The Reaper | F. Odair

Fifteen

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Aaron
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My fingers feel numb. My eyes sting. My body's just limp. My cheeks feel dry, yet I can't see that well, only a few blue feathers falling to the ground next to my head.
I can't hear anything. It's all just a faint ringing that's helping me ignore the numbness. Has it stopped yet? No. How long has it been? Not long enough. More feathers fall and I'm immediately jerked off of the ground, a set of arms encasing me. My eyes drift down as my face is buried into their shoulder. "Aaron!" the voice cries faintly.

I blink. "Finnick--" a broken sob slips past my mouth. "F-Finnick!" My fingers weakly find his back, "FINNICK!"

"It's okay!" He says, his fingers digging into my back and head gently. "It's okay, I'm here--"

"I-I heard you screaming! I thought the careers got you!" I sob, my fingers digging into his back. "I... Annie... I could hear Annie..." I mutter, Finnick freezes. His fingers tighten as he pulls me closer.

"She's gone, Aaron."

"Why'd they use her voice?.."

"They were messing with you, Aaron." he whispers weakly, "they're just trying to hurt us."

"You're fiancés right." Johanna suddenly says, I slowly pull my head away and my eyes drift over to her. Katniss is in Peeta's arms, visibly shaking, dad's nearby laying flat on his back with Beetee above him. Her face is all scratched, her eyes are red, but dad's expressionless face is the total opposite. There's blood in his ears.
"The whole country loves your sister. If they tortured her, hel did anything to her, forget the districts!" Johanna cries, swinging her axe around. A smirk slowly pulls to her pained face, "there would be... riots in the damn Capitol." her head snaps back and she points at the sky, "Hey! How does that sound, Snow?!" she screams out, "What if we -- WHAT IF WE SET YOUR BACKYARD ON FIRE? You know, you can't put everybody in here!"

It's silent. Finnick's gently hugging me tighter as my head drops into his chest. She could say these sorts of things. She could say and would say the things everyone else dreamed of saying -- she can't be punished for it. If she were to be killed, people would riot that a favorite was killed. They're supposed to stop most from committing suicide. Most.

"Johanna." I croak out.

The brunette turns towards me and frowns. She slowly looks at Katniss and Peeta who are staring at her in shock. She simply shrugs, "what? He can't hurt me. There's no one left that I love."

She can't love us. Johanna mutters something and walks off. My eyes drift back to Katniss and she looks even worse -- worse than anyone of us.
It made sense. Her games were barely a year ago, she's not had the time to recover, she's not had the time to learn about Snow, learn how this game is played. The rest of us have had years of nightmares and sleepless nights, years to try and recover from what he's put most of us through. The lucky ones aren't called into his office -- the few who aren't noticed at all. There were reasons why most victors were hated by the other districts, and it wasn't because they won and killed someone they could've known -- it's how fake they are. A victor in their own district may be given love and praise, but in another they're hated or looked down upon if it's not a career's one.

Johanna never had to hide her emotions like the rest of us, but then again she paid the price for it.

"Come on," Finnick whispers, pulling me to my feet gently. "Let's get out of here." I slowly nod and follow.

Everyone's silent as we walk. Johanna is far ahead, dragging her feet and looking like she's in a daze. Finnick's holding me tightly next to him. We barely break the tree line and hit the sand. My fingers are clutching on Finnick's as he sits me down, leaning me against a tree. Their voices are still in my head, their screams, their cries. I never wanted to hear them again.
My eyes slowly drift up towards Finncik who's muttering something to Peeta who's just sat Katniss down a few feet away. Dad shoves past them, walking out to the water and immediately sitting down in it. He's covered in sweat. The two boys look at Katniss then at me and slowly Peeta hands Finnick the spile. Johanna is near and I barely blink just to see them go into the jungle again.