Liberosis - The Hunger Games

09

When the sun finally peeled through the windows on our floor of the building I didn't want to move. Instead, I kept my eyes clamped shut and snuggled into the closest thing around me, that thing being Finnick Odair. He didn't leave my side the whole night, keeping both arms wrapped securely around my waist.

Waking up was usually a struggle for me, nightmares always helped to get me up at an ungodly hour. But with the presence of Finnick beside me I could sleep forever and not feel the need to get out of bed in the early hours.

Finnick wakes up soon after I do, sticking the same plan as I had, pulling me closer and refusing to move from our comfortable position. I liked to sleep beside him, Finnick and I fought off each other's constant horrors, sleep wouldn't come easy in the arena.

Two days, two days and I would find myself inside the prison the Game Makers design. I could only imagine what kind of nightmares they had come up with for this year's arena. I was going to be in for an interesting ride.

Sylvia begins banging on my door within twenty minutes of waking up, I let out a train and pull myself closer to Finnick's chest. He chuckles and me before sitting up on the other side of the bed, the comfort of his presence leaving me.

I pull myself out of bed and move to the dresser, taking the activewear that Gaia has picked out for me and begin to change before remembering there was someone else in my room, "Sorry," I cough awkwardly, Finnick respects my privacy, turning around and letting me change into the all-black activewear.

We make it to breakfast; Thorn gives a confused look between Finnick and me as we depart from the same room. He sits across from me, passing a plate of fresh fruit over the table. Mags seems completely immune to the shock of seeing Finnick and I waking up together whereas Gaia and the rest of the prep team look about ready to explode. Blaze is the only one other than Thorn that seems mildly co fused with the arrangement.

Finnick sips on his coffee before grimacing slightly, standing up he mumbles a quick "needs sugar" and bounds off to find some.

A pregnant silence fills the room that Thorn is quick to interrupt, "Are we not going to talk about whatever that was?" He asks in shock. I chuckle and bite into a slice of pineapple.

Mags answers the question in my place, "Nothing happened Thorn, sometimes Finnick needs her to fall asleep, you don't have to understand it but it makes him happy,"

"What makes who happy?" Finnick asks as he returned with a box of half-eaten sugar cubes.

"Aurora makes you happy," Gaia responds with a wiggle of her eyebrows. Finnick doesn't respond, instead, he winks at me, placing a cube into his coffee and stirring it around.

The rest of the meal goes by without any sort of trouble, we comfortably talk about what is going to happen on our next day of training. Thorn seems restless, fiddling with his fork instead of eating any of his food, "Thorn you have to eat," Mag's reasons, "You'll need strength today,"

"What's the point?" He chuckles darkly, "I don't know how to use any of the weapons, I didn't grow up on the same side of the District as Aurora,"

"Then I'll teach you," Finnick says, crossing his arms over his chest, "Whatever you need to learn, that's my job,"

Today we get an hours' worth of training with our mentors, for me that means Mags. For Thorn that means Finnick, it's the time we get to have experience with past Victors, learn their strategies. For most tributes this stage is crucial as our knowledge of the games is limited in comparison, Thorn and I are lucky to have such amazing mentors, I pity the likes of District 12 who have to share the same mentor, Haymitch Abernathy. I hadn't met him but from what Finnick had told me he was hardly sober, getting a straight sentence out of him would be difficult for Beck and Elsie.