Chapter Text
Annie needed to flee. She couldn’t be trapped in the hot, humid backroom of her father’s summer boat rental for even a second longer. So, she snuck out the back when he started talking to a man in the front.
Annie bolted barefoot on the old wooden dock right to the water's edge, then right off. She plunged into the beautiful clear ocean water. It was cold, and salty, and perfect, and exactly what she needed, an escape. Annie swam down to the sandy floor and ran her fingers through the pink sand.
Down here, under the waves far enough where Annie couldn’t see the surface, just the sunlight beaming down, it was easy to ignore anything. Well almost everything, save for the need to breathe. Annie floated back to the surface of the water gasping breaths of warm summer air. She took one last breath before diving back down, it felt as if she had swallowed up the sun itself keeping her warm from the inside out.
Annie easily glided across the bottom of the ocean scaring crabs and chasing little fish as she went. The picture perfect pink sand grew dark and rocky and when Annie surfaced for air, she realized she had swam much further then she thought. Close to the underground cave on the far side of the island. The bigger discovery was that a boy sat atop one of the jagged rocks married to the shore.
She watched for a moment astonished at how such a short distance had made such a drastic change in the coast. Ginormous black rocks littered the shore leaving only small gaps of beach the biggest being no more than a foot wide. She watched from far off as the waves crashed against the rock the boy was sitting on, he didn’t ever move from his hunched over position. Wind whipped his hair back and yet his face remained firmly planted in his hands.
Cautious of the monstrous waves Annie drifted closer until she could reach out and take hold of the edge of a rock. The rough stone scrapped against her palm as she shimmied over to just in front of where the boy was sitting. “Hello!”
He jerked up, startled and that was when Annie seen the most beautiful pair of eye’s she had ever seen. Seafoam green and nearly as bright as the sun and brimmed with tears. “Be careful!” he lurched forward and caught Annies hand and pulled her up on the rock with him “The waves would crush you.” His voice was raspy like he had been crying for hours.
Annie sat cross-legged on the rock next to the boy. He whiped his eyes, his face all red and puffy. “Why are you crying?” Annie asked looking around, just around the corner she could see the lighthouse in the distance. Another brick building was closer but there was nobody outside, nothing to cause trouble.
The boy didn’t answer for a while, instead, he stared out at the horizon line, haunted. A seagull dived under the surface and returned with a fish in its beak. He looked around then went back to picking at the porous rocks. He spoke quietly, almost unintelligibly “I’m scared.”
“Of the water?” Annie raised an eyebrow. This was hardly the place to be if you were scared of water.
“No.” The boy shook his head, then returned to being silent. Annie couldn’t really complain, she had gone looking for a distraction and found this peculiar boy on the rocks. He looked to be about her age, maybe a little older and strangely enough he was all dressed up, a suit, tie even shiny pointy shoes.
Annie sat there in silence until she couldn’t bear it any longer “I’m going to go swimming again, want to come?” she crept up to the edge of the rock ready to leap off.
The boy lit up, jumping to his feet and kicking off the shiny shoes and suit vest. His hands went to the buttons of his fancy white shirt, but he stopped dead in his tracks, he went as pale as a ghost and spun around to scan the shoreline. “I don’t want to take my clothes off.”
“Then don’t.” Annie shrugged then leapt into the water still in her sundress. A second later he was in the water zooming past her to dive to the bottom of the water. Annie sped off after him, chasing him until her whole chest ached with effort and she had no choice but to break for air. A few minutes later the boy popped up out of the water smiling like it was his God-given right to put the sun to shame with so little effort. “What’s your name?” Annie huffed poking him in the arm.
“Finnick, yours?” he asked.
“Annie. You suck.” She watched as a huge wave formed behind Finnick. She thought about warning him then decided she would be just fine if he were swept away. The wave crashed down and Finnick disappeared under the water only to pop back up like a bobber.
“Why?” Finnick tilted his head to the side and Annie splashed him again.
“You beat me, let’s go again.” She insisted.
“Oh, you were racing me? I wasn’t even trying!” He laughed and brushed the hair from his face. Maybe Annie would drown him. She voiced this to him and he scrunched up his face “You're crazy.”
“Yeah,” Annie shrugged “threetwoonego!” She shouted all in one breath and took off before Finnick had a moment to comprehend what she had said. She beat him and he demanded a rematch. After four more races the duo was completely out of breath, they called a tie and crawled to the shore flopping over on a dark rock.
Annie stretched, the rock had spent the whole day warming in the sun and now it leached heat into her skin. “Are you from here?” Finnick turned to her, the water beading and dripping down his face.
“No.” Annie sat up to watch a little white crab scuttle across the rock, pausing to bask in the sun. “Just visiting, we stay here during the summers. Are you from here?” She leaned down and scooped the crab up. It crawled from her hand to her other hand back and forth, stopping every so often to suck up a dropling of salt water from her hand.
Finnick held his hand up and Annie pressed hers to his to create a bridge for the crab. His hands were as warm as the sunlight that had been streaming down on them all day. The crab crossed and Annie hesitated before she pulled her hand away. “I’ll only be here for a little while.” He spoke quietly not taking his eyes off it for even a minute.
“Will you be here tomorrow?" She asked.
“On this rock, most likely not?” He grinned looking up from the crab. Annie rolled her eyes. “I’ll be in town.” He shrugged, holding his hand out. Annie pressed hers back to the side of his hands as the crab crossed over.
“Well, I have to be back in the room soon. Maggs will be mad if I’m out late. I can meet you on the doc this time tomorrow?” Finnick suggested. He stood up and stretched before shaking the water out of his damp hair.
“Okay, see you tomorrow!” Annie chirped with a wave. Finnick slipped into his shoes and slid back on the vest making him look like some sort of government official. He gave her a wave and languidly walked across the rocks without even looking down to make sure he wasn’t going to walk right into a gap and fall.
Annie lowered her hand letting the crab go and watched him go. What a strange boy. When she found him he had been sobbing on the rocks and here he was walking away without a care in the world dressed up to the nine. Maybe he was a spy, a guy sent to the small town on secret business and that’s why he refused to elaborate on anything.
Yes a spy, that’s exactly what this was. Annie laid back down on the rock and spent the rest of the evening lost in revery daydreaming about adventures the boy could have been on. Heist and lasers, booby-traps and hostages a life on the run evading capture.
Annie ran her toe over the groves in the old wooden dock. The wood had been soaking in sea air and summer sun all day long and now it radiated warmth. She turned and watched the sea foam dance across the waves for a moment and wondered if she had enough time to take a quick swim before she was supposed to meet Finnick.
“Annie!” Guess not. She looked up just in time to see Finnick running over to meet her at the edge of the dock. He bent in half breathing hard but rebounded with all the speed of a wave pulling away from the shore and straighted. “Miss me?”
“Not particularly.” Annie lied. It had only been a day and yet she’d already grown attached to this strange boy with his out-of-place outfits and riddle-like words.
“would you wanna get ice cream?” He asked and Annie couldn’t help but nod along. She’d have to be crazy to turn down ice cream on a day as hot as this one. Well, crazier. Finnick led the way talking about everything and nothing at the same time, he went on about how different this place was from where he lived usually but did not dare to address why he was here. He talked about the weather and the birds and flowers they passed and the flavors of ice cream, but not the dark clouds in the distance and his flinching at every crack of thunder, where he has gained all this knowledge of birds and flowers, or what flavor he liked. It was strange but Annie liked to listen anyways.
When the duo arrived at the little ice cream shop Finnick had spotted he paused and peered into the glass window. He stood there watching his reflection long enough for it to drag on before he abruptly spun on his heels and pointed in the opposite direction from them. “This weekend, we should go there.” He declared and Annie turned to see what he was on about, in the distance the boardwalk was all lit up even sporting a Ferris wheel.
“Okay.” Annie agreed.
Finnick pulled the glass door to the ice cream shop open “After you.” He gave her a bow and Annie gave a curtsy in response making them both giggle as they came up to the counter. “Hiya Chaff!” He chirped and the man behind the counter grinned at him.
“Back already Finnick, weren’t you just here last night?” The man, Chaff as Finnick had called him, offered a friendly smile and leaned over the counter. Annie noticed he only had one arm. Definitely spy’s, she thought.
“You don’t even work here!” Finnick scoffed. It was only then that she noticed the man’s lack of any sort of uniform or even gloves.
“Yeah, yeah, you want ice cream or not kid” Chaff waved him off giving the impression he was very busy. The shop was empty. Annie figured he wanted to get out of there before the real workers got back.
Finnick ignored him and took his time reading out the different flavors. “What’s your favorite flavor?”
Annie considers it for a moment “I like the chocolate cherry one”
“One of those please” he leaned over the counter as Chaff did a very poor job of scooping out the ice cream. “What are you doing here anyways?” Finnick tilted his head to the side.
Annie was so caught on how the sun lit up the strands of hair on Finnick's face that she almost missed Chaff's response. “Drunk dare.” He shrugged and passed the cone to Annie. “What do you want kido?”
“Salted caramel” he answered.
“Is that your favorite?” Annie took a bite from her cone.
“Yeah, reminds me of the ocean,” Finnick said wistfully.
“We’re surrounded by the ocean?” Annie gestured out the glass doors. Finnick just shrugged as Chaff handed him the cone.
“Not where I’ve been, it’s all mountains up there.” He explained, “I used to live on the beach, before.” Finnick waved at Chaff and started to the door so Annie followed him with hopes he’d give up more details. Finnick didn’t continue and Annie didn’t press for details.
The two of them walked back to the dock, breaking into a sprint when their ice cream started to melt and drip down their hands. They sat side by side on the edge of the dock, dangling their feet in the water. Minnows crowded around the wooden pole that held the doc and ventured out to circle their skin before getting scared and darting back to safety.
Annie noticed a string of twine tied around his ankle, a small sliver of wood with a hole in the middle threaded through. “What’s that?” She asked pointing to it as it bobbed with the water, the wood wanting to float on top.
Finnick drew his leg up and crossed it on his lap to show Annie the thread. “It’s from my friend, Johanna. She has a matching one with a seashell, so we don’t forget about each other.”
“Would you forget about her?” Annie asked, twitching her leg to watch the fish scatter.
“I’ve never forgotten a single thing.” Finnick chomps down the rest of his cone in one bite. “That’s what’s wrong with me.” He grinned.
“Never?” Annie asked
“Never.” He echoed
Annie tried to imagine that, to remember every single thing that has ever happened. Every word, every thought, the feeling of it all. Annie decides she would simply drown in it all. Finnick, however, has found some magical way to tread water. “That would be horrible.” She frowned.
“I don’t think it is, I’ve learned a lot.” Finnick rolled up his sleeves just past the wrist and plunged his hands into the clear cold water.
“Like what?” Annie crunched on the last bit of her cone and mirrored his position to rinse the sticky melted mess from her hands.
“Joy has a habit of returning.” He pulled his hands from the water and shook them spraying Annie. He watched her for a moment, somehow looking both happy and impossibly sad.
Annie grimaced at the flashing lights and screaming people in the arcade. “Just try to have some fun?” her father suggested to the three of them as he dropped her and her siblings off at the horrid old place. The dark wallpaper was peeling off the walls revealing the rotting wooden innards. The three of them stepped onto the carpeted main floor, Annie cringing as it squelched beneath her shoe and discovered why the place reeked of mold.
It only took a minute for her sister to turn on her heels and vanish off somewhere into the dingy place and for her brother to go entertain himself with the old games.
Annie wandered up and down the isles taking notes of the mostly broken games. The blank dark faces staring back at her. It was boring. She found a game in the darkest corner and sat on the torn stool, leaning with her arms on her knees.
Off to her right, the rotten roof dipped in, and water dripped down into a dingy puddle on the carpet. Annie imagined that she jumped off the stool and walked over to the edge of the puddle, looking at her reflection. She took another step closer to the water’s edge. The carpet dipped down and Annie dropped. She flailed and tried to open her mouth to scream but it filled up with the murky water.
Sinking like a brick, Annie desperately clawed at the light above. She kicked her feet as hard as she could, willing herself to swim up. Soon though the light faded, and all the water was just one continuous murky green and she could hardly see her own hand in front of her face.
She could feel the panic bubbling up in her chest in real life. Like an overflowing pool filter, all clogged up with browned leaves and sticks and maybe a dead frog. Annie gripped her arms and tried to remind herself that it wasn’t real. Not even a dream, just a stupid thought.
“Funny seeing you here?” Finnick spoke like he had expected to find her here, on this plastic stool in the rotting building. She spun around to blink at him. He stepped right over the puddle like it was nothing and slotted himself next to her like it was the easiest thing in the world.
“Did you know I’d be here?” Annie asked fiddling with the buttons of the old arcade game. No matter what she did the screen stayed black.
“No.” He stood up straight and stretched “I’m glad you are though, this place sucks.”
That made Annie laugh “Your telling me! Everything in here is broken.” When her family had visited summers prior the place would have been bustling with life but it seemed as though the whole world had grown up overnight and all now shared her sibling's opinions that games were for little kids. Annie still would have played if anything worked.
“The pool table in the back still works?” Finnick offered.
Wait, pool table? “How did you get in the backroom, isn’t that for employees only,” Annie questioned but followed him around the corner and down the hallway anyways.
“I just walked right in?” He shrugged and ignored the employees’ only sign on the door pushing it open.
“What if we get in trouble ?” The room didn’t smell any better than the rest of the place. In fact, being shoved in the back with no windows it was worse. About one hundred times hotter the stale air was thick enough to cut with a knife.
Finnick lazily strolled over past the promised pool table and grabbed a stick from the holder, testing its length. “What’s the worst that could happen” He raised an eyebrow as he passed Annie the stick.
“They’ll kill you” she deadpanned, managing a whole entire minute without giggling.
Finnick grinned and set his stick down pulling up his shirt sleeve and flexing his arm “I’d fight them, and I'd win.”
“The guy is like 17” Annie crossed her arms and tried to plot ways she could get him to do that again. She hoped the disappointment wasn’t clear on her face when he rolled the sleeve back down and plucked his stick from the table before readying the game.
“Doesn’t matter.” He shrugged, giving the impression he knew from experience. Annie wondered how many people could Finnick have beaten up while he proceeded to beat her in pool a total of four times before she called it quits and chased him around with the stick.
Finnick couldn’t stay much longer, leading to her walking him to the door. “Who’s that?” her brother asked, giving up on the unlit claw machine he had been sitting at.
“Finnick, the boy I met on the rocks.” She answered as Thomas came to sit on the curb with her “Where’s Lily?”
“She probably walked home.” He scoffed. She hadn’t, in a few minutes she too came to sit on the curb with them until their mother pulled up to bring them all home.
“Have fun?” she chirped as the three of them piled into the back seat, Annie stuck in the middle like always. It was almost funny how they all answered no in perfect unison. It was no use, their mother just shook her head and they all knew they’d be back by next week.
“I’ll wait out here, it’s too cramped in there,” Annie mumbled kicking at the shelled path she was standing on. Her father shrugged and walked into the store without her. Three hours! Three hours she had spent waiting for Finnick to show up at their usual meeting spot. A warm breeze swept past wind chimes that hung from the overhang of the shop, crafted from shells, sea glass, and shark teeth.
Annie looked up to see the trinkets sway in the wind. When she turned back to the path, she spotted Finnick and some greasy man standing outside the door of another shop ice cream cones in hand. Annie looked back once to make sure her father wasn’t watching and darted across the path. When she looked up Finnick was gone and only the man was left, holding both cones.
He looked like he had just rolled out of bed and into a dump. His eyes red and unfocused, hair tangled and weighed down from the grease, clothes rumpled and reeking of liquor. Could this possibly be Finnick’s father? It was hard to imagine he even knew the boy. Annie cleared her throat hoping to draw his attention but he was dead to the world so she crept closer and stood on her tiptoes. “Hello?’
The man blinked and lurched back “What!” he spat. Annie frowned and added bad breath to the growing list of reasons talking to this man was a bad idea.
She did it anyway. “Where did Finnick go?”
“Who’s asking?” He stood up a little taller and seemed to come into focus, glancing around at the passersby with suspicion. Annie struggled to fit such a poor man into her spy narrative. Maybe, she thought, he’s the man they’ve been hunting down. He took a chomp out of the ice cream cone Finnick had been eating.
“Annie?” Annie turned at the sound of her name. Finnick hopped down the shop's wooden steps, the old wood had once been painted pink but now it was peeling and clung to Finnick’s shoes. He now had a hat perched atop his head and the man rolled his eyes at it, Finnick grimaced at the teeth marks on his ice cream. He plucked the treat from the man's hands and turned to Annie “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here with my dad, you never showed up at the dock?” She kicked at the shells in the path, almost all of them were broken.
“Sorry, I didn’t.” He trailed off, watching the sun sink down over the shore. “I was busy.” He muttered without looking at her. Annies's stomach twisted, there was something wrong, some sort of horrible sadness that loomed over him.
“Who’s that guy?” She pointed to the greasy man hoping to draw Finnicks attention away from whatever seemed to be haunting his mind.
He blinked as if freed from some horrible curse and looked back. “Oh, that’s just Haymitch, he's not much for smiling.” Finnick shrugged “or people.” He added. “But he’s my friend so?”
“Your friend?” Annie giggled “He’s like sixty years old! What do you guys even do?”
“Shop for hats, obviously.” Finnick struck a pose like he was some great model and flashed Annie his award-winning smile.
“SIXTY?” Haymitch gapped. He ran a hand through his dirty hair and frowned “I just turned thirty."
Annie looked over at Finnick, wide-eyed and the two of them dissolved into laughter. Really, it wasn’t that funny, but Finnick’s joy was contagious. Even Haymitch cracked a smile though it was accompanied by a shake of his head. Their good time was only interrupted by the appearance of Annie’s father.
“Hello?” He started giving Haymitch and Finnick questioning glances.
Finnick was the first to react, jumping out to shake his hand “Hi sir! I’m Finnick, it's nice to meet you!” He gave his best smile, standing up straight as he could. Annies’s father echoed the greeting, and it wasn’t long until Finnick had won him over. He and Annie lagged behind the adults as they made polite small talk, well as polite as Haymitch could be, and wandered through the shops. Finnick ran the tips of his fingers over the hanging windchimes making them sing in unison with the waves crashing on the shore just in the distance.
Turns out that Haymitch wasn’t half bad, sort of like a stray mangy dog that you just couldn't turn away. He joked easily with Finnick but it only raised more questions; like for one, why were all Finnick’s friends adults, and where was his family?
Annie guessed that even if she asked the answers wouldn’t come easy to her. Over the past few days, she’s noticed that Finnick tends to speak in riddles like he’s being monitored.
“So” Annie started “How’d you even meet Haymitch?”
Finnick’s eyes glinted in the low light, for a second she wondered if they were tears. “It’s a secret.” He whispered.
“You have a lot of those?” Annie asked watching the moon's reflection shimmer across the ocean in the distance.
Next to her Finnick made some sort of choking noise in the fading light. She wanted to look over at him, maybe reach out for him but she couldn’t force herself to move. “You don’t know the half of it.”
Annie summoned all her strength to turn to him, to watch the reflection of the waves in his eyes. She could see the glittering water overtaking the sand before pulling back to return back to where it came from. Finnick opened his mouth to talk but the words seemed to jumble in his throat.
One day, Annie hopped, he’d find the words he was looking for and it would all be easier. Until then she’d stay here, silently at his side.
Annie shoveled the last of her breakfast in her mouth before jumping from the table and rushing to wash her bowl off in the sink. Her brother walked past her to grab the toaster and slot bread in the holes.
“Where are you hurrying off to?” He pushed himself up to sit on the counter and swung his feet. The window over the sink was open and morning sunlight floated in washing the blue kitchen tiles in light gold.
“To meet Finnick at the dock, he said he has the whole day off.” Annie turned the sprayer on but it bounced off the bowl misting her face with watered-down milk. She shut the sink off and dried her face ignoring Thomas’s laughing.
“But we always ride our bikes on Saturdays?”
“Oh, right.” Annie frowned. The prospect of getting an entire day with her new friend instead of just a few hours had caused her to forget about Thomas entirely.
The toaster popped and her brother grabbed it and set it on the counter. “What if we borrow Lily’s bike to ride and take him with us?” He spread strawberry jam over the toast, licking the spoon before dipping it right back in the jam.
Annie made a mental note not to eat any more of the strawberry jam and shot down the hallway to bang on her sister’s door. “Lilly me and Thomas are taking your bike for Finnick to ride on thankyousomuch!” She ran back to the living room diving for her shoes. She and Thomas rushed to get out of the house before Lilly could come and tell them no.
Lily cracked open her bedroom door and poked her head out, still looking half asleep. “Finnick?” She raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah?” Annie double-knotted her shoelaces, not wanting to risk them coming untied and getting caught in the wheels.
“Sounds like a boy's name?” she teased, leaning against the door frame.
“It is.” Annie shrugged before running out the door. Thomas bolted out after her, Annie unlatched the wooden fence gate and the two of them grabbed the bikes and raced down to the docks. Finnick laid on his back at the end of the dock, his feet dangling over the edge and his eyes closed soaking up the sunlight. Annie almost didn’t want to disturb him, content to just stand there and watch his chest rise and fall with the waves.
Thomas however didn’t seem to share this same fixation and instead called out for him “Finnick!”
Finnick sat up and turned around, he gave a confused wave and wandered over. “This is my brother, Thomas,” Annie explained, giving Finnick a moment to yawn and rub his eyes before continuing. “Do you wanna ride bikes with us, we know this really cool place.”
“Sure!” Finnick stretched and turned to Thomas. “Hi.”
“Hi.” He passed Finnick the bike “Hope you can keep up.”
Annie hadn’t even thought to question if Finnick knew how to ride a bike, but if he hadn’t, he picked it up fast and the three of them were racing through town. The bike tires speed easily over the sandy paths, wooden docks, and gravel roads and Annie's legs burned with effort. The warm salty air blew through her hair the same way it had when she was small. People walked past, not giving them a second thought, and off to the side seagulls swooped down to pluck fish from the blueish-green water.
They rode past the shops thumping over the uneven wooden boards. The wind chimes that hung from every roof sang as they went by. Two people were hanging A wooden sign with the words “Life is better at the beach” on the side of a shop.
The sun was shining, warming their backs and everything was okay.
Finnick followed her and Thomas as they led him down a dirt path in the woods. They had to jump over reaching roots and small rocks, but Finnick never questioned them. Twice he almost wiped out.
The end of the path tapered down in a spiral into an underground cove. The path ended on a flat bed of rock where the three of them laid their bikes against the wall and looked out into the sparkling water. The roof of the cave had fallen in leaving branches of trees to reach down into the hole only allowing small streams of sunlight to filter through.
“Whoa,” Finnick breathed stepping to the edge of rocks and peering at the water, watching the surface ripple and bend. “This place is incredible; how did you find it?” He sat on the edge and dangled his legs from it.
“Lots of boring summers.” Annie sat next to him, watching the sunlight filter through his hair and reflect off his eyes.
“Do you guys come here every summer?" Finnick asked, picking at the rocks until one came loose.
“Yup,” Thomas answered.
Finnick nodded then skipped the rock across the surface of the water. “Yknow what would be cool in here?” he asked leaning back.
“What?” Annie watched the rock sink and the tail of a fish poke out of the water before vanishing.
“A swing.” Finnick started, he stood up and pointed to some of the low-hanging branches reaching into the cave. “We could use vines and tie it to the branches.”
Annie considered the idea for a moment, but Thomas was the first to agree. Finnick pulled a knife out of his pocket and passed it to Thomas ignoring his momentary shock. “You go up there and cut off some thick tree roots, me and Annie will tie them to the vines to make them stronger.” He explained.
“Okay?” Thomas slowly took the knife from his hand and walked back up the spiraling dirt path. Finnick crept to the edge once again and pulled down the closest vines. He sat next to Annie and started to tie the vines in knots she had never seen before.
“How do you do that?” she asked scooting closer to him. Their knees touched and he flinched away.
“Maggs taught me, I can show you?” he offered. Finnick took her hands in his and guided them in tying the intricate knot. Annie wished she had been paying attention to how to do it, but her mind had been entirely focused on how warm his hands had been. On memorizing every line of his palms rather than every little movement. Finnick pulled back and the two of them fell into rhythm tying the vines together to make them longer. Annie listened to the sound of his breathing mixed with the quiet psithurism above and hoped to never leave this moment.
Thomas came crashing through the underbrush ruining the moment with his arms full of roots. He dumped them down in front of the duo before jumping onto the reaching tree branches to gather more vines.
“These are great Thomas!” Finnick explained and started weaving the roots into the vines.
Thomas beamed at the praise; good job wasn’t a phrase spoken often in their house. “Thanks!” He jumped down from the trees and dropped loads of vines at Finnick’s feet before dropping himself and watching intently as Finnick showed him how to tie the right knots. Annie was unreasonably proud of how quickly her brother had taken a liking to Finnick, with that came the hope that the rest of her family liked him too. Why? She could tell.
“Finnick?” Thomas started. Finnick hummed in response looking up from his segment of rope. “Are we friends?”
Finnick seemed to consider it a moment “Well, do you want to be my friend?” He asked and Thomas jumped on the offer nodding his head. “Then I’d be my greatest pleasure to be your friend”
“Why do you talk so funny?” He asked, moreso talking to Annie than Finnick.
“I like to think that I’m a poet,” Finnick remarked. The trio made quick work of the rope and with wasn’t long before Finnick tied it to a branch to complete their swing. They spent the rest of the afternoon jumping and splashing in the water and lazing about on the rock. When there was only an hour or so till sundown Annie told Thomas he had to dry off so they could get home before dark and wouldn’t be in trouble.
“I don’t want to go home; wouldn’t it be great if we could stay here forever,” Thomas complained climbing up on his bike. Annie didn’t speak it but she shared the sentiment.
Finnick, however, shook his head. “Things are only beautiful because they end, there’s only so much time in the world. That’s why everyone treasures the sunset, blink and it’ll be dark.” He climbed on the bike, and they all rode back to Annie’s house. Finnick helped them put up the bikes and high-fived her brother goodbye before turning to Annie.
“It’ll be back though,” Annie said, Finnick looked at her puzzled. “The sun” she explained “it’ll always rise again in the morning.”
Finnick smiled “You're right.” He waved and started down the path away from Annie’s house. “See you tomorrow then!” he called over his shoulder.
She walked back in the house and plopped down on the couch, Thomas sat next to her a moment later with a bag of chips. "What's wrong with him?" he asked, and Annie knew despite the phrasing he wasn't being malicious.
"I think he lost something very important," Annie started grabbing a chip from the bag "and now he can never get it back."
Thomas seemed to think it over for a second. "What do you think he lost?"
Annie shrugged "I don't know, but it was his and now it's gone."
It was a week later when Finnick told her the first of his secrets.
Annie scrambled around her room picking up everything and anything on her floor and shoving it all in her closet. She slammed the door shut and something thudded against the door. Annie grimaced at the thought of having to open it back up tomorrow and let everything tumble out back onto the floor.
The past week she had spent every day with Finnick, late in the evening until the sun was swallowed up by the sea and they had to go home. Or she had to go home and Finnick disappears back into the dark. Back to his secret hideout Annie supposes, yknow spy business and all.
Today would be different though, any minute he’d be here at her house and the two of them would walk to the boardwalk and spend the night eating every over-fried treat in sight and riding every ride.
Exhausted from the frantic cleaning Annie slumped down on her bed and tried to catch her breath staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars plastered all over her ceiling. She stayed like this till the doorbell rang and Annie shot out of her room and to the front door. Her mother came up by her side as Annie pulled the door open.
She was stunned for a moment, Finnick almost looked normal. His overly long clothes that hid every inch of skin were replaced with a normal shirt and shorts, it was like he had ditched his disguise on the way over and transformed back into a kid. “Hey,” he waved before greeting Annie's mother.
They were out the door in a second her mother shouting to be safe and not stay out too late from the house. Annie couldn’t help but search for some sort of horrible thing Finnick had been hiding but nothing stuck out. No secret deformity or scars, just normal skin.
“Did I ever tell you about the time me and Johanna tried to stay the night at the mall and got stuck there?” Annie shook her head and Finnick recounted the whole story as they walked to the boardwalk, the flashing lights acting like a beacon.
When they made it to the entrance of the boardwalk the man at the booth stamped their hands with ink stars and let them through, it was immediately overwhelming. Red, yellow, and white lights flashed from every angle, music from the rides and booths blaring in her ears. It didn’t do any good in covering up the sound of screaming people, a trio of small children sprinted past screeching like banshees.
Annie was frozen solid trying to catch her bearings clamping her hands over her ears. She staggered back and Finnick dragged her off to the side. A dark, damp area in between booths, the cloths muffling the sounds. She sunk down to the floor spreading her fingers over the wet grass reveling in the coolness.
“Annie?” She stilled at the one voice that wasn’t muffled, she blinked and looked up finding only sea green. Warm fingers slipped over hers cementing her to the spot. The two of them sat there in the dirt for several minutes until Annie managed to calm down. Finnick didn’t let go of her hand.
“Okay?’ he whispered plucking at the blades of grass. He pulled a piece of grass from the ground and tied it around her pointer finger.
Annie admired the little bow “Okay.” She nodded then stood up. Finnick followed her back out wordlessly, still holding tight to her hand. They crept into the open and Annie marched them right to a stand of deep-fried butter on a stick, sure to make them sick. She was embarrassed about the little slip, but Finnick didn’t mention it allowing her to push it to the back of her mind. “Bet you I could swallow this whole thing in one bite!” Finnick claimed holding up his stick of butter.
Annie scrunched up her nose her him “No way!” she challenged. Finnick ate the thing in one foul chomp and Annie ate her words. She tried to argue that anyone could do it and sought to prove it by doing the same. She choked and had to stop halfway through still swallowing way too much butter, she’s sure some of it shot out of her nose and ears despite Finnick’s claim that was impossible. “Well, I wouldn’t consider the word of a man who just ate a whole stick of butter to be absolute.” She shrugged and started off without him.
“Hey!” Finnick sprinted after her making Annie break out into a full-on run. She weaved in between crowds and booths and found herself in the winding line for the fairswheel. She paused to watch the lights glittering like stars on the backdrop of the night sky. Finnick crashed into her back breaking her peace.
Annie spun around to face him, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.
“Hi” Finnick panted bent in half “Caught you.” He gave a sheepish smile and Annie rolled her eyes at him. “Do you wanna ride?” he asked nodding over to the fairswheel.
“Duh.” Annie smiled back and the two stood side by side in the line until it was their turn and they piled into the basket. They rose up and Finnick leaned over the edge seemingly mystified at whatever he saw. Annie however couldn’t drag her eyes away from him no matter how hard she tried. The multicolored lights shining through his perfect golden hair, and his eyes seeming to hold the entire world in them. Annie prayed that he would not blink, afraid that if he did everything would go dark, that without him life would cease to exist. Just for a moment.
Finnick was pretty. Annie hadn’t really noticed until now, but up here she realized that she hadn’t seen a single thing. Only been watching everything unfold in the reflection of Finnick’s eyes. This is crazy, she chided herself. Then again crazy had really always been her thing. She had only known Finnick maybe two weeks, only really been friends for one of those weeks.
Still, he beckoned her over and Annie crept to his side, her hands on the railing next to his, and peered over the edge.
“Wow.” She murmured, swarms of people made their way about life beneath her. Other rides zipped past, children chased one another, and off to the side people strolling on the beach. Black waves lapping at their feet covering the shoreline in a blanket of stars. She imagined them, each person living their own life. One woman going home to her husband who hasn’t spoken a full sentence to her since Monday. Two kids on their first date. A man plucking rubber ducks out of a bason, working to afford his apartment.
“Well, Annie!” Finnick suddenly leapt up “How does it feel to be up here with the stars?” He put on some sort of talk show voice and held out a fake microphone to Annie. For a moment she wasn’t quite sure if he was talking about himself or pinpricks that dotted the milky black sky.
Annie considered the question for a moment before giving the fake microphone a tap and leaning in to speak to it. “It’s better than I could ever have expected.” Finnick watched her for a moment, lingering before he looked straight up at the sky. He started as if to speak, then the cart lurched forward, and he tripped back into his seat.
The ride ended and the two wondered out giggling about nothing in particular and sprinted for the next ride. One attraction after another they made their way to the end of the boardwalk. The lights grew distant behind them as the rest of the dock was lit by dim streetlamps rusted from the seawater.
“Hey, Annie?” Finnick paused and looked past her.
“Yes?” she turned her head but found nothing but the ocean. The dark seawater blended with the sky giving the impression they were one in the same thing.
“Do you wanna go swimming?” he cocked his head to the side. Annie didn’t answer him, instead, she took off sprinting down the wooden stairs onto the sandy shore. Finnick chased after her nearly pumbling into her back when she stopped dead to kick off her shoes. The two of them stripped down to their underclothes and plunged into the icy water.
Annie hardly remembered swimming that night, but every second of after was ingrained into her memory. Like someone had taken an ice pick and carved each horrible word into her head.
Leached of all their strength the two of them practically crawled back onto the sand. Finnick flopped down on his back carelessly, arms resting behind his head as he panted. “I definitely won this time.” He declared. Annie scoffed at him scooping the cold sand into her hand and tossing it at him.
First Finnick smiled, then the sand on his bare skin registered in his mind and he shot up. Panicked he scrambled for something in the darkness. Annie only later realized he was probably looking for his shirt, which lay in the sand about ten feet away from them.
It was at that moment that it had gotten late enough for the automatic lights on the hotel, somewhere on the other side of the boardwalk, to turn on. The light was dim enough to not be blinding, but still lit the two of them up.
Annie yelped and rubbed her eyes. She caught her bearings quicker than Finnick and was just about to laugh at his rabid blinking when she looked down and the color leached from her face.
Green and yellow bruises married almost every inch of Finnick’s skin, every inch that would have normally been covered. Harsh red splotches also dotted centered mostly around his collarbone and waistline. That alone would have been cause for concern but scabbed-over claw marks at his sides, as well as darker bruises suspiciously shaped like hands only made things worse.
Tears had sprung to Finnick’s eyes the moment he realized what had happened and Annies’s jaw dropped before she could help herself. He crossed his arms over his chest like they could do any good in helping to conceal the injuries. Annie only noticed more. Bite marks that couldn’t possibly be anything but human, too large to have been anyone Finnick’s age.
Annies’s brain rushed to make sense of what she saw, of all the pieces falling so perfectly into place. His tears on the rock, the ever-looming misery, all of the secrets, the infection. Annie scrambled for a different answer, to believe anything but. . .
Finnick faltered, trying to blink away the tears that threaded to spill. He was breathing funny and Annie wondered if it would do more harm than good to try and comfort him. She feared that if she reached out to touch him, she might panic him even more.
So, Annie sat completely still in the sand as her brain whurred on struggling to comprehend what was going on. Finnick had been she struggled for the word, hurt? Maybe. Close enough. Even just to think the real word would have been to much, to real. Who could even have done this to him?
“Haymitch?” Finnick seemed to snap out of whatever strange world he was locked in and looked up at the dock. Annie hadn’t even heard him before Finnick had said something, but she could now. Somewhere up on the boardwalk, he was calling out for Finnick. Before she could register the movement she lunged for Finnick’s hand, holding onto it tight. Her subconscious filling in the blanks where she could not.
He jerked back like she had burned him, but she didn’t let go. “Please.” She begged, “Don’t go.” Don’t leave, stay where I can see that you’re okay, that you're not. .
Finnick wrenched his hand from her grasp. “I’m sorry.” He scrambled past her and pulled his shirt over his head. “We have to go.” He nodded over at the sandy stairs. Fear pooled in Annie’s gut cementing her to the spot as Finnick finished dressing and handed Annie her clothes. It was like she had swallowed an anchor.
Within moments the two of them were back on the boardwalk and Haymitch had spotted them. If he noticed Finnick’s Shakey hands or her sudden silence he didn’t comment on it. “There you two are! Annie your dad called and said yall were supposed to be back an hour ago, I told him you guys were down at the pool and I'd go get ya.” He waved his hands around, swaying on his feet, apparently very drunk.
He dropped an arm around Finnick and continued blabbering on about nothing interesting. Annie kept her eyes on him the entire walk back to her house, if it wasn’t for Finnick the two of them would have spent the rest of the night walking in circles. He didn’t seem suspicious, but really who else did Finnick know. The ice cream guy? He hadn’t mentioned any parents, or really any family at all for that matter. He had just gotten here and the marks were already healing and scabbed over, almost faded.
Besides it’s not like she had been looking out for red flags. Sure, Finnick being friends with an old drunk was strange but it wasn’t inherently bad. Who could have done something like that to him? Really, the answer seemed quite clear now.
Moreover, how could Annie have not noticed? Outwardly, she blamed Haymitch. Staring daggered at him as he yammered off. For every scar, every mark, each cut and bruise and whatever else was broken under Finnick’s skin. Inwardly, she blamed herself. How could she have not noticed sooner?
Finnick, who was so quiet with his misery. His silent tears on the rock slipping right from his cheeks into the salty ocean water below. Somehow he had kept the sadness that loomed over him buried deep in his bones allowing very few moments where it spilled over. Up until now she just thought he was strange and nothing more. Certainly, she could not have dreamed up this kind of suffering. The kind where even now as he walked he curled in on himself, refusing to meet her eyes, hoping no one would ever look his way again.
It was all too soon they were at Annie's front door. “Goodbye Annie.” Finnick held his own hand and finally looked up at her. It sounded final. She expected him to cry but it seemed he had run out of tears, or perhaps he had expected this because his eyes remained dry and his face hollow.
“Want to come in?” Annie offered hoping Finnick would take the bait. She couldn’t bear to see him leave, to watch Finnick go with him. Not now that she knew the truth, or at least enough of it to be worried.
He traced his finger over his knuckles “You know I can’t.” He spoke in nearly a whisper.
“See you tomorrow?” She pleaded. Finnick blinked at her, just as surprised as she had been at the sound of her voice. He mulled it over for a moment before nodding. The man who lives across the street from her flipped on the lights and drew the blinds to watch them.
One time when Annie was small she had been playing outside covering the driveway in chalk when she noticed the man and his dog sitting on their porch as the man read a newspaper. A bird had flown by and the dog stood up and barked at it. That was all it took to send the man into a full meltdown. He jumped up hollering for the stupid mutt to be quiet and smacking him in the face with the paper. The Animal gave a whimper, tail tucked between its legs and the man abandoned the paper in order to pumble the thing with his fists. Annie had done what she always seemed to do, sat there and watched. Jaw slack, eyes wide, and completely useless frozen to the spot. The dog cried and hollowed until the sound had been beaten out of it and it crouched shaking on the floor. The man grumbled giving the thing one last kick before marching inside the house. It was only a moment later when the man called for the dog and he stood tail wagging and obediently limped inside the house leaving a trail of blood.
Finnick and Haymitch turned off and started back to wherever they were staying and Annie went inside.
“Sooo, how was your date?” her brother teased, sprawled out on the couch. She sprinted past him and into her room face-first into the pillows. She wanted to scream. And cry. And kill someone. Not all particularly in that order. She pushed herself up in order to pace around her room and noticed that she could see Finnick and Haymitch walking away from her window. Rushing forward she shoved the window open just in time to hear the tail end of their conversation.
“That bad huh?” Haymitch clamped a hand on Finnick’s shoulder and Annie wished she could shew him off. Maybe by throwing something? Finnick just shrugged, dragging his feet in the dirt. “Would ice cream help?” Haymitch asked and Finnick visibly perked up.
“Yeah, I think it would.” He turned and smiled at Haymitch. The two of them continued on down the path and Annie wondered if she squinted in the darkness if she’d find the same trail of blood the dog had left in Finnick’s wake.
Wind whipped past Annie as she flew down the street on her bicycle. This morning she had found a ripped paper stuck in her window, an address written in Shakey, sparkling blue, and knew she had to get there.
She had to check the paper several times to make sure she was going to the right place. The sun was blotted out by dark gray clouds, like someone had run their hand through a bed of sand making the water muddy. It seemed fitting for the day. Few people dotted the paths, bringing furniture and other trinkets inside to prepare for the storm.
The note led to probably the fanciest hotel Annie had ever seen, it looked out of place against the rainy backdrop shining like a star with its cold marble. Annie watched a family unpack their car and carry some suitcases inside the lobby, she was stuck in place.
I can’t do this. Annie took a step back, once she went in there, and seen Finnick, everything would be different. Whatever he would tell her today, it couldn’t go back to being the same as it was. She wanted to turn back and peddle away, keep the version of Finnick she had in her head; kind of strange but happy. She wanted more than anything not to do this, but she leaned her bike against the wall and walked inside the glass double doors anyways.
Annie wandered through the lobby lost until she found an elevator and hit the button for the 4th floor, watching the people mull about through the glass elevator. There was a ding and the doors slid open revealing a relatively normal hallway, Annie walked aimlessly up and down the floor until she found room 451 and sucked in a deep breath before knocking.
She could hear shuffling around in the room and started to wonder if she had come too soon and woken Finnick up. She nearly jumped out of her skin when the door behind her flung open. “Who the fuck-?” The ice cream man stood in the doorway looking scarcely alive.
Haymitch poked his head out from behind the man, he sighed and hit the guy on the back of the head. “Chaff Leave her alone it’s just Finnick’s little girlfriend.” He waved her off and Chaff “oooooohhh’d” in response.
From the room next to Haymitch’s two blonde teenagers stuck their heads out of their room dressed in their pajamas. “Wait that girls here! Awwwwee ain’t she just the cutest?” The girl coo’d folding her hands together.
The guy sighed “Come on cash your gonna embarrass them!”
Haymitch scoffed at that “Finnick is practically immune to embarrassment by now.” Annie shuffled on the carpet, she wasn’t sure if she should knock again or wait for Finnick to open the door. Plus she was still suspicious of Haymitch but in the span of about five seconds, her possible suspect list had tripled. Just when a girl with real-life fangs opened the door to her room and hissed at all of them for being up so early the door to room 451 shot open and Finnick gaped at them. In his pajama pants, the bruises on his chest were on full display and his hair soaking wet.
“What are you all doing!?” He blinked at them, soggy towel in hand and the others made various excuses or asked questions as Finnick tried to shew them away. After a second he gave up and just grabbed Annie by the arm and pulled her into the room slamming the door behind him.
“Who are all those people?” She asked, not entirely sure they wouldn’t break through the door and stomp right in.
Finnick dried his hair with the towel from his hand “The rest of my circus troop.” He huffed and riffed through a few suitcases till he came up with clothes. “I didn’t expect you to be here so early, you hungry? The place in the lobby is pretty good.” Finnick rambled off as he took his clothes into the bathroom. “When we got here Maggs and Chaff had a competition to see who could drink the most maple syrup, they had me pour it in Haymitch’s shot glasses. Maggs won by four shots.”
Annie looked around the hotel room as Finnick got dressed. There were two beds, one by the window with the sheets tucked neatly and the other all rumpled by the closet. She sat on the edge of the bed as Finnick kept talking, he seemed nervous. Annie laid back on the bed, and next to it sitting atop the nightstand was a stack of three books. The bottom two were ancient, one just said “maps” in bold, and another reading “Mongolian railroads” Those two seemed boring but the top one was just a worn leather book, navy blue with a sparkling blue pen perched on the cover.
“I like to think I’m a poet.”
Annie wanted to reach out and open it but something stopped her. She had already peeled back a layer of Finnick’s skin last night at the beach and there was no sense in tearing him fully apart. Instead, she peeled back the covers intending to lay there until Finnick was ready but she stopped dead. Blood stained the sheets in small splotches.
That same horrible feeling that had settled at the pit of Annie’s stomach at the beach bubbled up into her throat like sticky hot caramel poured down the sink drain. Apparently, because Annie had the worst luck in the world Finnick chose this time to burst out of the bathroom sliding in his sock’s singing horribly into his hairbrush. “You think I could be a singer Ann- oh.” His reaction was so small, almost imperceivable. Just a small slump of his shoulders. “I guess we should get going huh?”
“Yeah.” Annie tucked the sheets back up under the pillow and crept out of bed.
Finnick led Annie back to the elevator and down to a small eating area, he sat at the table furthest away from everyone else tucked away in a corner. Finnick tried to ask her a million meaningless little questions, wishing to talk about anything else. “Finnick?” Annie started.
He sighed “Okay” Finnick dropped his eyes picking at the tablecloth “It’s just, even if you want to ever see me again after this, it’ll never be the same. Like an ice cream cone left off on the dock, you can’t unmelt it. I’m just an icky sticky mess now, I’m ruined.”
Annie felt her throat close up, she wanted to find the words to reassure him but couldn’t unjumble the mess in her head. “You can’t put it off forever.”
“You’d be surprised” he started then shook his head and frowned. “Alright ask me whatever you want, I’ll explain it all.”
Annie took a moment to organize the thoughts in her head. “Where are you from?” She figured it was the easiest way to start.
“That way” Finnick gestured off to the side on the furthest part of town “On the other side of the mountains, but I wasn’t born there.” He explained.
Annie watched as Finnick flattened out his napkin vanquishing the creases before he started to fold it in strange shapes. “Why do you live there now?” She leaned into the table.
“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and.” Finnick faltered, flinching at whatever memory he was forcing to the surface “And I did something stupid, something indelible. That’s how I met Snow.” He spoke the name like it had a physical weight attached. As if just speaking it would somehow summon the man.
Annie figured there was only one reason for the response “Is he the one who did that to you?”
Finnick grimaced. He was quiet as he made the final touches to turn his napkin into a dove. “No, his friends. He’s the one who sets everything up though.”
“Friends?” Annie’s gapped emphasizing the S.
Finnick winched “I know I know, it’s gross.” Annie immediately realized her mistake but Finnick was talking too fast to correct. “I should have done something different, tried harder but I was just so scared.”
“I don’t think you're gross!” She reached out to grab his hand on impulse. The same way she would comfort Thomas. Finnick jerked back holding both of his hands to his chest.
“I do.” He muttered and clasped his hands together. “It was more than once, a lot more.” He spat out bitterly “I could, I should have tried to stop them. I could of fought, I might of won if I tried, but I didn’t. I laid there and took it.” With one pull he dismantled the dove and flattened it.
The two of them sat there in silence for a moment, Finnick Locked away in his own head. Annie knew enough about that to know how to snap him out of it “Well I think you're wrong.” she shrugged.
He choked then raised an eyebrow “Yeah?”
“Yup!” She answered.
“Huh.” Finnick made a face “Guess I can’t argue with that?”
“You can’t.” Annie grinned. She had been so scared that after yesterday Finnick would never talk to her again but apparently, he’d harbored the same fear. Really, not much had changed. He was still Finnick, not any more dirty or strange, just the sad boy she had found on the rock.
“I have to go soon.” Finnick started “But, you could come back later if you want?” He offered twiddling his fingers.
“I’ll be here soon as dinners over,” Annie promised. She jumped up to hug him goodbye but stopped herself hesitating with her hands in midair. Finnick stepped back, blinked at her once then stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. Annie held her breath afraid that if she gave any reaction at all he would pull away. Finnick didn’t pull away, in fact, he seemed to melt into her arms shaking like a leaf.
Annie traced starfish and clams on his back for several minutes, knowing she wouldn’t be the first to pull away. After several minutes Finnick jerked back like he had been lit on fire and shook out his hands. “I’ll see you tonight?”
Annie nodded and started to the door “See you tonight!”
“Bring a bathing suit!” He shouted after her before he took off to catch the elevator.