Finnick Odair's Story: Dark Secrets (The Hunger Games Fanfiction)

Causing Suspicion

When I return to Annie's from seeing Johanna, I sneak in through the downstairs balcony as usual. There is no noise from anywhere in the house, and I wonder for a second whether Annie has gone out.

"Annie?" I call, wondering where she is. When I hear no reply, I begin to worry slightly. I run upstairs, expecting to see her having a nap on the bed. My mouth begins to feel dry and my chest tightens up when I catch sight of Annie, curled up in a ball on the floor.

"Annie?" I repeat, shocked at the sight of her quivering body. When I place my hand on the small of her back, she jumps at my touch, but she then wraps her delicate hands around my neck and reveals her tear-stained face.

Her eyes are sparkling with water and her face is splotched with patches of red. Annie's usually curly hair is matted and messy, her shirt hangs askew from her shoulder.

I pull her towards me and hold her like a child, while she cries noiselessly into my shoulder. I have no idea what is going on, but we stay like this for what feels like forever, Annie's petite, dainty frame shaking like a flower in the breeze.

"What happened?" I ask eventually, my deep voice sounding harsh when it shatters the silence.

No answer for a few seconds.

"Annie, please," I say, almost begging. "Did something happen?"

She looks up at me with big, blinking eyes and shakes her head slowly.

"I'm so sorry, Finnick," she whispers, her voice soft and strained, the crying has burnt her throat. "It's nothing. Leave it."

"I come home to find you crying on the floor, and you expect me to just leave it?" I say, almost angry that she would even ask me to do that, to drop the issue as if it never happened.

"Please," she sobs. "I'm fine, see?"

She stands up, pulls her shirt back onto her shoulder and wipes her wet eyes as if nothing ever happened.

"You're clearly not fine," I insist, feeling helpless. Doesn't Annie trust me enough to tell me what's wrong?

"It's getting late," Annie says, brushing over my comment and glancing out of the window. "Shall we eat?"

I sigh, and Annie just shakes her head before taking my hand and leading me towards the stairs.

"I'm just going to use the bathroom," I tell her, gently releasing her hand and shrugging. She nods and continues without me.

Swiftly, I inspect Annie's room before she can stop me. The sheets just smell fresh and clean as always, despite being slightly crumpled. Mysterious, how there is no evidence of anything that could have happened. For a second, I think I hear laughter, haunting cackling, but it must just be my imagination.

"Are you okay?" she calls from downstairs and my trance is broken. I run swiftly to the kitchen, where Annie is looking lost.

"I don't have anything nice to cook," she comments, rummaging around in the cupboards for food.

"It doesn't have to be anything special," I say, opening the refrigerator.

"It does," she frowns. "This is your first proper meal. Oh no, you probably wanted some local cuisine to celebrating being here. Your favourite fish, or something like that."

I laugh. "Don't worry about it. Maybe tomorrow you could buy something."

She nods and pulls a packet of pasta from the cupboard. "I won the Hunger Games and they don't even provide me with decent food. What kind of society is this?" she jokes, erupting into an adorable peal of laughter.