Annie Cresta- Beyond the Sea

Chapter 22

"Uh, yeah. I like to sing. I'm not very good, though. I really only sing one song," Safiya replied. He seemed a little uncomfortable, so I decided not to push him on it, if he didn't want to.
"That's cool. Music always calms me down when I'm sad or upset," I said. I didn't sing very often at all really, either. It was only when Finnick was busy and I couldn't find any music to listen too. Safiya nodded.
I was really upset. I was starting to shake. First I lost Darcy, then my prep team, and now Dallas.. Who would be next? I glanced at Safiya. No, not him, too. I just befriended him.
I needed to calm down. I was starting to sweat, then. I was becoming unstable. And maybe a little claustrophobic..
"You are my sunshine" I began to sing. Not gonna lie, I sounded a little crazy. I sounded crazy. "My only sunshine"
"You make me happy," chimed Safiya suddenly. "When skies are gray." He had the most beautiful voice, and it surprised me he knew this song. The sound of it was like smelling bacon for breakfast after not eating for months.
"You'll never know dear, how much I love you," we sang together. We didn't harmonize well together, but singing calmed me down a lot. "Please don't take my sunshine away."
There was a small pause after our duet. I almost expected the careers to applaud from the outside.
"How do you know that song?" I asked him.
He played with some rocks on the cave floor. "It's a lullaby my mom used to sing to me and my sister when we're troubled or worried to calm us down. She found the song when she was fixing a radio at the electronics store.. It's my favorite song." He glanced at me. "How do you know the song?"
"You sang it to me," I said. It sounded a little weird, and he looked quite confused. But once I explained, he seemed to understand okay.
"I suppose dreams do come true, huh?"
"Weird way to look at it, but yeah, I guess so." Laughter. " The Hunger Games, of all places, too."
I was inturrupted by the loud gurgling of his stomach. We stared at each other for a little while, and then I asked, "Did you eat at all while on watch?"
Safiya shook his head. "I was too afraid that the second I put down my knife, so I haven't really eaten since.. Well, two days ago." He unzipped his backpack and took out a bag of dried fruit.
"Why didn't you eat breakfast?" I thought about giving him some of my own food.
"I was so nervous I felt sick. Anything that went down, I feared, would come back up." He opened the bag and began to munch on some. He then looked at me and held out a hand full of it. "Want some?"
"No way. You deserve all of it. Make sure to ration it, though."
Safiya put leftovers back in the bag and zipped it up. He yawned. I realized he hasn't slept most've the night, and probably wants to rest. I should probably get some rest, too. All the running today couldn't have been good for my arrow wound, and now that I think about it, the soreness is really getting to me. I took off my backpack and used it as a pillow.
"Woah, wait- aren't you supposed to guard tonight?" I hear Safiya ask after another yawn.
"No need to," I replied. "No one can come in this cave, and if they tried, we'd be awake by the time they broke in."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah." I paused.
"Thanks, by the way. For the medicine, I mean, and pulling me out of the situation with the careers.. I'd be dead without you." Maybe it'd be better if I were dead instead of suffering and having a fourteen year old boy take care of me. No, that's not right. I have to stay alive. I have to go home.
"Oh- yeah, no problem." He seemed rather taken aback by my thankfulness, but nonetheless, it was gone and forgotten about in five minutes, when I could hear his soft snoring from my corner of the cave.
I lied down and leaned my trident against the wall of the cave. Slowly, I drifted off, and at first, there was nothing, but then I flew right into the craziest nightmare yet.
It was a mixture of bad flashbacks and scared emotions. Bello raising her axe over Dallas' neck, Darcy crashing into the elevator wall, Tanzanite pulling back her bow, and part of that other nightmare I had where the careers attacked Finnick. The feelings that I had felt during the reaping, when I was shot with the arrow, and falling through the elevator were present the entire time.
And it was only driving me further into insanity.
Then, just as suddenly as the nightmare, I woke up. And the earth was shaking.