She wanders all alone
This is all, she's ever really known
A stranger in her skin
Nothing more, it's all she's ever been
She spills these words across the page
It helps to ease the pain, and she cries
Nobody out there
Wants to understand
Nobody out there
Takes me as I am
I'm feeling alone here
I know there's got to be
Somebody somewhere
That's all she wrote
A little girl is walking down the beach.
All alone.
Her long black hear almost covering her emerald green eyes .
She stops and walks down to the crystal clear water and deeps her feet in it.
It helps to stand there, to feel the cold spread from her toes and up her whole body.
It gives her something else to think about for a little while.
Another pain.
After a few minutes in the cold water she sits down in the sand.
Out from her brown leather bag she pulls out a little red book.
It helps.
It helps to get it down on paper. It eases the pain for a few minutes, hours.
If she's lucky, days.
The loneliness. The feeling of being a stranger in her own body.
The feeling of not matter, of being irrelevant.
She sighs and closes her eyes.
Two drops hits the paper.
It's not raining.
The girl with the black long hair and the piercing green eyes stands up and walks of the beach.
Her name is Annie Cresta.
Finnick Odair is beautiful.
Finnick Odair is flirty and arrogant.
But he is so much more.
When he wins The Hunger games at the age of fourteen, he wins over a whole people. Not only with his blonde perfect hair and beautiful green eyes.
But with his strength, his crafty mind and his glow.
Right after the games are over, President Snow knows the future of Finnick Odair.
How valuable he can be for him, how much money he can make on this stunningly beautiful young boy.
So it begins.
It begins when he is back in Capitol for the fourth time to train children to kill other children.
Snow turns him into an object that can be sold, rather than a human being.
Finnick doesn't really have a choice. He doesn't stand a chance against the Presidents threats against everyone he's ever loved.
He loses tribute after tribute in the games and sleeps with woman after woman in between.
He hates it, his entire existence.
He hates being idolized by the people in the Capitol and he hates the late nights in hotel rooms with women he doesn't know.
But while other winners turn to alcohol and morphling, he turns to smiles and waves.
He just can't think of any other options.
So he smiles to the crowd year after year.
And get's all the women to spill secrets between the sheets.
That's how he get's by, but Finnick Odair is not living.
She always feels so small
Pushed aside, a flower on the wall
They never ask her name
No one sees, the girl without a face
She spills these words across the page
It helps to ease the pain, and she cries
"Annie Cresta!" The woman shouts out.
She feels numb. She wants to throw up.
She walks slowly towards the podium. Everyone is eying her and whispering about her.
No one stands up to take her place. Why would there be anyone?
She is invisible, no one cares about her.
Her family is long gone and she has never had any friends.
No one will care when she goes to the Hunger games and never comes back.
Because she will not come back.
She knows that much.
When she finally reaches the podium her eyes locks with a pair of green ones.
Finnick Odair.
Annie blushes and looks down.
Now he knows her name.
But it won't ever matter.
Annie Cresta is unlike any tribute Finnick has ever had.
He didn't know her name before it was called out that day, but now he will never forget.
She is a mix of everything.
She is shy, but stands up for herself.
She is really nervous, but at the same time fearless.
She is tiny and seems harmless, but she is actually really strong and can put up a good fight.
And most of all Finnick thinks she is absolutely beautiful.
Finnick had never noticed her before, but when she walked up to and onto the podium he couldn't take his eyes away from her.
Annie Cresta is a mystery and Finnick realizes soon he needs to know her.
And it breaks his heart that he thinks he'll never get the chance.
"Are you okay?" He sits down next to her in the suite.
"How could I be okay!" She spits at him.
There's that fire, he thinks.
The fire that may bring her back from the arena.
"Sorry" he whispers at her.
"I just really want you to be okay"
She looks up at him, stares at him for a while.
Finnick Odair, idolized by everyone, cares about her.
He wants her to be okay.
She blinks.
"I'm going to die soon" She says calmly.
"Not if I have anything to say in the matter" Finnick says confident.
She looks up at him; her eyes wander off to his lips.
She wonders how he tastes and how his lips would feel against hers.
"Is there anything..." He starts and pulls her out of her daydreaming.
"Is there anything special you want me to tell the ones back home?" He asks her while looking down at the ground.
"In case you might not come back" He whispers the last thing.
"I don't have anyone that cares about me back home." She tells him and a tear escape.
"Well now you have me"
On the fifth day of the games an eartquake hits the arena and its floded.
Everyone dies.
Everyone but Annie Cresta.
In the Capitol, Finnick Odair sighs in relief.
She is shaking and screaming.
Tears flowing from her eyes while she covers her ears with her tiny hands.
Finnick quickly makes his way over to her.
"It's okay, Annie" He tells her even though he knows it never will be.
"I'm right here" He whispers and gently removes her hands and lays his own on top of them.
The screaming stops then, and is soon followed by mumbling of words Finnick can't make out.
He looks at her with all the concern in the world.
Her eyes are totally blank.
Like Annie isn't there with him, but in a completely different world.
He pulls her in for a long embrace and doesn't plan on letting go before she is back from that other place.
They sit like that for almost an hour when she finally fells silent and Finnick can tell that she is coming back to them.
To him.
He closes his eyes and sighs in relief.
"Where's my book, Finnick!" She asks him desperately.
"I need my book."
He has seen her with it. How she can spend hours writing in it and reading the same pages over again. He knows it means something special to her, but he has always been afraid of asking just what.
"I need to write the pain away."
"Are you okay?" He asks and sits down next to her on the train.
His words remind her of that day before the Games.
That day she realized that someone can care about her.
That someone does. That he does.
She nods and whispers yes.
They both know she's lying.
She really doesn't want to go back there.
To the Capitol and all its cruelty.
She lays her hand over Finnick's, a move that surprises them both.
She usually doesn't touch him.
"You make it halfway okay" She whispers and moves closer to him.
Her lips are inches from his.
They sit like that for a minute before he closes the gap.
She has wondered about what he tastes from them moment she saw him.
Now she knows.
He tastes like heaven.
Like everything she could ever want. Ever need.
People can live a hundred years without really living for a minute.
Finnick is one of those people.
But in this moment it changes. He feels like this finally can be the start of something good.
Something worth living for.
This is one less minute he hasn't lived.
Her great escape
She found her place
And she's never gonna be the same
It's beautiful
Cuz now she knows
There's somebody out there
Who wants to understand
There's somebody out there
Who takes me as I am
I'm feeling at home here
I knew there had to be
Somebody somewhere
That's all she wrote
He is the lightest thing to ever come into her life.
There are parts of the days that are dark.
Parts where she feels and is completely insane.
But those parts get fewer each day that passes.
Each day she spends with Finnick.
Her book lays longer and longer hidden away in her bedroom drawer. She hasn't written in it for many weeks.
"You can't catch me!" He yells teasingly while running down the beach.
She laughs that wonderful laugh he loves so much.
"You're so silly" She says and runs after him.
When she finally catches up with him (Only cause he lets her), she runs right into his waiting arms.
They stumble over and fall into the waves.
"I love you so much, Annie Cresta" He says and gently removes the hair from her face.
"I love you to, Finnick Odair" She says and pulls her head up to kiss him.
Annie Cresta is his reason for being.
Finnick Odair is her light in all the darkness
One night they sit curled up in Finnick's coach and looks at one of Capitol's mandatory programs.
It shows the star-crossed-lovers and their wedding plans.
It makes Finnick sick to watch the grip Snow is holding them in.
He feels bad for the two.
"Remember to stay tuned for the next big event of the evening!" Ceasar Flickerman's voice blasts from the TV.
"This year will be the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Hunger Games, and that means it's time for our third Quarter Quell!"
Finnick feels Annie's body tighten beside him.
They both knows what this means. It means bigger and greater. It means bloodier and more horrible.
Annie feels really bad for the tributes that are going to get reaped this year.
"It's going to be terrible" She whispers against Finnick's chest.
He slowly nods. He knows they will have to watch the cruel bloodbath, and he knows what it will do to Annie.
It will be like she is back on the arena herself.
"On the seventy-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to all the rebels that even the strongest among them cannot overcome the power of the Capitol, the male and female tributes will be reaped from the existing pool of victors."
Finnick gasps in shock and Annie throws her hands up to cover her ears. Her mouth is open and mumbles words he can't hear.
He doesn't know what to tell her or what to do.
"It's gonna be okay, Annie"
But it won't be okay.
He and Annie might very well be those tributes they felt sorry for moments ago.
"I need my book, Finnick."
She tells him when he's finally able to get her out from the darkness.
"Annie Cresta!" The woman shouts.
It's different this time.
They know her name now.
People starts to whisper, the majority feels sorry for her.
Nobody believes that the poor little insane girl can win the games twice.
Nobody has that much luck.
But Annie has never felt lucky.
Finnick doesn't let her go; he's not coming to terms with the reaping.
This can't be possible.
"I volunteer!"
And then 80-year-old Mags climb up the podium.
Their old mentor sacrifices herself for Annie.
Finnick knows she did it for him and he will be forever grateful.
Though he knows he can never repay her.
"Finnick Odair!"
Of course.
A scream cuts through his thoughts.
It's Annie.
Of course.
Finnick Odair climbs up to join his old mentor.
At least one of them won't make it back.
Probably none of them.
Finnick has to close his eyes and breathe hard to not cry when he spots Annie in the crowd.
He has never seen her this helpless.
Finnick wants to shout to her that everything will be okay.
But he has never been able to lie to her.
"I thought it was..."
A frightening scream interrupts Katniss fom what she is trying to tell him.
Finnick freezes and his face are getting whiter than snow. His pupils escalades with pure fear.
"Finnick! Wait!" He shuts Katniss out, all he can hear is Annie.
Her screams tears him up from the inside out.
"Annie!" He yells hysterically while running around trying to find her.
He walks around in circles when Katniss catches up to him. He desperately looks around, trying to find something that can tell him where the screaming comes from.
It's coming from the three. The screaming is coming from the three.
It doesn't make any sense. Annie can't be in that three, he shakes his head.
This doesn't make any sense.
"Annie! Annie!" He continues to yell, because he just doesn't know what else to do.
He covers his ears with his hands and Katniss can see that he is really starting to panic.
Suddenly a crow falls to the ground before his feet, an arrow pierced through its lifeless body.
When Katniss comes over to him he looks more desperate than ever.
"It's not real, Finnick. It's not your… Your Annie."
"No, it's not Annie. But the voice was hers. The bird imitates what it hears, where do you think they got these screams from?"
He fells to the ground next to the dead bird.
Defeated. Scared. Tired. Desperate.
"Oh Finnick, you don't think they.." She starts.
"Yeah, I do. That's exactly what I think."
Back in district four, Annie sits and watches Finnick break down before her.
First she covers her ears and starts making sounds that no one understands, she goes away to that place only Finnick can bring her back from.
But Finnick is not here.
He is there, right in front of her eyes.
In that awful place.
She stops screaming and calms down. She slowly walks towards the TV and lays her fingers over the screen. She strokes Finnicks cheek and breathes out.
"I'm okay, Finnick. I'm okay."
The reality is that none of them are okay. Not by a mile.
They come and get her right after she has seen that Katniss girl blow up the arena.
She knew they'd come.
They let her keep the book and the picture of Finnick that she has been caring around with her since he's been gone.
They probably think she is completely harmless and that her keeping the things doesn't matter.
And they are right about the first thing; she is way too weak to put up a fight.
But the things matters more than they can ever know.
"Did you love Annie right away, Finnick?" Katniss asks carefully
"No. "He answers.
"She crept up on me"
He sighs and continues to make knots on his rope. He needs to keep distracted.
"We'll get them back, Finnick" She says and he hopes she's right.
He has to get her back.
Annie has a hard time remembering their reunion when she thinks back at it.
But at the time it was the most important and most magical moment in her life.
She searches the crowd to find him.
When they lock eyes she starts running.
And he's running too.
His arms are open and she's falling right into them causing them to fall against the wall.
In that moment there is no one else in the world.
They only see each other.
In that moment Finnick and Annie are one.
And for the first time she thinks that maybe everything finally will be okay.
One night he asks her to marry him.
Some may say he is rushing it, but this may be their only chance.
And he wants this. He wants this more than anything.
She says yes and big plans are made.
In these days she is more herself than she's ever been since she won the games.
Only a word from Finnick can bring her back to the real world.
"I'm happy. Are you happy?" She says the night before the wedding.
He looks at her, baffled.
"Of course I am, Annie. How can you think that I'm not?" He presses his lips gently against hers.
"I guess I just needed you to say it" She tells him honestly.
"I love you so much" He whispers against her soft hair.
"I love you more" She says and kisses him passionately.
They have a traditional district four wedding.
Annie looks absolutely beautiful in a green dress and Finnick is looking equally gorgeous in a dashing suit.
They give each other their vows and the people give them their blessing.
For a couple of hours everyone forgets the war and the rebellion.
And even though they are underground, the wedding is perfect.
Because Annie and Finnick are true love.
Everyone can see it.
And maybe, just maybe everything will turn out alright for them.
If they for once could get some real luck.
"You can't go. Please don't go!"
"I have to. I have to end this."
"But I…" I am pregnant
"But I need you" She whispers vulnerably.
He sighs and kisses the top of her head.
"I'm coming back to you, Annie. I promise"
She knows this is a promise he might not keep, because the odds have never been in their favor.
"I love you" She says and he kisses her fiercely.
She can't tell him about the child, because then he won't go.
Then he won't ever leave her here alone.
But he wants to go.
To finish this war, so their kids can grow up in a better world.
Therefore she can't tell him.
He wants to go.
That's the kind of man that he is, the man that she loves.
Finnick Odair is the greatest man.
That's all she writes when he closes the door.
The promise is not kept.
Finnick never comes back to her.
"I'm so sorry, Annie"
The words hit her like the water at the arena.
She curls together like a ball and starts screaming.
Annie goes off to that place only Finnick can bring her back from.
But Finnick is not here.
Not like he promised he would be.
In the end, the odds never came in their favor.
She writes in her book one last time.
We are all born to die.
That's all she wrote.