren't you glad you came?" Finnick asked, waiting for me to admit that he was right. I rolled my eyes, turning and swimming away, making sure to kick water in his face as I did.
"Hey!" He exclaimed, making me smile as I dove beneath the waves and away from shore.
He finally caught up to me, sitting next to me on a sand bar a little ways out.
"Do you ever wish we could live in Panem before it was... Panem?" Finnick asked after a few minutes of silence, his infamous smirk long gone. Shrugging my shoulders, I turned to my friend.
"Yeah, but there isn't anything we can do about that." My answer was sincere and honest. I was hoping to end this conversation quickly, for Snow had eyes and ears everywhere. But we were too far from the beach for anyone to hear us talking, Snow included.
"Hey, have you ever been in love?" Finnick asked, jumping from one random subject to the next.
"No, have you?" I asked, flipping my hair over my shoulder and letting the ends fall in the water. Squinting at the sun, I watched seagulls circle each other, flying through the air without a care in the world. They were free, something I desperately wished to be. 
"No- not really, at least." I raised an eyebrow, fascinated by his answer.
He caught my look, knowing this was my way of pressing him for an answer.
"I don't really know what he is," he sighed, "But it might've been love, I don't know."
My heart fell. Surely he was talking about that awful girl we mentored last year. Someday he'd fall in love again and I would be left in the dust, only a beloved memory of a friend. Because everyone knows that once you fall in love, you don't need anyone else. There would be no more curling up in bed together when one of us had nightmares, for he would have a woman he loved to calm him down. There wouldn't be any more early morning excursions such as this, for he'd take the love of his life to the beach and, someday, a kid to the beach instead of me. He wouldn't need me anymore.
When dinner rolled around I barely ate, afraid I couldn't keep it down. This was the reason I refused to watch the Quarter Quell. Sickness may take over me, and I've always had a nervous stomach. This was the first Quarter Quell that I would have to mentor for, and it was horrifying to think of what nightmare I'd have to train them for.
I would ask about it later, but I didn't want to hear Snow say it, or hear the audiences gasp, or see the faces of my family when he announces it. I'd rather hear about it when Finnick could tell me with the look of innocence on his face, clutching my hand as he waters down the whole thing. This was my least favorite time of the year- when the Games rolled around.
Sometimes, if I was stupid enough, I'd get to know these children very well, and get attached to them. Then I'd have to watch them die, year after year. That's what happened to Annie, a girl who couldn't throw a knife or start a fire or.... Anything, really. And yet we all got attached to her, knowing she'd die. Yet when she won, our attachments to her grew and she became family.
Yes, the kids of District 4 were careers, but hardly. In District 4, we didn't run forward to volunteer like those in 2 or 1. We didn't whoop and holler when we made a kill. And we didn't hunt anyone down, either. Sometimes I'll meet a kid who wants to join the career pack and hunt everyone down with them. Finnick and I always advise again this, saying that you have a better chance of surviving if you aren't helping your biggest threats.
They never win.
Last year, we had an 18 year old girl like that. She was arrogant, thinking very highly of herself. The boy, a kind 13 year old named Beck, died in the first day. It was inevitable- he had a limp, but we did our best to get him sponsors to keep him alive. He listened to our advice, but ran into the blood bath and made the mistake of attacking the boy from 1, Marvel. Before Beck could even get a jab at him Marvel had speared him through the chest.
The girl was smug and foolish. She and the girl tribute from District 1 were both killed by Katniss Everdeen and Rue, from 11. I give credit to Rue for this, for she gave her the idea of cutting down the tracker jacker nest and sending it down upon the careers. The whole thing burst open before attacking the two and killing them. In a way I felt she had it coming, bragging about how she was going to kill every last one of them. She didn't listen to a thing we said. All she did was flirt with Finnick, who, to my envy, flirted back.  I keep telling myself it was a strategy used to make her listen to him, but it didn't work well, if that's what he was going for. She'd get lost in his eyes, or she'd be continually batting her eyelashes at him while he talked. It made me insane.
"I'm going to win just like you, Finn. I'll make you proud," she'd bat her eyelashes and run her hands over his shoulders, smirking. She'd call him Finn all the time, which I knew he must had hated as much as me. Once when we were starting to become really good friends I had called him that, which he got angered over and scolded me to never call him that again. And I never did.
Finnick would then smirk, saying something charming and flirtatious back. Deep down inside of me, this flirting made me want to claw both of their eyes out. Deep deep down. I couldn't even help it, but I knew it was only because I was very protective of my best friend. She didn't like me one bit, and made an effort of showing it to me.
The first time we sent her anything was when the Careers struggled to find water in the first few days. They had claimed the cornucopia and the water around it, but had traveled miles to hunt others down. It was hot and they ran out of all their water. They couldn't even use basic survival skills to find any. The girl had lots of sponsors lined up, so we sent her a bottle of water.
"Look what Finn sent me!" She squealed, passing the canister around.
"He knows I'll win," she smiled smugly, making me want to rip out my hair.
When she died, Finnick hardly flinched. He was disappointed, but not in her- only in the fact that we wouldn't get a chance to win this year.
In a way, I was alright with that. I didn't want a girl like her to mentor our harmless citizens. And not because she was an obnoxious flirt, but because she was a ruthless, vicious murderer.
I try to relax tonight, so I pulled on a pair of pajama pants and a big t-shirt and cuddled under a blanket on my couch. I pulled out a book and began to read. It was a book from before the rebellion, one the Capital let us keep. Bold were a dangerous thing in Panem. Many you were killed or imprisoned for, as many books from this time had been about unjust worlds where a hero over throws its powerful dictator. This was a dangerous thing for us to be reading. The Capital believed it would spark rebellion in us. The only ones that were kept were almanacs or reference books, and even then some pages were burned. A few real books were kept, one called Brian's Song. The Capital had burned some of these pages, leaving holes in the entire plot. It was supposed to be about friendship, I think, but in the end it was never. The Capital burned any pages where the two main characters, Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers, expressed any friendship towards each other. I had read it before, and in the end it didn't turn out well. You were supposed to cry, I knew that, but the Capital had stripped the book of emotions. What was there to cry over? By the end he was a character I knew nothing about, and who didn't show any emotion. Finnick loved this book, but he too knew something was missing. Sometimes he'd read it to me and then bed set the book down, filling it in with his own made up plot line. Sometimes Brian and Gale would get in a fight, other times they would grieve over Brian's sickness. Sometimes he'd even apply their lives to something that happened in ours, like going to the beach or fishing with homemade hooks. It was never something sad it horrible he used from our lives. It was just the positive moments. He never failed to make me smile with his stories.
  I had gotten through the first few chapters when the sound of the door practically flying off its hinges made me drop my book and bolt up.
Finnick burst through the door, his eyes wide as he ran up to me.
"Marilla!" He put his hands on my shoulders, shaking me slightly. I could here crying and wailing coming from the Victors Village- Annie's. We were all too familiar with her cries.
"Finnick!" I called his name, taking his hands off my shoulders and in my own.
"Finnick, what's going on?" I questioned him. His normally dazzling green eyes turned dark with fear. Tears streamed down his face.
"Marilla," he gulped.
"I'm going back in the Games."