It's been six years since Katniss put an arrow in President Coin's head. Life has changed so much in Panem, like food is being manufactured for the whole country. Most people are being fed as they should, but for me Haymitch Abernathy I'm the same person I've always been. I'll drink my liquor go home and pass out, then repeat.
Katniss and Peeta They got married and punched out a couple kids, as expected they are Panem's sweethearts. Her daughter is a curly haired sweetheart named Rose, she looks a lot like Prim but we would never say that to Katniss. Their son is a carbon copy of Peeta they named him Kelton. He is a dirty child no matter what you do the kid comes home covered head to toe with mud.
We didn't stay in District 13, it was too crowded, since it is now the new capitol of Panem. We live in the woods just outside the remains of District 12. I reminds us of home, and Katniss can hunt with her son. Even Effie lives here, I remember the first day she spent in the woods.
"What if we run into bears? Or some kind of Mutt that the Capitol released into the wild? I do not have the skills to fight a mutt. Ladies do not fight mutts!" She said walking in mud with three inch heels. "Effie let me tell you now, Katniss is going to want to teach you to hunt." Peeta says taking her arm when she starts to slip. "These are designer shoes! Peeta help me up!" Peeta struggles with her but in the end he ends up in the mud. "You know Queen Effie, heels are not meant for hiking." I say kicking up some mud onto her shoes. "HAYMITCH! These are designer and you have them covered in muck!" She starts whining and flailing her arms. Peeta was once again at her side but I wasn't having it. "Peeta don't help her." I tell him motioning for him to come here. "No, he has to help me get through the muck!" Effie says. Peeta shakes his head at me like I thought he would. "Peeta she has to do it for herself; Now let go of her." I command. "Haymitch I can't do that to her." He says.
Then I trip Effie Trinket in the mud, she screams like I had just stabbed her. "Why would you do that?" Peeta yells trying to help her. "Haymitch you unimaginable drunkard!" Effie cries.
When we walk through the door to Peeta and Katniss's house we're caked with mud and Effie has a branch in her purple hair. "What in the hell happened to you! Get out, get out, get out! Go out back and hose yourselves off! I sent you guys to go pick up Effie not try to drown her in a mud pit." Katniss nags like a old woman. "Now you're the one that needs to loosen your corset." I snare walking out of the door. "I don't have a corset, motor mouth!" She retorts.
In the back Effie is still sulking, claiming we had ruined her precious shoes. "Get over it Queenie it's a symbol of the capitol anyway." I say turning on the water hose. "That may be so but, they are still beautiful and- COLD!" She yelps when I spray her down with a water hose. "I'd close your mouth if I was you." I tell her, and she just glares at me.
When I'm done her hair lays flat, most her capitol makeup had washed off. She didn't look half bad without her beehive. She notices me staring, "Please don't stare I know I'm horrifying, I don't need you to recite it." She straightens herself and then asks, "Where do I even live?"
"Do you want me to take you?" I ask using the hose on myself. "I'd rather not, all you do is cause mischief; would you peeta?" She asks. "I would Effie but, I think Katniss is already mad enough at me for tracking mud into the house. I better go and be with her, you understand right?" He explains.
"Oh fine, come on Haymitch but don't try anything funny." She warns, trying to look stern. "What would you do if I did? Ladies don't fight mutts remember?" I say with a sly smile. She doesn't respond she just follows my lead. It doesn't take long to get to Effie's cabin, since we all live close together.
"Thank you, now you can leave." She says shooing me. "You know the human look is quite nice on you." I try to compliment her. "Haymitch please, I've had a bad day don't make fun of me." She turns to slam the door in my face but, I stop it with my elbow. "I wasn't making fun of you. I'm just saying you don't need the make up and the purple hair to be beautiful." I got out what I wanted to say, I wait for her reply. But she just stands there studying me. "What?" I ask. "You've never complimented me before." She says with a small smile. "I've never seen the real you... Well I don't think anyone has to be honest. I've seen glimpses of it, like when you cried at the quarter quell. That was you peeking through." I say feeling odd suddenly. "I've never even seen the real me." She says and she closes the door.
The next morning Effie wore her hair down, it landed right before her chin. "Did you run all out of hair supplies Effie?" Katniss asks when she sees her. "No I'm just trying the human look." She doesn't look at me but I know what she's talking about. "It looks nice, Effie." I say buttering my toast and picking up a bottle of alcohol. Katniss looks at us both confused, "What's going on?"
Just then Kelton, Their son runs in the room with a dirty face. "Haymitch look I'm going to be like my daddy and hide in a rock!" He says. "I think you need a few more lessons first." I tell him rustling his blonde hair. "Where is your sister?" Katniss asks offering him a plate of fried eggs. "In the paint studio with daddy, they kicked me out when I got into the paint." She takes a washcloth to his face. "I give him ten minutes he will be dirty again." I say, then I notice Effie's been next to me the whole time. "I need to talk to you." She whispers.
She takes me to her cabin, and she commands me to sit in her 'Greeting room.' The woman had only been her one day and the place was already capitol like. "I need to know something." She says. "Boy oh boy what did you do to this place?" I ask horrified. "I added the Effie touch." She replies with a ring. "You can take the girl from the capitol but you can't take the capitol from the girl." I remark looking at the mahogany tables. "Just never mind, what was I thinking. You've always been a insensitive fool and always will be." She says angrily.
She storms off leaving me alone in her living room. I had hurt her feelings, but that's what we do she calls me a drunkard and I call her annoying and spoiled. What had changed?
I was about to leave when I see a picture on her end table. It's a capitol family, Effie's family. In the picture it shows two parents and three kids. Effie must have had brothers. "What are you doing?" I drop the picture as Effie re-enters the room. "Who are these people." I ask picking it up again. "Never mind that, I want to know why you are snooping in my house." She demands. "Well maybe because you took me over here just to storm out, and have a hissy fit." I retort. "Well it was my mistake, I had thought you could actually act like a human being with manors for once. I was obviously wrong, and you need to leave Haymitch." She says trying to escort me out. "No! I want to know why suddenly you care what I think of you, and care what I do. The last time I checked you didn't give a damn about me! Like the rest of this damn country." I stand my ground. I've came here for answers and I am not going to leave without them.
"What makes you think I've never cared about you?" She asks. "Oh come on Effie, why would you? I'm scum, I'm a drunkard, I disgust you, I am revolting. Does that sound like a woman that gives a damn about you?" I yelled with everything shes ever said to me. "I say a lot of things Haymitch, and so do you! I'm a spoiled brat, I have to sense of reality, lets not forget princess twinkle toes... The list goes on and on, and yet here we are." She says with angry years in her eyes. "Here we are, and what exactly are we here for?" I ask letting her as always answer the questions. "We are here for Katniss and Peeta." She says then. "Is that all?" I ask. "I'm not sure yet." She answers so low I almost don't hear her.
"When you figure it out, I'll be over at my place having a drink." I say. It's been months since that day. But I can see it over and over in my head like a broken record.