Catching Fire
Chapter 35 - Annie
"WHAT?" I say, my voice so loud that I knew the attention I was attracting with my family sitting in just the other room. "No, no –it can't be true."
Finnick's hand is running through his bronze hair. "Annie –"
"Stop it!" I say harshly, the fear in my voice rising. "There's nothing you can say that'll make this better, Finnick!" The door begins to move and I see my mother's head peek from the opening as she takes the handle and pulls it forward until it's closed.
Finnick bow his head, refusing to meet my eyes. "I know."
A heavy weight hit me square in the chest before my anger subsided into the overwhelming desire to shrink into tears. Finnick came towards me, catching me as I crashed onto the floor. My legs felt numb, but everything inside of me was on hyper drive. My heart was beating too fast and my breathing was coming too ragged. I start seeing black things creeping around the sides of my eyes and the suffocation that always came with bad thoughts began consuming me. He pulls me in and I'm staring upwards at him in a blank glaze. My neck is sprawled out against him and he's looking down at me with conflicted eyes.
"So….w-who is it?" I managed to ask as I dive my gaze away. "We're the only 3 victors alive…"
He was stroking my hair over and over, like he was a machine on autopilot. It had been two months since I had last seen the destruction of the Games in my dreams. Now I wasn't dreaming. The Hunger Games were here again, and this time, it was after the few who had gotten away.
"You can't go in there again." He said fiercely. "I'm not letting you."
My tears sobered. "Mags is too old – she'll die."
"No she won't." he said suddenly.
I hung my head in silent shame. "I would never forgive myself for it, for letting Mags take my place….and how do you know that?"
His hands came under my chin and he lifted my face up to his own. There was a light burning in his eyes that frightened me."There's a plan, Annie. A plan to get us all out of there….alive."
I pushed away from him, getting a better look at him. He was being ridiculous. There was no way ."That's impossible. You're mad if you think you can outsmart the Gamemakers."
His eyes searched mine and a roguish grin spread across his face. "Then stick me in an asylum."
{+}
Three days after the commencement of the Quarter Quell
"You." The voice belonged to one of the Peace Keepers of the District. He was walking fast towards me, his fingers abrasively pointed. "Annie Cresta."
On impulse, and without really thinking, I began to run. I ran through the messy crowds at the Square, shoving people this way and that to have many scream out in annoyed wails; but I kept my stride.
"Move!" I began to call out as more people stubbornly refused to move, "Get out of the way!" and then where the crowd was thickest, I was blockaded at all sides. Slowly, I began to realize that it wasn't people from my District, it was Peacekeepers and there were so many. I gazed over them to find someone who would help, but the white was everywhere, swallowing me whole.
"Annie Cresta." The same voice said from behind and I whipped around. "You are due 40 lashes for breaking District Law."
My heart was pounding, "What?" I demanded, "I didn't do anything! What did I do?" Arms were coming at me, pushing me down into the ground, "I HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT I DID!"I yelled through the curious faces, mixed with condemnation and hatred and the desire to help stop what they were doing to me.
Two Peacekeepers pulled me up by both arms and began walking me to the stage they had recently installed. The stage where there had been so many whippings and I would soon be counted as one of the hundreds.
"For," the Peacekeeper was at the center, reading off a notebook, "Illegal treachery and elicitation of the Capitol's governing forces."
And then I knew: the meeting last night. Instinctively, my hands came to ears, blocking out the sounds of his cold, cruel voice. They had heard about the meeting I had held. But all we had done was let out our feelings, what we all truly felt about having Finnick and Mags being reaped once again. We spoke of the injustices! I knew there was a plan, I knew he claimed to be safe but it wasn't written in stone. It was too dangerous. He could die any day, any moment. Couldn't they see it wasn't fair?
But I wouldn't let them see me fall, not again.
Instead, I let them carry me behind the head Peacekeeper and throw me, stomach first, on a wooden plank. I felt a pair of hands fumbling with the back of my shirt when he called out, "Stop! She is a woman. She will remain clothed."
The few moments before the first lash burned into my flesh, I looked out into the audience. The faces that had once looked at crazy Annie with pity and ridicule were staring up at me in admiration – like if I were a hero. I held onto that sight for as long as I could, but by the sixth lash, I could no longer bear the searing pain of my flesh cracking open and the blood trailing down my back like rain. I began to scream in agony, and somewhere before it was over, passed out.
That evening, the jabberyjays had their voice.
A/N: As always, thank you for your reviews! I really hate that I'm taking so long to update, but at the same time i don't want to totally rush through the chapters and deliver them less than up to par. I just hope they're worth waiting for :)