Tear Drops of Saltwater (Finnick and Annie's love story)

|C.1| Crashing Waves

                              ➳➳➳➳

𝙰𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚎'𝚜 𝙿𝙾𝚅
(𝖠𝗇𝗇𝗂𝖾 𝗂𝗌 11 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖥𝗂𝗇𝗇𝗂𝖼𝗄 𝗂𝗌 12)

It has been almost a month since my mother passed. Each day seems to feel like the last, full of grief and pain. My mother drowned, which isn't a common thing in District 4 since we learn to swim as toddlers.

Every drop of water reminds me of her death. I haven't been to the ocean since she died, scared that I'll feel that pain of suffocation that she felt. My mother used to tell me the best way to get over a fear is to conquer it. I decided that I toady I will go to the ocean again.

I don't have any friends, I'm kept to myself and give people that cold look that says 'stay away'. I built this wall that's too hard to break and too high to climb. I get this trait from my father, he's a cold person too. He made me build these walls that surround me. I'm too scared without them someone will break me into a million pieces. After my mother died the walls grew stronger and higher.

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My father owns a net shop which I help weave the nets.

"Annie, go into town and get some more fish and rope," my father says firmly.

"Okay, I'll be back by six," I tell him.

He nods. without looking up from the task in hand. My father was many things but he was never a slacker, always doing his full potential in his task. Something I wish I had mastered.

Peacekeepers swarm like bees around shops and marching on the streets. I come across a black hair Peacekeeper named Lucas, he always tells me what the best deals are in the shops. I'm not very good at bargaining so I usually end up with an average fish for a high price. When I make it home I drop off the fish and rope to my father, father shakes his head at the average fish I managed to get. I make up a story of how they were sold out of the big ones, but he knows that's a lie.

I sneak away and put my bathing suit on and head to the beach. I always felt connected to the saltwater sea, it makes me feel like everything in the world is gone. The way the water sways is like a gentle lullaby singing me to sleep. Even in the darkest of the night, I see the blue waves reflecting light. I get that from my mom to look for the good in things. Even with the walls around me that my father built, I can still manage to see sunshine.

Most people have gone home since it's way past noon. The splashing of the waves echos in my head sending this electric feeling inside me. You can hear a few calls from the birds soaring in the sky, but my brain focuses on the thing that killed my mother—the ocean. I walk closer letting my toes squeeze the wet sand. Water splashes against my feet sending a terror inside me. Face your fears. Fear your fears. Face your fears. I take a step deeper into the water. Each step sends a chill up my spine. I'm soon floating. The waves splash against my neck and face making me feel a bit uneasy. The water starts to feel colder and everything around me feels still. I imagine my mother trapped under the current, each second that passes make her feel more desperate for air. I want to go back but my body seems to feel stiff and the waves grow higher. I try to scream for help but my mouth is filled with water. My throat hurts from the saltwater I engulfed and my lungs feel shallow. I feel
like an anchor falling deeper into the sea. Everything that I thought I knew about swimming erases from my memory. My worst fear seems to come true as I feel that desperate feeling for air.

Each wave knocks me further and further down, this is how I will die. Mother and daughter both died from the sea they both once loved. No one will miss me, I have no friends and my father is too overwhelmed by mother's death to care. A figure comes towards me, it swims swiftly through the water like a fish. Is it a shark? As it comes closer I notice it's a boy. His hand grabs my arm pulling me towards the surface. My lungs feel as if they will explode in any second. Everything around me slowly fades into a black abyss.