Masked Enemies

Chapter 16

Finnick

I watched Katniss as she slept. Not in a creepy way, obviously, but in a gentle way. I observed how her frown turned into a soft smile, and her eyebrows went up.

We had been in here the whole day. Night had already fallen, and Katniss couldn't sleep here. I gently took her head, which had moved from my shoulder to my lap, and put it on the sofa. I got up myself, turned to face her, and slipped my arms under her. I lifted her up bridal-style and carried her out the door.

As soon as I shut the door quietly behind me, Katniss woke up. Her eyes fluttered open in that sudden way that made my heart skip a beat.

"Finnick? Wha- where?" She asked, looking around, scared.

I smiled down at her. "Go back to sleep. I'm just taking you back to the hospital." I told her, but as I said it, I noticed she was already asleep. Her breathing was even and rhythmic, and her mouth was open slightly. I walked her down to the makeshift hospital with Katniss in my arms. I must've been a strange sight, considering I was the one everyone thought wasn't feeling well. I tiptoed into the main room and past the doctors, one of which was Katniss's mother.

She turned and saw me. "Hi." she said. "Are you feeling better?" She asks. She seems genuinely concerned about my well-being. I didn't know her that well.

"Yeah. I am. Thank you." I tell her. "Uh- I should be going to sleep, so-"

Ms. Everdeen smiled. She waved me off playfully and went back to working at the counter.

I creep into the private room Katniss had. As soon as I walked in, I shivered. The room was drafty, as it was right next to the window. I ran out as slow as I could, careful not to wake the girl sleeping in my arms. Shutting the door behind, I walked to my room, which was across the central room. Stealthily walking back across the dimly lit hallway, I reached the central room once again. It had a bluish glow to it, since the whole thing was practically white and blue. Light from the Capitol lit the room, but not much light did come from the Capitol now. It was in ruins.

I walk into my own room and set Katniss down on my bed. She moves a bit, and I stiffen. She stays asleep, so I relax and tuck her in. The blankets go comfortably under the mattress, and I am about to leave the room. I stay because I have to do one more thing.

I bend down over her and kiss her forehead. It is short, because I do not want to wake her. I get up and leave the room. As I close the door behind me, a beam of Capitol light sprays into the room. For that one second, I thought I saw a hand touch her head. I was sure she smiled just a little bit as I closed the door.

Perhaps it was just an accident that she had done that. Clearly she had friend-zoned me. I was nothing more to her than a dear friend. That was fine with me, but sometimes I did feel like I wanted to be something more than a friend. Obviously she didn't feel the same way.

I walked down the hall slowly, as if I was walking the plank on one the pirate ships back home. As I walk, a strong, firm hand grasps my shoulder and turns me around. Haymitch stares at me, smiling.

"What was that?" he asks.

"What was what?" I asked, pretending to be confused. Haymitch was onto me.

"That. Katniss. The bedroom." he asks me again, as if he was Katniss's father. He practically was, being her mentor and all.

I turn red. Scratching my neck, I say, "That. Oh. Uh- that was nothing."

Haymitch nods. Clearly he knew better than to believe me. "Anyway, I came to tell you to tell Katniss that we are going to execute Snow tomorrow. Katniss must do it. I was following you earlier, trying to tell Katniss, but..." He looks at me again, mischievously. His eyes show a hint of laughter but at the same time are stern. Then he glances back at the room I left her in. "...it seems I am too late."

"Sorry." I say. "I'll tell her tomorrow. I don't think she's really sleeping, though. You're welcome to try." I laugh, and Haymitch leaves me standing alone in a dark hallway.

I continue on to Katniss's room. I would be sleeping there tonight. Under the blankets, it probably wasn't that cold.

Haymitch knew that I liked her. That was bad. What if he told her? I shake my head, forcing the thought out of my mind. Haymitch wasn't like that. He was trustworthy. He knew the consequences of betraying people. He'd seen the Hunger Games before.

I open the door to Katniss's room. It looks the same as mine, but has a different smell. Sage. It grew well in my district. I took a deep breath, taking in the sage-air. I felt a pang of homesickness as I inhaled the air. In fact, was home okay right now?

I settled into the bed slowly, wriggling under the covers to keep myself warm. I lay there, thinking of home and my friends and family back there. Hopefully by now they had realised I was, safe. I wanted none of them to suffer like Annie did. None of them deserved it. Annie didn't.

I remember something my mother used to tell me when I was little when I think about Annie. My neighbor had gone to the Hunger Games, and had just been killed by another Career. So I turned to my mother and asked her: "Why do all the good people die?"

My mother looked at me and asked me: "When you're in a garden, which flowers do you pick?"

This was an obvious question, so I gave her the most logical answer. "The most beautiful ones." I tell her.

My mother smiles. "Exactly." I never understood at the time, but now I come to the conclusion that my mom had actually answered my question. The good people always died, because they were good. Peeta. Prim. Annie. They had simply died because they were too nice. Was that why I hadn't died? Because I was a horrible person?

Katniss hadn't died either. Did that make her a bad person? Maybe mother's logic had some kinks to it. Katniss was a good person. Right? She had never killed anyone out of anger. Self-defense, I assure myself She had risked her life to save mine.

Forcing myself to close my eyes, telling myself that it was night, I drifted off into sleep