Paint The Sky

Chapter 8

  "I'll find you," Finnick says softly.
  I wish he would. I wish he would rescue me from this deep, dark hole of sadness.
  I cry until I have no tears left. And even then, I just hang onto him and try to wish myself away.
  He just stays there, hugging me, and whispering comforting things.
  "Finnick?" I say quietly, my voice still choked with unshed tears.
  "What is it?" He asks.
  "Stay with me. Forever. Don't ever leave me." I shut my eyes, exhausted.
  "I promise."
  It's the last thing I remember before falling asleep.

  
  I have a dream that night.
  I have a little bird in a cage. He has dark, sleek, black feathers and bright, intelligent, blue eyes. It's...its Brandon. I open the cage door, and set him free. He flies out and disappears into the bright, blue sky.
   I set Brandon free...he's free. I'm free.
  I turn around and see a new little bird.
  He has mossy green eyes and yellow feathers.

  I wake up, curled on the bench with a dark green blanket wrapped around me. I sit up groggily. The events of the last night come back to me, and I quickly start looking around for Finnick. He's not here.
  I put my feet over the edge of the bench and feel something crunch under them. I lift up a foot and see a note on the ground.
  It reads:
Coral-
           I'll come back.
-F

  I smile at it. I curl back on the bench with the note and wait for Finnick.
  I feel surprisingly light and happy. Free of a weight. The weight of carrying Brandon with me forever.
  I hear footsteps a little while later. I turn around to see Finnick walking toward me with something in his hands.
  He reaches the little bench, and sits down by my feet. I turn around so I can rest my head on his shoulder.
  "I brought you something," he says with a smile.
  "What?" I ask.
  He puts a flower crown on my head that matches the one from my dream.
  Even the kiss he gives me is the same.