Forgive your enemies, but never, never forget their names.
~John F. Kennedy
~Just the Beginning~
Annie
I couldn't stop trembling. Tears rested in my eyes, but they wouldn't come out. I wrapped myself up tight in my jacket and sighed. I stayed in the same position for the rest of the day. I didn't hear one noise that day. And that didn't help. Because I wasn't distracted. I could still Matthew's head coming off. I hugged myself, as the moon rose into the sky. It was beautiful. I began to sob softly. I wanted to get out of here.
Finnick
Mags left the room, after Matthew's decapitation. I could already hear her cries before she closed the door to her bedroom. Blue didn't show up that day. So I was all alone, on the couch, watching this shit the Capitol called entertainment. A tear ran down my face, and I didn't mind it. I let it fall.
Annie hadn't gotten any sponsors. Matthew had though. A bunch. It was horrible: what happened to him.
Annie
Claudius Templesmith's voice was very loud. It forced my eyes open and made my ears hurt.
"COME ON TRIBUTES! THESE GAMES ARE DYING. MAKE IT INTERESTING!"
I moaned into my hands and mumbled, "Shut up."
I began to cry again, my arms shaking. I wanted my mother. I wanted my sister and brother. I wanted Finnick. I wanted to be out of here.
I wondered what Daniel and Zana were doing. One of them had to be dead. If they both were still alive, the Games couldn't be getting boring. Suddenly, a cannon sounded. That meant death.
Finnick
I just watched the District 1 boy kill his female ally, while she was getting a drink of water. She got on her knees to drink some water from the lake. The boy, who had killed Matthew, looked from her to the axe he held in his hand. Then he slammed into her back. She gasped, then he pushed her into the water. He looked like he regretted it, but he wiped the blood off and walked away.
Annie
I needed water. My throat was dry, and I needed it. So I slipped from the tree and easily found the lake. It was quite close to the tree I stayed in. I closed my eyes and dipped my hands into the lake. I lifted the water to my mouth. Then I drank. It tasted like water…and something else. Something a little thicker than water. I opened my eyes and looked down at my hands. Red. BLOOD!
"Aw!" I screamed, looking down into the water.
There at the bottom of the lake was Zana, blood coming from her back. I fell backwards and inhaled and exhaled. I wiped my hands then walked back to the tree.
The day quickly turned to night. Night quickly turned to day. And again the same process. No cannons had sounded. There was nothing. Just the sound of bugs, resting in the forest.
One morning, after days of nothing, a sound, like a crack, ran through the entire arena. I heard a male voice shout, "WHAT THE HELL?" Then there was the sound of rushing water. I looked down from my tree to see what was going on. I heard screams and more water. Then nothing but water. I dropped from the tree.
"What is going on?" I asked the air. Suddenly, a bunch of water swallowed me. I went under into a sea of blue. I was underwater. I kicked my legs and flung my arms up. I was trying to get up for air. Once I was up, I treaded the water. I was a good swimmer. I looked around. There was water everywhere. They flooded the arena. We weren't giving them a good show, so they decided to make one.
I swam for a long time. I didn't know when this was going to end. I swore I heard the cannon a few times. But I wasn't really paying attention. When I got so tired, my arms began to slow, and my legs stop working. I was going to die. I wasn't fighting it anymore. I stopped swimming, and I was swallowed by the water again.
Finnick
I counted the sound of the cannons. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. After Matthew and the girl from District 1's death, that left 8 people alive. The girl from 8 had been murdered by the tributes from 1. And the boy from 10 was murdered by a tribute from 3. The named the tributes that died. None of them were Annie. Annie lived! That meant…Annie won!
"ANNIE WON!" I shouted.
Mags looked up from her lap. "What?"
"Annie…she won," I said, tears falling from my eyes, "She survived the flood."
"OH MY!" Mags shouted, "That is great!"
I hugged her and cried because I was so overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by the Games, overwhelmed by Matthew's brutal death, and overwhelmed because I knew Annie wasn't going to be alright when she got out.
