NIGHTMARES WERE PRACTICALLY ROUTINE for Haven Cleary. Most nights, Haven would abruptly wake up, crying or screaming (sometimes both).

Usually her screams would wake one of her family members, whether it was her mother, who would stroke her hair until she fell asleep again, her dad who would hug her as she sobbed into his shoulder, her brother who would sit in the kitchen and drink hot chocolate with her, or her sister who would sleep next to her so Haven would feel a little less alone.

Haven considered herself lucky, her family cared so deeply for her, and wished so hard to make her pain go away. They all did their best to comfort her, but they couldn't truly understand what she was going through; that was the difference between empathy, and the sympathy they gave her.

➸

Haven woke up gasping for air, tears streaming down her face, having awoken from a particularly scarring nightmare. No one heard her wake up, and she didn't have the heart to awaken any of them, since this had happened every night this week.

Instead, Haven mindlessly walked downstairs and out her front door. The cold winter air instantly hit her as she stepped outside, goosebumps forming on the surface of her skin, as she was only wearing her thin silk pajamas.

The blonde hadn't really registered her actions until she knocked on the door of the house next to hers, and a very groggy Finnick answered the door, rubbing his eyes.

"It's 3:00am Haven what are you doi-" His words trailed off when he saw the tears still streaming down the blonde's face, grabbing her arm and pulling her inside. "God you're freezing." Finnick commented, her skin like ice against his.

Finnick led her into the living room, and Haven realized she'd never been inside his house before. She sat on the couch, still not having said anything, and Finnick draped a blanket over her. He walked out of the room, returning a few minutes later with two steaming cups of tea in his hands.

He handed one of the cups to Haven, the blonde wrapping her freezing, numb fingers around the warm cup. "Let me guess, nightmare?" Finnick asked, sitting next to Haven on the couch.

"Yeah. I didn't want to wake my family again and I didn't know what else to do, so I came here." The blonde said sheepishly. "I- I'm sorry I woke you, I can just go." Haven said, starting to stand up, but Finnick quickly put his arm out, gesturing her to sit back down.

"Haven it's okay, I swear. Don't apologize." He said, resting his hand on her knee. "I've had my fair share of them too. Do you want to talk about it?" The blonde nodded slowly.

"I was back on the tour, I kept looking into the eyes of families whose children are dead because of me, families whose children I killed." Her voice wavered, tears forming in her eyes again. "I just constantly have all this crippling guilt weighing on me. I don't even stop feeling it when I'm asleep, it's inescapable." Haven said, leaning her head back on the couch.

"We live in a fucked up world Hav. We're 17 years old and we were both forced to murder other kids. It's okay to not be okay." Finnick said quietly. "It's all so much, I just can't handle it sometimes. I don't know how to get through it." The blonde was full on sobbing now.

"Sometimes you just have to wait for it to pass. That's all you can do." He said, leaning his head back to look Haven in the eye. "And I'll be here to wait it out with you." Haven gave him a weak smile. "Thank you." She whispered, tears still flowing.

Finnick wrapped his arm around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder. The pair sat silently for hours, until Haven's tears dried, and the wave of pain subsided.

The sun was just breaching the horizon when Haven finally spoke up again. "I appreciate it. You being here for me. It's nice to have someone who understands what I'm going through to comfort me." She said. "Of course. That's what friends are for." He responded.

"I should probably head home before my family wakes up, they might have a heart attack if I'm not there." Haven said. "That's probably smart, otherwise I think you'll have an entire search team after you." Finnick laughed, the girl breaking into a genuine laugh for the first time over the past few hours.

"Oh, by the way, I'm going to be gone for a few days." He said, as they were walking towards the front door. "Why? Where are you going?" The Cleary girl questioned. "The Capitol. I just have some business to take care of. I'll only be gone a few days." Finnick said in a nonchalant tone that wasn't totally believable.

"Stay safe, don't get into any trouble. See you in a few days." She said, giving Finnick a hug as he opened the door. "Back at you." He responded.

Haven stepped outside, the soles of her feet hitting the cold ground. "Don't miss me too much." Finnick called from the doorway, laughing. "You're too much Odair." She laughed, waving her hand back at him as she hurriedly walked over to her own house.

➸

"Will someone pass me the-", Haven's words were cut off by a ball of dough splattering against her shirt. The blonde glanced up to see her twin laughing at her from across the counter. "Oh. It is on, Sawyer." She sneered, scooping a handful of flour in her hand, throwing it on him. "Hey! Cut it out you two." Cecile squeaked, attempting to salvage some of the bread dough she'd prepared.

A brief pause followed, the three siblings and Shane staring at each other before all hell broke loose. Haven made the first move, throwing a raw egg at Sawyer, which he dodged, it instead landing in Ashlyn's hair. Everything that happened after was a blur of dough and different ingredients being thrown about. Cecile frantically tried to intervene, but gave up quickly when she realized her efforts were futile.

Haven's face was caked in flour, eggs were dripping from her hair, and her clothes were pretty much destined for the garbage, but for once she actually was able to forget. For a few minutes, the Games weren't haunting the back of her mind. The blonde felt ~normal~, if only temporarily.

"I hope you all know I'm not preparing all that food again." Cecile sighed, once the fighting had ceased. "I think I ate enough dough for my next three meals." Haven joked, dusting the flour off her pants. Cecile stayed behind, attempting to clean the kitchen, the others going to sit in front of the TV, Ashlyn grabbing the remote and turning it on.

The screen flickered on, and Caesar Flickerman appeared next to Claudius Templesmith. "Well Claudius, I don't know about you, but I just cannot wait for this year's Victory Tour starting in a few days!" Caesar exclaimed.

Haven was snapped back into reality, she forgot the tour was coming up. She'd pretty much wiped the 68th Games out of her mind. It was her first year mentoring, although she was really just watching her fellow mentors. The Games destroyed her, crippled by the guilt of both her tributes not making it. The Cleary girl was dreading the Victory Tour, knowing she'd have to reopen the wound, instead of blocking it out like she had been.

// author's note
HI long time no see, SO sorry it took me so long to update, i started college and i have been literally so busy :( but i promise i'm keeping the story going i just can't update multiple times a week like i was over the summer. also hi to all the new readers who came while i was gone !!
thank y'all for reading. sorry this was a little bit of a filler chapter 😗
- a <3

Sawyer starting the food fight:

Haven bc nightmares:

LMAO whoops^