When We Drown~Finnick Odair {Book 1}

Chapter Twenty-Two

•••

Autumn stared at the door in front of her. Three more districts after today. This was District Four.

For some reason, the victory tour required Autumn to start in District Twelve and go down the line. It was quite and inconvenience on Autumn's part.

Autumn stood behind the large doors in the justice building, moments away from going out of stage.

She was currently having another panic attack while Finnick tried to calm her down and a makeup artist tried to fix her puffy face.

Finicky held Autumn in a hug, trying to turn her breathing back to a normal pace. She had heard Tyson's screams once again. She couldn't handle going out in front of all of District Four and talking about him, telling them how sorry she was that he died because of her.

"Hey, hey," Finnick tried to calm Autumn down. She didn't listen as she looked around frantically, trying to find a way to run out of the justice building and escape. "Autumn, look at me." Finnick held her hands in his and caught her gaze, making her look into his eyes.

"I can't-I can't do this Finnick," Autumn's bottom lip trembled.

"It's okay," Finnick spoke in a soothing voice. "I will be with you every step of the way. Just read off the the note cards. Once this tour is over, all of it is over."

Finnick knew that was a lie and so did Autumn. This would never end. Every year she would be dragged away from District Four to mentor some kids she would watch die gruesome deaths in an arena full of murderers.

Finnick pulled Autumn into another hug, wishing he could protect her from the outside world. He would do anything to keep her safe.

It amazes Finnick how quickly he had fallen for this girl. Finnick Odair, the handsome man that never swooned, was now head over heels in love with this girl.

And Autumn felt the same way about him. She was in love with him. His kind smile and how gentle he was with her. How he never got annoyed when she would wake him up in the middle of the night with her screams and he would hold her extra tight to his chest after she crawled into his bed to sleep next to him.

They broke apart from the hug as Amethyst walked up, telling Autumn that it was time for her to go on stage.

Finnick pressed his lips to Autumn's sharing a soft kiss with her that seemed to symbolize everything he felt for her. They then broke apart and the doors of the justice hall opened.

Autumn and Finnick walked out onto the stage, staring at the silent crowd. Not a single soul spoke. This only made Autumn feel worse.

Autumn looked at the platform straight in front of her behind the crowd. It had a moving picture of Tyson behind it as if he was being live broadcasted. One person stood on the platform. And that was Tyson's brother.

Autumn stared at the moving picture of Tyson and was at a loss for words. She had gone over her speech a million times in her head, but with one look, the speech disappeared.

"I never wanted Tyson to die," Autumn began. She was speaking what she felt, unable to filter her thoughts. "I wanted him to live. I wanted him to be the one standing here before you today."

Autumn looked over at Finnick, who nodded at her to keep talking. She looked back out into the crowd. Her eyes scanned the crowd until she found a redhead girl and her younger brother. It was Annie and she was staring at Autumn.

Autumn felt the metal ring on her neck. She no longer wore it as a ring but preferred the necklace. Finnick gave her the chain and the ring came from Annie. This way she had both of them with her, always.

Annie couldn't believe what had become of the beautiful brown haired girl that sacrificed herself only a few weeks ago.

Autumn already looked years older. Not physically, but you could see the knowledge and wisdom that burned behind her brown eyes.

"I tried to save him," Autumn spoke. A single tear dropped down her cheek. She swore to herself not to cry, but once she saw Annie and Tyson's picture, she couldn't stop herself.

Autumn looked back up at Tyson's brother. His brother was strong. He could've won the Games. But he was nineteen years old. Otherwise he would've volunteered for Tyson in a heartbeat. Autumn believed that. She rather have fought him rather than Tyson.

They looked so similar for being so far apart in age. They both had light brown hair. Brown eyes. Pale skin. Handsome in their own ways, although that wasn't very visible yet in Tyson. He had a baby face. Which is what made it so hard to imagine him in Games like these.

But Autumn supposed that's what happened. It is these Games that change an innocent child into a killer.