anneliese
(theme twenty-seven: words)
at birth
Anneliese Trinidad Cresta.
This is her birth name.
She was given this name by her parents.
Her mother, Julisse Anella Cresta, requested that her name be Anneliese, after her sister.
The original Anneliese, full name Anneliese Damara Eildre, died in the Thirty-Ninth Hunger Games.
Julisse died shortly after giving birth.
Her father, Oris Arrid Cresta, chose her middle name of Trinidad.
His friends often asked why he chose this name.
Oris never responded.
The truth was, he was never really quite sure.
He had hoped it would be the three of them, Anneliese and Julisse and Oris.
But since it isn't, he's not sure why he kept Trinidad.
Maybe because it reminded him that Julisse was safe.
Her birth name is Anneliese Trinidad Cresta.
And now you know why.
at age two
Annie Trinidad Cresta.
This is her new name.
She gave herself this name.
Anneliese was too much of a mouthful for the child.
So instead, she started saying Annie.
This worried Oris.
He said that Anneliese Eildre, her namesake, went by Annie too.
He began to worry that maybe the name Anneliese is cursed, and she'll end up in the Games.
Oris shrugged this off quickly.
A name is not cursed.
He's still worried, though.
Annie is a happy, giggly baby.
Annie seems to fit her better than Anneliese.
Oris gets it legally changed.
Her new name is Annie Trinidad Cresta.
And now you know why.
at age six
Annie Cresta.
She has decided to remove the Trinidad.
This is a strange choice.
Annie is six. She should not care about middle names.
The truth is, she discovers, middle names are luxuries.
Not too many families outside of the richest fishing families know what middle names are.
Her schoolmates believe that she must be stuck-up for having a middle name.
Instead of Annie, they begin calling her Trinidad.
This upsets Annie.
She wants to be called by her first name, not her middle name.
So Annie renounces her middle name and becomes just plain old Annie Cresta.
The kids treat her better.
Now they know that she's better than the real "middle-namers."
Her new full name is Annie Cresta.
And now you know why.
at age ten
Little Orphan Annie.
This is her new nickname.
Annie despises it.
What right, she wonders, do these kids have to tease me about being an orphan?
What right, she wonders, do they have to get both parents?
Her father died in a fishing accident.
Annie refuses to go to the community home.
She will not become one of those kids.
So she begs and pleads with whoever will listen.
At last she is allowed to keep her old home.
Annie will support herself, despite being only ten.
But she's still Little Orphan Annie, after some ancient pre-Panem person.
Her new nickname is Little Orphan Annie.
And now you know why.
at age sixteen
Annie Cresta, Victor of the Seventieth Hunger Games.
This is her new title.
Annie does not want a title.
Annie does not honestly want anything whatsoever to have to do with the Games.
But it was never really a choice, was it?
Anneliese Eildre didn't win her Games, did she?
It was up to Annie Cresta to do it for her, the aunt she was named for.
For Julisse, the mother she never truly knew.
For Oris, the father she last saw heading to sea.
For Finnick, her mentor-and-maybe-more who's trying his hardest to keep her from breaking more.
Annie isn't quite sure who "she" is, but she must be pretty broken, from the way he talks about her.
Her new title is Annie Cresta, Victor of the Seventieth Hunger Games.
And now you know why.
at age twenty-one
Annie Odair.
This is her brand-new name.
Annie Odair has such a wonderful ring to it.
I am married.
The words bounce through her skull for days after it's over.
Annie Odair, Annie Odair, Anneliese Trinidad Odair, that's me, me, me.
She barely notices that all of a sudden she's not just plain old Annie anymore.
She's Anneliese Trinidad again.
It feels more natural, like she can feel the mother she didn't have smiling on her.
She's proud of who she is.
Of course, Anneliese Trinidad doesn't stay for long.
Finnick married Annie. Not Anneliese.
So for a while she's still Annie.
Her new name is Annie Odair.
And now you know why.
at age twenty-two
Anneliese Trinidad Odair.
This is her real name now.
She's Anneliese again, because she's a mother.
She wants to be Anneliese.
She never wants her little son Finnick to figure out that the crazy Annie Cresta girl...
Why do they talk about her anyways?
She doesn't want him to know that she's that girl.
To him she's Mommy.
Maybe in the back of his mind she's Anneliese.
But she's not Annie.
Her real name is Anneliese Trinidad Odair.
And now you know why.
And now you know that she is not Annie.
.
.
.
.
But she is Annie.
And Anneliese.
And an Odair.
And a Cresta.
And the Little Orphan Girl.
And the Victor.
She's everything.
After all, every name is just another word.
And words never really mattered to Annie-Anneliese-Trinidad-Odair-Cresta-orphan-victor-widow.