unforgivable ➸ finnick odair

N I N E

"Hunting?" Everly asked quietly, her axe in hand. I nodded, trying to avoid looking at my trident as we walked along, leaves crunching under our feet and birds chirping around us. We seemed to go on for hours, the sun viciously beating down on us. After a while, we gave up on finding tributes and started hunting for food. I knifed a rabbit, and we stopped for lunch.

"Maybe we shouldn't light a fire," I suggested as Everly used one of my knives to begin skinning the dead animal. She shrugged.

"We kinda have to." She stated. Humming in agreement, I gathered up a bunch of sticks and other fire-making stuff. Being from the Lumber District, Everly knew how to start a fire, and soon we had one ablaze, orange flames flickering and dancing around in it's small circle of stones. The meat tasted delicious in my mouth, and I took a few sips of my water to get rid of the dryness of my throat. Hunger sated for the time being, we packed up, dumping the leftovers in our bags, and walked off after stamping the fire out.

"We really need to find a body of water. I'm completely parched, and your water bottle won't last you very long," Everly commented, and I nodded. Food, we already had, but we were in desperate need of some water. 

And we found some, several minutes of mindless travelling later. The small lake seemed like a godsend, the incandescent water a beautiful cerulean colour. Everly made to rush over, but I stopped her. There was someone else here. Her hair was a dark chestnut brown, and as she turned and stopped still as we stared right back at her, I noticed that her blue eyes were dull and senseless. 

"Fresia, from 10," I whispered into Everly's ear as our staredown continued. Her eyes then flitted to the sky and I saw her mouth form the word 'sorry' before she adjusted her grip on the dagger that I only just now noticed was in her hand and charged at us. Caught off guard, I hissed in pain as her blade was dragged across my arm, forming a decent-sized gash that immediately began to ooze beads of blood. A fierce glare on her face, Everly reacted before I did, burying her axe in Fresia's skull. The girl from 10 let out a yell of pain as she fell to the ground, face-down. And suddenly, I understand what she had intended to do.

She must have known that charging at two armed tributes would guarantee her death, but she did it anyway. Because she had decided that dying was better than living the rest of her life with constant nightmares and a reminder of those that died in order for you to live around every corner. A special kind of suicide.

"Let's settle down. I'm done hunting for the day." Everly said, voice wobbling slightly as realization hit her. All the colour drained from her face as Fresia's cannon boomed. After purifying my water and making sure my bottle was full, I found a tree good enough to rest in nearby the lake and lay down on a branch, Everly on a branch by my side.

"How is anyone meant to live with it? The guilt?" Everly asked in a whisper, staring at the axe now stained with Fresia's blood. 

"You don't. You just make sure that they didn't die in vain." I replied, nibbling on a cracker and staring into the horizon. She never replied.

We were broken out of our daydreams by the appearance of a white parachute attached to something covered in white wrapping. It drifted down next to me and I swiftly snatched it out of the air before it hit the ground. Everly scrambled over as I tore open the packaging, grinning as it revealed a white gauze and a note. Smiling, my ally gingerly wrapped my wound in the sponser gift, and I flashed the sky a grin.

"What does the note say?" Everly asked in curiosity after my arm was all patched up and the parachute discarded. Grabbing the small piece of paper, I read it aloud in a hushed voice.

"electra,

don't fall into a state; it's kill or be killed. make sure you and your ally know this. if you keep on shining, silver star, i might just bring district five home a victor this year. might.

- desiree"

I giggled quietly before tucking the note into my backpack. The note seemed to pull Everly out of her funk, and she had on a bright, genuine smile on her face as she returned to her branch. 

Her reinvigorated spark luckily disappear when Fresia's smiling face appeared in the sky that night, although her smile did fade and she looked at the sleeping bag, tracing patterns on the smooth fabric.

Continuing my routine of staring at the sky, I unclipped my vest, closed my eyes and let myself return to the land of nightmares, of rich red blood and pointy silver blades and gleaming bronze-brown hair.

---

"Electra!" A loud voice startled me, making me jerk up and look around wildly. Everly sat at my side, the sunlight reflecting off of her blonde hair.

"Everly! What happened?" I asked, brushing my hair out of my face. She shook her head, a strange smile on her face.

"Nothing, you were just having a nightmare I think," she explained. "Wanna head out now?"

"Sure," I agreed, awkwardly getting out of my sleeping bag and tying my brown hair back into a high ponytail, a few loose wisps framing my face. Picking up the vest that I had previously stuffed into my bag, I secured it around my chest, picked up my trident and joined Everly on the ground.

For some odd reason, no birds were chirping as we trudged through the forest, Everly trailing slightly behind me, but I shrugged it off and kept my eye out. Nothing living came into sight, not even an animal let alone a tribute. Just as I was about to turn around and suggest to my ally that we should turn back, I felt a searing pain on my back. Gasping, I collapsed face-first to the ground. Feeling something be pulled out of my body, I struggled to flip myself over onto my back and my jaw dropped when I saw Everly standing over me, the axe in her hand dripping in fresh, wet red blood. My blood.

"W-what?" I managed to force out of my tightening throat, eyes widened. Everly gave me a vicious, bloodthirsty grin as she raised her axe again, ready to deliver the final blow.

"You don't deserve to live," she spat out before slamming the axe down. I squeezed my eyes shut as the blade descended.

---

"Electra!"

Shooting up from my sleeping position, I struggled around wildly in a panic as the world swam out of focus. I heard a feminine gasp before hands clamped around my wrists, holding my frantically waving arms in place.

"El, calm down!" she ordered. Attempting to slow down my heart rate, I blinked my eyes rapidly and let my eyes focus on the surroundings. Deciding that I was calmed down enough, Everly released her grip on my hands and sat down at my side.

"What happened? Are you alright?" she questioned in concern, a far cry from the freakish mutt imitating Everly in my dreams.

"Yeah... just a nightmare." 

But how long would it stay as 'just a nightmare'?