All Of Me

Chapter 13

-CHAPTER 13-

I'm sprinting through the jungle, my feet catching on various roots and plants, my hands pushing vines and leaves out of the way. Finally, I reach the spot where Annie's scream emitted. I hear her again, high up above me, in the trees, but when I look up, I don't see her. "Annie!" I scream as I circle the tree, my eyes wide in fear and confusion. Katniss crashes into the clearing and shoots an arrow into the foliage. A small bird falls to my feet and I stare at it in confusion. I pick it up and study it. A jabberjay, I remember seeing one in my games. Slowly, it starts to piece together. Annie was never really here, it was just the jabberjay. But then it hits me. Jabberjays mimic noises they hear. They had to get her scream from somewhere. I feel Katniss' hand on my shoulder. "Finnick, it's okay. They're just playing tricks on us. It's not really your... Annie." I look up at her. "Where do you think they got those noises? Jabberjays mimic what they hear." I see her eyes widen and her face pale as she comprehends what I just said. "Oh, Finnick, you don't think..." "Yes, that's exactly what I think," I say. It's as if her legs become jelly and she sinks to her knees. I kneel next to her. "Katniss, we have to get out of here." Just then, I hear a guy's agony-filled scream off to my left. Katniss' head snaps in that direction, her eyes wide. I grab her wrist. "Katniss, it's not him! We have to go!" I don't know who he is, but I do know he's someone Katniss cares about. She struggles against my grasp as I continue yelling at her "It's not him! It's a mutt!" I begin running towards the direction we came from, half dragging Katniss, half carrying her. Eventually, she seems to realize there's no use, and she starts running along side me, making it easier to run faster. As we near the jungle line, we see Peeta and Johanna standing there waiting for us. Why didn't they come help us? As we get closer to the jungle line, I notice their noiseless yet moving mouths and their palms against the air as if on a clear surface. I quickly realize why as I run at full speed face first into the invisible wall. Immediately, my nose starts gushing blood. I clutch my nose, and look at Katniss, trying to see if the same thing happened to her. Fortunately, she must of noticed the wall a fraction of a second before me, because her nose isn't bleeding like mine. On the other side, I see Johanna trying to hack away at the wall with her axe. Peeta is trying to speak to Katniss, but of course, she can't hear a word he's saying. Beetee is just standing behind them, hopelessly shaking his head. That is when the birds begin to arrive. Scores, hundreds, thousands of them. I'm not able to tell because they immediately start pouring out a symphony of agony and horror, causing me to give up right away. I curl up on the ground, squeezing my eyes shut and covering my ears with my hands, applying pressure as if to crush my skull in order to escape the madness. But it doesn't block out the sounds completely. I can still hear the agony-filled screams of many I love. At first, I only hear people who are still alive, like Annie, Johanna, and Daivat, a friend of mine from District 5 who won the 64th Hunger Games. More screams join theirs, screams from those I know to be dead. Screams from my childhood friend, Hannah, screams from my mom, my dad, Mags, the list goes on and on. Eventually, I hear Katniss' scream and my eyes snap open in terror, but I quickly realize it's not her, it's just another jabberjay. Why would they include her screams? I know she's alive, she's right here. I squeeze my eyes shut again when I realize why. Although I know she's alive and there's no way they could elicit those screams from her right now, the noise is still chilling, sending shivers of terror down my back. I press my hands against my ears even harder, trying to block out the horror-filled screams of those I love. After what seems like endless hours, I feel a hand on my shoulder, shaking me gently, but I am too afraid to open my eyes and find what nightmares might still await me. I hear a voice say something to me and I wince, not quite hearing it, yet not quite wanting to hear it. They say it louder and I quickly recognize it as Katniss' voice. Slowly, I open my eyes to find Katniss kneeling down in front of me, her hand on my shoulder and her lips moving. I uncover my ears and try to focus on her words. Eventually, they come through to me, but I only catch the end of one of her sentences before she falls silent. "-and it's over, Finnick." I look at her blankly. She gives my shoulder a squeeze before standing up and walking over to Peeta. I watch her, my expression blank. I feel like I'm barely comprehending anything. Eventually, I stand up and numbly walk over to the water. I sit down in the shallow waves and pull my knees up to my chest. Staring across the water, I study the jungle line, thinking about Annie, Daivat, Hannah, my parents, but most of all, I think about Katniss. I begin to tremor vigorously as I remember her agonizing scream. Katniss has someone to talk to after all this, someone to reassure her. She has Peeta. But I have nobody. They're all either dead or back in their district, not here. Behind me, I hear little splashes in the water, but I don't glance behind me, I just continue staring blankly across the water. Katniss sits next to me and stares across the water too. "Hey," she says. I don't respond. She turns her head towards me; I think she's studying my face. After a few minutes, I turn to her. "W-What?" My voice is shaky and weak. She shakes her head. "I'm just... thinking..." She says. "K-Katniss?" My voice is already stabilizing a bit. "Yes?" she responds. "I'm confused on how they g-got those horrific screams. I know that somehow, they must be fake, because I heard your screams, and I know there's no way they could've elicited those from you while you're in the arena. At least not screams so... agonizing..." She looks at me quizzically and says "You heard my scream?" I nod. She looks back out at the water. "I... I didn't know I was that important to you..." she says. Staying silent, I study her face. Her high cheekbones, the way her jawline slopes down from her ears, her arched eyebrows, and lastly, her beautiful eyes. They sparkle a light gray that reminds me of the fog on the beach in the mornings. God, I love those eyes. I look back out across the water. So as to keep the cameras from hearing me and broadcasting what I say all over Panem, I say in a whisper "You mean a lot to me, Katniss..."

-END OF CHAPTER 13-