Finnick Odair's Story: Dark Secrets (The Hunger Games Fanfiction)

ReCapping The Games

It takes a few hours for me to be pampered and preened until I am ''perfect''. We drive to the stadium in silence, and I swear I can hear my heart beating underneath my shirt. When we arrive, I am immediately escorted out of the car and to the edge of the stage by a huge bodyguard, who glares menacingly at anyone who dares to even glance at us.

The moment I have been dreading since yesterday has finally arrived. I close my eyes and walk up the golden steps, blinded by the bright spotlights and deafened by the ecstatic cheering coming from the crowd. My shaking fingers clutch the clasp of my trident pendant, and I throw it to a girl in the audience, just as Eli told me to do. Her jet black eyes light up with joy as she turns to her friend, screaming with peculiar ecstasy. Caesar Flickerman shakes my hand and we sit on the velvet armchairs; I lean back and pretend to relax.

''Settle down, settle down, it's only Finnick Odair!'' Caesar chuckles in his charismatic, booming laugh. The audience are going wild. They love me, and I'm not sure how to react.

Saving my eardrums, the entire room suddenly turns black and a large screen begins to descend from the ceiling, playing a montage of the Games. Me, reaching out for my trident as it drops from the sky. Hannah and I, cuddled up together in a tree trunk on a particularly rainy night. Me, repeatedly stabbing a girl in the chest. Me, clutching my leg in agony and biting my hand until it bled to stop myself from shouting. Hundreds of moments like this flash before us and I have to close my eyes.

Even Caesar looks slightly uncomfortable as the lights brighten to a dim glow, but he easily masks this, and flicks a switch to show a video on the screen. The Cornucopia bloodbath.

I am slowly ascending in a glass tube, I place my hands on the glass, longing to break it and escape from this living hell. The glass disappears when I reach the arena, and I quickly scan the surroundings whilst waiting for the foreboding cannon. I see twenty-three other tributes, some poised on their platforms, ready to kill, others looking as if they'd rather be killed. As soon as the loud boom echoes around us, I am running towards a bag of mysterious goods, and a sword is perched closely by. I snatch both off the ground just as a sharp knife flies quickly past me. A girl with fiery hair and dark eyes glares at me, I recognize her from training - I think her name is Millie. Before she can aim for me again, I am sprinting towards the edge of the forest, where I can survey the violence without risk of death.

I watch in horror as the Careers form a pack, like ravenous wolves, and centre in on a young boy from District 5. Aven, from District 1, holds his legs together as Electra stabs him in the heart, flicking her blonde hair off her shoulders and laughing as he screams in agony. Panic filling up inside me, I look around for Skye, my fellow District 4 tribute, but she has vanished - so much for an alliance.

Saskia from District 8 and Leah from District 9 are grabbing as many bags as possible and running towards the forest. Seven tributes lie dead on the ground, thankfully none of my friends are amongst the corpses. Sighing deeply, I turn and run into the forest to what I hope will be, at least temporarily, safety.

The screen fades and the audience are clapping, somewhat more solemnly than before. Caesar clasps his hands together and faces me, waiting until anticipated silence swamps the stadium before asking a question.

''We just watched the first fifteen minutes of the Games. Surprisingly, you were not one of the killers. And you managed to stay injury-free. Can you tell us what was running through your mind as you tried to grab supplies and watched your fellow tributes fighting to the death?'' Caesar asks, his piercing eyes fixed on mine.

''I was just trying to stay alive. I tried to look out for Skye but she had disappeared somewhere. Millie nearly killed me, and I was shocked at the other tributes' willingless to slaughter,'' I say as slowly and calmy as possible. I have the entire crowd captivated, they are in the palm of my hand. But I can't mess this up. I am happy, I tell myself, victory is something I should be proud of.

''I guess I did the same though, later in the Games. After grabbing as much as I could, I ran into the forest and set up camp. It wasn't very comfortable - I slept in a tree on the first night, crazy,'' I say, smirking slightly as I remember trying to get comfortable and failing miserably. I was a bit too optimistic about sleeping conditions.

We watch videos and discuss them for around two hours. I can't get my head around the Capitol's morbid fascination with blood and gore, but they eagerly lap up every bit of juicy detail I reveal to them. Stupidly, I begin to think that recapping the Games isn't too bad, until the final clip hits the screen, plunging us all into complete darkness except for the video.

''Kill me. Just do it, Finnick,'' Electra says. Her beautiful but empty eyes stare past me as if she is searching for someone else. Long, golden hair, matted with blood, falls in ringlets down her chest, which is moving up and down gradually. My own heart is pounding much faster, my throat is dry and my hands are shaking with fear.

''I can't.''

''Believe me, you can. You didn't hesitate when killing the one person on this Earth that I'm completely devoted to. I have nothing left to live for,'' she says, dropping her bow and arrow to the ground. ''I couldn't care less whether I live or die - so go on. Everyone is rooting for you anyway, the handsome young fisherman from District 4; imagine how ecstatic everyone will be when that final cannon booms and you pull your trident from my chest.'' She smirks slightly, looking me directly in the eyes as she says her final sentence.

The next few seconds feel like eternity. Impulsively, my hands tighten around my trident. I want to kill her. I want to die. I need to kill Electra to win. I'd rather just drop dead right now. My mind is spinning with worry and guilt and fear. She is defenceless, and simply handing herself over to be killed. I murdered her boyfriend, Aven, also from District 1 - but he was attacking me. As I plunge my trident into her chest, she takes one final gasp and falls to the ground.

The audience are clapping and cheering, but I can't get my head around it. This is murder. This is brutal, I hate it. I mumble something about never forgetting that moment, and how grateful I am to District 1. Caesar thanks me, shakes my hand and waves me off stage. Vision blurred, I stagger down a set of stairs to deafening applause. As soon as I'm backstage, Eli takes me by the hand and ushers me outside, where a car is waiting to take usback to the mansion.

There is nothing I want more than to go to sleep in that luxurious bed again. This time, it'd be ideal if I never wake up.