The Life of A Victor || Finnick Odair

CHAPTER 14

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"For Angel and I's necklaces, I got the ones you gave us last year and added the other two missing parts," Melo told her. "Now they're completed," Dove added.

"Exactly. Come on, girls, put them on. I want to see how they look on you," she put the necklace on, being careful not to get her hair entangled with it. The necklace looked good on her. It wasn't too long, but she could hide it under her shirt if she wanted to.

The string of her necklace was different from the one her siblings had. Theirs was a type of wire, whereas hers was a tiny piece of rope. There wasn't anything in her necklace that could get entangled with her hair. Her brother had surprisingly thought about everything.

"I owed you these necklaces since last year. I wanted to give them to you now, so you can remember me if anything happens." Dove looked at him, remembering she had said those words last year when she gave her sister the necklace.

"So you got me a necklace after all," Angel joked, causing Dove to thank her mentally for lighting up the mood. The Reaping was approaching at a dangerous speed, and it was notorious that everyone in the house was slowly going insane.

Her mother was trying to find an alternative to Dove's deal with President Snow, to no avail. Melo spent all the time he could with both his sisters, except for their sleepovers.

The siblings hadn't slept together in the same room since he came back from his games. They didn't do it often before, but in the last year, it hadn't happened even once. Dove had an idea why. Sneaking out of her house at midnight had allowed her to hear better her mother and brother's screams through nightmares.

Every time she left her house, she heard the voice of her brother, asking Seven to fight and not give up. Once, she even heard him ask his ally for forgiveness. How he hadn't killed him because he wanted to, but because he needed to go back home. He needed to go back to his family.

By the time she came back, the mumbles and voices had transformed to yells or gasps. There were days when she had to go to Melo's room to wake him up. After that, she offered to stay the night to calm him down, but he always refused. It was embarrassing for him to let his little sister see him in that state.

Dove had her share of nightmares as well. However, they weren't that usual. From time to time, she would dream of President Snow selling her off to the Capitol. Or him killing her sister right in front of her because Dove had done something bad in the Hunger Games.

Weeks after her brother's annual visit to the Capitol, she had the worst nightmare so far. In it, she went berserk in the Arena and started killing the tributes mercilessly. Blood splattered everywhere. Her hands, her face, her hair, nothing escaped the splattering.

That day, she went to the beach earlier than normally, hoping Finnick would be already there, so she could forget. He wasn't there yet when she arrived, leaving her alone with her thoughts. She sat down, hugging her knees, and rocked back and forth.

There were so many faces in her mind, people she had killed in the dream. Last year's District female tribute was in it. The girl was the first to die by her hand. With the sword she got from the Cornucopia, Dove beheaded the twelve-year-old girl. Blood covered her hands and part of her face.

Thankfully, Finnick got there quickly and calmed her down. She stopped the back-and-forth movements, but she kept hugging her knees. He didn't try to make her explain. He knew she would say it once she was ready.

"How do you live with it?" she muttered. He wondered if she had done it for the cameras, as they usually did, or if she couldn't bring herself to talk louder.