Chapter 7-A Long Walk Home
"Dominic? What are you doing here?"
"Oh…I was just driving by and I saw you walking so I stopped to make sure you were okay."
Although Annie was relieved that Dominic was the person in the car, she felt uneasy about the entire situation. Most of her uneasiness came from the way Dominic was slouching against his car. He looked and sounded intoxicated and his smile suggested ulterior motives.
"Well, that is really sweet but I'm fine." As an afterthought, "Maybe you shouldn't be driving in your condition."
"I'm fine." He started slowly walking toward her, like a lion approaching its prey. "Besides, I'm not even driving so you don't need to worry."
After he said those words, two other boys that Annie had seen hanging around Dominic on many occasions got out of the vehicle. The taller one, Annie thought, was named Benji and the other was Lionel. Annie's stomach leapt into her chest.
"Well, I need to get home. My mother is waiting for me." Annie turned and started briskly walking away.
Dominic ran in front of her and blocked her way.
"Wait, don't you want to know how the party was?" His breath reeked of alcohol.
Annie shook her head. "Not really, Dom. I'm tired, and I just want to get home."
He obviously didn't like her answer because his demeanor suddenly changed. The smile faded from his face, and he aggressively pushed her back when she tried to walk away again.
"What are you doing, Dominic?" Out of the corner of her eye, Annie saw Benji take a step closer to them. Lionel hung back with his hands in his pockets.
"So, would you want to know about the party if Finnick was there?" The dim lights from the streetlamps cast a menacing shadow across his face.
Annie attempted to keep her breathing steady in order to hide her rising fear. "I don't know what you're talking about." She tried to walk away once more. "Now, I really need to get home."
He grabbed her arm. "Don't play dumb. Naomi told me there was something going on between you two."
Instead of becoming hostile, Annie tried to stay level headed and talk him down. "Naomi was mistaken. We're just good friends, Dominic. You remember how Finnick and I were friends when we were younger."
His grip tightened. "No. I saw you two today. Are you screwing him?"
Annie's cool demeanor began to dissipate. "I don't think that is any of your business."
He laughed sarcastically. "It is actually. Because you're mine and Finnick doesn't seem to understand that."
"I'm yours? Dominic, you've got this really twisted. I am not yours. I do not belong to you. We're not even dating!"
All of her life, Annie had been warned by numerous people about her short temper. Even though she knew that this was not the time to prove those people right, Dominic's possessiveness was digging at her last nerve. She wasn't sure how long she could keep from giving him a piece of her mind.
"What are you talking about, Annie? I come to see you like every day." He began to softly caress her cheek while still maintaining a firm grip on her arm.
Annie shied away from his hand. "Dominic, I never encouraged that behavior."
He violently grabbed her chin and pulled her face extremely close to his. "That's not true. You would always smile at me and talk to me and flirt with me. You wanted me."
"Dominic, you're really drunk right now. I think you should go home before you embarrass yourself more."
Annie shouldn't have added "more" with such a condescending tone but she was getting more and more upset with Dominic and wanted to hurt him like he was hurting her. Like he had hurt Finnick when they were younger.
Dominic dropped his hand from her face but tightened his hold on her arm. His fingernails dug into her skin, and she flinched slightly from the pain.
"Don't talk to me like that." He warned.
"Or what?" She was openly testing him despite her better judgment.
He leaned in close and whispered in her ear. "Or I'll make you regret it."
At this point Annie's reasoning skills were being overshadowed by her anger. "Don't make me laugh, Dominic. You won't do anything. Now, let go of my arm."
"Annie, I'm not sure what has gotten into you, but you need to stop and think about how you're acting."
She looked straight into his eyes. "You make me sick." She should have stopped there, but she didn't. "Dominic let go of me…so I can go to Finnick's house and we can talk about how utterly pathetic you are."
Never in her life had Annie experienced such pain as she did when Dominic slapped her across the face. The sheer force of the hit knocked her off balance, but Dominic was still holding onto her arm so she didn't completely fall backwards onto the ground.
The anger faded off of his face and was immediately replaced by guilt. "Annie, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to."
Once she sorted out her thoughts and regained her footing, Annie kicked him hard between the legs. He let go of her and stumbled backwards. She took this opportunity to run far away.
Annie wasn't sure where she was going because her house was in the complete opposite direction of where she was running. Once she saw the gates of Victor's Village, however, she realized she was running to him. To safety. To Finnick.
She was probably one hundred feet from the gate when she stopped to catch her breath. Her lungs were burning, and her back ached from running the long distance while carrying the heavy sack of food.
Her moment of rest was short lived, because Dominic and his two friends suddenly ran up behind her. Benji grabbed her before she could escape. She screamed.
"Hush her up!" Dominic ordered while taking the bag of food off her shoulder and throwing it on the ground. All of the food spilled out onto the dirt.
Benji clapped his hand over her mouth. She squirmed and kicked violently.
How could Annie use that food for Milo's birthday tomorrow? Everything was ruined and it was completely Dominic's fault. Why didn't she just tell him in the beginning to not come and see her at the store? Why? She blamed her vanity. She secretly enjoyed the attention, and now she was suffering because of it. Maybe she was the real problem. Maybe she deserved for this to happen.
"Annie, calm down. I just want to talk to you." Dominic was standing in front of her while Lionel stood over his shoulder looking nervous.
"Man, I don't think we should be doing this." He said.
Dominic ignored him. "Come on, there are a lot of houses around here."
They started dragging Annie away from Victor's Village. She struggled harder than before, which caused Benji to loosen his grip in order to readjust his hold on her. This gave her the opportunity to break free by elbowing Benji in the mouth. Even though she knew that it would be smarter to run away, her anger towards Dominic caused her to just abandon reason and charge him. She lashed out at him with her fists and her feet. She didn't even care where she was hitting him; just that she was hitting him. He did little to protect himself from her other than putting up his hands to shield his face.
"Get off of him!" Benji pulled her off of Dominic and slung her on the ground. She let out a cry of pain as her forehead hit the ground. Hot liquid started dripping down her face. Blood.
"Hey man, be careful with her."
"Guys let's just leave her alone. What if she tells someone?"
"Shut up, do you see what she did to my face?"
Annie's head was fuzzy so she couldn't even tell who was talking at that point. She rolled over and attempted to get up, but there was suddenly a weight on her chest. Someone pinned her arms to the ground next to either side of her head. She still tried to fight even though the head wound was making her extremely weak.
"Listen Annie," she could feel hot breath on her face. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen. Things have just gotten really out of hand. I'm sorry. Let me take you home." This was definitely Dominic talking to her. Was he the one that was pinning her arms as well? The weight suddenly lifted off of her chest and her vision started to get clearer. Dominic was standing above her with a concerned look on his face. He tried to help her up, but she jerked away from him.
"Come on, Annie. Don't be that way."
"Just leave her, man."
"Alright, hold on." Dominic bent down next to her. "Annie, you forgive me, right. You aren't going to tell anyone about this, right?"
Annie hated him. She couldn't even imagine a day where she wouldn't look at him and become immediately sick to her stomach.
"Go to hell."
"That's it." Benji started walking towards her while Lionel just stood passively in the background.
He pushed Dominic out of the way and grabbed Annie. She could see blood flowing from the wound she had inflicted on his lip. He flipped her onto her stomach and dug his knee into her back. He put his hand on the back of her head and pushed it into the ground.
"What are you doing?" Dominic yelled.
"I'm gonna teach her some respect. She won't talk to anyone after tonight."
"Get off of me!" Annie yelled.
"Shut up!"
Annie knew exactly what was about to happen next, and the only thing she could do was cry out in the hopes someone would hear.
"HELP ME!"
She could feel him pressing himself against her.
"FINNICK!"
Victor's Village:
It was the weirdest thing. Finnick had woken up in the middle of the night for what he thought was no apparent reason. He didn't remember having an unpleasant dream or hearing an unusually loud noise. Now that he was awake, however, he wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep. It had been that way ever since the Hunger Games.
Finnick sat at the edge of his bed and laid his head in his hands. He suddenly heard something faintly in the distance. It sounded like a scream. Without thinking he hastily put on a shirt and sprinted downstairs. A rush of cold air stung Finnick's skin when he opened his front door. He took a few steps out into the chilly night and listened intently. Silence. After a minute of hearing nothing but the wind, he headed back inside. Before he shut the door, however, he heard someone distinctly yell "help me". He ran towards the cry at full speed. Once he got outside the gate, he heard something else. His own name. Someone was calling out for him. His heart began to race faster as he ran because he recognized the voice. It was Annie!
"Annie!" He screamed for her at the top of his lungs.
Annie shut her eyes and pretended that she wasn't laying on her stomach with her face pressed into the muddy ground while a teenage boy loomed over her. She pretended that all of the groceries she had bought for tomorrow weren't covered in bugs and dirt. She pretended that she could hear Finnick's voice. Wait, she could hear voice. He was calling for her. Even with her head injury, Annie was sure that his voice wasn't just a figment of her imagination.
"Finnick!" she yelled, "I'm here!"
"Shut up!" Benji slammed her head against the ground one more time before getting off of her and walking toward Dominic.
"What do you want to do, Dom?" he asked.
"He's coming, guys." Lionel said. "We need to leave now."
Dominic was about ready to agree with Lionel. He didn't particularly want Benji to hurt Annie anymore, although a part of him relished in her suffering. Now that Finnick was coming, though, his pride outweighed his concern for her. He was going to show Finnick that he was still on top even though he wasn't the Capitol's pretty boy toy.
"Are you kidding? There's three of us and only one of him. He doesn't stand a chance." He spat.
Annie's head was pounding and black spots clouded her vision. She couldn't let herself fall unconscious, though, not while Finnick was so close. If she could just run to him, then he could help her get away from them. He could save her. With all of her strength, Annie pushed herself from the ground and ran blindly in the direction of Finnick's voice.
"Get her!"
She could hear them running after her down the empty streets. Annie's heart was racing and every part of her body shook uncontrollably.
She hadn't run very far when she slammed into something sturdy. Annie's eyesight was still cloudy so she was unable to see what she had run into. A strong pair of arms wrapped around her, and she struggled to free herself from them.
"Let me go, please." She begged.
"Annie! It's me!"
At the sound of his voice, Annie started crying. She threw her arms around Finnick and dug her face into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, a million questions swirling around in his head.
"Annie, are you okay?"
She was silent.
"Annie…"
Finnick released her and placed his hands on either side of her face. He used his thumbs to stroke her soft cheeks. There was blood dripping down her face from a nasty head wound, and she had a busted lip. Before he could fully assess the rest of her injuries, Annie spoke to him with a desperate tone of voice.
"Finnick we need to get out of here. They're coming…"
"They're here actually." Dominic's voice sent a shiver down Annie's spine. She turned around and saw Benji and Dominic standing a few feet away from them while Lionel hung back a little bit.
Annie's fists clenched and she backed into Finnick. She felt his body shaking violently. When she turned to look into his eyes, she saw nothing but pure unadulterated rage.
"Finnick…let's just go."
"Yeah, Finnick." Dominic mimicked Annie's voice, "You should probably just go. I think Annie's tired from all of the fun we had tonight. Didn't we have fun, Annie?"
Annie couldn't believe he was acting this way. She hoped most of his behavior was a result of the alcohol, but after all he had done, she couldn't be sure.
"Finnick…"
He cut her off. "Get behind me, Annie."
She obeyed him without any protest, which only made him madder. Annie was stubborn and rarely gave into something without a fight. She especially wouldn't like the idea of him belittling her ability to take care of herself by simply telling her to get behind him. Her timidity and obedience coupled with her injuries meant that something really bad had happened to her tonight, and these boys were responsible for it. He was going to make them wish they were dead.
"Well, well, are you going to fight us Odair? I will say that your odds aren't very good but we all know that you've faced worse. This time, though, you don't have your little spear to help you." Dominic took a step closer to Finnick.
Finnick smiled. "Well, I'll say that my odds are little better since your group of three just went down to two."
Benji and Dominic turned around just in time to see Lionel running down the street as fast as he could.
"Coward." Benji sneered. "We didn't need him anyway. Let's just do this."
With a nod of Dominic's head, they charged Finnick.
He easily took both of them down. Benji got a swift kick to the stomach while Dominic got a double punch to the face. When Benji attempted to get up, Finnick knocked him out completely with a strong blow to the nose. Dominic got up quickly and lunged at Finnick. He caught Dominic by the arm and used his leg to knock him off balance. Then, he began violently punching Dominic repeatedly in the face. More and more blood started running down Dominic's face, but Finnick didn't stop.
If he didn't relent, Annie knew that he might kill him. She couldn't let him do that because of her.
"Finnick, stop! Please." She pleaded.
He stopped attacking Dominic, but still kept a grip on his arm.
As Dominic knelt on the ground with a bloody face and his arm at the mercy of Finnick, Annie almost felt sorry for him. She watched closely as Finnick bent down to whisper something she couldn't hear into his ear.
"Please don't." Dominic begged, choking slightly on all of the blood that was in his mouth. He struggled in vain to loosen himself from Finnick's firm grip.
Why was he begging and struggling? What had Finnick told him?
Finnick suddenly began moving his hands into a weird position on Dominic's arm. Annie figured out what he was doing too late.
"NO FINNICK DON'T!"
The night was quiet, so Annie could plainly hear the sound of Dominic's arm breaking. Finnick didn't even flinch as Dominic cried out in pain. He moved away from Dominic slightly before kicking him in the chest and causing him to fall backwards onto the ground. He clutched is arm and moaned.
Annie's whole body felt heavy, and she was having trouble holding herself up. She took one last look at Finnick before falling to the ground.
"Annie!"
Luckily, Finnick was able to catch her before she hit the ground. He cradled her head and looked into her eyes. She smiled weakly at him.
"Annie, you're safe. I'm gonna take care of you, I promise."
"Finnick I just have…" Before she could finish, Annie fell unconscious.
He picked her up in both arms and started running back to Victor's Village. Annie needed some medical attention and there was only one person he trusted to take care of her.
An unintelligible whisper escaped Annie's lips, and Finnick could see her eyes moving around underneath her eyelids. She continued to make sounds and twitch slightly like she was having a dream.
Hopefully, it was a dream and not a nightmare.
