Finnick and Annie: Back for Christmas [The Hunger Games]

Back for Christmas

           

FINNICK

It had been more than a year since Finnick had “died” in the Capitol. His return was a shock to everybody. Katniss had been completely certain the mutts in the sewer had finished him off, but then again, it was dark and scary, and she was not there to see the rest. How Finnick survived is still a mystery, he should have bled to death even before the trident Beetee designed for him set off a powerful force field that cast all the mutts away.

            Only minutes later did the group of avoxes find him. He was in critical conditions but the four of them knew the sewers well, and by some wonderful coincidence, one of them had once been a doctor.

            They’d bandaged all his wounds and broken into a hospital in the Capitol. Despite his rebel status, people were more than willing to help Finnick Odair, so after several surgeries and blood transfusions, He was stabilized.

            He’d fallen into a coma for a few weeks and ever since he’d woken he’d been begging to go back home. He had no way of contacting Annie, or Katniss, or anybody at all. District people who’d won the revolution and who weren’t at all impressed by him had replaced the helpful Capitol nurses and doctors. However, after months of torturous isolation, they’d decided Finnick was strong enough to leave.

            Capitol technology had never failed to amaze him. When he looked at himself in the mirror for the first time since the incident, he couldn’t believe his eyes. Sure, he was scrawny, and he’d lost a lot of muscle mass from the lack of exercise, but the gnarly scars he expected were barely visible. There were a few on his neck they hadn’t managed, or tried to get rid of, but after what he’d been through, it was nothing. In fact, Finnick Odair didn’t care. He knew that the only person he wanted to see in the world wouldn’t care at all that he wasn’t his majestic old self.

            Oh, how he’d dreamed about Annie. The thought of her filled his heart with both overwhelming joy and sadness. He’d hoped Katniss or Peeta or Johanna had taken care of her, he knew at least they were alive. But Annie… he wondered how she’d taken the news of his death, it broke his heart to think about it.

            The Christmas spirit only made him sadder. People everywhere seemed so happy. They walked the streets with their loved ones, singing carols and buying presents, as if nothing had happened. As if the rubble and destruction from the war were invisible. When he got on the train to District 4 that day, on Christmas Eve, Annie was all he could think about.

ANNIE

            Annie had been through a lot in her life. She’d lost her sanity after her Hunger Games, but she was thankful, for Finnick was always there. Not the past year, though. It had been how many months now since Finnick had passed away? She’d lost track, but it felt like it was yesterday. Under different circumstances Annie didn’t think she would have made it. Finnick was all she had in the world, and the news of his death had absolutely shattered her. She’d spent weeks at the hospital, because doctors didn’t think she could take good enough care of herself. They were all worried about the baby.

            Even after a few months, when Annie returned back home, they sent Johanna back with her to take care of her. Annie didn’t mind. She knew that though Johanna would never understand how devastated she was about losing Finnick, she’d cared a lot about him too. It was an unlikely friendship, but Annie was glad they had each other.

            Little Caspian was five months old now. She’d though about naming him after his father, but it would have been too painful. He definitely looked like him, though. Caspian was the one who’d kept Annie going. During her pregnancy she hadn’t given him much thought. She’d been too distraught about Finnick to give the baby much importance, but the second she laid eyes on him everything changed. He had Finnick’s bronze hair and green eyes, and he gave Annie hope.