This is a one-shot, for the Caesar's Palace monthly one-shot challenge. The prompt is 'When you've got nothing, you've got nothing to loose'. Should be 508 words.
Haymitch Abernathy didn't have a life. Many said so. He knew so himself. He drank, got drunk and drank more. He was a mentor to tributes. Tributes he watched get slaughtered by the career tributes during their games. During these times, Haymitch was a ball of hatred, fury, and drunk, nasty remarks. But when it got to the final five, Haymitch was always worse. He saw those pink candy birds and their sharp, red stained beaks. He saw Maysilee walk away. He saw the look in her eyes before she closed them for the last time. But what he heard haunted him most. The screeches of agony. The chirping of birds. Then the sound of evil silence.
Most people would turn to their loved ones or to their friends in times like these. But Haymitch turned to his bottle. Family and friends were comforts of the past. Long gone. His good memories of them were replaced by guilt. His sadness by anger. He couldn't say he regretted resisting. Not at all. But the consequences… they hadn't been a surprise… but he hadn't been prepared all the same. When he was reaped, his brother had still been too young to understand. His mother had to make up about him going on holiday, and had to say that if Haymitch liked where he went, he might stay there. Then Haymitch came back again. Rhys was overjoyed. His brother, his idol, the one who was always there for him. But Rhys knew not to ask why he came back. He was only four, but he knew that Haymitch was sad when he got back from his 'holiday'.
And then they were gone. The sadness was soaked up into anger. The anger also drained away. And left; well nothing. A shell without nut, a skin with no flesh. A person with no heart.
So Haymitch began life as an empty wreck, only to be filled by a drink. But Haymitch felt alone in the world. He saw the way Peeta looked at Katniss. He saw her look change, if only gradually. And he saw the way people looked at him. They saw a drunk. A coward who couldn't get out. But Haymitch would do anything to find a way to escape the still look on Rhys' pale face. He would volunteer during a reaping. He would drown himself. But there was always someone there to stop him. To lead him back home.
Haymitch's life had no meaning. No content. He had nothing. Nothing to give. Nothing to lose. Until the day when Katniss and Peeta entered the area. When he found he could make a difference. Not just to his life, but that of two others. They were relying on him. Nobody had (properly) done that in years. And when they both came out alive, Haymitch felt a spark. They needed his help. To mislead the districts. To make sure that the President couldn't strike. Haymitch felt he had a reason in life. To keep him, Katniss Peeta and his bottle alive.