and im terrified [pt. 1] [pre 93rd]

she has a couple loose shards from the bottle that she cracked open with her own bare hands. its tied in a baggy that her assistant almost threw in the trash but when annie realized that, she immediately fished it out. she took it home with her and ponder for a couple days on what to do next. it was hard leaving the district right in the middle of the games. what would her district think? sure, she was a victor, but a mayor as well. her loyalties were already tested many a times.

she might have had the fire to back up her reasoning, but her people did not care about that. the rose plague had been held at bay by annies quick thinking. she knew that working fast to contain it would keep her district safe, but that did mean not allowing anyone into the district without being vetted. she almost didnt even allow the boy from nine that had won the games to do his victory tour. it was nothing personal, it was just precaution to protect her people.

that bag of glass had sat there for months.

the start of the games came around, and just as annie had been cleaning the kitchen of her well lived in house, she had stumbled upon it again. the bag had discolored slightly, the glass almost unrecognizable by sound as she had shook it slightly to see what was in it. then as she opened the trash can, she stopped herself and decided to rip the bag open slightly to see what was inside.

when her eyes peaked inside, she realized that she had almost forgotten about the note that had been sent to her months prior in a little bottle. the cut on her hand had finally smoothed over into a light callous. she didnt realize the glass shards had gone so deep into her skin.

the paper.

she had gone up to her room, pulled out a small lockbox that she had gotten while she was in one from bette and pulled the key out of the dresser that she had hidden it under. the note had still been there, right on the top, right next to old obituaries of family members that had died. anarchy was at the top of the pile.

she plucked it out and read it again and again and again, but nothing changed. she had spent days agonizing over it, but had to put it on hold once she had realized that things were still not certain the district. pulling out of this lockbox meant that she felt like she had time to focus on this again. a mystery to solve. she stood up and shut the box and kicked it back under her bed. the key now placed on a necklace that she had been wearing from shelby. she made her way out of her room and downstairs. angel had stopped her for a moment, he could tell that she had too much on her mind, but he still wanted to know where she was going.

"i have to be in the capitol anyway for some press things for the games... im gonna go get answers." annie said softly to angel as she hugged him and grabbed the bag of broken glass and placed it in her travel bag along with other things that she did not have at her capitol apartment that had been mostly unoccupied since she had been given it 13 years ago.

"ill be back in a couple weeks angel, ring me if anything important comes up in the district."

she walked out that door determined.