She swims underneath the water's lip and into its dark depths, Roster now assumes she is gone at least. Annie steadies herself like I taught her all those years ago, her breath falters and she attempts to relax in the water – put her mind at ease. I watch another tribute flail around as he struggles to figure out the balance of water, he'll be out of energy before the sun sets.

The girl I love goes to the top of the water for a moment, grabbing some water and then sinking down once more. Roster continues to float, fighting the current, but giving in to a rest. But there really is nowhere to rest. No where to put your body down, nothing to eat. The water is at least safe.

I can't eat or drink anything, I literally stay perched in my chair the entire time and watch Annie float for the course of a full day. Mags attempts to get something inside of me but I know it'll just come right back up. My fingers poke the bags forming under my eyes in order to stay awake with Annie, if she must suffer then so should I. It's so weird to observe her like this, to pry into her face and try and figure out its meaning. She seems to be struggling with something, her eyes completely shut from the world and her arms occasionally massaging her shoulders.

Annie has finally given in and taken to the top of the water, you can see the remaining four tributes in the darkness of night. Only a moon illuminates them but they're all spread out. I'm not sure how this will go over with the crowd, a Hunger Games with no more weapons (most were lost in the initial rush). Either they are expecting the tributes to drown each other or suffocate on their own. But everyone is out of energy now, the course of the days has taken its toll on them all and their stamina now wanes.

They are fish in a fishbowl, all different colors, all scared. A loud scream carries out through the arena and into my ears. It's not Annie's but it is loud and desperate, the tiny girl from District Ten flails her arms as she starts to sink, unable to exert anymore energy into her legs. It takes a while for the cannon to go off, but everyone can hear her gasps for air, her last few breaths rising to the top. Annie gives up and covers her ears to sound out the noise and in doing so begins to sink to the bottom of the sandy bed herself.

I pound my fist on the screen, ready to break it. At this point I can't help my own emotions and I cry out for her, letting my own body sink to the floor in the safety of the mentor's room. My sponsor's money is depleted at this point and there's no way for me to leave with Annie trapped like this.

The Game Makers have obviously spotted the flaw in their plan, that ending the Games like this will leave people sad and possibly provide them with a mad victor. Roster's eyes grow wide as he finds himself unable to stop the sway of his body – it's pointless. A large whirlpool has formed, sucking the weak tribute from Eight down with it. The cannon is immediate.

Somehow the water has shoved them both to the middle, so they can watch each other die or end it right there. Annie comes back for a second, her face flickering with fight or flight-like realizations. Her and Roster lock eyes and Roster's face shows that he knows this will be the end if he does not kill her now. He lunges for her but Annie dives down quickly, holding her breath as the current takes its course.

Roster does what he does best, he fights it. But it is impossible to stop the power of nature and the water thrashes him around, causing him to slowly lose consciousness. His body attempts to swim against the current and fails, but Annie's training comes back to her and I watch her swim through the forceful water at an angle.

The boy's mouth opens with bubbles, as if to get one last word in. But Annie is stuck, by nothing really, just some invisible force that none of the rest of us can see. The very whites of her eyes shake with fear and her body curls inside itself, she refuses to swim anymore. She opens her mouth for one last second letting the remaining air in her lungs escape, you can't hear anything through the motion of the water but she yells something. I don't even know what it is, but her eyes reveal its intention. Finnick.

I put my hand over my mouth as I begin to cry, loudly. Because it's too much, too horrible that the last words on her lips are my name – my disgusting name that got her killed. Everything is over, the one ounce of joy I had whenever I returned from hell at the Capitol is now gone. Killed by the thing she loved more than anything. I feel a hand take hold of my chin, trying to get me to look up but I don't want. All I want is to grieve in peace.

But the hand is so soothing and gentle that I do look up, and for a second it is a dream. I know it is a figment of my imagination, that all I see of the empty fishbowl arena of a curled up, water-logged girl is just something my mind has concocted. That at any moment they will announce the winner and remove Annie's body to be sent home in a casket with her brother.

Even my ears lie to me, "The winner of the 70th Hunger Games: Annie Cresta!"

I breathe in deeply, trying to place the words, trying to figure out what they really said. But there is just a girl laying on the ground, no other bodies remain. She sits motionless, eyes still shaking, breath still rampant with water spilling out of it. My little Annie. What have they done to her?

Large hands quickly direct me to a hovercraft, and even though I know it's flying faster than anything in this world it still feels too slow. Annie is lifted into the machine her body still curled and strange. I move to run to her, crying and yelling at the arms holding me back into a room that only separates her from me with a glass panel. They attempt to push life back into her but she refuses to accept it, moving briefly but falling back onto the bed and pushing her knees to her chin.

I follow her motionless body into a more permanent room where more tubes are connected, more medicines applied and more doctors stand ready to fill her with life. After what must be an entire afternoon they permit me to see her, and I push through without hesitation.

My arms take Annie and I hold her, hold her like the rare creature she is. I stroke her hair that they have brushed out, and angry that they're still trying to change her, I begin to knot it into snarls once again. I kiss her lips and pray for the Annie I once had to come back. I even whisper sweet nothings to her, promises to her unresponsive face that if she comes out of this I will love her forever, have children with her, marry her. But nothing works.

I take my rope in order to calm my own mental brink on sanity and never once leave her side. When I need to excuse myself for the restroom I do so with the door open, so I can constantly watch the rise and fall of her chest. I get to the point where when I tie the knots I can do so with one hand while the other works to clench hers. Various people come in to see me, some for interviews, others for condolences, and still more for various favors. But I never leave her side, I never will again. I hold Annie just as she held me after my Games. I will never stop owing her, for always picking up the pieces of my mistakes.

A hand presses down and rubs out my shoulder, "Oh, Finnick... I am terribly sorry but they need you to do an interview with Caesar since Annie... can't. You will need to take the crown in place of her," I look up at Thomps who has Mags standing behind him. She offers a sad smile, one that clearly states she will watch Annie in my absence. I take a deep breath and accept my new role. Never will I say "no" ever again.

It's so hard to leave the room, to break from the long kiss I give to Annie. My own mind is probably just as damaged as hers but I don't let it show, hopefully not anyways because I can definitely feel my own eyes darting around frantically as Caesar introduces me back to the Capitol people and my reality.


Thank you for reading!