Note: Get ready for the penultimate chapter, because here it comes... hope you like it!

-Hailey

10 – Pick Me Up

'How can I be with you now? Now that I know I just can't live without you.'

–"Pick Me Up" (Matt Hires)

Watching Annie sleep is like staring into an eternal sunset. I can't look away because with every second that passes, I'm afraid that all that color around her cheeks, and all that peace locked between her cold eyelashes and her warm skin, like the horizon line between a blue ocean and an orange sun, might disappear. She might leave me again, which is a thought I can't seem to stand. All I know is that I'm not going to leave her, not now or ever, because my water won't survive without her sun, so if the world wants to tear us apart again, then somebody's going to have to pry her out of my bare hands or catch us while we're sleeping.

And that's why I stay awake. Annie is completely unconscious by the time we return to the Capitol, and I carry her limp body straight to the hospital on the first floor of the training center. A group of doctors that don't look much older than me put her in some sort of warming chamber that I don't catch the name of. To me, it just looks like a sauna with a bed in the middle – a room about the size of a walk-in closet filled with dry heat that the doctors claim bears as strong a temperature as a standard oven. They advise me not to accompany Annie inside once they set her and all of her IVs up on her bed, but I go in anyway, because I know that the heat won't affect me. Whatever it might feel like, I know that I've felt worse, and being with Annie is the only thing that has ever made me feel any better.

We stay in the chamber for nearly ten hours, from late afternoon when Annie was picked up from the arena to early in the morning when her skin starts to burn and her eyes flutter open. Even with just a glimpse of that sea green, I find myself yelling for one of the nurses to come inside, and soon a Capitol worker is rolling Annie into an adjacent room that's already set up to treat her psychological symptoms now that the hypothermia has worn off, and it suddenly becomes frighteningly clear that those psychological symptoms are far more extreme than the physical ones were.

She screams for hours, and the only thing that seems to help is my holding her, and though the nurses aren't thrilled to have a reason to let me get in the way of their treatments, I'm secretly thankful that Annie wants me there. I'm not sure when I started wondering just how different she'd be after everything that happened in the arena – maybe before she even stepped foot on the platform, or maybe the moment she witnessed Kasen's beheading, or maybe not until she was hiding and shivering and covering her ears from the nightmares – but I knew before she woke up to be prepared for a challenge. She already recognized me on the hovercraft, but a part of me thought that she might resent seeing me again for all the memories of Kasen that I'm surely attached to. I suppose I should have known that Annie's memories of me aren't attached to anyone else but her.

For the rest of the day, I rock her back and forth on a hospital bed as she dozes in and out of sleep and as doctors flock around us to examine her. I am the only non-doctor allowed in, since I'm the only person who can get her to shut her mouth and uncover her ears and open her eyes when she slips into that impassive state that took control of her in the arena. Every time it happens, which goes from fairly often to only occasionally, I press my forehead to hers and sing her Mags's song before whispering that it's okay, because I'm here. I was watching when she felt alone and scared and helpless, because I saw her every minute, and because we made a promise to be together forever. And then I tell her to open her eyes to the promise, because it isn't Kasen who's right in front of her, lying atop Ember in a pool of their mixed blood. It isn't Kasen she's facing anymore, because now it's just our promise that's right in front of her. I am right in front of her. We are right in front of her.

Once she understands that and begins to settle down, she acts more like her usual self again. She's still jerky and fragile, and she doesn't allow anyone else to touch her without snapping at them first, but when the doctors give us a few minutes alone, we're back to the 'us' that we've always been. We're back to those perfect in-between moments – me picking strands of seaweed out of her hair, Annie telling me that I don't have to feel so alone anymore, and the both of us feeling all the same feelings together.

And because of that connection, I can always feel it when Annie is about to slip away from me and those moments, because after a while I notice that it happens when she starts to go quiet – not just her voice, but her whole body, and even her eyes. She leaves me and goes somewhere else for a minute, somewhere deep inside her head, and I try to pull her back by asking her to tell me what she's thinking, or to tell me what went wrong.

"I just feel like everything's in my imagination," she says, and I know exactly what she means. Being in the arena is like being locked in a dream, but it's one that you're not supposed to wake up from, because most of the dreamers don't. And when you wake up and realize that they didn't, you start to wonder if maybe you're wrong, and that maybe the arena wasn't the dream after all. Maybe that was the only thing that was real.

But because I can't let her think that, I tell her softly but adamantly, "I still love you. You still love me. That isn't your imagination." And usually, it works. I pull her back to me, at least for the next ten minutes or so, and we have more time in the in-between before she slips away again, either into her torturous mind or a peaceful slumber. But no matter where she goes, I stay awake, because that's the only way to make certain that I stay with her.

I wonder if my eyes have been glued to remain permanently open by the time the next morning comes, when one of the psychologists knocks on the door and tries not to disturb Annie while she's sleeping by whispering coyly to me, "It looks like her injuries are all healed, so Snow wants her discharged within the next few hours so that she can be ready for her interview later tonight. I'll let you know when it's time to take her."

At first, I don't want to believe that it's already time for Annie to return to the real world. My body knows exactly how long it's been since these Games started or even ended, but my head tells me that we're not ready. She's not ready to see Caesar again and to watch the highlights of the Games that will be broadcast to her in front of a cheering audience of Capitol 'fans' before answering a slew of questions designed to tug at her still raw emotions. I'm not ready to let everyone in the world pick her apart before I've had the chance to put her back together again like she did for me. We're not ready for the world to see us like this, with our wounds exposed for the vultures to pick apart. We haven't had enough time to heal.

But there is no space to argue when it comes to Snow's wishes. The president of the Capitol always gets what he wants, and since I'm bound to be on thin ice with him since what happened in the control room a few days ago, I can't disobey him now. Plus, Snow was named after the frozen rain for a reason – he's well versed in destroying new life by covering it with the cold. I can't let him do that to Annie and me. I have no doubt that he'll try, because surely he knows about us and can't possibly be happy about what our relationship means for the secret work he gives me. I know that he'll try to freeze over our water, but I can't let him do it.

Sure enough, Dax arrives at the hospital only an hour later to escort me and Annie back to the fourth floor suite. I'm glad it's Dax and not a Peacekeeper, but I'm still worried about Annie. I have to wake her up because she's still asleep, which I hate doing. It's even worse when Annie throws another one of her fits upon seeing Dax, but the doctors don't seem to care that this might be a sign of her need for further treatment. They want her out as quickly as possible, and so as soon as I have my arms wrapped around her and she's silenced beneath her tears, we're shoved outside and then we follow Dax through the center and to the elevator.

Annie appears to be in a state of shock as the cameramen that have somehow broken into the center start bombarding us, but I think it's better for everyone that she's present and in shock rather than distant and manic. Her silence isn't what the paparazzi want from us, but at least it's what they expect, and I don't think the same would be said if Annie tried to scream at them too.

I keep Annie and Dax separated as we ride quietly to the fourth floor suite, but I soon learn that it isn't their interaction I should be worrying about. Because as soon as the elevator door dings open, Mags is standing in front of the three of us, and it's her who sends Annie into the latter's greatest fit yet.

This one isn't as loud or violent as the others have been, but somehow, it's still worse. It's heartbreaking instead of skin-crawling, because after Annie lets go of me, she curls herself into a ball on the floor and starts sobbing into her knees, and she thrashes at my hands every time I try to open her back up.

But this time, it's only Mags who can comfort Annie, since it's Mags whom is crying over. The elderly woman can barely lower herself onto the ground where Annie is, but she manages to put a hand on her shoulder, making Mags the first person other than me whom Annie's let touch her. For a while, I'm not sure why, since Mags and Annie were never that close before Annie went into the arena; in fact, they always kept away from each other because of their differing opinions of what was or wasn't good for me. But then I realize that there was one thing – or rather, one person – that they always agreed upon.

That's the only reason I let Mags help Annie to stand up before leading her away and whisking her off to Kasen's abandoned bedroom. Mags shuts the door on me when I try to follow them inside, but surprisingly, I don't attempt to kick in the barrier, because I trust Mags, but also because of what I hear Annie tell her as she flees inside.

"It's my fault, Mags," she says in between breaths and sobs. "I swore that I would protect him; I swore that I would get him out!" And then the door slams and I can no longer hear their conversation.

I've been worried about that too. In fact, I think I once blamed myself for Kasen's death because I knew that that's how Annie felt, and I wanted to lift that burden off her shoulders. And when I believed that it was my fault like Annie believes now, the only person I wanted to talk to about it was Mags, because she was the one person who could prove me otherwise, because she was the person who loved Kasen the most. So now, I have to let Annie have the same conversation with Mags that I once had, because she needs to hear Mags tell her that she isn't to blame, because nobody is. At least, nobody but President Snow.

Still, I find myself thinking about Annie as I wait in the hallway for her to come out of Kasen's room. I'm always thinking about Annie these days, but right now I find myself thinking about my future with her. That's something I haven't even considered until now, because as much hope as I had that she'd win the Games, I was never completely sure of her chances. And now that she's accomplished the impossible, I wonder what further obstacles we'll have to accomplish, knowing now that we'll at least be together to conquer them.

But then I think, will we ever have a future? Even if we stay together, and I'm sure that we will, that doesn't mean that we'll ever be able to escape our past. Annie's already suffering from a type of grief and confusion that most people will never experience in their lives, let alone comprehend, and can that kind of grief ever be fixed? Can she ever find her way back from the river before she flows into that dead sea? Will we ever heal, or are we just fooling ourselves into thinking that we can move forward when the current's clearly pulling us back?

By the time Mags opens the door and slips into the hallway, I've lost track of how long I've been leaning against the wall waiting for them. It must have been a while, though, since Mags comes out alone and closes the door lightly as if Annie's fallen asleep inside, and she doesn't appear to have expected to see me there. My voice surprises her when I ask monotonously, "Do you really think that bringing her in there will help?"

I've been telling Annie not to think about what happened to Kasen and to focus instead on what's happening to us right now, so what am I supposed to think about Mags taking Annie into Kasen's room so that she can fill Annie's head with all of the memories that I've been trying to block out?

Mags jumps slightly since I've startled her, but then she turns toward me and whispers confidently, "Yes, I do."

Now, I'm as tired as I've ever been but I still don't want to sleep, because I don't want to let myself dream about everything that happened instead of living through all that's happening, and I think my grogginess takes its toll as I ask almost accusingly, "So, what, you think that's enough? You think that's all she needed – just a walk through the room of all the things that he once touched? You think that's all she needed to get over it?"

"No, Finn," says Mags with far more certainty in her voice than I had in mine. "I think that she needed to touch everything that he once did, because it's the closest she'll ever get to touching him. And I don't think that she'll ever 'get over it'. None of us will. But that doesn't mean that we should run away from him, no matter how hard we try to keep him out of our dreams."

I stare at her for a good five minutes, the whole time trying to understand who she was referring to when she said 'we'. I know that she's including Annie and herself, but is she possibly talking about me as well? Does she know just as well as I do that the reason I'm not sleeping is only partially due to Annie's return, but that mostly it's because I'm even more afraid than Annie is? After all, at least she's letting Kasen in, even if doing so is fueling her insanity. At least she isn't determined to push the boy away.

A part of me wants to talk to Mags about it once more, because the last conversation I had with her regarding Kasen really did help. Another part of me doesn't want to burden her even further. As it turns out, I don't have to decide which part to go off of, since in a split second, Starlin is at my side and is asking where Annie is.

Mags disappears the moment the stylist shows up. I manage to convince Starlin to let Annie wake up naturally, which she does after another hour. Then I go into Kasen's room on my own to talk to her for a minute before letting Starlin take her. I tell Annie that she has to do this interview tonight, but that if she doesn't want to, or if she thinks even for a moment that she can't, then I'll do everything in my power to get her out of it.

All she says back to me is, "It's okay. I'll do it. Kasen would want me to do it, right?"

And even though I know the question wasn't rhetorical, I don't respond with a straight answer. Instead, I just say, "I don't know. I don't know what Kasen would want."

Annie looks at me, but I feel like she's looking through me. It's the closest I've felt to her since getting her back from the arena, yet for some reason, I'm not able to reciprocate the gesture. This time, I've left her to bury myself somewhere deep in my own head, as if she's now okay and I'm not. But when I pull myself out of the daydream and turn to face her finally, her eyes have traveled away from mine, focusing on a book of knots that sits on Kasen's old dresser as she fades away again. And sadly to myself, I wonder if this is what it will be like from now on – one of us will disappear and then come back just in time for the other to leave. I wonder if there will ever again be enough of those in-between moments for us to share them and stretch them out across two lifetimes.

For the rest of the day, Annie remains distant. Since I have a feeling that this will happen, I order Starlin to let me inside Annie's room with the two of them and Starlin's prep team. Starlin seems caught off guard by the request at first, since she doesn't realize the way Dax does just how close Annie and I have become. But since I make it a statement rather than a question, she has no place to defy me.

That doesn't stop Starlin from trying to cover Annie up as she and the others start cleaning and pruning every last speck of Annie's body, from her toenails to each strand of hair on her head. But when Starling tries to make Annie undress for her inside the closed-off bathroom, Annie throws another one of her fits and I have to burst inside and hold her to calm her down. That's when Starlin finally understands that Annie and I are together, and from then on, she no longer skirts around me as she makes Annie over to the Capitol's highest standards.

Ironically, Starlin's transformation of Annie is just as mesmerizing to me as it will surely be to the rest of the world. It must have something to with the fact that what Starlin has to start off with is a battered and broken body. I've been holding Annie's frail form for days now, but seeing her from afar gives me a whole new perspective. As she stands naked in the center of her bedroom while Starlin sorts through some dresses for her to try on, I watch her from my seat on the bed and wish that I didn't have to see her look this way.

She's nothing but skin and bones, her legs shaking poles holding up a starved stomach. The doctors did their best to paste up any scars she had from the arena, but even they couldn't cure her malnourishment overnight. I'm surprised that she's even able to stand on her own, and just thinking of such makes me get off the bed so that I can stand beside her and let her heavy head rest on my shoulder. And soon, her eyes are closed and she's turning into me, her arms dead at her side but her face searching for my chest. I instinctively wrap my arms around her back and wince at the feeling of her entire frame only being less than half the size of mine. Still, I don't hold her like her bones might crack or like her skin might tear, because I know that that's not what she needs. She needs me to hold her as tightly as I possibly can, because that makes her feel strong, and so that's exactly what I do. I hold her so tightly against my shirt, which she's staining with tears, that she probably can't breathe, which is what makes me stop breathing too. But with both of us so silent, we're able to hear our blended heartbeats through the in-between.

I'm not sure when we finally break apart, but I know that Starlin doesn't mean to interrupt us. She's just doing her job, and she seems to do it rather well. By early evening, Annie's all waxed and tanned and is wearing a blue dress that goes from as light as white at the bodice to dark as night at the knees. She's wearing an entire ocean, just like the one she nearly drowned in but really saved her life, with her legs caught in the deep and her head bobbing atop the surface. Her hair is tied up in a knot at the back of her head, and though it takes me a minute to recognize it, I soon realize that the knot is one that Kasen used to tie on his rope.

I dress myself in short swim trunks provided by Starlin, refusing to wear the even skimpier netting that I usually do for Annie's sake more than my own, and then walk alongside the beautified Annie and dapper Dax all the way down to Caesar's studio. We head inside through a hidden entrance that takes us straight into the backstage area to avoid the lurking fans and photographers, but once we make it into the wings, Dax bids us farewell and then Annie and I turn to each other to say our own goodbyes.

She has a personalized waiting room to stay in while I accompany every other mentor involved in this year's Games onto the stage for the first part of tonight's Closing Ceremonies. It's tradition for Caesar to start off the night with a collective interview of all the mentors, asking them about their respective tributes and strategies, as well as their plans and hopes for next year. It's not usually something I look forward to, since I tend to be asked more questions than any other mentor just because of my popularity in the Capitol, and this year is sure to be even worse, since I was the one to mentor the victor.

Annie knows all of this, since of course she's watched my interviews on various years previously, and she seems to sense my anxiety as she takes my hand, squeezes it, and looks straight into my eyes while asking, "Do you remember what I said to Leo before the flood?"

I try to act normally upon Annie's mention of the arena's flooding, since she doesn't know that I was the person behind the giant earthquake. I thought that it would be better for all of us to keep that detail to myself, since Snow wouldn't want word getting out about my interfering with the Gamemakers' plan. But I try to remind myself that Annie's only asking about Leo and not the flooding itself, so I think back on the words she said to him and nod my head when I remember.

With my confirmation, Annie adds, "I know I told him that I never change my mind about anyone, but I was lying." If she didn't have my full attention before, she has it now. "I did change my mind about you. I used to see you on the screens and think that you were an obnoxious, arrogant pain in the ass. But you never seemed like that person once I met you, and that's not the person I fell in love with."

I smile at that, because it's the first time since she's been back that she's the one telling me how she feels rather than the other way around, and I didn't realize until now how much I needed to hear her say those words. But my smile disappears when she finishes by saying, "Even though you might be going on screen right now, don't pretend to be that obnoxious, arrogant pain in the ass. Just this once, be the person I fell in love with." I'm not smiling because I know that she means it, but I don't know that I can go through with it. I know that Annie needs me to be myself right now, but she also wants me to do it for Kasen. She wants me to face him up there like she's about to, because that way, we can face him together.

And she knows me well, because she knows that I would do anything for her, even when I don't have enough faith in myself to do it. To tell her that I'll try, I end up leaning down and kissing her, also for the first time since the Games ended. It's short and barely more than a mere touch, but I think that it's the perfect first step for both of us. And right now, that's what we need – a first step and a chance to start over so that we might move forward again.

I keep my promise, too. Being myself and stopping with the pretend is all I can think about as I take my spot on center stage beside Mags, in front of all the other mentors, including Beetee, Haymitch, and Cecelia, all of whose smiles I can feel penetrating the back of my head.

Caesar Flickerman asks what feels like a hundred questions about mentoring Annie, all of which I answer honestly without giving the status of our relationship away. But then Caesar moves on to all the fallen tributes, starting with the ones who were killed at the Cornucopia and ending with Leo. And when he gets to Kasen, Mags takes her chance to answer most of the questions, but eventually Caesar speaks directly to me, if only to get a larger reaction from the live audience.

"What about you, Finnick?" he asks, shortly after asking Mags the same question, "What are your thoughts on the late boy who can't be touched?"

I can feel Mags's eyes searing through me skin as I look straight at Caesar's powder-blue hair and pretend that I'm looking into Kasen's puppy-dog eyes as I answer, "He was an incredible kid. I don't think any of us will ever get over what happened to him. But that's okay, because I don't think we want to. I think we'd all rather remember everything about him for as long as we possibly can."

I earn quite a few sympathetic sounds of appreciation from the girls in the audience, but it's Mags whose reaction I turn to see. She merely nods at me and sends a wink between claps, and I know that everything between us is okay, and that it will be okay, probably for the rest of our lives. Mags can accept my love for Annie now, because now I'm the person whom they can both agree upon.

After a few more questions are asked about Ember, Nickel, and Leo, all of the mentors are finally let off stage and the show takes a short intermission, leaving the audience and televisions with the promise that this year's victor will appear after only a short break.

Backstage, Mags gives me a curt hug before leading me into a pack of supporters. Beetee, Haymitch, and Cecelia offer me and Annie their congratulations and utmost approval, and I thank them all individually for the help they've each given me along the way, adding to Haymitch especially, "I owe you one."

"I might just take you up on that one day," he snarls back at me, acting as if accompanying me to the control room hadn't been as much fun for him as I know it was.

Then, we all say goodbye, the rest of the mentors heading off for a bar or their rooms before they take the morning trains back home to their districts. I probably won't see any of them until next year's Games, and just this once, I think that I might actually miss being in their company. Luckily, though, I have the best possible company to keep in the meantime.

Thinking of her, I rush out of the wings and quickly take my reserved seat in the first row from the stage, since I don't have time to check on Annie before her own interview begins. I have to have a Peacekeeper on each side of me to keep the young girls from reaching out and attempting to pet my hair. They all pipe down once Annie's on stage, though, ready for the much-anticipated first public appearance of this year's victor.

Caesar walks her out with her hand on his arm, and I lean forward in the most discreet way possible to try to gain her attention. I want Annie to know that I'm here and that I'm watching as she relives her days in the arena, just like I was when she was actually there. Once she sees me, I can tell that she's still okay, just like she was before my interview, and I take her sea glass heart out of my pocket and kiss it softly while she's still looking my way, and when she holds onto the heart at the end of her own necklace, I know that she understands that I'm trying to tell her that I love her, and I know that she's saying it back to me.

After Caesar introduces Annie and says a word of congratulations on behalf of the whole of Panem, he tells her to turn herself around so that she can face the giant screen behind her as it starts fast forwarding through this year's most exciting moments in the arena. For the first while, Annie seems to do okay as she watches, and even appears interested, since much of what she's seeing are scenes that she wasn't a part of herself. It all starts with the Cornucopia, which features mostly Nickel, then moves onto Kasen's reveal and the alliance's formation before panning back to an intimate moment shared between Maple Man and Horse-Nose that even I must have missed while watching. Then comes the attack on the careers led by Annie and Leo, then Maple Man's death followed by Noor's, and finally Leo's betrayal.

Annie is riveted when the screen shows Nickel giving Leo his ultimatum. I can tell that she's even gladder now that she didn't kill Leo herself, since it wasn't his idea to kill Kasen and Ember after all. Annie always believed the best in him, just like she did me, and I've always loved her for that. More importantly, though, I think it's also a huge part of what Annie loves about herself.

But things grow tense when the screen follows Leo as he walks back up the hill to the alliance's old camp. Once he gets to Kasen, I can feel Annie start to shut down. I don't see much of it happening, since her face is turned away from me at the moment, but it doesn't matter; my other senses are enough. They're all I need to hear her breath catch in her throat, to taste the blood intoxicating her mouth, and to her heart stop beating.

I stand at the exact moment that my knife cuts through Kasen's neck, which also happens to be when Annie starts screaming again. This fit is the worst yet, probably because it's coming after her most lucid hour since the arena, but of course no one in the Capitol understands what's going on. They're all standing up now as well, staring at Annie while gasping and whispering to each other as the scene enfolds. I yell frantically at the Peacekeepers around me to get someone to turn off that screen that Annie's trying to shut herself off from, but I swear that the volume only grows louder as the knife seeps into Ember.

Eventually, I give up on trying to push my way through the crowd of the front row and decide to just leap onto the stage, scooping Annie into my arms as I see a flash of white hair at the corner of the stage where Snow's podium is hidden, waiting with a golden crown sitting atop it and ready to be rolled out for the official announcement of Annie's first place finish.

I meet Mags backstage, and she helps ward off any followers to make a way for me to carry Annie back outside and into the training center. Once there, I have to run to the elevator to avoid being caught by a Peacekeeper, but we're safe once we've made it to the suite. Snow will be even angrier with me now, and probably Annie as well, but his threats mean nothing in comparison to Annie's comfort. I shouldn't have let her go out there at all, but since I did, I have to take care of her now, because she wasn't ready. She desperately wanted to be, and I think I did too, but she's just not strong enough yet. Like I thought this morning, her wounds may be covered up with fast-acting medicines and pounds of make-up, but they're still fresh. She still hasn't had enough time to heal.

We end up in my bedroom because it's the first place I think of to bring her, and because I don't want her prep team to barge in tomorrow morning like they would if we were in her room. But I regret bringing her here just as soon as I set her down on the floor where my bed should be, because there are flower petals laid across the blankets that have been set down there, and candles are burning atop nearly every surface. When I let myself look around, I also notice that the few things I usually have scattered across the floor have been picked up and put away so that the room is perfectly clear and ridiculously romantic. Sighing, I rub a hand over my forehead and curse the existence of Dax Dirigible for being the one person in the world who tries his hardest to provide grand gestures at the most inopportune moments.

Because she's still trying to drive the image of Kasen's dismantled body out of her mind, Annie takes a while to notice the state of the room. When she finally does, she looks up at where I'm standing and nearly starts to cry with guilt for ruining what appears to be a perfectly planned evening, but I quickly sit down next to her and reassure her that this wasn't my idea, and that I expect nothing from her – not on a night like this, or ever, for that matter. I just wanted to bring her somewhere safe.

But she continues to ramble off profuse apologies, for ruining my night as well as many others' I think, saying things like, "I tried not to imagine, but I couldn't help it. He was right in front of me, and I couldn't do anything. I couldn't save him and I couldn't touch him. I just wanted to touch him."

"I know you did," I tell her as I rub her back gently. She isn't so much crying as hyperventilating at this point, but I try to be soothing as I say, "Shh. It's okay. I'm here. We're here. It's okay."

After a while, just like always, she comes back to me. She kisses me a few times, and I always kiss her back, but we don't do anything more, because we aren't ready to yet. Instead, we just hold each other, pulling one another out of the darkness whenever one of us slips away, Annie into her nightmares and me into my dreams. We work together as if we were built to do so, facing our past in order to make way for our future.

And within a few hours, the glue on my eyes finally wears off, and when Annie can tell that I'm having a hard time fighting the sleep, I say to her, "I want to stay here with you. I don't want to feel like everything's in my imagination."

Then she tells me, "I still love you. You still love me. That isn't your imagination." And then I fall asleep, dreaming about Kasen looking down on Annie and me and smiling because we're together, and it's his fault.

But morning comes all too soon, and I wake to a soft knocking on my door that isn't quite loud enough to make Annie stir. I open the door to a see an Avox – a Capitol rebel punished with muteness for their treachery – standing in front of me dressed in clothes as white as snow, and handing me a letter that smells of roses. The Avox disappears before I have the chance to thank her, leaving me standing on the threshold with the unopened envelope sitting atop my shaking palm.

All too soon, I regret falling asleep. I turn to look at Annie and I regret staring into my own eternal sunset. I look at her and with every second that passes, I'm assured that all that color around her cheeks, and all that peace locked between her cold eyelashes and her warm skin, like the horizon line between a blue ocean and an orange sun, is about to disappear. She's not going to leave me again, but I have a terrible feeling that I'm about to leave her, because even though my water won't survive without her sun, it looks as though the world wants to tear us apart again, and Snow won't have to pry her out of my bare hands to do it, because he's already caught us while we were sleeping.

Note:These two really can't seem to catch a break, haha. I guess that's the idea of a 'tragic love story', but anyway, let me know how you liked the chapter in a review! There's only one chapter left before this particular story comes to a close, which is kind of bittersweet for me, but I'm trying to look forward to it and will be putting a lot of effort into these final pages. The chapter will be uploaded on August 13th, and will follow Finnick and Annie through their return home to District 4.

I'd also like to reference that I drew a lot of inspiration for the 'imagination' quote from the song "Heart in Wire" by my favorite singer/songwriter, Matthew Mayfield. He deserves all the credit for that line and more, and you should check him out if you haven't heard of him. His music honestly changed my life.

Thanks again, and make sure you don't leave this page before reviewing! I sincerely appreciate all the feedback I receive.

-Hailey