Annie at 12 Years Old

District 4 was wealthy. Not quite as favored by the Capitol as 1 and 2, however; so there were certainly sketchier neighborhoods in the large, coastal district. The closer you lived to the center of the district, the more money and stature your family had. Not all of the children there were trained for the Games, only the ones whose parents had the highest-respected (and highest-paid) jobs.

Neither Annie nor Lucy had ever been trained past picking up a few tidbits of potentially useful knowledge here and there. Their father was a fisherman, like the majority of District 4 men over 18. He wasn't around often. The fishermen and the sailors never really were. They would stay on the opposite side of the district than their families for months at a time, sending back the paycheck via a special, faster postage service than the other families used. The children didn't mind. It was all they knew.

The Crestas lived on the cusp of the pretty, rich neighborhoods that made up a thick border around the town square. Their home was closer to the district's bay than the actual ocean, which was more of a tourist destination for Capitol people than anything. Annie's father had always been coming and going for work, but as soon as mother had gotten sick a few years before, he did an awful lot more going.

Annie spent most of her free time at the bay, wishing the ocean was more accessible and less full of odd-looking, annoying people. After her first reaping, she ran home, went upstairs to kiss her mother on the cheek, wrote Lucy a note detailing her whereabouts, and headed to the ocean to think.

It was a long walk. Longer than the walk to the town square, even. She'd made sure to take off the painful shoes, but hadn't bothered to change her clothes. The dress was actually quite comfortable, and she figured Lucy was smart enough with cleaning that she'd be able to fix it if Annie decided to swim (which she knew she would).

When she arrived at the beach, it was empty. Though she hadn't expected it, she supposed it made sense. All the Capitol residents would want to be at home for all the excitement of the Games. The people of District 4 weren't exactly going to be having any fun family outings on such a solemn day, either. Maybe if they did, everyone wouldn't be quite so sad, she thought.

The only time that Annie really liked feelings was when she was near the water. Otherwise, feelings and emotions made things complicated. She felt bad things so often that when she did have the opportunity to feel something good, it was still tainted with little reminders of the ugly stuff. But overall she knew she liked feelings, because if no one had them, she wouldn't be able to feel the warm, soft sand between her toes; or the crisp and humid sea breeze caressing her skin, and she liked those feelings very much. They were more tangible than happiness and sadness, more certain; more stable. Some people would describe those things as bringing happiness, but Annie didn't think of it that way. To her it was more like a release from all the convoluted emotions. They distracted her, comforted her, lulled her into a state of mind she couldn't explain.

Near the north-most point of the beach, the sand grew rougher and rocky, filled with great, towering piles of boulders that surrounded tiny tide pools which teemed with life. Annie climbed the rocks whenever she came here, because it gave her a better view of everything, and gave her a good place to jump off of into the water. Whenever she came with Lucy she had to pretend to be careful; climbing slowly and thoughtfully placing her hands and feet on the smooth, slippery rocks. But Annie knew the rocks well, and she wasn't afraid to fall. Falling didn't even cross her mind. She felt that even if she did fall, she'd just float to the ground.

Annie gathered her dress in her fists, bent her knees, closed her eyes, and jumped.

When she hit the water, everything disappeared except her own heart beating in her ears. She kicked her way to the surface and took a big, gulping breath, shaking her wet hair out her face. The skirt of her dress bubbled up around her, the light fabric practically glowing just under the surface of the water. She looked like some large and bizarre jellyfish. Not a mermaid, but close enough. Annie smiled to herself and blew bubbles, savoring the cold splashing of the waves against her skin.

In the distance, she could see a fishing boat appearing on the horizon, probably returning after a few weeks out on the open ocean. She wondered if her father was on it. Slim chance; District 4 had hundreds of boats. But if he was…would he come home? Or would he jump straight on another boat and go out again, like he normally did? All the boats should be starting their journey back now; they were required to sail back for the Hunger Games, but usually most of them didn't. 4's Peacekeepers weren't strict. The Capitol liked them enough, they weren't checked on often.

She closed her eyes and submerged again. The salt stung her eyes, and she didn't need sight underwater anyway. The sea creatures left her alone, and any rocks were far below her on the ocean floor. On land she would feel clumsy and lost without her eyes, but movement in water was natural to her regardless.

A strand of seaweed tickled Annie's leg, and she reached down and closed her fingers around it gently, wondering where the current had brought it from. Sometimes she wished the current would take her away, to…where? She didn't know, really. All Annie knew was that she understood now, what Lucy had said about the Games being real. And she didn't like it one bit.

She felt stupid. Naive. And she was, for ever believing any different. But she didn't know how not to be. Why wasn't everything in the world good? She wished it were. Everything in the water was simple. Things were only killed for survival. Not in some sadistic, televised game, for entertainment. It was disgusting. And now as she thought about Finnick and Ariadne going off to be slaughtered, and to be forced to slaughter others…

Annie swallowed as much seawater as she could without gagging. No matter how much she loved the ocean, she had to admit it didn't exactly taste fantastic. The salt burned her throat and left a sour taste in her mouth, but it was a good distraction from the frightening thoughts swimming around in her brain.

She'd lost track of time, like she often did when she came here; but this time she was alone. There was no one to remind her that the world hadn't temporarily stopped turning. She didn't want to walk all the way home in the dark, and there would be no one willing to give her a taxi ride this time of the night, especially after the reaping. Everyone would be inside, celebrating with their families because their children were safe. Or, in the Horans' and Odairs' cases, grieving because they weren't.

So she slept on the sand, fashioning herself a little mound for a pillow. It was surprisingly comfortable, laying there alone in the darkness. She felt safe and content; and sleep found her effortlessly. She drifted into unconsciousness with her heartbeat syncing to the steady crashing of the waves against the shore.


Hey guys...you should tell me what moments I should write about in the future ;D What do you want to read? Let me know! And it doesn't have to be any sort of canon moment - use your imagination! I can't guarantee I'll do them all, but if I use your idea I'll definitely give you credit for it. (:

I'm thinking I'm going to continue going in chronological order from here and then if I'm inspired to write something randomly out of order, I'll just do that. This doesn't really have any particular format, hah. And as you can see from this chapter and the first two some will come right after another, and others will skip large spaces of time. Hope you're enjoying so far. c: I really love writing Annie! And thank you so much for your reviews so far!