Finnick and Annie's Untold Stories: Hope

Chapter Two

Annie's POV

She awoke right beside her windowsill with a dull ache in her head which throbbed consistently. Her left hand reached for and felt her wounded head. When she brought her palm back, bright blood was visible. The best guess that she could figure was that she had both hit her head and cut her head on the window, how, she could not say, but the ache was unbearable.

The thirteen year old girl stumbled outside of her bedroom and into the small kitchenette. The house had an eerie silence to it which Annie found both mystical and creepy.
It was still dark for morning-too dark, but she did not think much of it. She turned on the faucet of her sink and cupped her hands. The thin line of water filled her palms with the liquid, and after sipping some and quenching her thirst, she patted her head with the rest of the cool substance. Normally, this was relieving, but the water did little to help, and if anything, it burnt into her wound even more.
She stumbled out of the kitchenette and into a miniature living area which was empty besides a sofa and a wooden coffee table. She tore off a piece of paper from a notebook lying on the sofa, retrieved a pen, and jotted a quick and simple note to her parents stating that she was going out and would be back soon.

She slipped on her boots and as quietly as she could, she exited.
District 4 was ghostly. No, ghostly wasn't the proper word, and she wasn't even sure if it was a word. She racked her brain for a word to describe the feel and-ah ha! Absent. Yes, that would do. It felt as if something were missing.
For one, the children were not outside, nor were the adult population. Dead silence greeted her and a cold shiver ran down her spine.
It was also dark, so dark she could barely make out her hand in front of her face. She squinted and blinked rapidly in an attempt to get her eyes adjusted to the surroundings. Perhaps it was a cloudy day, she figured, but could not be sure for she could not even see the clouds. It was black and eerie and overall scary.
She was vaguely aware of the dim moonlight, but it did not help much to show her way through the empty streets. Faraway, she heard the sounds of boots slamming onto pavement and obliterating everything in their path. This did not stop her, she thought nothing of it. She had to get medicine, clear her head, her head which ached so badly it hurt to even think. What had happened? She dimly remembered having a chat with Finnick, him giving her the good advice to go back to bed, and that could have possibly been what she needed: rest. She needed to listen to Finnick.

Yet she found herself stumbling blindly to the shopping center for her long awaited medicine.
Focus Annie, what happened next?
Good question. She had closed the window abruptly and locked it, then she had, . . . oh, . . . she had hit her head on the window, and her head had to have smacked into the metal part of the windowsill, which explained the blood.
Her mini mystery had been solved quite quickly compared to most mysteries, but that still did not help her and the fact that she was injured.
A whimper escaped her mouth. Where was everyone? And what was making the strange and distant sounds? Her mind had gone to rubbish. She rubbed her head frantically as if trying to rub back her memories.
It was as if her brain had dumbed down, and she could barely pay attention to her surroundings.
Medicine, her mind numbly thought, I need medicine.
Something grasped her arm. Annie tried to screech, but a hand clasped her mouth before the shriek could form. Wide eyed with panic, she tried to fight. She elbowed her captor in the gut and kicked, trying to twist herself away.
Peacekeepers. The name came back to her instantly, and caused her to struggle even more. One of his arms went down to his pockets, which only meant one thing. He was going to inject her with some concoction to keep her still.

Why was he taking her? She was confused and panicked and her head hurt. A tear fell from her eye.
"Past curfew, eh, girl?" The man's gruff voice was near her ear. She tried to shake her head as best as she could. Curfew? Wasn't it morning? She had forgotten to check the clock, and had exited in search of a remedy, but it had not once crossed her mind that it was late at night. She cursed herself for being so stupid, of course it was night, when had she ever witnessed a morning so dark?
It explained a lot.
The man fumbled to retrieve the item hidden deep in his pocket. His white boots and uniform shone in the moonlight while her drab rags blended. How had he even found her?
She still struggled in hopes of a miracle to happen, that he'd loosen his grip for just a second, a precious second was all she needed to run back home. She could run quickly, even with a dull aching brain.
The man finally found what he was searching for-a needle which he casually flipped in his hand, causing her to squirm away even more.
He grimaced from his mask and Annie mimicked his expression of disgust.
He was about to inject her when a familiar and almost angelic voice interrupted him.
"Let her go!"
She whipped her head to see Finnick emerge from the shadows. What was he doing there? Had he witnessed the whole thing? A surge of irritation washed over Annie. Sure she was more than grateful to see him, but why had he not approached before? She glared slightly at her friend, but he did not notice.
She was never going to hear the end of this. She imagined herself in the future. Finnick bribing her to do some idiotic thing that she would not wish to do. She could almost hear his voice sing, "remember that one time when I saved you from a peacekeeper? Yeah, well you still owe me!"
She could possibly die, and all she was concerned about was the fact that her friend would have more future blackmail.