Hi,

The contest is closed. We have a winner, windsongspringheart who has also recently become my beta (though don't worry she won the contest first). She has been an amazing help on this chapter so thank you to her!

Alone
APOV
"Annie!" I heard a voice yell from down the corridor. Damn it. Someone had realized I had gone. This was definitely not meant to happen though I knew it was inevitable.
"Over here," I called back, walking towards the noise. When I reached the source, I saw Johanna and Katniss, both of them looked relieved but angry.
"Annie, where were you?" Katniss demanded, her grey eyes blazing as she turned to face me.
"Outside" I mumbled back, feeling like I was back to pre-school, being yelled at by a teacher for something one of the other kids had framed me for. Johanna opened her mouth to shout a retort but was stopped, snapping her mouth shut and turning to walk away, Katniss behind her. "Wait, where are you going?" I asked, confused by their sudden they wouldn't just stop mid-speech if everything was normal. They looked back but didn't say anything. Screw what I said about not reading my 'friends' thoughts. I removed the barrier I had put up, allowing Johanna's thoughts to seep into my brain. They were being called by someone telepathically. Someone they felt sorry for me because of what they had done to me. Curiosity took over my body, leading me down the corridor after them, quietly enough for them not to hear me. When I turned what I hoped was the final corner, all that was left of them was a door swinging closed. Silently, I crept up to the door and pressed my ear against it, trying to hear what was going on inside. I could read their minds but I didn't want to. When I had read Johanna's, I had also gotten some unrelated stuff I didn't ever want to know, and I detested the thought of that happening again. There were at least five voices; Johanna, Katniss, Peeta, Finnick, and another voice which, for some reason, I thought I should recognize but didn't. I couldn't make out what they were saying, though. In an action I now kind regret, I pressed my ear closer to the door, but I pressed a little too much and the door swung open, knocking me to the floor as it went. All the voices had ceased by the time I had looked up, all of them now staring at me.
"Uh, this isn't- I mean," I stammered as I tried to get up, only to be hit by the door on it's return journey. Embarrassment was now flooding my system. "I should go," I explained once the door was firmly in my grip.
"Annie, wait," I was stopped from fully closing the door by the fifth voice. I peeked round the door to see the stranger from outside was the one belonging to the voice.
"Are you sure about this?" Peeta whispered to her so quietly that I nearly didn't hear, a look of concern deeply imprinted on his face as he leaned over to her. She nodded in response, her dark blue eyes still fixed on me.
"Annie, do you have a clue as to who I am?" she asked gently, her voice soothing. I shook my head in response, allowing me to press myself against the door. Fear began to overwhelm me. Who was this woman? How did she know my name but me have no clue who she was. "Annie, dear, you do know me, we met many years ago. Surely you remember me?" she asked again, her body slumping with sadness and disappointment.
"I don't know you. All I know about you if you came between me and a bullet, leaving me with no clue as to whether or not you fired it," I explained, looking up at the celling to avoid having to look at her horrified eyes.
"Annie, I would never hurt you. All I've done is protect you," she reasoned, tears filling her eyes. I couldn't take it any more. I let her thoughts in. As soon as I had I wished I hadn't. She was my mother. The woman claiming that she would never hurt me was the woman who had hurt me the most.
"You lie," I dead panned, trying to hid any emotion from my voice.
"What do you mean?" she asked, straightening up.
"You say you would never hurt me but you let me grow up believing I was an orphan and a freak," I explained, anger seeping into my voice now.
"Annie, I had to," she responded, tears filling her eyes as she looked at me. She tried to walk towards me, but I backed away, hitting fully into the door now.
"Get away from me!" I cried, not wanting to have anything to do with this woman. She began to say something, but I didn't want to hear it. So I ran. Out of the door, along the dark corridor, and into a dark room.
"Annie, can I come in?" a familiar voice asked, before the door opened to reveal Katniss' face. I nodded, glad it was her and not someone else who had come to see me. "I understand why you're upset," she stated, sliding down onto the floor next to me.
"Really? You understand what's it's like to come face to face with the woman who abandoned you?" I mumbled into my knees, which I had pulled up into my chest.
"Well, kind of," she replied with a sad smile. What did she mean? Her mother was still alive and had never left, not that I knew of anyway. ""It was after my dad died. She became emotionally withdrawn and, well, she could have just have easily abandoned me and my sister," Katniss explained, knotting her hands together and then undoing them over again."I know it's not the same and she didn't let me believe she was dead, but I do understand what you're going through. I felt the same when she suddenly declared herself better," she added, resting her hand, if somewhat awkwardly, on my shoulder.
"Did you want to punch her in the face?" I asked, vocalizing what I wanted to do the woman who called herself my mother. At that Katniss let out a dark chuckle.
"Yeah I did," she replied through her laughter. While I certainty wouldn't have a minute ago, I found myself laughing with her. As we sat there laughing the door was pushed open by Finnick, just far enough to allow him to poke his head round.
"What's so funny?" he asked, confused by our unprecedented laughter.
"Nothing," I giggled, unable to fully stop it.
"Okay," he replied, looking around the dark room where the only light source was the small window.
"I'll leave you two" Katniss stated, getting up and walking out of the room without a second word.

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