First Hunger Games fic! Hopefully I can make it the whole way through, unlike my unfinished projects... :/
ANYWAY, the full description of my story! Basically, is the 50th Hunger Games through the eyes of Allie, Haymitch's girlfriend. I KNOW I did not get all the details right, but just bear with me. I had to write about her as soon as I learned Haymitch had a girl when he said it in Mockingjay! Read on, and please review :)
I hold on tight to Haymitch's hand as Wellik Piper thrusts his hand into the girls' reaping ball.
"Relax, Allie! You have, what, four slips in there? You're not going to get chosen!" Haymitch grinns and brushes a kiss through my hair.
"No, I signed up for tessara this year and last. So I actually have ten. Get it right, Mitchie! I have a reason to worry, what with the doubling of tributes this year."
We are cut off from any further commentary with Wellik pulling his hand out with a paper clenched in his fist. "Evanna Lireie!" Evanna is the daughter of my mother's friend, and we'd been close as children, but then, when we were nine, we'd had a huge fight over something trivial and I hadn't spoken to her since. She's too prissy for my taste, but I still don't want to watch her die.
Evanna climbs up next to Wellik and blows a kiss to the camera. Wellik laughs, wishes her luck, and sticks his fat hand back into the girls' ball. Haymitch leans down close to my ear.
"See? There's only one girl left to be picked, and if it's you then I'll have to turn to the drink as an escape, because there's no way you'd make it. You worry too much!" He laughs and easily dodges my smack, instead catching my arm and pulling me close.
"Maysilee Donner!" is what Wellik shouts out next. I look over and see Milana, Hazelle, Saicha, and Ree clinging to Maysilee. She's the candy shop owner's daughter, and I can already see that Milana won't deal well with her twin being in the Games. I look away. I'm close to the twins and don't want to see either be hurt.
"And what did I say? You didn't get picked!"
"Shut up, Mitchie! There's still the boys left!" He laughs a little, but when I look up his stormy gray Seam eyes are not in the square; he's thinking. My remark hit him hard. Both he and Hayden, his brother, have more than my ten slips of paper. Haymitch has had to sign up for tessarae since his first year in the reaping, and he's seventeen, a year older than me. Hayden is fourteen and has eight slips, but Haymitch is always worried about him.
"I'm sorry, Haymitch. I didn't mean that. If you get picked then I'll have to turn to morphling as an escape, because you're too arrogant to get very far in the Games." I try mimicking his gruff voice, but fail miserably. He laughs, for real this time.
"Then I'll have to come back from the dead and nurse ya back to not being an addict, won't I?" Wellik has managed to grab a paper and announce the next tribute, a boy whose name I don't hear because I'm too busy trying to keep Haymitch from tickling me. I recognize the boy, he's been in my parents' butcher shop several times. He has a lazy eye and occasionally talks to himself. I see his parents crying in the crowd and feel terrible for any rude comments I've made towards him.
"And our final male tribute from District Twelve..." The crowd goes silent, and Wellik rummages around in the ball for a moment.
"Haymitch Abernathy!" He freezes behind me, and our jokes come back like a slap in the face. Did we jinx it? He makes his way through the crowd, and I run up and grab his shirt and kiss him hard on the mouth. I feel the cameras focusing on us, and he gently pushes me away. "I love you," he murmurs, and mounts the steps.
Cameras flash, and Wellik makes a speech with much gesturing, but I don't listen. I make my way over to my parents, who stand disapprovingly with their arms crossed.
"That was quite the spectacle you had there, young lady," hisses Papa, mustache quivering. He's a big man, with no hair on his head but a great red mustache and hands scarred and stained red from years of butchering.
"I probably won't see Haymitch again, Daddy! Unless you let me go to the Justice Building to say good-bye, then that's it!" I feel my bottom lip quivering and force it to stop.
"Maybe this will teach you not to act like a little slut, running around with one of the dirty Seam boys! Do you know what people think?" whispers Mama.
"How can you say that? Mama, I love Haymitch!" She purses her lips and refuses to look at me. Mama has the look of a woman trying desperately trying to imitate styles of the Capitol's latest trends, except for crazy body surgery. But here in Twelve, we get the styles last of everyone. I find her and Papa despicable.
"You will not be going to the Justice Building, Allaine! You will be coming home tonight and there will be no argument!" Papa's tirade is interrupted by Hayden coming up behind me. He's the only person living in the Seam that they can put up with.
"Excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Bindin? We-my mother and I-are going to the Justice Building, to say good-bye to Haymitch. And, well, we know he'd like to see Allie again, before..." he trails off and loks down at his feet.
"Hello, Hayden. I suppose Allaine can go...however she will come straight home after." Hayden can charm anyone. He always looks humble and it makes even the most hard-hearted people (Mama and Papa) feel sympathetic for him.
"Great! Yeah, we'll make sure she gets back." We leave and meet with Mrs. Abernathy (I haven't been able to call her Maria, although she insists) across from the Hob. The other families are already in the waiting area in the Justice Building. I see Milana crying on a bench near one of the doors, and Evanna's mother, father, and little sister and brother standing in a huddle near another door. I want to go to Milana, but she appears to want to be alone. I don't blame her.
Mrs. Abernathy and Hayden go in first, and I stand awkwardly outside. Haymitch doesn't have many visitors, although there were many girls in school who were crazy over him. I suppose they give up on people going to their deaths, although I know that they'll act like they were close with him. It happens every year. There's people who ignore a tribute until they are famous.
I despise them.
Since Haymitch does only have three visitors, I go and talk to Milana. Hayden and Mrs. Abernathy will have a half hour to see Mitchie, and I'll have a half hour, unless someone else shows up.
"Hey, Mil." She scoots over on the bench and I sit and put an arm around her. Milana curls up next to me, and she's shaking.
"I...can't believe it. Sh-sh-she's not going to win, even though she acts strong! The Careers, they'll...they'll..." Milana trails off and wipes her nose. "Sorry."
"It's okay. I know how you feel."
"What...? Oh, right, Haymitch. Oh my God, he got picked too, didn't he? Maybe a miracle'll happen and the Gamemakers will allow all the tributes from a district to win..." She doesn't say it, but I knew she was hoping Maysilee would win, and Mitchie, Evanna, and the boy with the lazy eye would...well, not. I'm Maysilee's friend, but...I was hoping the opposite would happen. And Haymitch would come home to me.
"Yeah, maybe." But I don't believe it. A Career will win, like always. We sit in silence, just embraced, until the door to Maysilee's room opens and her tearful parents come out. Her father gives me a watery half-smile, and Milana rises to go in.
"Thanks, Allie. Um...tell Haymitch I said good luck." She runs into the room and the door closes. I wait for another ten minutes or so, and then Haymitch's family comes out. Mrs. Abernathy is a mess, and Hayden is supporting her. His eyes are red, and I'm surprised that I've kept from crying for this long. Hayden sees me and nods and motions for me to go in. I do.
Haymitch is siting in a wooden chair in the middle of the room. When I come in, he looks up and his face lights up. I run and he stands to catch me, and the chair topples over behind him.
"I thought your parents wouldn't let you come," he says into my hair.
"Hayden came and used his charm to let me go." I bury my face in his chest and sob.
"Oh, Allie, don't..." But his voice breaks and I can feel something wet on the top of my head, and I know he's crying too. "I love you, sweetheart."
"I love you too, Mitchie." We stand, just holding one another, and I look up and pull away a little bit. "You listen to me, Haymitch Abernathy." I take his face in my hands and bring it down close to mine. "You come home safe to me. You fight as hard as you can, and come home."
"I will, sweetheart. I'll win and come home and we'll live together in Victor's Village forever and ever. We'll be married and have a great big family with lots of kids and grandkids to chase after. I'm going to win. For you." He leans closer and kisses me, more passionately then ever. I entwine my fingers in his dark hair and he strokes my back and shoulders. That's how we are when the Peacekeepers come in and break us apart.
"I love you Haymitch!" I say, and then the Peacekeeper has me around the waist and is half-dragging me out.
"I love you too, Allie! I love you more than anything!" The door slams and the Peacekeeper deposits me in front of Hayden and Mrs. Abernathy, who seems to have pulled herself together. This time, it's me who loses it.
"I c-c-can't watch huh-huh-him d-die!" I gasp, and dissolve into tears. Hayden gets me on my feet and half-carries me to my house, where my parents are waiting, with shocked looks on their faces. He leaves me and I turn to face Mama and Papa, who look dumbstruck.
"What happened? Did he hurt you?" Mama fusses, and it seems like they've forgotten the harsh words from earlier.
"N-no! Of course he didn't, why would he do that?" I wipe my face on the rag that Papa silently hands me. "I'm going to bed..." They watch wordlessly as I climb the stairs to my room, where I don't even bother taking off my boots before climbing under the covers.
So? How's the first chapter? Reviews, please! I'm trying hard to NOT make Allie a MarySue, so if I'm failing, pleeeeease tell me! Review, review, bitte! :)