Chapter 15- We Remain

Annie's P.O.V

Panic is such a strange emotion. It's a mixture of fear and lack of hope. I think panic is more powerful than fear. With fear, you have some sliver of hope. However, with panic, you slowly start to lose hope. It's like drowning. You're completely surrounding by a substance you can't survive in. You can see the world above you, so peaceful…livable, but you're trapped. You're contained. Your thoughts are your worst enemy as your lungs slowly loose air. Your mind fogs over. And then the panic settles in, and you hope someone notices your flailing body before it's motionless. It's quiet in the water, but your mind is yelling at you to breathe. But you can't. And then you black out.

This is the first time I've felt true panic.

An earthquake is an understatement to the predicament the arena is in. I know it's not my madness. I know it's not my mind playing tricks on me. I hear a faint scream in the distance, and turn to find Larissa grasping the ground beneath to steady her. Trees crack and fall all around us. I trip over the bare earth around me and land on my stomach, knocking the breath out of me.

Now, not only is the world rocking uncontrollably around me, I have lost the ability to breathe.

CRASH!

I look to my left. A massive oak tree- that I could swear wasn't there five minutes ago- lands on the ground, roots unearthed. It landed five inches away from me, destroying one of our shelters.

Did it fall on anybody? Is there a body under the heavy trunk?

I quickly look around, finally grasping my breath. Demere is to the right of me, in the same position I am in. Larissa is ahead, and Hektor on the opposite side of the tree. We're okay. We're okay.

But we aren't. We really aren't okay.

A splintering sound comes in from behind me. My mind doesn't register the sound completely.

Larissa's voice forms in my head. "ANNIE! MOVE!"

I look at her, startled. What is she talking about? Suddenly, she launches herself at me, pushing me on top of Demere, who grunts in response. Her body lays where mine just did. That's when the tree falls. I sickening mixture of a crack and squish come from beneath it. With the panic and confusion in my head, I only register one thing.

Larissa just saved my life.

BOOM!

Her cannon sounds, and my heart sinks. Just like that. My mind goes numb. All I can feel is an arm yanking me to my feet, and a backpack being forced on my shoulders. Someone hoists me on their back, and I'm moving. The quaking beneath us still hasn't subsided. I look behind me. Our camp is just a pile of trees now- the shelters, the fire pit, and Larissa all beneath the mass of them. I close my eyes, letting the darkness of my lids comfort me.

Another distant scream is heard, but I don't connect it to a name. It's far off. Another canon sounds. As soon as it does, the Earth stops abruptly. Whoever carries me collapses at the sudden halt, and I fall along with him. My lungs are numb. My mind is numb. My body is numb. The only thing I hear is the strong and fast thud of my heart. Even though the world is still, I sway back and forth. I curl to a fetal position on my side, holding my knees to my chest. Any food left in my stomach reappears as I lie in the damp mud beneath me. I can barely hear Demere and Hektor's voices from behind me. I don't care. Larissa just died saving me. Larissa saved my life. Black spots fade in and out in my vision. Eventually, they cloud over the world around me, and everything goes dark.

Finnick's P.O.V

An earthquake? Are they serious? Of course, at Annie's most unsteady moment, they have to shake the arena. They were hoping she would crack…again.

Her episode before the earthquake wasn't aired, I made sure of that. I know President Snow saw it though. He sees everything in the arena, uncensored. I saw because I get constant vision of my tribute at all times. So far, Snow hasn't approached me about her. Part of me hopes he coincidentally left the room for something during her mental break down, and the only person that saw it was me.

Nonetheless, it broke me to watch her. And to make it worse, to watch Demere be there for her. That's my job. I owe a debt a gratitude to the boy, though. If it weren't for him, Annie wouldn't have gotten a grasp of sanity. It still broke me to see her in his arms. She needs someone, it's true, but usually that someone is me. And whenever I need someone, I go to her. It's what we do. We're there for each other.

Our separation has definitely taken its toll on me. I haven't been able to sleep hardly at all. My eyes are glued to the screen in my room. I only see Annie on that one. Then, in the living room is when I see the other competitors. Let's just say I spend most of my time in my room. When she sleeps, I sleep. When she wakes, I wake. It's a system. We are one. We are in this together.

But now, a new force is going against us: her sanity. This happens a lot during the Games. People can't handle the blood or the screams or the death. Humanity isn't supposed to be exposed to so much death at once, especially at this age, so our minds try to cloud it all over before we can process what's going on. Then, usually voices are heard only in the minds of the mentally unstable. It's a rare condition-the voices. You have to be exposed to major trauma to hear them.

I used to ask myself why none of this happened to me. I was just fourteen when I won my Game. However, I was part of the Careers, and had my own heave of sponsors. My Games didn't have as much bloodshed as Annie's, or at least I wasn't exposed to as much.

Also, she had to watch the death of both her mother and father. Her mother's drowning incident happened when she was at a tender age, and she watched it all. I remember the first time she told me, in our oasis. That's why she was afraid to come into the water with me. It was her mother's murderer. I taught her, and guided her- telling her that water is a place for peace and serenity. Eventually, she gave in.

With the tragic death of her mother, and the loss of her father, both happening at such a young age, I'm thinking that she always had something going on in that head of hers. And that this just brought it on. I can see it. I can see her slowly shedding away. It. Kills. Me.

I just want to get her out of there. I would let anyone have their way with me for free if they promised that they could get her out of that arena. I know what she's feeling. I know how much she's hurting. I'm so helpless sitting here all day, watching her.

I've been talking with a man who could help me, though. He owns a company that branches off into many brands. The massive corporation specializes in survival items, like tents, ropes, weapons, things of that nature. He only sponsors Careers, that's his rule.

But, he has a daughter- a daughter who is a fan of the famous Finnick Odair. Lucky me.

The man and I came to…an arrangement. If I would pretend to be his daughter's boyfriend or whatever she wanted me to be until the Games were over, then he would be Annie's consistent sponsor. In other words, I sold myself for a sponsor. It's honestly the least I can do. I'm forced to sell myself anyways, why not help Annie while doing so?

Snow must be so pleased with himself, knowing how much pain he's putting us through. I can see him right now smiling. I can see his grin as he watches Annie rocking back and forth. I wonder what it would feel like to cut that grin right out of his face. Seems like fun.

I can't let him see that he's hurt me. I have to act like Annie isn't in the Games. I do not care. He can't hurt me. He can't hurt me. I'm emotionless. Nothing he can do can hurt me.

I look to the screen again, and see Annie in a puddle of vomit. She's passed out. I study her face as I get a close-up of it. There she is, my beautiful Annie. Though she's covered in dirt, and has specks of blood here and there, she's gorgeous. Her auburn hair cascades in waves around her, like a doll. She's completely at peace. It's beautiful.

I want her here. I want to hold her, to tell her everything is going to be okay. This is so painful. I didn't know I could hurt so much. I feel like I'm being selfish, focusing on my pain instead of hers, but I feel like if I focus on any pain I can, that I'm closer to her.

Oh, look at that. Demere is trying to wake her. He shakes her first. I know that won't help. Annie can only wake with a voice to bring her out.

The tall one, Hektor, speaks. "Forget it Demere! She's in shock. She won't wake up for a while."

Demere nods. "You're right. She should sleep it off or something."

Hektor drops his pack, and grunts in frustration. "What the hell just happened?"

"It was an earthquake."

"Wow, good job Sherlock. That must've been a hard case for you to crack."

Demere takes Annie's backpack off her shoulders. Her body doesn't even respond.

"They were just trying to kill some people off," Demere unzips the pack. "These Games are going rather slowly."

"You are an insensitive little prick, you know that?"Hektor says.

Demere looks up at him, angry. "What are you talking about?"

"Larissa just died! And you sit here, sounding like you're above it all."

"Oh yeah, you're one to talk. Aren't you the guy who told Larissa that Argo's death was just part of the game? That she should get over it?" Demere counters.

"And I apologized. I at least acknowledged his life was lost," Hektor takes a step closer to Demere. "You put on this little act for Annie, don't you? That you're going to help her, save her. That this whole thing is awful. But then, you turn around and act as bad as the careers. Face it Demere, you're as bad as a Capitolite."

Demere punches him square in the jaw, knocking him down. Demere straddles the boy, and pins him down, screaming at him.

"I am not a capitolite! I am helping Annie! At least I'm not going to let her die like you let Devi die!"

Hektor spits some blood at him, a tooth falls out, and he speaks. "Devi is not dead."

"She's as good as dead, out in the forest by herself."

Hektor grunts as Demere's knee digs into his side. "Why should I care about Devi?"

"Oh come on, Hektor. I'm not stupid. You were head over heels for her. But you made a mistake. You were stupid enough to let her out of your sight. It must've sucked, to be hopelessly in love with a girl one day, and then have her ditch you the next."

It was pretty obvious. The way Hektor had saved Devi from a Career before allying up told the audience everything.

Hektor's anger turns into strength as he counters Demere and now sits on top of him. "Sounds like we're both hopelessly in love, huh?"

Hektor delivers two fists to either side of his face before Demere is out cold.

I wonder how long it will take before either one of them kill each other. One thing stuck in my mind though:

I am helping Annie! I'm not going to let her die.

Although it hurts to know that another boy loves Annie, it's good to know the agreement we had previously made is still being held on his half. Hopefully his words don't tell the audience anything. They probably aren't even airing this. From the sounds in the main room, a fight between two careers is going on. That is what's being aired.

Demere and I are protecting her. That's all that matters.

Annie, my dear, you are coming home. Either sane or insane, I'll love you. Always.

Thank you so much to everyone that reviewed, followed, and favorited! Sorry I haven't been responding to your reviews, but I smile for two hours like an idiot after getting one! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I did a lot of research for this chapter. Schizophrenia is actually kind of interesting in a weird way.

I would love to hear what you all thought this time.

Love you all!

Karlee