What up my lovely readers. So, it has been brought to my attention that i am not following the EXACT pattern of events that a tribute would normally go through before entering a games. I'm aware. I didn't want to be exactly the same, and it's intentional i promise. Also, my crazy OCD about being ridiculously descriptive about everything would make the process of going through every little step to a "t" so fracking long, and no one wants to read thhhattt. But thanks for the heads up!

Annie's POV

I trudged back through the door with heavy feet as the sun sank in the darkening sky. School had been long, as always, laden with the gaping hole of my missing friend, and the constant whispering as I traipsed the hallways alone. I'd never been one to make friends easily, not like my older sister. She walking silently behind me, carrying her school bag as thought the weight were going to kill her need she take another step. To my surprise, for the past couple of days she had been sullen and quiet, shying away from her friends and family conversation.

"Hi girls," my mother said happily, wiping her hands on a dishrag as she tucked the casserole she was making into the oven. I nodded in her direction, dropped my books on the table and ascended the stairs quickly into the solitude of my room. I hear Canly murmur a hello as I shut the door and leapt onto my cushioned bed.

Humming quietly to myself, I snapped up the book I had started the evening prior, opening it's pages and relishing in the soon to be makeshift world I would lose myself in.

Finnick's POV

My feet nearly dragged as I pulled my tired body back to my room, aware that I smelled of dried sweat and jittering nerves. It was over, the skills showing, and I had done the best I could do.

"Step forward ."

I was wearing the same tight black clothing I had trained in, a shiny metal trident gripped tightly amidst my white knuckles. I complied to the request of the announcer, the hollow sounds of my footsteps echoing off the empty walls of the bear training room.

I looked up nervously to where the many faces looked down on me, and I almost couldn't help myself smirking from the metaphorical insinuations of our physical positions. Raising my armed hand to shoulder height, I felt my muscles tense, and with all the might I had, I propelled the weapon into the air and straight through the chest of my make believe enemy. A murmur spread throughout the upper mezzanine, and in haste I picked up a spear and did the same to the manikin next in line, shifting over in small steps to continue my reign with a set of long bladed knives.

"Thank you , you are dismissed."

I nodded stiffly and hustled back through the door I came, passing the girl from district 5 as I went.

"Good luck," I whispered. She smiled tightly, and strode into the gymnasium with her head held high.

I pushed open the door to the district 4 section, and slumped onto the couch across from Mags' accusing stare.

"How was it?" She said in a scratchy voice.

I shrugged and rubbed the back of my head, desperate for a shower.

"As good as it could have gone."

Mags sighed deeply and crossed her arms, rubbing at her furrowed brow with aged hands. I knew my mentor had dismissed me and I seized the chance to drag my aching muscles into the hot water of my bathroom shower and sit myself underneath the stream as a seething mass of soreness.

Visions of home ran through my mind like a movie reel, still shots and moving memories bringing me back to a place of comfort and warmth. I felt numb whenever I broached the topic of the unspeakable acts I was going to be asked to commit in that arena. I was unable to fully digest the facts of the situation.

"Finnick, it's on!" Mags called from the other room. I ignored her voice, and sat contently at the bottom of the shower, eyes closed and head bowed in submission. I didn't much car for what I scored, didn't much care for how much that may or may not help me with my prospective sponsors. To be honest, I didn't much care for anything anymore.

"Boy!" Mags shouted again. I groaned and covered my ears, still not moving. She seemed to give up after that, and when the water finally began to run cold I stood slowly and exited the shower with raw pink skin. The T.V. had been shut off, the background noise from the speakers no longer there as I pulled a towel around my self, and marched into my room. A note lay solemnly on my bedside table, a single number scrawled across it.

9.

Without meaning to I exhaled a breath I wasn't aware I had been holding, and slipped into a soft pair of pajama bottoms before curling up in my bed. It was moments like these that had made me wish more than anything that I had known what having a mother was like. What it was like to have someone love you unconditionally, to be there to nurture you and hold you. My father had never been anything like a parent figure to me, his harsh hands and cruel words warded off any sort of relationship we may ever have had.

I remembered the day that I had found Annie on the beach, weaving her small intricate net with fingers that weren't possibly strong enough to create such a wonder. My father had had another one of his blow-ups, landing a solid blow to my young cheek in frustration when I hadn't been able to throw my net right. I don't think I would know where I would be without Annie as a constant presence in my life. Yes, she was younger than I was, but her wisdom was far beyond her ill-equipped years. She was invaluable to me, and I missed her wholly as I lay there in the limbo stage between dreams and sleep, feeling the numbness climb inwards from the outer reaches of my limbs.

One more day, I thought.

Mags' words emerged in my memory, "You are the tribute from district 4, nothing else."

She was right. In a literal sense that's all I was now, to the people who would keep me alive at least. I had one more day to mentally prepare myself for my task, and I vowed that I would no longer morn for those I missed, or the life that I had left behind.

The past is the past, the future is yours.

I took in a shaky breath, and finally lulled myself into a light form of sleep, dreaming of beaches and sand and a smiling little girl.

Sorry, i know it's short, but life is busy yuh know. Any-who, thanks a ton for reading, and if you so desire please drop a small review for mostly my piece of mind. Writers are crazy people i tell yuh.

Until next chapter! huzzah