The Capitals Flower

Chapter 1

He rounds the corner and his eyes land on me. He rushes over and pulls me into an embrace. I lean my head on his chest letting tears fall. I pull my feet from out of the water and curl up in his arms. Unaware of the blood that's drips down the wooden dock.

"Oh my gosh! What happened!? Did I hurt you?!" Finick asks panic filling his voice as he looks at his hands that are covered in my blood.

I look up confused but quickly realize why he is freaking out. He thinks I stepped on the glass shards from the vase, and that's why I ran alway.

"No. You could never hurt me. I just cut my feet on the rocks on my way over." I say showing him my badly torn feet.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asks inspecting them, and getting blood on his hands in the process.

"It's not important." I say, trying to hide the tears still streaming down my face.

He sighs and picks me up careful not to put pressure on my feet. I see tears in his eyes as we enter the house again. He grabs some bandages and carefully wraps my feet.

"Finnick?" I ask as he ties the last bandage.

"Yes love?" He answers sitting next to me.

"What happens if we get reaped?" I ask nervously looking at the broken pieces of the vase on the ground along with a few picture frames.

"That won't happen." He says kissing my forehead and pulls me into a hug his arms wrapped protectivly around me.

"You don't know that."

"I don't but thinking about you, back in that hell hole, is too horrible to even imagine." He says burying his face in my hair.

We sit like this for a while until I eventually fall asleep.

The reaping:

I quickly pull on a purple dress and high heels before braiding my hair in two long French braids. I make sure my necklace is on right and quickly make my way out the door and towards Finnick's house.

Finnick is waiting for me outside. When his eyes fall on me his face breaks into a bittersweet smile. I can tell he is worried.

"You look stunning." He says spinning me around.

"You don't look too bad yourself." I say smiling as we walk to the justice building.

When we get to the justice building we are moved to the stage were the bowls of names are. There is only one name in the boys bowl well there are three in the girls. Mags, Annie, and me.

Please keep Finnick safe. We all wait as the video plays. Finnick and I exchange nervous glances as we wait.

"Now let's start with the boys." The escort says taking the paper out of the bowl.

"Finnick Odair" She says.

Finnick puts on his signature smile waving to the crowd that erupted in cheers for their victor. I awkwardly wait as the cheers die down.

"Now for the ladies." She says putting her hand in the bowl.

My heart is beating out of my chest. I can barely breathe as I'm brought back to my last reaping. Finnick's stance changes to reveal his nervousness as he shifts from one foot to the other anxiously.

"And the female tribute is." She says pausing for dramatic effect.

This only makes my anxiety skyrocket. My mouth goes dry and I feel every eye on me.

"Annie Cresta" she announces.

I fill my heart drop. Annie had always been close to Finnick. But what really causes me to panic is when I see Mags about to put her hand up to vollenteer. A wave of adrenaline kicks in and I lift my arm.

"I vollenteer as tribute." I say confidently.

I see the smile fall from Finnick's face. The expression that now rests on his face is full of panic, concern, and fear.

"No Dahlia, please." He says quietly so that the microphone doesn't pick it up.

All of a sudden all my courage left me. I realized what I just did, but I can't back out now.

"A vollenteer! Perfect!" The escort announces.

Finnick pulls me close and I smile and wave to the crowd. Sealing my own fate. As we are ushered to the train I feel as if I may just drop dead at this exact moment. Why did I do this to myself?