Gone

My hands were red and raw covered in blisters after spending the days just tying knots with the rope Finnick gave me before he left to distract myself. The television was on so I'd hear any news when it came in. I need to know what is going on and whether Finnick was ok. I hear a bomb explosion and immediately look on the screen, a Capitol broadcast. I see Gale on the screen and my heart immediately skips a beat. Gale and Finnick were in a squad together. I hear the reporter tell me Gale, Boggs, Cressida, Katniss were in there, the explosion. And worst of all so was Finnick. I start to shake, he couldn't have survived that and then the reporter confirms the worst.

They're all dead.

I scream out as the pain and emptiness hit me, Finnick's gone and he's never coming back. The pain overwhelms me as the tears stream down. I make strangled noises in cries of agony. He just can't be dead; but I saw the explosion. My husband is gone. Gone forever. "No no no no no no!" I keep repeating putting my hands over my ears and all of a sudden someone unexpected bursts in. I remember her from the Capitol, Johanna Mason. She looks on the verge of breaking as she comes and sits next to me. "Annie, it's ok." she says.

"Don't tell me that." I choke out looking at her, though I can't see her all that well through the tears. She next does something I always assumed she was incapable of. She cries too. I'd heard her cry before in the Capitol but not over something like this. Not over a person. I put my arms around her and albeit a bit tentatively she hugs me back. "I want him back!" I whimper.

"Me too." she says her voice straining. We hug each other tightly both suffering from the crippling pain of losing someone we care about. Promise me you'll be strong? The voice echoes. Finnick. He told me to be strong and I can't ignore it. For our child, for him. I hope he figured it out. So I sniff in and inhale the air around me and stop the tears. Johanna also seems to calm down and brings out two needles from her pocket.

"Morphling." she states. I quickly grab it and push it into my arm; I need some relief from the missing part of me that seems to be eating me up from the inside. The pain stops and I sigh in relief. I forget my problems in a daze of happiness but I know it wears off the pain will be unbearable and I have no clue what I'm supposed to do except try to stay strong as Finnick asked me…