The First Star-Crossed Lovers
"You know, we'd live longer with the two of us," she says evenly, her voice a lot thicker than what I expected.
"What are in those darts?" I can't help asking and Maysilee smirks at the dead tribute lying at our feet, spinning the blowgun between her fingers. I pull the dart out from the tribute's neck and inspect it carefully. The dart had to have been poisoned, but the Capitol would never put some poisonous weapon into the arena.
"I dipped them in some of the water from the pond by the Cornucopia. It's poisonous like the rest of the foliage and animals in this godforsaken arena," Maysilee answers before hiking her backpack back up on her shoulder. I flick the dart away from me and then kick over one of the dead tribute's backpacks.
"So how long have you been trailing me?"
Maysilee snorts in response. She gives me this incredulous look that reminds me of the Maysilee that I would see back in the District, the girl that would throw her nose up towards the Seam boys or tease us right back.
"I haven't been trailing you," she snaps as she grabs another dead tribute's backpack, she rustles through it and finds a few knives and packs of dried fruit. She pockets them quickly, eyeing me to make sure that I don't make a swipe.
"I was simply passing through and I heard the commotion and then the canons. I figured that I should check it out and you're lucky I did."
"I had everything under control." Her eyes roll at my answer.
"Whatever you say, Haymitch," she says as she closes up her pack and then begins to twirl her blowgun in between her fingers again.
So allies?" I bite my bottom lip.
I didn't plan on having any allies in the arena, although, she would be a good ally to have. Maysilee is smart. Obviously she's resourceful, but what happens when the games reach that point? Am I going to have the strength to kill her?
"Look, I know what you're thinking and I don't think I'll be able to do it either but if we're allies we have a better chance of getting home and I think we owe that to our District. Let's give District Twelve something to root for," Maysilee says and I take a deep breath, nodding my head slowly
"Alright," I say. She smiles crookedly at me, taking small steps in my direction and then sticking her hand out for me to shake.
"But our alliance is over if we hit the top five," I tell her.
"You mean, when we hit the top five," Maysilee corrects just as our hands grasp one another.
"I'll take first watch," Maysilee says just as the Capitol Anthem echoes out into silence and the soft hum of crickets take up the night air. If we weren't in the arena I would say this place is beautiful. The weather is always perfect, the water is crystal clear, and everything is vibrant and alive. Then again, anything is beautiful compared to District Twelve.
"Are you sure?" I ask her and she nods her head, grabbing onto a low hanging yet sturdy tree branch. She hoists herself up and then balances by leaning against the trunk.
"You sleep first, your day was much more traumatizing then mine considering that you almost died," Maysilee teases this with a taunting grin that makes my jaw lock in annoyance.
"I told you. I didn't almost die," I growl and Maysilee's smile widens, "I had everything under control."
"Sure you did," she answers before flipping on some of those night vision goggles that she was able to snatch up from some Career tribute. "I would get some sleep if I were you, Haymitch. The minutes until your watch are ticking away."
I puff out a breath of air, grumbling about her arrogant and snarky personality before curling up onto the forest floor. In between the chirps of the crickets and squeaks from bats I can hear Maysilee's smooth and calm breaths. I fall asleep easier that night, knowing I have someone to watch my back.
I'm woken up by a touch to my shoulder, it startles me and I react quickly slashing my knife through the air. "Damn you," Maysilee hisses through the darkness, "Do you really sleep readily with a knife like that?"
"In case you haven't realized, sweetheart, we're in the Hunger Games," I reply before tucking my knife into the waistband of my pants. I approach her carefully, not putting it past her to retaliate.
"In case you forgot, sweetheart, we're allies. No one is going to be able to sneak up on us," Maysilee snaps. My eyes adjust quickly to the darkness and I find her sitting on the forest floor with her hand pressed against her cheek.
"Did I cut you?" I ask and her jaw locks in annoyance. I can see her attempting to swallow the sarcasm that threatens to drip in her voice.
"You just wielded a knife at my face." Her voice raises an octave and I hush her because the careers could be nearby, "So of course you cut me," She continues in a whisper and I sigh, kneeling in front of her.
"Let me see." I reach over to see how deep the cut in her cheek is.
"No, you've done enough. Just keep watch would you?" She pushes me away before grabbing her backpack, she digs around it blindly in the dark and I just assume she'll cut herself on the knives that she threw in there but she doesn't. Maysilee easily locates the bandages she has and with a little bit of skill she is able to dress the gash in her cheek.
I swipe the night vision goggles off the forest floor next to her and then carefully climb into the tree. I'm not a flawless climber like Maysilee, probably because I'm not as light on my feet as she is. The girl probably weighs as much as a feather and that was with the backpack with her supplies on her back. I'm surprised the wind doesn't blow her away.
"Haymitch," she hisses through the air, "try not to cut my nose off next time."
I smile, hoping that I'm too far away for her to see me in the darkness. "Anything you say, sweetheart."
We start moving early, splitting our rations of dried fruit and jerky up evenly in case we end up separated from one another. She nibbles on the jerky as we walk and I do my best to ignore her. She's my ally, not my friend.
"So where are we headed?" Maysilee asks as we dodge through the forest. Neither of us trust anything found here so we do our best to only touch the trees that look familiar to the ones back home and keep our feet on the ground as best as we can.
"This arena ends somewhere," I grumble, swatting away a butterfly as I answer her. The butterfly flies back at me and I clap my hands, smashing the bug so that it can't sting me.
"Everything here is so twisted," Maysilee sighs and pulls out a canteen of water. She pours some of it into my hands so that none of the bug's poison seeps into my skin.
"Obviously the arena ends, Haymitch, but what is going there going to prove to you? You can't escape this and the game makers will probably stop you before you even get there." Her voice is low and sounds worried. We both know that the cameras for the Capitol audience aren't on us right now, but the game makers cameras probably are.
Maysilee's small hand wraps around my arm, forcing me to look at her as she whispers, "Their job is to make our life a living hell and they'll do it too."
"I just want to check it out. Leave if you want to but I'm going to keep moving forward," I answer and she licks her lips, pulling her jacket out of her backpack so I can dry my hands.
"But if I leave, who's going to take care of you?" Maysilee asks and I roll my eyes, watching as the smirk appears back on her face.
"I don't need you to take care of me." She bites her lip in an attempt to keep the smirk to changing into a smile.
"Whatever you say, sweetheart," she teases as she takes her jacket from my hands and shoves it back into her bag, "let's keep moving then -"
An explosion rattles the arena and instinctively I pull her behind me. We back up in hurried steps, panicking because we have no idea what's going on. Anything could be coming at us at this very moment and we're frozen, Maysilee's back is pressed against a tree and I'm in front of her. She clutches onto my shirt and I scan the area, waiting for some giant poisonous mutt to crash through the tree-line.
"Haymitch," she whispers and I grunt in response, my eyes still scanning the area right in front of us, "Haymitch look up, look at the smoke."
I do as she tells me and look at the tops of the trees. There's a large cloud of black smoke billowing into the sky from the west end of the arena and I close my eyes trying to think what exactly is in that area. I went towards the woods during the bloodbath; opposite of the woods was a large meadow that leads to a snowcapped mountain.
The mountain. Maysilee had said it herself; the game makers' job is to mess with us, to make our lives a living hell when things are too quiet. So they blew up the mountain.
"I'm going to climb the tree and see if I can see what's going on" Maysilee says, her voice quivers and when I turn to face her I'm surprised to see the brave face she's wearing.
"Do you have my back?" Her voice is even, but I can see the slight worry behind her eyes.
I reassure her with a nod and boost her up into the tree. It takes only a few seconds for her to reach the very top. I picture her back in District Twelve, climbing the trees that line up behind her family's sweet shop. I can see her teasing her twin sister from up there or climbing to the very top when she just wants to escape. I bet she can see over the fence from one of those trees or see straight into the Seam and, if she can, I wonder what she thinks about. What could a girl from Town possibly wish?
"I can't see anything," Maysilee calls down to me and I kick the tree in annoyance. I just need to make sure that it's actually the mountain and not something else.
"Come on down then, let's go check it out." She climbs down the tree, her foot slipping a few times and I can tell that she's rushing. "Maysilee, take your time. I'm not going anywhere."
I can hear her take a deep breath and then she waits a few moments before descending down the tree at a much slower pace. I attempt to help her down as she reaches the bottom but cannons begin to ring out, startling her and causing her to lose her grip on the branch. She slips and begins to fall but I catch her, trying to take more of the force from the fall. My back slams against the ground and both of us groan in pain.
"Haymitch, are you alright?" she murmurs as she places her hands on my face. My eyes are closed and I'm trying to breathe through the pain. "Haymitch?"
"I'm fine, but could you get off me?" I open my eyes to watch as she stands up quickly, hissing in pain as she sits back on the ground to hold her left ankle. I sit up, groaning as a shot of pain moves through my back. Her face is contorted in pain and I swear lightly because I didn't manage to take the entire fall.
"Maysilee?" I call to her after a few moments of calmed silence between us. There had to have been more than seven cannon shots and from that I know that the game makers blew up that damn mountain. Nothing could take out more than seven tributes that fast other than an explosion.
When she doesn't answer me, I call her name again, "Are you alright?"
"Something's wrong with my ankle," she says through clenched teeth and I stand up slowly, stretching and twisting my back to get rid of the pain. It's going to be sore tomorrow.
"Can I see?" I ask her and she licks her lips but doesn't move her hands. "Come on, I can't help you if you don't move."
She sighs and removes her hands from her ankle before stretching her leg out for me. "Be gentle."
I roll my eyes and carefully inspect her ankle, squeezing it gently to feel if anything is out of place. Maysilee winces as I touch and roll it around but she doesn't cry out in pain. "I don't think it's broken."
"You think?" She says and I shoot her a look.
"Well, it's not like I'm a healer, but it's not broken. You'd be screaming if it was broken." I pull her backpack towards me and pull out the bandages. I wrap her ankle up so that it's secure but I know she won't be walking on it. I'm going to have to help her walk to a safer spot. Being out in the open especially with both of us injured is practically a death wish.
I stick my hand out for Maysilee to take but she shakes her head. "Just leave me here Haymitch, I'll slow you down."
"Would you leave me here?" I ask her, the question is straight forward and a defining moment for us. Are we more than alliances now?
"Of course not," she says evenly and I nod, pulling her to her feet and wrapping my arm around her waist to keep her steady.
"Then I'm not leaving you here." I say and she shakes her head and leans against me, the two of us hobbling together to find an area that's closed off and safe.
The Panem Anthem echoes out into the arena I and sit down next to Maysilee. A silver parachute came down about an hour earlier with a brace to slip Maysilee's ankle into. She seemed content with it; the brace put enough pressure on her ankle so that it didn't hurt as much as it had.
In the sky, the tributes that died today in the explosion flash across the screen. Most of them are Careers and I can't help but smile, knowing that my chances or Maysilee's chances of winning these gameshave increased. "How many Careers are left?"
"Just the girl from District One," she whispers in reply and I nod my head. The fewer Careers the better and with this girl's pack gone she was as good as dead as the rest of us.
"Evens the odds," Maysilee nods and sits closer to me, yawning as she rubs her face. The anthem finishes and echoes out into silence, leaving us alone in just our thoughts. "I'll take first watch." Maysilee smiles tiredly at me and fixes her jacket so that the hood covers her ears.
She hesitates for a moment before resting her head on my shoulder. The touch causes me to tense up before I decide to pull my own hood up and rest my head against hers. She sighs and I take a deep breath, we're unnaturally close and unnaturally comfortable with each other. It's amazing what the idea of impending death can do to people.
"Haymitch?" She whispers and I wait for her to continue, "What happens to our family when we die?"
"What do you mean?" I ask and she thinks about it for a few moments before she continues her thought.
"I mean, like – if we die, do our families just forget about us?" Her voice quivers and I can tell the idea of that terrifies her. I know her family is one of the stronger ones you could find in District Twelve. Her parents rarely fought, her twin sister was her best friend, and they were always kind to all their customers. They could care less if you were Seam.
"I don't think your family would ever forget you," I assure her and she lets out a whimper. The small cry almost breaks my heart because she just seems so incredibly broken, like it's finally really set in that her life may be limited to a certain amount of days now.
"I just don't want them to remember me as a cold lifeless body and forget how I was when I was alive," she whispers. I shake my head and my arm rests gently across her shoulders.
"They'll remember you for everything that you were, not for what happened to you. You still can win though, Maysilee, don't count yourself out just yet." She chuckles and shifts her weight so that she's more comfortable leaning against me.
"I already know who's going to win these games, Haymitch." Her voice is soft and content now and I can't help but be surprised in how confident she is in herself. It would be nice for District Twelve to finally win, to finally give them some hope. I really want to show the rest of Panem that District Twelve is around to play the games just like everyone else.
"What happened to your father?" Maysilee asks a few minutes after I believed she had fallen asleep.
I don't answer her right away because I'm caught off guard. I don't like to talk about my dad very much.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." She whispers softly.
"My dad, well – he, he drank himself to death," I say and she cringes. I don't like to talk about my dad because he was just one giant disappointment and I swore I would never be like him.
"What caused him to drink so much?" Maysliee asks. I never thought about that. I never thought about what could possibly cause my father to give up on all of us.
"He just gave up on living. There wasn't a point for him to try anymore," I say because I think that's as true as it gets for my father. Sometimes life in the Seam just wasn't worth it. You work your entire life for your children, only just to die and then watch your children have the same exact life. It's sad, pathetic, and my dad just ended the cycle viciously early for himself leaving my mom, my brother, and me to try and pick up the loose and lost pieces.
"I just never want to end up like him if I get out of here." She sits up to look at me and I struggle to make out her features in the dark.
Maysilee places her hands on my neck and then slides up to my jaw. "You are so much more than him already." Her lips than slowly crash onto mine and I suddenly feel desperate.
My hands move for her, one clutching onto her hipthe other pushing the hood back so I can feel her soft but tangled hair. Her hands stay on my face for a few moments before she's just as passionately desperate as well. One hand slips down to my chest and rests right over my heart and the other hand tangles into my hair. She hangs onto me tightly and I never want her to let go. Our lips fit well together, our kiss is slowand gentle at first before we become more heated and more desperate for any kind of contact.
I begin to lean back onto the soft forest floor, bringing her with me so that she's now sitting on my midsection. The longer we kiss the more I forget and the less I care. I forget about my family and how much they're probably worrying about me. I forget about the arena and the game makers that are most likely watching us. I don't care about the cameras or that we'll both probably be dead this time next week. The only thing I can focus on is Maysilee and right now she's the only thing I want.
For the next two days as we walk through the forest so we can get to the edge of the arena we steal looks, touches, and sometimes a few kisses from each other. She made it very clear the day after that night that people feel things, desperate things, when death is following them and I believe her. I don't know Maysilee well enough to love her and I probably never will. We won't have any more time together than these next few hours or even minutes, so we take advantage of our time every chance we get.
A cannon rings out across the arena just as we walk into a clearing. We look at each other and she says, "So I guess it's the final five."
"We made it farther than we thought we would." She nods but she's looking past me.
"So this is what we came here for a clearing with a giant drop off? Should I just break the alliance now and push you off?" She's smiling and I roll my eyes at her, the two of us walking towards the edge of the cliff.
There had to be more than this. The arena couldn't just drop off right here. I sigh, throwing my backpack down and looking at her. Maysilee's eyes are downcast towards my backpack, her brows furrowed heavily, and she's chewing on the inside of her cheek. I know exactly what she's thinking. It's time to break the alliance but neither of us knowhow. Maysilee looks at me and her mouth opens like she's about to tell me something but no words come out.
"You can just walk away. I wouldn't hate you if you just walked away without saying anything," I tell her and she bites her cheek even harder.
She nods her head and steps towards me, pulling me down to her by the collar of my jacket. "You are so much better than you give yourself credit for. Good luck, Haymitch." She presses a small kiss to my cheek and I turn my head for more but she pulls away from me shaking her head slowly.
"Good luck," I say to her as she turns away from me and heads back into the forest the exact way we got here.
Once she disappears I kick my backpack angrily and then kick a handful of rocks off the cliff before collapsing onto the ground and holding my head in my hands. Seconds after my back is pounded with heavy rain. I look up surprised to see the same pebbles that I just threw over the cliff scatter around me. I pick up one bigger rock and inspect it carefully before tossing it back over the cliff. It takes a few seconds but the rock bounces back towards me and I laugh. It's a force field. The arena is surrounded by a force field and I feel this amount of excitement well up inside me because this can be used to my advantage.
I turn to call for Maysilee to watch but upon turning I remember I'm alone now. Maysilee will never know that coming out here wasn't a complete waste of time. I growl, kicking more rocks off the cliff in anger again. As they bounce back towards me a blood curdling scream rips through the air.
"Haymitch!"
I find myself running towards the cry before the fear can even settle in my stomach. I follow the screams for a few minutes but it's not hard to find her. She's on the ground, a group of pink birds with razor sharp beaks pecking at her. She does her best to block the blows that are happening. Her arms cover her face, her legs kick widely and in the few seconds it takes for me to figure out a way to save her one of the candy pink mutts delivers the death blow. The beak going straight into her neck and silencing her screams.
When she stops struggling the birds disappear, probably as quickly as they arrived. Her cannon didn't erupt through the arena yet so I know she's still breathing, but I'm sure her once steady breaths are now shallow and slow.
I run towards her, my legs moving as fast as they will carry me. I collapse next to her tiny dying frame. "Maysilee."
She can't say anything to me because she'll start to choke on her blood. Her hands reach up for me. One rests on my face and the other presses over my heart. I hold both of them, doing my best to not cry in front of her. Crying would probably scare her and I want her to die – to sleep peacefully.
Her eyes stay locked onto mine and I just stay with her, doing my best to stay strong for her. I told myself that I didn't have enough time to love her, but I absolutely did. Her eyes begin to cloud over and her hands slip from my face and chest. "Maysilee," my voice is a hoarse, ugly whisper but she can't say anything in reply.
The only thing she can do is fight to keep her eyes locked on me as I make promises that I don't know if I can keep. "I'm going to win. I won't remember you as dead. I'll be more of a man than my father ever was." I don't know if she can hear me anymore, but I hope she can.
Her eyes close slowly and I bow my head and close my eyes so I can't see the last breath leave her lips. The canon fires and I finally let the sobs rack though my body since I know that she won't be able to see me cry over her now.
My hands are covered in her blood and I sit next to her in horror. The girl, my girl is gone just like that and I am sitting here covered in her blood, wondering why the hell it wasn't me. It should have been me. Maysilee was too pure, pretty, and perfect to ever die that horrifically. She deserved a long life.
The girl from District One is a cold blooded killer but I have her in the exact place I need her to be. I can use the force field to my advantage, I'm just not sure how yet. I willhave to figure it out fast because I can see the need for her to win etched deeply in her face but my will to win is greater. I havemy promise to keep.
District One lashes at me with her axe and I just barely dodge it. The blade rips through the sleeve of my jacket and I hiss, wielding my knife so that it cuts right across her face. The pain makes her even angrier and I soon find myself pinned to the ground, her heavy body on top of me. One hand keeps my knife arm pinned down and her other hand uses the axe to cut through my stomach. I scream in pain and with my adrenaline I'm able to shove her off me. I lift my knife and stab her straight through her eye. She stumbles backwards onto her back and I crawl away, trying to keep my insides from spilling out across the entire arena.
My promise circulates through my head and I push myself to my feet. The cliff is only fifty yards away. I can make it. I have a plan. I can win.
District One follows me and it doesn't take long for her to catch up. I can feel my vision begin to slip and I know I amstarting to bleed to death. District One lifts her axe above her head and then launches it towards me. This is her death blow but I collapse to the ground just as the blade almost reaches me.
She screams in anger but doesn't make a motion to kill me. She knows that I'm dying slowly anyways and I guess she would just rather watch me die in pain instead of putting me out of my misery. The seconds tick by and I swear they're almost as long as minutes. The force field wields the axe back up from behind me and I blink just as it lodges into her skull. She hits the ground with a heavy thud and the cannon erupts.
I won but my life is still slipping from me. I pass out before I can hear them announce my victor title.
I see Maysilee a lot in my dreams. She's still the young woman I fell in love with, even though I'm not the same young man. She visits me in my dreams, her golden hair cascades down her back and her blue eyes stare straight into my soul. She's pure, pretty, and perfect. Everything I wanted to remember her as.
She sometimes talks to me but I can feel everything she always wanted to say to me before she died so there isn't a need for words. I can still feel what it was like to have her lips press against my own and how her hands felt on my hair and over my heart. I never want to wake up, so I try to drink myself into comas to be with her.
When I try to follow her into the light she appears from nowhere. She shakes her head sadly and holds my face in her cold hands, "You have one more promise to keep before you can come with me," she tells me and I feel my heart fall.
"I don't know how to be a better man," I whisper and she smiles warmly at me. One of her hands slips down to my chest and our eyes lock.
"Of course you do. You just can't give up; there are two people that still need you." I shake my head and try to grab onto her but she isn't real and the reality hits me hard again.
"I need you," I state and she breathes evenly out. "I do. I need you Maysilee."
"I know that, but I promise to come back for you when you keep your last promise," Maysilee whispers as she pulls my head down to her. "You're a much better man than you give yourself credit for Haymitch."
Her lips are dangerously close to mine and I close my eyes feeling like a young boyonce again, but the second my eyes close in my dream they wake up to the sad reality that I call my life now. I lash my knife hand through the air and am I surprised to find it empty and that I'm dripping.
"Why am I wet?" I ask, looking at the wrong girl standing in my kitchen. She isn't blonde and blue eyed, but like my girl she looks at me like I'm the only person who can do anything.
"Haymitch," Katniss says and I wipe the water off my face. "I need your help."
I take a swig of my bottle of alcohol and lean back in my chair, "Well, what do you need, sweetheart?"
Maysilee was right. I couldn't save her, but I could save them and if that gets me back to her than I am not going to blow it.