"My dear Haymitch," he read out loud. He took a deep breath and looked up from the letter in his hand. He said to the short man behind the counter, "A...whatever you have. Strong. Alcoholic."
The man looked at him for a moment, obviously not sure whether to give a sixteen-year-old an alcoholic drink or not. A few seconds later, he slid a drink across the wooden counter to him. Haymitch took it and sniffed it. It was definitely alcohol.
"Thanks," he said before taking a sip of it. He coughed and spluttered at the strong taste. Well, that was different.
The man behind the bar chuckled. "Have another go at it. It'll tasted better, trust me."
Sure enough, it tasted better the more Haymitch drank. He drank a lot of it. By his fourth glass, he felt brave enough to take a look at the tear-stained letter again.
"My dear Haymitch," he said.
He never seemed to be able to get past this part. He'd been putting off reading this letter for weeks now. Reading a dead girlfriend's letter wasn't exactly something he was looking forward to.
He drank another glass before reading again, but this time in his head.
"I can't believe our time together is so short. The moment your name was called, my world was ripped apart. I sit here every day, praying you'll be okay."
His breath caught. He just wanted to scrunch up the piece of paper and throw it into the fire, but it was the last thing he had of her.
"I've heard from people around the district. What you did in the arena...it was an offence to the Capitol. Killing only you would just be too easy, too kind. You won't get this letter until we're gone. Just know that I never once lost faith in you, and I never once stopped loving you. Stay strong, stay alive. I love you."
A few minutes later, Haymitch calmly folded the letter and tucked it into his blazer pocket. "Give me another one of these," he said quietly to the man behind the counter.
At sixteen years old, Haymitch Abernathy won the Hunger Games and lost everything that mattered to him. As he had another drink, he found the thing that could numb the pain inside of him, erasing all the hurt in his life, and he decided he'd never let go of that.