Puzzle Pieces • Finnick Odair

C H A P T E R 3

Goodbyes are so very bittersweet. They can be a pleasant thing like a 'see you later' or, in the current predicament, a heart wrenchingly painful thing like looking into the glossed eyes of your siblings as you share what could very well be your last conversation.

As her brother, her rock in which she could always lean on, engulfed her in a strong but gentle brotherly bear hug, he stroked her hair soothingly as she finally let a few stray tears finally fall silently down her soft skin as he whispered encouraging words down her ear. She focussed on her brothers words, "your the strongest person I know Jessie and I know it'll be hard but promise me you'll try come home. Okay? Remember: whatever happens in that arena is a means of survival, you can't dwell on it too long. I love you Jessie, stay strong, we're rooting for you."

She smiled at him through her forever falling tears, whispering a quiet, "I promise I'll try my best", before kneeling down to her little brother, her ray of sunshine on the cloudiest of days. She wiped his tears with her thumb, "hey little man."

He wrapped his small arms around his sister as he managed to speak, "I don't want you to die."

Her heart broke even more as she saw the look of pain flash in his usually bright eyes, "I know honey, I'm gonna do everything I can to come back to you. In fact, when I get back, you and me are gonna bake those cookies we were talking about, okay? How does that sound?"

He managed to smile at her and nod before extending out his pinky, "you promise?" She lifted her pinky to his own,
"I promise."

Before she stands up, her little brother pushes a pearl into her hand with a happy grin, his eyes full of childlike innocence.

As she stood back up, dabbing gently at her eyes, she was met with her brother holding a necklace in his hand. There was no fancy silver chain but instead a thread of an old rope going through a round, ombré pebble. The top, where the rope was thread through a small hole carved into the stone, was a light beige colour which gradually faded into a light brown. The ombré pebble was known to be a good luck charm, which she greatly appreciated.

"I've been carrying this in my pocket every year since you turned twelve, hoping I'd never have to give it to you but here," he lifts it to her neck, as she holds her hair out of the way, and ties it in a secure knot. "Just a little something to remind you of home and to bring you luck, though you don't need it," he smirks at the last part, successfully lightening the mood.

"Take care of yourselves, okay? I don't wanna come back to a burnt down house and a sink full of dishes," she joked back with her brother. Jessica Miller took after her brother like that, always able to find something happy or positive to say.

Shortly after, peacekeepers escorted her sibling out of the room and she smiled at them right until the door closed. Then she broke. She silently let all the tears and emotions she'd built up inside out as she realised that might've been the last time she ever sees her family. She may never see her older brother Jacob marry and settle down, she may never see her younger brother get nervous around a girl he likes. She may never see them again and, if she died in that arena, they'd have to watch it happen, watch her suffer. She could not die. She will not cause her family anymore pain or loss than they had already been through.

She will win her games, for them.

AN: our lovely golden boy Finnick will be in the next chapter <3