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"For Angel and I's necklaces, I got the ones you gave us last year and added the other two missing parts," Melo told her. "Now they're completed," Dove added.
"Exactly. Come on, girls, put them on. I want to see how they look on you," she put the necklace on, being careful not to get her hair entangled with it. The necklace looked good on her. It wasn't too long, but she could hide it under her shirt if she wanted to.
The string of her necklace was different from the one her siblings had. Theirs was a type of wire, whereas hers was a tiny piece of rope. There wasn't anything in her necklace that could get entangled with her hair. Her brother had surprisingly thought about everything.
"I owed you these necklaces since last year. I wanted to give them to you now, so you can remember me if anything happens." Dove looked at him, remembering she had said those words last year when she gave her sister the necklace.
"So you got me a necklace after all," Angel joked, causing Dove to thank her mentally for lighting up the mood. The Reaping was approaching at a dangerous speed, and it was notorious that everyone in the house was slowly going insane.
Her mother was trying to find an alternative to Dove's deal with President Snow, to no avail. Melo spent all the time he could with both his sisters, except for their sleepovers.
The siblings hadn't slept together in the same room since he came back from his games. They didn't do it often before, but in the last year, it hadn't happened even once. Dove had an idea why. Sneaking out of her house at midnight had allowed her to hear better her mother and brother's screams through nightmares.
Every time she left her house, she heard the voice of her brother, asking Seven to fight and not give up. Once, she even heard him ask his ally for forgiveness. How he hadn't killed him because he wanted to, but because he needed to go back home. He needed to go back to his family.
By the time she came back, the mumbles and voices had transformed to yells or gasps. There were days when she had to go to Melo's room to wake him up. After that, she offered to stay the night to calm him down, but he always refused. It was embarrassing for him to let his little sister see him in that state.
Dove had her share of nightmares as well. However, they weren't that usual. From time to time, she would dream of President Snow selling her off to the Capitol. Or him killing her sister right in front of her because Dove had done something bad in the Hunger Games.
Weeks after her brother's annual visit to the Capitol, she had the worst nightmare so far. In it, she went berserk in the Arena and started killing the tributes mercilessly. Blood splattered everywhere. Her hands, her face, her hair, nothing escaped the splattering.
That day, she went to the beach earlier than normally, hoping Finnick would be already there, so she could forget. He wasn't there yet when she arrived, leaving her alone with her thoughts. She sat down, hugging her knees, and rocked back and forth.
There were so many faces in her mind, people she had killed in the dream. Last year's District female tribute was in it. The girl was the first to die by her hand. With the sword she got from the Cornucopia, Dove beheaded the twelve-year-old girl. Blood covered her hands and part of her face.
Thankfully, Finnick got there quickly and calmed her down. She stopped the back-and-forth movements, but she kept hugging her knees. He didn't try to make her explain. He knew she would say it once she was ready.
"How do you live with it?" she muttered. He wondered if she had done it for the cameras, as they usually did, or if she couldn't bring herself to talk louder.
"Live with what?" Finnick asked, worried about what could have happened to her. "Killing innocent people, children, just like you. How do you cope with that?" Dove spoke again, louder this time. The question surprised him. That was a topic neither of them had dared to touch since they met.
"I don't. I drag myself out of nightmares and there's no relief in waking up. But it's better not to give into it," he said. "It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart."
She finally let go of her knees and sat more comfortably, looking straight into his eyes. Their situations were so similar, yet so different. Since Dove was a child, she expected the Victor's life to be perfect. She was a young, naive, and pampered fool. Now that she had somewhat grown up, a Victor's life didn't seem appealing to her.
"The more you distract yourself, the better. First thing tomorrow, I'll get you your own rope. Until then, take mine." He said, placing the rope on her hands. This had been the second time Finnick lent her the rope. Both times were to help her somehow. He was a wonderful boy who deserved nothing of what was happening to him.
"I've lost count of how many things I owe you already," he chuckled at her comment. Finnick didn't see what he was doing as something she should owe him for. He did it because he wanted to see her smile again. His thoughts seemed to lighten every time she laughed.
"How about, one day I'll ask you to do me a huge favour, which you can't say no to?" He proposed. In Dove's eyes, the deal was fair. Finnick had saved Melo from death and saved her from a massive mental breakdown twice. With no hesitation, she agreed.
That same night, Dove spent until the morning tying and untying knots, as she heard the voice of her brother and mother through nightmares. The Reaping was less than two weeks away. And, as the time approached, Dove went through almost sleepless nights, too scared to dream again about the Arena.
It was one week until the Reaping, when she went to the beach, much earlier than she normally would. Even though she had slept some hours in the past week, none were pleasant as they had been before the nightmares started.
"If it's like this now, that I know it's only a dream. . . What will happen once it's real?" she muttered under her breath. Staring at the sea, she hoped the Hunger Games would never arrive. She hoped her sister's name wouldn't get called. But there was no hope for her situation. The Hunger Games would come, her sister's name would get reaped, and she would volunteer. Everything was part of Snow's plan.
Dove put her hand in her jacket's pocket, taking the piece of rope Finnick had gifted her days ago. It was no longer cold in Four, quite the contrary, but at midnight it was still chilly on the beach, so she had to wear her sister's former light brown jacket to keep herself warm.
Glancing back at the rope, Dove decided to practise the knots Finnick had been teaching her. She got to the hangman's knot, remembering that day made her smile. Finnick always tried to make her laugh. It didn't matter how bad the situation was.
"For someone who has only seen that knot one time, you've got the hang of it pretty quickly." Finnick's voice startled her. "Since when have you been here?" she asked, turning around to see him.
He sat next to her with a smile on his face. "Not that long ago. I saw you do the knots, and I wanted to know if I've been a good teacher," he said.
"You have been a brilliant teacher. I couldn't have asked for one better," she stated, laughing. "Oh, I'm flattered." He replied.
"Still can't sleep?" Finnick asked, concerned for the light-dark circles under her eyes that had been developing for a while. "I can, but not for long. The longest I've been asleep this last week has been three hours and thirty minutes, more or less," she uttered.
"Well, it's better than nothing at all," he said, trying to cheer her up, which gained a snicker from her. "Want to have a little nap here? I'll wake you up when we have to go back, I promise," he said.
She nodded reluctantly. It was obvious he wouldn't stop until he convinced her. She moved a bit to her left, where Finnick sat, and leaned her head on his shoulder. Not even five minutes passed before she fell asleep on him.
He just stared at her sleeping face, taking some strands of her hair out of her face, so they would not bother her. Her peaceful sleeping face made him forget everything. As he started to feel sleepy, he carefully laid down with his arms around her, making sure not to wake her up.
Once he was lying on the ground, Dove moved slightly. He looked at her, thinking the movement had woken her up, but it hadn't. Her eyes were still closed as she approached him even more, laying her head on his chest and laying her right hand on his shoulder.
"Well, I'm trapped," Finnick murmured with a snicker. Carefully, he rested his right hand on her back, protectively. And just like that, he fell asleep, too.
Hours went by quickly, the sun rose in the sky, announcing the next day had begun. Finnick's eyes fluttered open. The bright sun wasn't letting him sleep anymore. As he stared at his surroundings, it surprised him to have slept perfectly fine during an entire night. It had been two years since he had slept like that.
Looking down, he spotted the bushy red hair of Dove. She seemed really comfortable using him as a pillow. Her breath was slow, and the hand that once was on his shoulder was now placed under her cheek. Looking around, it didn't seem anyone was watching the scene.
Fishermen were never that close to the rocky part of the beach in the early hours of the day, which gave them less than an hour to go back to Victor's Village without being spotted. Dove's hair would complicate things, though. It was difficult not to notice her.
As Finnick stopped wondering, he decided they had been there for far too long. He had to wake her up now, or they wouldn't make it back unnoticed.
"Dove. Dove, wake up," Finnick muttered, shaking her slightly. The shaking succeeded in waking her up. She was stunned at how long she had been sleeping. Looking around, she saw Finnick staring at her.
"Didn't you say you would wake me up? Why are we still here so late?" she asked. It wasn't an angry tone, but her stunned face didn't let her be too expressive.
"Well, I technically did wake you up, didn't I? And about that, we should go back now, before they notice you," he replied, with a smile on his face.
"Why are you so sure they would notice me before you?" Finnick looked at her in disbelief. "I can literally spot you in the dark. I think they can notice you now," he stated mockingly.
"Fair point, but that's because you're a stalker," he laughed while shaking his head. "Can we discuss this when we're in Victor's Village, please?" Dove nodded. The two got their things and left the beach. It was lucky that few people were around.
Once they got to her front door, they let out a sigh. It hadn't been easy to avoid the people walking around town, even if there were few. Dove looked at Finnick, still panting slightly. She wanted to ask him if he had slept as peacefully as she had.
During the entire night, she hadn't suffered from any nightmares. She might have dreamt something, but she didn't remember, which meant it hadn't been bad. Spending the night at the beach had been worth the risk. She felt refreshed with energy.
Then an idea popped up in her head. Dove hugged Finnick, as she had been doing for weeks. He hugged back, placing his arms around her waist.
"Any nightmares?" She whispered in his ear. "No, you?" he replied, the same way she had done. She shook her head. Smiling slightly as she thought of something to say.
"Want to try it out again? This midnight?" she asked jokingly. "Let's go somewhere safer, then. If we get caught, it could end horribly. How about you come to my house instead?" Dove thought for a second. It surprised her. He had accepted her proposal and invited her to his house at midnight.
"You wouldn't be thinking anything improper, now, would you?" she joked. Finnick laughed nervously, shaking his head. "I would never do such a thing. Moreover, to a child," he replied.
"Says the child himself," Dove retorted mockingly. "Anyway, good to know. See you later, then," she added, breaking the hug and entering her house, leaving Finnick in front of the door. She watched discreetly from the window as he went to his own house.
And like that, they created another tradition. Dove went every night to Finnick's house. They chatted and sometimes ate together. After all that, they went to sleep until the sun rose. Not a single nightmare during the six remaining days before the Reaping.
Six entire days until the last day of freedom for Dove. The last night before becoming an official tribute. She was already at Finnick's house, talking about anything that wasn't Hunger Games' related.
To her surprise, Finnick announced he would be a mentor in her Hunger Games, alongside Mags. She and her district partner would have four mentors this year. Her mother, Melo, Mags and Finnick. Quite a combination. Two mentors were specialised in combat, and the other two were specialised in survival.
Was this another of President Snow's challenges? It looks like he's giving me the right to decide. Either become like Finnick and Melo and get sold, or play nicely, and you'll get rewarded with the joy of keeping your family. And it probably was as she thought.
She wouldn't change her plans. Dove was going to play President Snow's game. Everything was going according to President Snow's plan.
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