Promise the Night- The 25th Hunger Games

Chapter 2- Thatcher

I feel a smile lift my lips as I near the fishery. Thatcher was there, waiting for me. I slowed to a walk, a blush spreading across my cheeks. "Thatcher." He leaned against the doorframe, his adorable brown hair brushing his forhead. His blue eyes sparkled when he saw me.

"Leena." He opened his arms, and I gratefully fell in. "Leena, I heard about the Quell."

This time, I was unable to hold the tears in. He held me as sobs shook my whole body. 

"Shhh, Shhh. It's ok, I've got you."

"They're going to choose me. They hate me!"

"They won't....I won't vote for you anyways."

After a while, I pushed away. "Come on, lets go." I said huskily, holding in my tears. I led the way to a small, salt-crusted boat that bobbed up and down in the waves that brushed the shore.

"Ah, the Night." I studied Thatcher's features. His face seemed to visibly relax the closer we got to the sea. It was obvious that he was more comfortable in the see than  on land- this is what made District 4 so special. 

We rowed out a few hundred feet from shore. The salty breeze played with strands of my hair, picking them up, and then suddenly dropping them like a soon forgotton toy. I pulled out a small satchel from my pocket.

"I brought the bait." I grinned.  The next hour or so was spent threading worms on hooks and tossing them out to sea. After we had twenty lines or so out to sea, Thatcher stretched out as far as the cramped boat would allow and sighed. 

"I could stay out here forever."

I giggled. "Don't I know it!" I paused. "Remember how you built this boat?"

"How could I forget?" His eyes danced as he remembered. "I must've spent a full year just gathering wood."

"Then, when you had all the wood, you couldn't figure out how to build it!" We laughed for a few minutes, lost in the memories. "Thatcher?"

"Hm?"

"Why did you name this ship the Night? It's an odd name for a ship."

Thatcher stared out to sea for a few minutes, lost in thought. "All of the ships here, they're named after officials in the Capitol, right?"

"Yeah, of course. It's illegal for a large ship to be named anything else."

"Well, even though this is a small boat, I feel like I can do something against the Capitol....Be one up on them, you know? It's like my own small rebellion."

"Yeah, but why-" My answer was cut off as one of our fishing lines began to pull out to sea. The next few minutes were a frenzy as all of our lines suddenly were set. Once we had reeled in the lines, I flopped back exhausted. 

"What were you going to say, Leena?"

"Oh, nothing." We rowed back to shore.

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How do you like it so far? What do you think of THatcher Sooo cute? (The picture on the side is him) Hope you love it!

~MockingJ