Ocean Tide, Chapter 3

I’ve had this blog for two years, and for the most part, it’s been incredibly ignored. And now, I post Hunger Games fanfictions, and my inbox is overflowing with notifications. Brilliant 😛 This is more favorites/followings in one day than I usually get from the fanfiction website in a week! I feel so loved. This is chapter THREE. Make sure you read Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 first! Kat did my editing ❤ As always, feedback is loved very much.

The crowd around me is heavy as hundreds of people attempt to make their way onto the narrow streets beyond. I stand on my toes, searching for my father’s head bobbing above the throng of people, but I get swept aside by people rushing to get home. I’m herded into an alleyway against my will. Somebody shoves me into the side of a building in their haste to get by. Momentarily stunned by the blow, I stagger into some trashcans, spilling fish remains over my good shoes. This won’t do. I’m being shoved into the opposite direction of my house. I push myself into a doorway and wait for a break in the crowd.

It takes a few minutes for me to find the chance to leave. I push my way against the stragglers and return to the main square, sprinting and darting through the still packed space, shoving my way to the alley that leads home. By the time I break free of the crowd and get home, my parents are already there, seated at the table, drinking tea. My father leaps up and wraps me in a huge hug. My mother holds open her arms, and I go over to her. “I was so worried,” she says softly. I let her hug me for a moment, before wriggling free.

“I’m fine, Mother. A little shaken, as always, but I’m still here.”

She gives a little half smile. “Don’t mind me. I’m just being overprotective.” At those words, I feel a twinge of guilt. Of course she was worried, even I was worried. I smile, hoping to reassure her.

“It’s fine. I know you were worried.” I plop myself into a vacant chair. “I didn’t eat much this morning…is dinner soon?”

Dinner, compared to breakfast, is incredibly loud and boisterous. For once, we eat something other than fish- Father has traded to get us some sort of bird. My mother cooked it with many herbs and spices, so it’s incredibly juicy, and the meat practically falls from the bones. I savor every bite, knowing it will be a very long time before I can have anything quite as delicious again.

After dinner is finished and cleaned up, I meander into the sitting room, sucking the remaining meat from my teeth. My mother and father sit in armchairs watching the recap of the reapings. “What’d I miss?” I say, settling into the threadbare couch as Claudius Templesmith and Caesar Flickerman appear, dressed in their Capitol finery, discussing what a great-looking bunch of tributes there are this year. Of course, they say that every year, so I don’t pay them any mind.

District 1 appears on the screen. Both tributes selected are replaced by volunteers, both clearly stronger and trained to be Careers: A tall, slim, blonde girl, and a short but broad-shouldered boy. Both are incredibly well-groomed and fit; clearly they’ve never experienced the feeling of being hungry. The girl smiles dazzlingly for the cameras and tosses her hair, and the boy cracks his knuckles.

District 2 has one volunteer, and District 3 has none. It comes you our district- we look all right in comparison- well, Callan, anyways. Ariel, up close, looks ready to fall over. Casear and Claudius notice this, and she’s immediately written off as a weakling. Nobody knows her story, which, I suppose is a good thing- we wouldn’t want signs of an uprising reaching the Capitol. Then again, I don’t think they’d share it with the rest of Panem.

After our district, the reapings become uninteresting. As the numbers grow higher, the tributes grow thinner and duller-looking. Finally, two skeletal tributes, shaking and covered in coal dust, are selected from District 12. It’s clear they’ll hardly make it past the initial bloodbath.

The television flicks off, and we stand up from the couch and stretch. Mother goes to find the cat and let it out. After a moment, she returns. “Finnick? Someone’s left something for you.” She hands me a small, tightly woven basket with a lid. A shaky hand has scrawled my name on a scrap of parchment.

I lift the lid off. Inside is a spool of fishing wire, and a small carved wooden mug. I frown at the package, and look at my mother. “Did you see who left it?

She shakes her head at me. “Nobody was around. I made sure to check…there really aren’t that many places for people to hide around here.”

Huh. Weird. I examine the mug closer. It’s…ordinary. I put it in the kitchen before heading to bed.

 

XxXxX

 

I’m up early the next morning to go fishing with my father. We stay closer to shore, away from the other boats. It’s nice and calming; we don’t talk, and the rest of the world is still asleep. With the calm water, fishing is almost as peaceful as my underwater sanctuary.

When we return to shore, Kione is waiting for me at the end of the docks. I can hardly look at him. I chuck the fish in his direction, not bothering with manners. I hear a yell as the fish slap his face. Good.

School that day is absolutely buzzing with gossip. Surprisingly, nobody really cared about Callan, despite the fact that he could win the Games for us. Instead, the main focus was on Ariel.

“I heard she told Sheldon that she wasn’t going to fight at all, just stand there at the bloodbath.”

“I heard she planned on winning, and then killing the Head Gamemakers.”

“I heard she was going to try to escape before the Games and wreck havoc on the Capitol”

“So what did you hear?” My friend Kai Tyne slides into his typical seat next to me in our Panem Geography class, and looks at me expectantly. “I hear Ariel took out extra rations to guarantee her name got selected.”

“You’d have to take out an awful lot of rations, though, wouldn’t you?” Behind Kai, Meri Edlen is seated. “I’ve heard something completely different from all of you.”

“I’ve heard…I’ve heard…that’s all anybody has said to me today.” Nonetheless, I scoot my chair slightly closer to Meri. She grins; glad she’s captured my attention.

“I’ve heard that the Capitol made sure that Ariel’s name was selected in the reaping. You know,” She drops her voice lower. “Because of her parents.”

I’m so stunned by this that it takes me a minute to react. “Watch what you’re saying,” I hiss at them both. “Are you trying to get us killed?”

“Please,” scoffs Meri. “There aren’t any Peacekeepers around.” Still, she looks over her shoulder nervously.

“It’s just rumors, anyways,” she says, picking up her scuffed notebook and flipping to an empty page. “I didn’t say this. So I can’t get in trouble…right?”

“Don’t risk it,” says Kai. “I don’t want anything to happen to one of my only friends.

“Your only friend,” shoots back Meri.

“What am I, then?” I ask, feigning hurt.

“You’re Finnick,” laughs Kai. “We don’t know what you are!”

Our teacher calls us to attention, and we straighten ourselves up and face forward. “It has come to our attention that rumors have been flying around the school about the tributes for our district.” I turn and give Meri an ‘I told you so’ look

“I have been instructed to inform you that any more gossip on this matter will not be tolerated. Henceforth, anyone caught discussing the tributes in this manner will be turned over to the Peacekeepers and punished. Severely.” A murmur ripples through the classroom. “Do I make myself clear?” Our teacher says, intently trying to stare each and every one of us in the eye. Never before had that been done. Several people raised their hands to ask about it and she just waved them off.

A hushed whisper of ‘yes’s’ and ‘yes ma’am’s’ wave through the room.

“Good. Now open your books to page 394.”

XxXxX

The rest of our classes glide by quietly for the remainder of the day. After school lets out, Kai, Meri and I head down to the beach for a swim.

When we arrive, the shore isnt very crowded. The fishers had all gathered at one end, so we headed for the other. We find a quiet area, and just as we’re about to settle down, I spot a familiar figure walking by the cliffs, hunched over.

“Annie!” I call. She doesn’t look up, but keeps walking, dragging her feet in the sand. I hold my finger up to my friends and run after her. “Annie!” I catch up and grab her shoulder. She cringes away, batting my hand. “Annie, it’s me.” She finally turns to face me. There’s a massive bruise on her forehead, a sick yellowish-purple color. I reach out to touch it, but stop myself at the last second. “Is that from Kione?”

She nods at me, eying my hand warily. I drop it to my side, and she relaxes a little. “Are you okay?” I ask her. “I just wanted to check on you. I gave Kione his fish this morning. Bastard doesn’t deserve them.” A hint of a smile appears on her lips, but she continues to look at her feet. Behind me, I can hear my friends calling for me to join them. “I was just about to go swimming with my friends, do you want to join us? They’re really nice.” Annie shakes her head frantically.
“I cant, my mother…” She whispers, trailing off quickly, and I mentally kick myself for bringing it up. Poor girl must be terrified of water.

“Well…if you need anything, you let me know, okay?” I say, scrambling for words. “I feel terrible about what Kione did to you. If you want, I can give you some fish next week.” She doesn’t respond to this. “Anything at all,” I finish lamely. “See you around.” I call to her as she turns and practically sprints away. Strange little girl. 

“Finnick, will you hurry up?” I turn and catch up to my friends. “Who was that?” asks Kai. “Was that Annie Cresta?”

“Yeah. I helped her avoid Kione yesterday, wanted to check up on her.”

“Only Kione would try and hit a little kid.” Kai flops over in the sand, letting the waves wash over him. Meri flops down beside him. “She seemed pretty shy around you,” she says with an impish grin. “I think she liiiikes you.”

I roll my eyes. My friends are so immature. “She’s ten, Mer.”

“I don’t know, Finnick.” Kai sits up and leans on his elbow. “She was tongue-tied around you! Isn’t that a sign a girl likes you?”

“It sure is,” chimes in Meri. “She’s smitten.”

“Annie Cresta is shy around everyone and you know it.” I wade into the water, searching with my toes for shellfish. Kai is saying something to me, but I can’t hear him over the sound of surf sloshing around my legs. He repeats whatever it is, waving his arms at me. I wade back. “What are you going on about now?”

“I SAID, speaking of smitten, here comes Cora!” My gaze followed to what he was pointing to. Down the beach was Cora Torlan, with her usual group of girl friends- I’d recognize her white-blond hair anywhere. I felt my heart flutter. Cora was by far the prettiest girl in school. I had always wanted the chance to talk to her, but I never found the courage.

Meri was well aware of this, so why she was suddenly on her feet waving at Cora was beyond me. “Hey, Cora!” Cora looks over and gives a small wave. “Come over here!”

I glare at Meri, and she smiles sweetly as Kai congratulates her. Cora is walking over, frowning slightly. “Hello, Meri, Kai.” She hardly glances my way. “Finnick.” I can feel my stomach drop. I turn and slosh back out into the water, as Meri strikes up a conversation with Cora. I take a few steps before throwing myself forward into the waves. Underwater, Cora can’t see how disappointed I am. I scour the shallow water for the shellfish I had felt earlier. I resurface minutes later with a handful, to find everybody staring at me intently.

“What?” I ask, dropping the shellfish into Kai’s outstretched hand. He starts to divide them up.

“You were under there for a while,” says Cora, a bit breathlessly.

I give her my best ‘well, duh!’ look. “I was. I can hold my breath for a good while.” Kai flashes me a grin and a wink as he cracks open his shellfish. I fight the urge to throw sand at him. It really isn’t that big of a deal.

Apparently it was, to Cora. “That’s longer than Callan could hold his for!” We all flinch, and she quickly corrects herself. “Can. He still can hold his breath.” She grins at me, a grin that makes me want to melt into the sand. “But not nearly as long as you can!” I fight back the urge to blush. I start doodling in the damp sand with my foot.

“He’s the best swimmer in the District!” pipes up Meri. Cora gives her a look that clearly says back off! Kai takes over.

“Fin here started swimming long before any of us, I think. He helps out on his father’s boat quite a bit, too. and he’s pretty strong.” I’m positive that I’m blushing right now.

From down the beach, Cora’s friends are calling to her. “I need to go,” she says quickly. “It was nice talking to you.” She turns to me. “I’ll see you Monday in school?” she asks. All I can do is nod. I’m at a complete and total loss for words. Cora gives my arm a squeeze. “Oooh, I can feel your muscles.” Okay, NOW I’m at a loss for words. She squeezes my arm again, and runs off down the beach.

Kai and Meri are looking at me like I’ve just won a free pass to the Capitol, no death penalty. “What?”

“I think she has a crush on you, Fin!” Kai reaches up to slap my back.

I settle onto the sand beside him and reach for a Mussel. “She didn’t like me, she liked my swimming ability. Is that what girls go by now? Swimming? Aren’t girls supposed to like you for your personality?”

“Fin, we’re thirteen. We’ve known each other for all our lives. We don’t really have much else to go off of.” Kai sighs, and starts to dig in the sand with an empty shell. “When did we become so grown-up, anyways? Caring about why girls like us?”

“Every year, two of our friends are taken to the Capitol and forced to kill others. I think we need to be grown-up, just a little,” says Meri wisely.

Neither of us can argue with that.