Note: This story is starts off right where the last Finnick and Annie web series did.
FINNICK
"Hey Finn" she said.
I looked up from the net I was making, to study her face. It was blank. Her voice sounded cracked and dry from days of not speaking. It was nighttime, so the tide was high. We were sitting close enough to the water, that when ever the tide came up, our feet would get wet. I watched as she stared at her feet, watching as the water took the sand around her heel away.
Suddenly, she stood up and ran. I followed, calling her name. I finally caught up, hooking my arms around her middle, I tried to convince her that she wasn't in the arena anymore.
"Annie, it's Finnick, Annie stop, you are not in the arena anymore. Your safe."
Ever since she had come back from the Hunger Games arena, Annie wasn't the same.
Until a few hours ago, all she had done was sit on the beach, knees pulled up to her chest, staring out at the water. She didn't talk either, always saving her emotions for the nighttime, when it was dark, when the nightmares came. Both Annie and I have lived in District 4 our whole lives.
I remember around the age of 15, I asked Annie how she had lived in District 4 her whole life, but never learned to swim. Then she had just dismissed it as "a girl of her rank wouldn't get caught dead splashing around with a fish munger like me" But as the days wore by, I figured out the real reason she never learned to swim. She was afraid of the water. I wasn't surprised considering I met her when were kids, while saving her from drowning. One day, I coaxed her off of the beach, and into the water by stealing the shell necklace she was making, (later I learned it was for me) and ran into the water with it dangling in front of me. When I got her in about knee deep, I said, " I will only give this back to you when and if you agree to learn how to swim." " Fine" she said. I had hugged her, promising never to let her drown.
Now, she may even be abetter swimmer then I am. She stopped struggling and turned around to bury her head into my chest. Without letting go, I slowly knelt to my knees. I sat there, with Annie, for what felt like hours but could only have been a few minutes.
"I'm so cold Finn. Always cold" she mumbled.
That was when I realized everyone was right, Annie was never gonna be the Annie I had once known. By then, it was raining hard, and the temperature was dropping fast. I knew I needed to get Annie warm. I staggered up the path leading to her house, dragging her along.
I threw open the door, leading her into the dark entryway. Her parents had given up on her, leaving her to fend for herself most the time. Her teeth chattered so violently, her whole skull seemed to rattle.
Leading her into her bedroom, I said "Get your pajama's on, I'll be in once your done."
Not knowing if she heard me, or even understood anything I said, I left.
I opened the door to see Annie standing right where I left her, staring ahead with a blank expression, half dressed. Swallowing my embarrassment, I moved closer, gently coming in contact with her cold skin. Her skin was like ice, lifeless, underneath my warm skin. I shrugged off the dry shirt that I had run home to get, and placed it over her shoulders. Picking her up, I set her gently on the bed. Watching as she curled into a tight ball, I moved around toward the other side of the bed so I could see her face. Her eyes were clamped tightly shut, and she looked like she was going to clap her hands over her ears any second. I grabbed one of her hands, so it looked like we were going to have a arm wrestle but instead of her arm being propped up it lay limp. Her face was contorted in a perminant look of pain. I climbed into the bed next to her, wrapping my arms around her. She hid her face in the crook of my arm, suddenly breaking down.
