As I resurface from the blackness, my head feels disconnected from the rest of my body, heavy and full of liquid. As I lift it, I find its still connected, to a very sore neck and the liquid brings sharp pains as it drains away. My head finds something hard that stops it from going farther back. I should open my eyes, get a sense of where I am, but as my senses start to return to me, I feel as though I would be better off not knowing. The pungent odor suggests some type of waste surrounds us, a constant hum throws me off completely. The sound of a piercing, strangled scream echoes around me, and my eyes snap open. I look to my right, my neck won't allow me to move it the other way, and I see a line of three other chairs filled with the unconscious, bound hand and foot. I look down at myself and find I'm in the same situation. The metal chairs coldness that I sit in has long seeped through my tribute uniform to my skin. Portia had been right, the thin, skin tight material was not made for the cold. I grit my teeth as a cold shiver runs through my body and keep myself from shaking. The girl nearest me lifts her head sluggishly and blinks her eyes and peers around the room. Her eyes suddenly widen and she cries out, beginning to struggle against her restraints. She is small, brown haired and her sea colored eyes mark her as one from District Four. I recognize her after a moment, from many hours of pouring over old Hunger Games, she was one of the victors, the poor mad girl.
I speak softly to her, "Annie, stop, you'll hurt yourself." Her head turns to me and her eyes focus in, studying me carefully.
"Where are we?" Her voice matches her frail frame, filled with fear.
I begin to speak, but a harsh voice cuts me off, "Isn't it obvious? We're prisoners, of the Capitol." I look down the line, at the one who had spoken and furrow my brow.
"Johanna." I hiss, because I could see the fear grow in Annie.
"What?" she snaps back. "It's the truth." I open my mouth to speak, but what exactly would I say? She's obviously had time to assess and accept our situation.
"Who is that beside you?" I ask instead. I could just make the outline of another person past Johanna.
"Enobaria," she says uninterested.
I lean back in the seat and look around our room to try and get a clue of where we were, Capitol for sure, but where? The dark that devoured every corner of the room but our four chairs, felt like a pressing force. The air certainly was thick.
"I wanna go home," Annie whimpers.
I look over to her as a door in front of us flies open, filling the room with a new light. Peacekeepers flood into the room, coming to a solid line in front of us. Eight, I count. Tension fills the room, broken only when a sole pair of footsteps is heard, the owner never coming into view.
"Unshackle them and take them to the cells. Bring the District Seven tribute to me."
No sooner had the gruff voice finished speaking than the Peacekeepers descended upon us, roughly unbinding us. They had to slap Enobaria awake which did not go over well. She snapped at the Peacekeepers hand, her sharp teeth biting off a part of his gloved hand. He yelled and a bigger Peacekeeper took his place, grabbing hold of Enobaria as the man tried to stop the bleeding. The uninjured Peacekeeper takes the place of the bigger and soon we are being marched down a series of hallways to a pair of steel double doors, a Peacekeeper having a hold of each arm. We stand before the doors only a moment before they're opening up to reveal a long hallway, doors on one side, open steel barred cells on the other with one occupied at the moment by a red haired man. One glance. A double, and I recognize him under the dirt, dried blood and bruises. It was the Avox from our district, the Peacekeeper, Darius. I hadn't realized I'd slowed in my walking, but the Peacekeepers had and roughly jerk me forward to a cell near the middle. They open the door and throw me in, ripping my uniform when it catches on part of the lock, scratching my arm. They handle us all this way. The only one not thrown in is Johanna. They continue marching her to the end of the long hall, but stop before the other double doors and turn into one of the rooms that they disappear inside. Annie has curled up against the bars with her knees to her chest and begun crying, Enobaria consistently throws herself at the bars, screaming profanities as the Peacekeepers walk off laughing. The sting on my arm from the scratch has dulled. Annie is in the cell next to mine, the other side of mine is empty I'm guessing for Johanna. I go to the bars separating Annie and me and kneel in front of them.
"Annie?" I say softly. Her crying doesn't stop and she doesn't even acknowledge she heard me. "Annie, I'm Peeta. I'm a friend of Finnick's." Her head lifts just enough for her eyes to peek over her knees at me, tears still falling from them. I smile warmly. "Finnick has given me a special request and I would like to make good on my promise I gave him. I told him, I'd look after you until he could get back to you." Her eyes seem to have transfixed on me, her tears have stopped and I attempt offering my hand out to her. She shies away from it, and I start to take it back, but she grabs it rather quickly holding tightly. For someone so small, I didn't expect such a grip. She looks at me with gleaming eyes, a look of worry on her features.
"Is Finnick okay?"
"Yes, Annie, he's fine. He's safe." A small smile tugs at the corner of her lips. The Peacekeepers who'd taken Johanna in the room come out and stand guarding her door.
"Who's next you think?" I hear one of them ask.
"Pretty boy over there's out of the question. It's between the biter and Avox."
"What about the one by the boy?"
"Her? You idiot, that's the mad girl Annie Cresta, she doesn't know anything." And the conversation ends there. I look to Annie and see her staring down.
"I'm not entirely crazy…" She mutters and it was then I understood a little of what Finnick knows about her. Annie was not entirely crazy. She knew she had moments where her actions or thoughts were that of the little girl from the arena, but she had moments when she was more than sane. Annie was just another victor.
Episodes, that's what Finnick and Annie called them. Finnick's time in District Four was always spent with Annie, whatever Annie wanted to do no matter when she tried to get Finnick to do something he wanted, so she would have to trick him into it anyways. There's a lot you can learn about someone in an hour, that's how long it took for Johanna to reappear looking like a drowned beaten rat, madder than a wet hen and for them to bring in the Avox girl who had served us.
Annie and mines focus goes to her, shocked. "Johanna, what happened to you?" I ask and recieve a look that if they could, would've killed me.
She stares at me like this for a good few seconds before sharply looking at Peacekeepers passing by, turning her lethal look on them, "You damn Capitol pigs can burn in hell!"
They stop and unlock her cell, moving inside quickly. One grabs hold of her while the other hits her. She looks up at him and spits in his face, receiving another hit.
"Johanna!" I yell. She stares at the Peacekeeper, her jaw tightened as she holds back what she was wanting to do. The grinning Peacekeepers leave laughing, passing by my cell, looking in. I glare down at the ground.
"Better get your beauty sleep, you've got an interview coming up soon." Then they go. Soon as the doors close behind them everything goes black.
Annie's hand clamps onto mine and with my other I pat hers gently. "It's alright Annie, I'm here."
"I don't like the dark, Peeta." she replies.
"Just sleep." Johanna's voice says with an annoyed sigh.
I ignore her, "I'll stay right here with you, promise." Her hand relaxes just a hair underneath mine and I turn my hand over to hold hers, reassure her I wasn't going anywhere. I rest my head against the bars, and whether Annie was asleep or not, I soon was.
