AFTERGLOW // finnick odair

seventeen

In between those orange tinted walls.

Their arrival to district thirteen was nothing but hostile. Alivia and Finnick were still holding hands when they were torn apart to be "decontaminated". They grabbed so hard, Alivia hissed and tried to retreat but found herself being pulled even harder.

"Hey! Watch it, she is injured!"

Finnick's claim was ignored. They pushed and pulled and stripped them from everything they carried. The dirt, the blood, the clothes. Every. Single. Thing. After all, those people weren't there to be nice, they were there to safeguard the population of district thirteen.

They split them apart into infirmary rooms. Alivia hadn't seen Finnick since then, and she had to ignore the beeping in her heart monitor every time she thought about it for too long.

She was restless yet couldn't conceal some sleep in between those orange tinted walls. With nowhere else to look and nowhere else to go, she'd memorized the pattern on the ceiling in just about an hour. About twenty minutes in hour number two and a disinfectant bath after, the hinges of the door squeaked and announced the arrival of a young man, probably around Finnick's age. White coat over the gray uniform all the medical team wore.

"Hello there, how are you feeling?"

"Fine," she lied automatically. Then drew in a breath and corrected. "A little bit dizzy, actually."

"Lora told me you hit your head. Please look up."

A blinding light hurt her eyes and she had to direct her gaze to the ceiling for a second. Alivia was about to apologize when the man gasped, "Oh, cool scar! Where did you get it?"

"Uh," Alivia was both disoriented and stunned, which were two things hard to juggle at once, "the games."

He shimmied his shoulders in a weird way and vocalized an oooh.

"Spooky," he uncovered his arms, letting light meet a set of scars displayed on his forearms.

Alivia's chapped lips parted. "Where did you get those?"

"Ah, occupational hazard. Look, we match on this one!" Alivia hadn't even noticed that one on her arm before, "Those games were brutal, eh?" She tried to shrug but grimaced instead. "Don't you worry. I'm here to help you in any way I can-Oh my, where are my manners? My name is Luca. I'll be assisting you in your healing and rehabilitating process."

He offered his hand and before shaking it, she muttered back, "Alivia."

At mere touch she was burning, that made Luca frown. "Oh," he said. Then, he took a thermometer out of his pocket. "Do you mind?"

Alivia did not mind at all, her conscience was already drifting somewhere else. Stubborn tired eyes wanted to follow. Luca clicked his tongue.

"You have a fever. I'm going to give you medicine. Allergies?"

Alivia couldn't follow everything he said. He spoke slowly and in an adequate manner but her head wasn't cooperating. Still, Alivia didn't mind the talking, he was nice and actually gentle in comparison to the people that received them.

At some point, Luca was thoughtful enough to let the room fall into silence. He seemed focused as he ran some tests and administered medication. Once he was done, he patted her head and promised to be back in exactly ninety minutes for a check up.

She was instructed to stay awake for as long as she could, and was warned that nurses might pass by in the meantime to make sure of it. Alivia might've whined out loud causing Luca to chuckle. Normally, that would've mortified her but she was too medicated to care.