The 65th Hunger Games - EDITING

Chapter forty-five

When I wake up, I start panicking at the sight of the unfamiliar surroundings. I look frantically around, still unsure of where I am. Something is restraining me on my bed. The door opens suddenly and hit the wall, producing a loud bang, reminding me of the sound of the canons. A woman dressed all in white with an intricate colorful hair arrangement steps inside the room.

"Welcome back, Mr. Odair." she tells me with a sweet voice, probably in an attempt to reassure me.

"Where..." I start before being interrupted by a sudden urge to cough.

The woman watches me without doing anything. She just keeps looking at me with a weird but familiar smile. Then it hits me; that woman is not from the Capitol, it's the girl from two. She's wearing a wig, but I know it's her. Panicked, I start coughing harder and harder until blood starts coming out of my mouth while she smiles harder and harder. Her teeth slowly morph into the mutts', offering me a frightening image.

"I told you that you were not escaping." she adds, laughing hysterically.

I wake up from this horrible nightmare screaming and punching away the monsters that my mind made up to torture me.

"Shhh, it's okay Finnick; you're safe now."

I turn my head and meet Mags' reassuring smile. Her hand is resting on my shoulder and as surprising as it sounds, it's quite appeasing. Slowly, I start breathing normally again and my heart goes back to its usual pace.

"It was only a nightmare, you're okay. It's over." she whispers in my ear. "You can go back to sleep now."

Instead of answering, I only shake my head. I don't want to sleep; I know what's waiting for me there. I'm not so sure reality is better, but at least Mags is there with me.

"I get it; I didn't want to sleep either the few first nights. Do you need anything? Water?"

I slowly nod and wait for her to give me the glass of the precious liquid that I always took for granted before the Games. She gets up and walks towards a small table that I didn't see before. She comes back with a grey opaque glass and gives it to me before going back to her seat. She continues to look at me while I swallow the entirety of the glass' content. Immediately, I start feeling light-headed and tired. I quickly understand what is happening and turn my head towards Mags, clearly showing that I'm hurt by her betrayal.

"It's okay, I'll still be here when you wake up. I'm sorry Finnick, I..."

I don't hear the rest of her sentence, not that it would make any difference; the darkness has already swallowed me.

🔱

When I open my eyes again, Mags is still there, as promised. It's probably the middle of the day; the room is flooded with light and I can see the sun shining through the big window.

The sun.

I try not to move to hide the fact that I'm awake, but it doesn't seem to work because my mentor tells me she knows that I'm not sleeping anymore.

"I'm sorry, Finnick. They said that you needed to rest and since I shouldn't even be here, they made me promise to make sure you were sleeping."

"When do I get to go home?" I answer, refusing to talk about this any longer.

"In about a week you'll be with your family."

"A week?" I whisper, completely discouraged and disappointed. "That's so long."

"You still have to go through a few interviews, the closing ceremony and the huge party they're throwing for you."

"They're throwing a party?" I ask, almost sure that this isn't part of the normal procedure. "I thought they only did that at the end of the Victory tour."

"You're the youngest victor in history, Finnick. They... They want to celebrate you."

"I don't deserve it, Mags. I killed people to get here. I killed people!" I reply, screaming, tears flooding down my face.

"Shhh, it's okay. Take a deep breath." she calmly responds.

I don't fight Mags' hug. I want to push her away, but deep down, I know that I need it. I feel safe, wrapped in her arms like this. It reminds me of when I was younger and my mom would come into my room at night to comfort me when I was scared of the lighting and the thunder. I used to feel safe there too.

I stop breathing the moment I see someone looking at me behind Mags. She must have felt me flinch because she steps backs and look at me, concerned. It's only then that I can have a good look at what I saw. There is no one there; it's only a mirror sending back my own reflection. Intrigued by the image, I slowly slip out of bed and I just stand in front of the mirror. Waiting for what? I don't even know for sure. The only thing that I'm certain of is that I can't keep my eyes off of what I see.

Once again, they modified my body. I took some pounds back since the Games have ended; there is no sign of malnutrition left. My whole body has been cleaned; I'm sure I couldn't find even the tiniest spot of dirt, not even under my nails. There is not a single trace of any scars. My hair was cut and arranged too, not that it grew much when I was in the arena. It was only five days after all.

"How much time did I spend here?"

"The Games ended three days ago. You were so dehydrated and exhausted that you lost consciousness before the hovercraft even touched the ground. They fixed everything up while you were sleeping. They wanted you to be ready for your first interview tomorrow."

Well that's not exactly true. They didn't fix everything. They did erase any visible sign of what happened in the arena but one: the expression on my face. I look tired, sad, dead inside even, and I know that no matter what the Capitol tries, there is nothing that could fix this.

Noone can fix something as broken as me.