26. Bleed

Annie spent the rest of her day and half of her night sitting by her window in a rocking chair. Her mind was in another place, and no one bothered to snap her out of it. When she finally realized what time it was, she was sitting alone in her dark room. Annie pulled on clothes and tied her hair into a pony tail, deciding that she would go to Rival's fire. Why not, she thought, it wasn't like she'd been doing anything important. Her father was out on a fishing boat and her mother was working late. It seemed like a good way to get out of the house.

It wasn't hard to find them, Rival's "little fire" was actually a bon fire. She could see the smoke the moment she stepped onto the beach. Annie pulled her jacket closer to her body, feeling the breeze from the ocean.

Rival glanced up at her as she approached, "Annie Cresta, I'm surprised you came."

Annie just smiled. Rival planted his beer into the sand and stood up, "Guys, this is Annie." Annie glanced around the small group of people, but only one face was familiar to her. The head peace keeper sat with a beer in his hand, smiling up at Annie. Annie shivered, Dutch had always scared her. It wasn't just because he was the head peace keeper; he had something in his eyes that was cold and emotionless. She didn't want to know what made him that way.

Annie straightened as the smile on Dutch's face fell. She reminded herself that she was a Victor now; she had no reason to be afraid of him. "Nice to see you Ms. Cresta, I'm confused, where's Finnick?" Dutch asked. Annie hesitated and glanced at Rival, "he couldn't make it," she answered as evenly as she could. Dutch shrugged, "well, have a seat, have a beer." It was strange. The only time she'd ever interacted with him was when Finnick was going into The Games and she'd requested to say goodbye.

She did as he said, and tried her best to be social with Rival's friends. After a lot of beers, bad jokes, and yawns, the night was almost over. The fire was only embers. Most of them were drunk, and Annie had to admit, she was pushing it. She'd never been drunk before, and tonight didn't seem like a bad night to try it. "Alright, we should probably start getting out of here," Dutch said. The others laughed, "Oh, now you're going to enforce some laws." Rival joked. Dutch smiled, but the hardness in his eyes were a warning; do not question his authority. Just because he had spent the night drinking on the beach with a couple of Victors did not mean that he wouldn't throw you in jail the first chance he got.

Annie looked out at the water in her drunken haze, she was not completely sober, but she surely wasn't drunk enough to see what she thought she was seeing. He stood at the shoreline, a few yards away. Phoenix was staring out at the sea, but his head turned to look at her, almost like he'd felt her gaze. "Annie, you ready to go? I'll walk you home." Annie glanced up at Rival, only for an instant, but when she looked back, Phoenix was gone.

Annie shook her head, blaming the alcohol. Phoenix is dead. You're just drunk, she repeated to herself over and over.

Annie didn't speak as she walked beside Rival. Her mind was trying to come up with explanations for seeing her dead tribute partner. She could think of a few comfortable reasons, like the alcohol or her tiredness. But what if she'd seen a ghost? What if she was crazy? Those alternatives were too frightening to imagine.

"So what did you think?" Rival asked, pushing his hands into his pockets. "Of what?" Annie asked, confused.

He laughed, "The night, I guess?"

"I didn't know you were friends with Dutch," Annie responded casually. Rival shrugged in return, just as guarded. Peace keepers and Victors were not typically close. "He patrols the beach. Every now and then he'll stay and have a few beers."

"It's kind of odd." Annie answered. Rival didn't know how to respond, so he didn't. When they got to Annie's front porch, he hesitated, looking uncomfortable, "well, goodnight, Annie."

"Goodnight." Rival smiled slightly, and then turned and walked towards his own house, only glancing over his shoulder to look at her once. When he was out of sight, Annie let out a heavy sigh. When she opened her eyes, she saw Finnick sitting on his porch across the street. His face was in the shadow, but she felt his familiar stare. Annie stifled the feeling of comfort at seeing him. She wanted more than anything to walk across the street, curl up in his lap and tell him everything about her dreams, thoughts, the poems she'd found, her morning down at the dock, her night by the fire, seeing Phoenix. Instead, she turned her back to him and went inside.

As Annie closed the door behind herself, her feet stood in a puddle of water. "What the-" Annie glanced up and around the room. She followed the trail of water across the floor. It led her into the living room and stopped in front of the fire. "Mom...Dad?" She took deep breaths, forcing herself to relax. Maybe her father had gotten wet on the boat, or her mother had gone for a midnight swim or something.

She called out their names again, but the house was silent. Annie's heart rate increased as she glanced around the room. "Mags?" she knew it couldn't be Finnick, he was just on his porch, and he'd never play some scary prank on her. Annie grabbed the fire poker, wielding it in her hand like she'd held the knives in her Games.

Her instincts kicked in, she felt the threat, and she was instantly ready for the fight. It surprised her; she'd thought that when it came to fight or flight, she would have chosen flight.

Annie walked towards the kitchen to check, her weapon tight in his first, but no one was there. When she turned back to the fireplace, a figure stood in the puddle of water that she'd just been standing in.

Annie released a blood curdling scream, dropping the fire poker. If it were anyone else, maybe she could have fought. But, the boy in front of her was dead. He drowned. He died and she won. Grimm was covered in water, his face was white, and she knew that this was how he'd looked when he died. Annie's voice broke and her scream was silent now, tears streaming her face. She fell to her knees, and saw the satisfied smile cross Grimm's lips.

Just as quickly as he had appeared, he vanished. Just like Phoenix did. Annie didn't move. The water seemed to disappear with Grimm, but she was still too shaken to get up. So she stayed, kneeling where she was until a pair of arms pulled her to her feet, lifted her off the floor and carried her to the couch. Annie clutched to his shirt, burying her face in his chest. The smell of him wasn't familiar, but she didn't notice at the moment, her mind was wild.

"Shh, its okay, you're okay," His voice was familiar, but it didn't belong to Finnick. Annie recognized it instantly, and she lifted her head slowly to look at him. Before she could notice anything else, the cut across his neck caught her eye and she stared. Of course it wasn't Finnick, he never would have heard her scream. The walls of the homes in the Victor's Village were soundproof for that exact reason; so they didn't have to hear each other's nightmares. She jumped out of his lap, crawling across the floor until her back was against the wall on the opposite side of the room.

"Annie, I'm not going to hurt you,"

"H-How…it's not possible," She curled herself up and rocked back and forth, murmuring to herself. "You needed me," Phoenix said simply. Annie squeezed her eyes shut, continuing to whisper to herself. "He's not real, he's not real, he's not real…"

"Annie, would you just listen to me?" Annie shook her head fiercely at him. She heard him sigh and stand up, but she still didn't open her eyes. Her muscles tensed when she felt his fingers stroke her hair. She wanted him to go away. She was so afraid. So confused.

She didn't budge, just kept telling herself that he wasn't really there. "I'll be back, Annie, when you're ready." Even with her eyes closed, Annie could feel his presence leave. Her entire body shook. She opened her eyes slowly, expecting to see another dead person from her past, but the room was empty. Annie flew to her feet and out the door. She didn't bother closing it behind her.

Finnick was no longer on his porch, but went inside anyways. He was standing in the kitchen, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, his hair a mess. He turned around to place his cup of tea on the island and noticed her. He didn't jump, just met her eyes evenly. "What's wrong?" He said it cautiously, seeing the fear, sadness and confusion in her gaze.

Annie was too relieved to see his eyes and hear his voice. She let out a sob and crossed the room as quickly as she could. She threw herself into him, and although he hesitated, he wrapped his arms, and the blanket, tightly around her. Finnick was scared, she'd never clutched to him so tightly, and he'd never heard the noise she made come from her. "Annie, what is it?"

The sound of his voice, his arms, his heartbeat, it was so real. She wanted to shake the feeling of Phoenix off her skin, the sight of Grimm from her mind.

Finnick didn't know what to do, he'd never seen her like this, and she wouldn't speak. He put his hands on her hips and gently tried to push her back, so he could read her face, find answers there. She only whimpered and held onto his neck even tighter, refusing to let go. Finnick sighed, picking her up into his arms. He carried her up the stairs and into his bedroom. He placed her on the bed, finally seeing her face. She looked tired, her eyes were vacant.

"What do you want me to do, Annie? Please, just tell me how I can help." His voice was desperate, knowing that this was more than a nightmare or a bad day.

"Stay with me," she whispered. It was only a few days ago that she'd thought she could make it without him. Now she realized that it wasn't true.

A/N: I hope you guys are liking Rival so far! and oh, welcome back Phoenix...what? Remember Dutch? yeah, we hate him. Just a quick refresher in case you forgot, since I know it was FOREVER ago that these characters were introduced, Dutch is from chapter two. Phoenix was Annie's tribute partner who's head was cut off, and Grimm was the last person to die in the arena, he's also the one who killed Phoenix. This was always how I imagined Annie going crazy. I never pictured her as being weak or helpless, and she's not about to become please! I desperately need critique on this chapter!