unforgivable ➸ finnick odair

F I F T E E N

"Where's your pretty blonde friend?" Ocean asked casually the next morning, running her hands through her brown hair and slowly working through all the knots that had build up in her long tresses. My throat closed up for a second before I cleared it awkwardly and responded, staring at the ground and drumming my fingers against the peeling bark of the branch.

"She's dead." I said shortly. Ocean frowned sadly, and before I could react I found myself enclosed in a tight hug as Ocean's thin arms were flung around my body.

"I'm sorry," the district four girl said sincerely.

"Don't be. It's the hunger games, these things happen," I said, fighting to keep my voice at a level tone. Nodding, Ocean glanced upwards at the sky. It was long past night-time - in fact it must've been the afternoon by now - but the sky was slowly but surely darkening, throwing the both of us off.

Thunder suddenly boomed loudly, making me flinch and grab my trident before relaxing. With no prior warning, rain began pouring down, slamming against our skin and thudding heavily against the branches and trunk of our tree. Heart pounding, Ocean and I both climbed down the tree as quickly as we could and began stumbling around, the rain making it harder to make out our surroundings.

"I like water, but not this much!" I heard Ocean splutter beside me, and I managed a small grin as I groped around with my hands, relying on my sense of touch to guide me. I went along like this for ages; one hand tightly holding onto my trident, the other moving along wildly in the rain. 

Through the tiny bullets of water, I could now make out something coloured a dark grey, set into what looked like a tall hill. Praying that it was a cave, I managed to locate Ocean's hand and drag her along as I trudged through the soaked grass, my feet sinking slightly into the muddy dirt, and ducked into the cave entrance. The rain immediately stopped impacting our bodies, even though the constant sound of water hitting against other hard objects remained as we continued along until the cave stopped not far from the entrance.

Wiping the residue water from my eyes, I pushed my soaked hair over my shoulder as I settled down, my back leaning against a particularly large rock. Ocean did the same, sweeping her long hair onto her back as she sighed and closed her eyes, tilting her head upwards. Placing my bag in front of me, I winced as I surveyed the damage. 

Whatever little food I had left was completely ruined by the rain. The two loops of rope I had were both wet and falling apart. My sleeping bag, tucked into the small black pouch it had come in, was thankfully relatively safe. The bag itself was entirely saturated, the black fabric feeling soggy and heavy underneath my hand. Even as the backpack sat on the pebble strewn floor, water was slowly leaking out of the material, forming a tiny puddle around it. I heard my ally swear angrily as she checked up on her own bag.

"Well we're royally fucked, aren't we?" Ocean huffed in fury, clenching her hands into fists. The sound of faint beeping broke the brief silence - we exchanged swift glances before bolting to the cave entrance where, sure enough, a soaked white parachute awaited us. Grabbing the silver container, we rushed back to the end and greedily opened the parcel.

Within the box was exactly what we needed most - food (unlike my previous sponser gift, this one had no note inside the box). 10 small but filling bread buns, and not the bread that the districts ate. No, this was Capitol. The outside was firm and well-cooked, but not burnt in the slightest, while the inside was soft and warm. Resisting our natural urge to gobble it all up in one sitting, Ocean and I halved one and kept the remaining 9 in the container, which we put in her bag. Savouring the delicious food,  Ocean and I ate in silence, the grumbles of our stomachs soon fading.

"Do you ever just, miss home sometimes?" Ocean asked quietly as we sat, eyes closed. 

"Yeah. I try not to dwell on it, though." I replied.

"I wish I could do that." she said, a note of jealousy in her voice as she spoke. "But then I think about my parents and my cousin, and I just get upset. They need me."

"Tell me about them." I said, sitting up slightly and opening my eyes. Giving me a strange look, she shrugged and launched into speech.

"My family, we aren't particularly rich when it comes to District 4 standards. Dad works as a fisherman, and he goes out each morning on his pretty little boat to catch some fish that we can sell at the weekly markets. It has these gorgeous sunset orange sails and goes really smoothly on the water - all four of us go out on the water every month as a family on that boat. Mum is a seamstress, she fixes up all the locals'  patchy clothing and loose threads. She can work some serious magic with her little needles. I don't know how she does it."

Ocean pauses for a while before continuing on, her voice suddenly acquiring a more grounded and serious tone.

"Annie... Annie's my best friend. She's a year younger than me and lives with us, since her parents died when she was really little. We have the same chestnut brown hair, but her eyes are a lot different. I get my sort of greenish-hazel eyes from my mum, but Annie has these gorgeous, huge dark green eyes, and they really seem to sparkle when any light hits them. She's a bit strange, though. Not a lot of people get her like I do."

"They all seem like lovely people." I said, a genuine smile on my face as Ocean talked about her loved ones. You could hear the love and care she held for them in her voice.

"They are."

tryna keep my 1K-words-per-chapter goal is tough XD