Chapter 7

Finnick had arrived home, the entire district was cheering. Blake could hear desperate girls behind her squealing. Finnick ran to his parents, hugging them tightly. Clay ran to Finnick, Blake followed. Suddenly, they were stopped by a peacekeeper.

"Hey Finnick!" Clay shouted so Finnick could hear. Finnick ignored his name. He no longer felt like Finnick Odair. He didn't want to talk to anyone, he just wanted to go home.

"Finnick!" Blake echoed Clay. Finnick recognized the voice, but refused to look in their direction. A tear fell down his face, he was ashamed. Blake's face fell when Finnick didn't respond.

"Let's go home, Blake" Clay grabbed her arm and led her home. Blake couldn't understand, why didn't he look at her? Did he not hear her? They entered the house.

"What's with the sour face? Finnick is home, you should be happy" Mrs. Grey tilted her head.

"Apparently, Finnick is 'too cool' for us now" Clay stomped to his room.

"He probably couldn't hear us over the obnoxious group of people behind us" Blake sighed. She sat on the couch, would she lose Finnick forever? Or was it just nerves and he couldn't hear them? Blake went to the porch, then to the beach. She dug her feet into the sand like she had done multiple times before. She leaned her head back, to feel the breeze on her face. She hoped that the games didn't change Finnick. Of course the games were haunting, but hoped that he wouldn't forget their friendship.

The next day, Clay went to Finnick's house.

He knocked on their door, Mrs. Odair answered. "Well, hello Clay. What can I do for ya?"

"Is Finnick here? I want to see him" Clay asked nervously.

Mrs. Odair shook her head, "Finnick isn't feeling well. Could you give him a week to recover? He's having a hard time getting over everything."

Clay frowned, "Ok, tell him I say 'hi'. Bye Mrs. Odair!"

They waved goodbye to each other and Clay left. He ran to the pond they had discovered. He stripped off his pants, shirt and shoes; he hopped into the pond. Clay floated in the water for a bit and closed his eyes. He tried to flush out all of the bad situations that could happen when Finnick has recovered. Worst case scenario, Finnick never talks to anyone and never leaves his house.

A year had passed, Finnick still was tortured by the thought of Snow torturing his family. When Finnick turns 16, he will be forced into prostitution. He never wanted it to happen, but it was the only way to protect his family. He hadn't spoken to Clay, nor Blake since he left for the arena. He could never work up the courage to speak to them, he thought of himself has a murderer. He decided to go to the pond, hoping the Grey's weren't there.

Once he arrived, he took off his clothes and dove into the pond. He did a few laps around and then floated. All of a sudden, he heard noise coming from the woods. He hid in the weeds, hoping it was just a person passing by. A familiar long haired brunette had arrived. She sat her clothes under a tree, she slipped into the same pond as Finnick. He started to shake, he got nervous and quickly ran out of the pond.

"Finnick?" Blake recognized the blonde. She hopped out too, hoping to get a chance to speak with him. Finnick never responded, he slipped on his clothes swiftly. He ran towards the woods.

"Finnick! Be careful!" Blake hollered. Little did he know, there had been a man who lived near the woods. The man had rabbits break into his yard, he set up fox traps to kill them, Finnick was running right in that direction.

"Finnick stop!" Blake chased after him, making sure to watch her step. She spotted Finnick running, Blake forgot about the traps and stepped right on one. She felt a sharp stinging in her leg, blood gushed from her leg. She couldn't hold in her cry and scream.

Finnick heard Blake scream in agony behind him. He turned around to see her bare foot gushing blood in a trap. He realized why she told him to be careful. He watched his step as he ran towards her. Once he made it to her, he tried to calm her down.

"It's ok, i'll get it out" he promised her. She had tears streaming down her face, she cried as she tried to hold in her screams. Finnick was able to figure out how to open the trap. It popped open, the teeth slid out of her flesh foot. She yelped, she took her foot out; Blake put her hands on her foot. She tried to stop the bleeding by applying pressure, it wasn't working. It was painful each time she tried, Finnick took off his shirt. He wrapped it around her foot, he tied it to her.

"Thank you" Blake sighed, the pain started to go away.

"Its-its no problem, let's bring you to my house so we can clean up your wound." Finnick picked Blake up bridal style, he carried her through the woods and through the back of his house. He brought her to the bathroom. He sat Blake on the counter. He took the shirt off her foot, he took a rag and started to clean off the blood.

"Does anything feel broken?" he asked.

"No, it just hurts really badly" Blake responded in pain. He grabbed some cream out of the cabinet, he rubbed it on her foot. She suddenly felt relief, she sighed.

"Thank you, how am I going to get home? I left my shoes at the pond, my parents are definitely going to notice" Blake frowned.

"I'll run quickly and get them. Stay right here and apply pressure to the wound" He jogged out of the house and sprinted to the pond. He found them, he grabbed them and ran back to the house.

"Here, be careful as you put them on" He gave them to her. Blake slipped them on. She slid off the counter, making sure she walked calmly.

"Thanks Finnick, and don't worry. I won't tell Clay" She nodded. Finnick gave her the thumbs up. He laid on his bed and sighed. That was the first time in a year he has talked to her. Clay on the other hand, hasn't talked to him since before the 65th games.