Sorry about those confusing points of view, I just thought it would make for a really short chapter if I separated them. Anyways, I have an announcement. This might make you happy if you like long stories. This story was going to end a chapter after Annie's games, but I decided to continue the story up until Finnick goes with Katniss and the others to the Capitol. So, now you've got more of the story coming!
Thank you to all my reviewers, it makes me happy to know someone likes what I'm doing :)
I'll shut up now!
Chapter nine- Annie
My world has become nothing more than a bright, blinding green light. I know my eyes are closed in the real world, but that world doesn't exist anymore. Only this one does.
The light burns my eyes. I long for a wide stretch of darkness that will last an eternity. Being blind is far better than this world. I want to close my eyes so all the green light goes away, but no one in this world hears me when I beg.
My eardrums, I'm sure, are about to burst. Accompanying the blinding light is a ringing so powerful that a thousand bells won't even compare. It's louder than anything I've ever heard. I want to run away from this noise, but I am frozen.
Just when I'm sure I might be allowed to die, I wake up to find myself shivering in a world of nothingness. Everything is white.
I lie on my back and let the cold seep into my skin. My clothes are soaked. I'm afraid to move in case the endless ringing comes back.
It's so quiet, it's scary. I don't even hear birds. I wonder for a second if I might be dead, but then dismiss the thought. If I were dead, than I wouldn't be thinking about why no has killed me yet. Maybe they thought the spider bite would.
I almost wish it did. I heard freezing to death takes a long time.
I lift my hand and place it on my chest, feeling the slow rise and fall. I don't know how many days have past, but apparently the gamemakers decided it was time for winter.
After a while, I decide to make myself move. I don't get very far before I vomit a pool of blood in the perfect white snow.
I only walk a little further before I decide to just stop. I have no weapons, no food, and no allies. I could try going back to the careers, but it's probably a bad idea. I don't even know if Tales is alive. Surely the careers would kill me now. I'm no more than skin and bones.
I am about to lay down again and wait to die, but something catches my eye. It's a shiny silver parachute, floating down just to my right. I look around to make sure that it doesn't belong to anyone else.
"Finnick," I mumble, "you're and idiot if you think I still have a chance."
I untie the brown jacket from the parachute quickly, suddenly scared that someone might take it away. I reach inside the pockets to find a few slices of bread, still warm from the oven.
Instead of sitting down, I keep walking, now at a brisk pace. With the jacket also came a message. I was lucky enough to survive the spider bites, so I better count my blessings and try to stay alive. Finnick might come in here and kill me himself if I just give up.
I stop and eat some snow to hydrate myself as best I can, and I can only hope I won't be poisoned.
I nibble on one of the pieces of bread as I look for a place to hide. The ground offers almost no coverage, so I decide to climb a tree for the night. I can watch the screen to see if there are any deaths. The games might even be further along than I thought.
I struggle to climb the tree's slippery trunk with my weak arms and legs. I can barely hold my own weight. A quick look at my calf and shoulders tell me that the spider's torture is not over. There are now huge black lumps sticking out from my sunken gray skin.
I try not to focus on the pain as I force myself higher an higher into the tree. If there's one thing my small body is good for, it's being able to sit on the thin branches.
I'm almost comfortable when I hear a huge boom in the distance. Before I can stop myself, I scream shrilly. It echoes off the trees.
I bet finnick is beside himself. He's probably never seen a tribute scream at the sound of the cannon.
No one comes to kill me. I stay in the tree for two days, watching the weather change rapidly. After the snow comes the rain and the flowers, and then comes the heat. It's like a cycle, I suppose, I season for every day.
I never ever sleep, because the spiders might come. I am afraid of the bright green world and the loud ringing bell.
The only reason I get down from the tree is because something is wrong. The birds have stopped singing, and the trees stop swaying in the breeze.
I barely have my feet on the ground before my whole body is shoved into the dirt by a violent shaking. It's like a huge wave rolled under the ground. I hear a scream in the distance.
I grip the tree trunk and bite through my lip again. The ground keeps shaking like chattering teeth, and I listen to the agonizing screams that fill the air. I wish a cannon would sound already so this person will be put out of their pain.
I can't help wonder if this is possibly Lindy or Trille.
It's fall now. I move through the trees as quietly as possible, looking for a river or something to drink from. I'm lightheaded and I can barely see, but at least I'm alive.
I should have somehow saved the snow, because it was stupid to think I could go three days without water, especially after summer.
I think I can hear a river up ahead, and I'm about to take off running to it when I hear footsteps. My heart immediately starts pounding as I scamper up a tree as best I can, scraping my hands and face badly. I put one hand over my mouth to hold back a scream when I see who it is that enters line of sight.
It's my best friend. Only, I barely recognize him. His face is a sickly green color, and he is missing a hand. His clothes have so much blood on them that it probably weighs him down.
I watch as he backs up against a tree, sinking down against the waxy trunk. He seems to realize his body can't take it anymore. I want to call out to him, but I don't let myself. I chew my ragged upper lip and wait, because he wouldn't be running away that fast unless something was chasing him.
Right on cue, the surely boy from district seven enters my vision with barely a scratch on him. "you thought your little fishing nets could hold me, did you?" he snarls at Tales.
I watch as Tales struggles to his feet, reaching for a knife in his belt.
"Sorry, Four. You're done." the boy right under my tree wets his lips carefully before he throws his huge axe, right at Tales' throat.
I rake my nails down the sides of my face as Tales' head comes completely off his shoulders. I wouldn't even be able to scream if I tried to. I'm choking. I can't even breath as the boy takes his ax and runs away without a backward glance.
I try to grab hold of the tree, but my bloody fingers slip and I fall onto my back.
It's so easy. It's so easy to talk about death. Talking is nothing compared to seeing your best friend die right in front of you.
A few weeks ago, he was just the boy that ate dinner over at my house because we loved his stories he made up for my little brothers. He actually made my parents smile. Not even I could do that after Mae died.
A few weeks ago, he held my hand before the reaping and told me he would win.
It's gone. It's all gone. The Hunger Games took the only two people I was ever closed to.
I want to die. I want to die. I want to go live with Mae and Tales and be far away from here.
Eventually I leave the clearing because the hovercraft needs to take his body. I take the knife that he dropped and leave as quickly as possible without falling over.
My sobs echo through the woods. Im practically screaming. No one comes to kill me, though. It's almost funny. I'd be so easy.
When it gets dark, I find myself laying at the bottom of a tree, very far away from the river. My body won't produce anymore tears because it's so dehydrated. It's almost a winter morning when I start to sing the song Mae and I used to sing as kids. Something about a flower growing at the bottom of a well. It fits on my tongue easily. It's much softer than a scream.
Thanks for reading, please leave a comment? :)
