Sugarcubes // Finnick Odair - Hunger Games Fanfic

III.

Nobody tries to approach me until late at night. I've fallen asleep on the floor and wake up groggy and sore when Blight shakes me.

"I thought we could watch the reaping, you know, gain some perspective on the other opponents."

He tactfully avoids the topic of what happened at our reaping.

I look up at him staring eagerly down at me. He knows he can't win, which means all this effort is because he thinks I can. I'm sorry to say that he's wrong.

"Yeah, Blight I'll be out in a second."

He exits the room and I watch him walk out before standing up from my spot on the floor, washing my face, shedding my laced boots for the furry bunny slippers that always seem to appear In my closet, and walk out the door.

Blight is seated in the same chair that he sat in the night he talked to me after my first reaping. He's facing the TV on the opposite wall, so I pull a chair from the dining table and sit next to him, wondering about the bizarre TV placement.

He switches on the TV and the capitol symbol flashes on screen.

The reapings start playing one by one, starting with District 1. I see Cashmere, an old friend, solely on the competitive grounds of who's stronger, and faster and better. A little friendly competition that I've never minded before. Her brother Gloss is reaped too, and the pair seem sickeningly happy about being reaped. People who have been studying District one behavior, however, will realize that the astounding lack of volunteers in the reaping signifies that nobody really wants to go into the games again.

"Never liked the pair of them. Can't be trustworthy. Even their smiles are fake." Blight observes from beside me.

"Aren't all our smiles fake though, Blight?" I reply softly. It's the sad truth. To get sponsors all of us shine a part of ourselves even we don't like hoping that the people of the Capitol will like us better.

He grunts in response as the reaping switched to District 2, where Enorbia and Brutus are reaped. I hate them both. Enorbia has cosmetically sharpened teeth to rip tribute's throats out, and Brutus is wearing a devilishly evil smile that sends shiver down my spine.

Blight, sensing my discomfort with the pair quickly forwards to district three.

"Beetee and Wiress," He informs me as the old victors are picked. I've known the pair since my games, and Beetee is incredibly kind. I don't know how they won because we never thought we'd need to know this stuff. "Brilliant minds. He won his games by electrocuting 6 tributes at once. On the other hand, we're at an advantage physically."

And then the screen moves to district Four – the District whose reaping I've been dreading watching the most. I watch as Finnick, the sole male victor from Four gets reaped and flashes them his usual cocky smile, and I watch as poor Mags volunteers Annie who gets reaped. I feel a single tear slip down my cheek at the thought – he's going back into the games. The thought of fighting him, though I've never admitted it to him directly, makes my stomach twist on itself. He's much more deserving of a life than I am.

The reapings of District 5 and District 6 fly by, none of us really wanting to know about the victors from there, all four of them being not really a threat now. They've unsurprisingly cut out my episode of rushing down the stage only including my name being picked out of the bowl and then jumping to Blight, excluding our hug as well. None of the future generations will remember what really happened in that reaping. And that's exactly what Snow wants to make us – forgettable.

Celia has to be separated from three kids in District 8, Seder and Chaff are picked in District 11, and we reach District 12.

Katniss is forced back into the arena, and Peeta volunteers for Haymitch, making me feel a stroke of gratitude for him – one less friend I will have to fight, even though I won't make it out alive. The picture cuts to the symbol of the Capitol signifying the end of the reaping, but there was no footage of the tributes walking to the train. That can only mean one thing – there was an act of rebellion in district 12 as well.