Saving Annie's Sanity.
The little girl called out to her mother, eyes flowing with tears. She knew she wouldn't be able to hear her cry for help. She was dead. She couldn't even move, much less hear her daughter wail out into the night.
Being five years old, little Annie Cresta didn't get the concept of death. When she asked her father when her mother will wake up from her sleep, he just shook his head, tried to give her his best smile and said she never would. Annie asked him why and he just said she was in a better place now. She wept, told him that there was no place better than home and tried to revive her mother. It didn't work. So she ran away from the little shack-like house they called the 'funeral home'
Her mother—the woman who held her at night when she was scared of the dark, the only woman who can cook her fish the way she wanted it, the only woman who made her father drop the fishing nets he constantly wove—was dead.
Everything seemed like a blurry heap of nothingness as she ran, ignoring her father's calls from behind her. She ran until she could not hear him anymore. She ran farther away even though she looked back and there was no sign of the tall brown-haired man chasing her. It took her a while to realize that she was all alone now. And when she did, she stopped running and slumped to the ground in a little ball, not caring where she was. She had lost her mother and now, she had lost her father as well.
Amidst the sound of the waves splashing against the shores of District Four and her own sniffing, she heard footsteps walking toward her.
"Hey kid," the voice said. "You okay?"
Annie looked up to see a taller boy, maybe about one or two years older than her, looking down at her huddled figure.
When she didn't answer, he asked, "Where's your mother?"
This only made more tears flow down Annie's cheeks as she bitterly replied "Dead."
The boy's eyes grew with sympathy. He watched as she wrapped her arms around her legs as she continued to cry. Then, he had an idea.
"Hey," he called out. "Do you know what makes me calm down when I'm crying?" he asked.
She looked up at him with her watery eyes and sniffed. "What?" she asked.
He crouched down in front of her so his face was in level with hers. "Close your eyes," he instructed.
Annie followed obediently. A few seconds later, the sound of the waves and her tears were blocked as he put his hands on either side of her face and covered her ears. Even the boy's voice was muffled as he spoke to her. "Whenever I'm sad, angry or depressed, I always close my eyes and cover my ears to block out everything. And when I'm calmed down, I opened my eyes and take my hands off my ears."
Annie felt herself relax and when she opened her eyes, her breathing became even and she saw the boy smiling. She studied his features. He was handsome, with bronze hair and the same sea-green eyes he she had.
He stood up, stretched his arms and offered his hand to her. "Come on, I'll take you home."
Annie stared at his outstretched hand, wondering if she could trust this stranger.
She shook her head. "My Momma told me to never trust strangers."
But the boy smiled and asked her. "What's your name?"
"Annie Cresta" she answered.
"I'm Finnick Odair. Nice to meet you," he replied. "See? I'm no stranger anymore, am I?"
Annie sniffed again. It was true, this Finnick Odair was no longer a stranger since she knew his name. Plus, she really wanted to go home to her father.
"Okay," she said as she finally held his hand. He pulled her up as she pointed out the direction of her house.
And that was the day Annie Cresta's sanity was saved… for the first time.