Black & Blue || Finnick Odair

17

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' There's a difference between
giving up and knowing when you've had enough. '

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Venus stared up at the white ceiling of her room blankly, not a thought ran through her mind as she lay there. She simply waited for Peeta's interview to begin, his voice echoing through her mind as she tried to listen out for it up the hall. She didn't blame Peeta for what he had done to her those mere few days ago, when it had really happened she didn't know; she had no concept for time anymore. But she knew that Peeta wouldn't have intentionally hurt her if her wasn't being infused with the purple liquid that they first gave her when she arrived.

She still couldn't speak, simply breathing was a challenge for her; but she continued to scream when she was abused, no matter how much it hurt she had to warn the next victim that it was their turn next. Screaming made her throat ache for ages afterwards, but she thought it was worth it in the big scheme of things. The bruising lined the inside and out of the throat, vibrant purple and black blotches painted her skin in angry hand prints.

As Venus listened to Peeta speak, he suddenly paused as a familiar voice echoed up the hall in a light song. The girl struggled to sit up as she listened to Katniss sing, in hope that she was actually here, but as Peeta began to speak again she knew she wasn't. The boys voice broke her heart as it cracked mid sentence, she could only imagine how broken his face looked in that moment.

Peeta continued to speak, but she didn't listen anymore. She was too wound up in the pain that the diminishing hope gave her, it was gut wrenching. She had less faith in ever seeing Tommy again, or Finnick, or even Scout and Johanna. She was falling into a state of depression, and she wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to get out of it without some type of real hope. Without Finnick. Tears stung her eyes as they threatened to fall down her face, and she let them as she began to sob quietly to herself.

She just wanted to go back to before the games and taken Tommy's plan more seriously, and have ran away with him. Away from all the chaos and heartbreak. Back to when she could've saved her family by simply agreeing to all of Snow's requests. By becoming a prostitute, just like Finnick was forced to become. Venus simply wanted to go back to never existing.

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Finnick walked calmly with the crowd as lights flashed around him and sirens wailed, signalling an air raid. He didn't know if it was real or not but he had a feeling this drill wasn't performed very often, because by the stressed looks on the locals faces it was as clear as day. He jogged down the stairs slowly, people pushing and shoving him to get down fast. A loud bang came from above, causing the man to flinch and move just a little faster down the stairs.

Tommy had been with Prim and the few other children in the District when this had all begun, getting some energy out before he came back to the small apartment. He hadn't made any friends, and was very quiet, which was unlike the boy. With Venus being away it was affecting him greatly, and no one knew what to do about it. The boy trotted down the stairs behind Prim, yelling in surprise when another loud bang came from above; tears welling in his eyes.

In that days that had passed, Finnick and Tommy had been moved out of the hospital and into their own little apartment together. The twelve year old was glad for it, the hospital was dull and boring whereas Finnick didn't really care where he slept because it didn't feel right that he was sleeping comfortably and in a somewhat nice place whilst Venus was in the Capitol being beaten and starved. But he tried his best to make it seem like he was happy for Tommy's sake.