You Are My Sunshine // A Finnick Fanfic

Chapter One - Reaping Day

The cool sea breeze brushed against my warm cheeks as my feet dug deeper into the damp sand with each step. There was a storm last night, a big one at that, but it always seemed to be stormy every year on this specific day. The sea birds few over my head, squawking their signature seagull cry as they searched for any fish to nab.

There wasn't a day that went by when those damn birds didn't give me an early morning wake up call. I couldn't sleep anyway so I'm not sure why I'm complaining about it, besides, I was used to it by now. This was District Four, you couldn't outrun the ocean even if you tried much less the sea birds. But life here wasn't too bad, at least I could go swim in the ocean whenever I wanted and get paid for it. Well, paid to go fishing, but it was all the same thing to me.

I kicked some driftwood that sat in the sinking sand and watched as it rolled across the beach, the the sound of crashing waves soothing my churning stomach of fear. I hated this day, every kid from every district hated this day, but I couldn't outrun it just like I couldn't outrun the ocean. I took a deep breath of the salty air and flipped off the hood on my head so that the cold droplets of rain could run down my face and wash through my hair. I was supposed to clean up but I hadn't done that yet which was probably going to get me in some trouble.

With my jeans rolled up my legs to avoid getting them wet, I continued walking through the sand until I heard my brother's approaching footsteps.

"Reef! Get your dumb ass over here!" He called as he ran up to me and I turned to face him, giving him a look that made his demeanor soften and a light smile tug against his lips. "What the hell are you doing out here when you should be getting ready?" He asked but I shrugged, kicking at the soft sand.

"Donno, just didn't feel like it." I told him and he laughed, shaking his head as he snaked his arm around my shoulders and lead me back to the house.

My brother Kai was practically my best friend but also like a father figure if that makes any sense. He raised me when both my parents disappeared, though I think he knew what happened to them but just wanted to save me from the misery. He was a handsome young man at 21 while I was three years younger then him at 18. He was tall and muscular, always beloved by all the girls in our district, but he was always so busy trying to provide for me that he never found himself in a relationship. Kai was also one of those guys who looks like he could kill you but is a giant cinnamon roll, always helping the community and just being an all around good guy.

"You couldn't sleep, could you?" He asked and I groaned, throwing my head back against his arm and looking up to the thick storm clouds above, praying for a down pour.

"On Reaping Day? Are you crazy?" I asked him and he shrugged, looking out to the horizon.

Reaping Day, what an awful day. Everyone was anxious and scared, but who could blame them when this was the day where one unlucky boy and one unlucky girl get chosen to fight to the death in an arena with 23 other children for the entertainment of the Capitol. It was called The Hunger Games, and no district was safe from it, didn't matter about wealth or power.

There could only be one winner, and the majority of those winners came from the districts one, two, or four. Anyone from those said districts were deemed Careers, and we were supposed to be the most brutal of tributes.

"Guess I can't blame you, I couldn't sleep either on my last Reaping Day." Kai said, shaking me from my thoughts.

"It's my last year Kai, my last year! That probably means that they're gonna call me up just because they can." I told him and that just made the boy laugh as he looked into my eyes with his rich brown eyes.