Flames to Embers

23- District 4

When the 74th Hunger Games rolled around, we were finally allowed to go home. Of course, we went home once over the winter for a month, but other than that, Katniss and I had been trapped in the Capitol for a year.

So I returned to District 4, and Caspian was waiting for me at my house. He pulled me into a tight hug.

Pulling away, he looked me up and down before saying, "You look awful."

I grinned, setting my bags down. "Well I feel great. I get to come home finally after a few hard months, my relationship is thriving, and it seems that Snow isn't openly trying to make my life miserable."

"This is the longest he's made you stay in the Capitol," Caspian protested. "I'm pretty sure he is."

"Yeah, but no one's 'coincidentally' died in years,"

Caspian winced. He didn't mean for me to notice, but I did. The smile fell from my face.

We stared at each other for a few seconds, before I finally spoke, realizing he wasn't going to offer up the information freely. "What happened?"

He shrugged. "Someone died."

"Who?" I asked, praying it wasn't one of my brothers. I figured I would get a phone call if it was, but still...

"Dell."

I left Caspian and my bags in the middle of my living room and took off in the direction of her house. My mom and Killian were there, packing up a few boxes, and Solomon was talking to Britt quietly at the table where Dell used to have us drink tea with her. Well, not me. I was rarely invited to those occasions. I walked past my family and into the living room. Dell's chair in the corner was empty, a sure sign of her departure from the world of the living.

My mom entered the room to disturb my peace a few seconds later. "What are you doing here?" Her voice was cold, and hurt more than I thought it would. Killian, Solomon, and Britt trailed in behind her. When Killian tried to step too close to me, Mom put her arm out, trying to "protect" him from me.

I shrugged, my Capitol mask going up as a defense mechanism. "I don't know, just seeing for myself that the old lady finally kicked the bucket," Caspian joined them. "And apparently, she did. She's dead!"

Solomon stared at me, shocked that I would go so far as to say something like that. "Finnick-"

"Get out, Finnick," My dear mother interrupted. "You aren't welcome in our home."

I raised an eyebrow. "But it's not your home, is it?" I said in a low voice, the humor leaving my system as her cruel words seeped in, hurting far more than I would admit. "This was Dell's home. Your home is about three miles away, a little shack on the beach. Everyone knows that once a Victor dies, the family is evicted."

I sat down on the coffee table, something Dell would never allow. "Now I came here fully prepared to offer an alternative to poverty, since none of you are used to it. Not one of you would last a week as an average District 4 fisherman.

"I was going to offer to let you come live with me, if you can handle all my evening habits of not going to bed until one in the morning, and waking up at the crack of dawn. Oh, and of course you would have to be comfortable with sharing a house with a homicidal rage monster," I said pointedly to my mother. "But if you're okay with all that, then you're welcome to live with me. At least, until your very presence annoys me and I kick you out of my house and disown you as my family, like what you did to me."

After I finished my passive-aggressive speech, I stood up, ruffled Killian's hair, grinned at Solomon, and offered to walk Britt back home.

It was only about an hour later, as I got ready for the reaping, that Caspian and Solomon appeared at my front door. I hugged Solomon, since I didn't get the chance to properly greet him at Dell's house. "Are you moving in with me?" I asked.