Stay with me? [Finnick Odair]

56

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Chapter fifty six: Hope
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We've all gathered in the hut that Finnick and I had made earlier by the time the sun had sunk below the horizon, the sky had darkened and the air slowly shifted from hot to slightly less hot, Finnick and I lay on the two mats that we pushed together and Katniss and Peeta lay on the others — Katniss seems reluctant to get comfortable, but she lay with Peeta nonetheless with her head resting on his chest; right above his heart, eyes flickering as if she's making sure the beating is still there.

We're interrupted by the light of the Capitol seal in the sky, breaking the darkness, we all look up and watch the faces of our dead friends projected against the night sky. I find a lump forming in my throat at the tributes who I knew well, Seeder, Cecilia and Woof; Seeder was one of the best women I had ever known, kind and calm, she somehow managed to deal with everything with a smile on her face. I don't know how she did it, maybe she broke down at home when she knew nobody was watching, but she always had such a warm grin on her lips. I admired her for that.

I nuzzle my head into Finnick's shoulder and he pulls me closer, holding me tight, his eyes are glued to the sky, he runs a hand through my hair in a calming manor as the sky goes dark once more. Nothing but the moon gently illuminating the thick jungle that surrounds us, the silence lingers above the four of us like a blanket, I keep my head nuzzled up against Finnick's neck; the feeling of his hand running through my matted hair calms me, reminds me not to cry for those we have lost because they knew what's they were getting into — we all know what we've gotten into. I could've escaped this, the possible death, the possibility of having to kill my friends, but I didn't. I volunteered to save my best friend and someone Finnick sees as family. How kind of me.

The silence is soon cut by the jingle of a parachute arriving, we all look around, seeing it float so effortlessly into the branch of a nearby tree. We stare for a moment, none of us claiming it, Katniss turns to us.

"Whose is it, do you think?"

Finnick shakes his head. "No telling. Why don't we let Peeta claim it, since he died today?" There's a slight smirk to his lips, I can't help but snigger, though Katniss keeps a frown on her lips as Peeta pushes himself away from her and steps towards the parachute.

He brings it back to the hut and unties the chord, flattening out the fabric, we all stare at the metal object laying before us with no clue as to what it could be.

"What is it?"

Nobody answers Katniss, so we take turns in examining it, staring at it as if the answer will just come to mind. It looks familiar to me, I remember my mother making something of the sorts and sneaking out to the woods with a bucket — coming back hours later without the object and the bucket full of water. We didn't always have water, despite being so close to the ocean, so we had to come up with our own ways of gathering it.

"I have an idea," I speak up, taking the object carefully, the cool metal feeling like heaven against my palm, everyone watches me curiously as I walk shakily towards the closest tree and search for a rock. After I have found the right one, I take one of my knives and drive it into the bark — only a little — then spin it around a couple of times to make a sizeable hole for the object to sit in.

"Wait, I recognise what she's doing," Katniss whispers as she moves towards me, I pull the object up and place it into the tree with a shaking hand, I try smacking it further into the bark with the rock but I'm too weak to even make a dent. "A spile!" Katniss suddenly exclaims, shocking me, I give her a look as Finnick and Peeta join us.

"How did you know, Clem?" Peeta asks me, brows furrowed curiously, I shrug as Finnick offers to take over.

"My mom used a similar thing to gather water when we had none, snuck out into the woods," I explain, slumping against the tree, Finnick hits the spile with the rock and makes sure it's stuck in the tree. At first, nothing happens, we all sigh, but then I feel a drop against the back of my hand. I lift it up to my tongue, feeling the moisture return, my eyes widen. "It works!" I exclaim, Finnick desperately wiggles it for a moment, readjusting the spile, we eventually get a thin stream coming from the tree and we all take it in turns to take drinks.

A couple minutes go by and we already have a tightly woven basket filled with water, taking deep gulps, washing our faces free of the dirt that has collected, cooling ourselves down as much as we can, we're all eventually well hydrated and lie back down with happy smiles spread across our faces.

Of course, Finnick offers to take the first watch, so I'm left alone to toss and turn with my sword clutched so tightly in my hand that it turns my knuckles white. I don't feel safe without Finnick by my side, I know he's close, but he's not close enough for me to sleep peacefully.

Suddenly, whatever sleep I manage to get is interrupted by a loud bell that sounds like it might as well be right next to my ear. I shoot up, still clutching my sword. It stops after a little while and I hear Finnick's voice.

"I counted twelve."

"Mean anything, do you think?" It's Katniss, she must've woken from the bell too, I can still hear the soft snoring of Peeta so I can only assume he slept through it.

"No idea."

There's a crackle of lighting on the tallest tree not too far from us, soon after the lightning, a storm begins, I lay back down on my mat and toss and turn for a moment; trying to get comfortable again.

"Go to sleep, Finnick. She needs you and it's my turn to watch, anyway," I hear Katniss whisper as my eyes flutter closed, the shuffling of leaves hits my ears and then a presence is laying down beside me; Finnick wraps his arms around me and pulls me into his torso, I nuzzle my head into his chest and sling an arm around him. It's not long before I manage to slip into an uninterrupted sleep...

Until we hear the screaming of Katniss for us to run.