Chapter 2 – The Cost of Freedom
There will be several POVs from other characters. Katniss and Peeta's will be the main POV's.
Haymitch POV
Standing at a busy platform, the train was half an hour late or so I guessed. I turned to the clock at the train station and realized it was in need of repair. Its' face cracked, glass blurred from weather and years of wear and tear. I no longer wore a watch since I had a habit of losing it. I thought of investing a new watch, to commemorate the new era of free Panem. New watch, new times and new beginnings. Then I thought better of it. It wasn't as if I had places to go and people to see.
Bile rose from my throat as I hear the distinct sound of the New Panem Rail horn in the distance. I didn't mind waiting for the train since it would deliver my weekly libations of alcohol; my remedy to cure all ills and evils. This delivery, however, was not one what I looked forward to. I remembered the day I received a phone call two days earlier. I wondered for months when this would happen or if it would ever happen. I shouldn't have underestimated the Boy with the Bread for HE was coming home.
Flashback, two days earlier –
After slamming the phone on the table, I left the comfort of my home, semi sober and body aching from waking up on my kitchen floor. I felt sick as my eyes burned, my mouth dry and my head ready to explode. I looked down to make sure that I was at least dressed, complete with pants, shirt and shoes with no socks. I had walked out naked on night, waking up in my backyard not knowing how I got there or my state of undress. My walk to Katniss' home felt long though it was a mere 30 yards away. I needed to talk to her. Dr. Aurelius had been trying to contact her for weeks without success. He needed to let Katniss know that Peeta Mellark was coming back to District 12. He then, informed me that it was my responsibility to pass on the news since Katniss refused to pick up her phone. Yet again, the games are done, the rebellion is over and still I felt as if I have never been relieved from my mentor's mantle.
Katniss was released and sent home to District 12 eight months prior. The first few months she didn't eat, sleep or take care of herself. It took hours of yelling on my part, and patience and determination for Greasy Sae as she and I watched over her making sure she ate her meals, cleaned herself and left the shelter of her home. She became a recluse, never leaving her house. It took an incident with Greasy Sae's granddaughter, Tamryn to leave her home.
One day, Katniss heard a scream outside her door; peering out a window she watched as Tamryn paralyzed in fear, encounter a wild dog approaching her. His bloody teeth bared and eyes narrow, ready to pounce on her. With hunter's reflex, Katniss picked up her bow, ran out the door and shot the wild dog in the eye before it could reach the crying child. Mere seconds later, Katniss picked up Tamryn and brought her to her home. Tamryn was still crying in her arms as Greasy Sae arrived moments later, scared and angry when she realized that her six-year-old granddaughter had decided to visit Katniss on her own. It was that one incident that gave Katniss the courage and strength to visit her woods and town. However, the incident also caused Katniss' nightmares to worsen.
At night I would hear her screams and moans echoing in her home. The first night I tried to comfort her, she kicked and screamed at me to leave her alone. The last attempt for comfort, I came home with scratches on my arms and a black eye. She had apologized days later. After that night, she learned to lock her doors. Some days Greasy Sae would tell me how she is doing fine. Other times, she would find her hiding or sleeping in her closet, clutching a pillow and wrapped tight with a blanket around her. I didn't know how Katniss would react to the news. She had never spoken or asked for Peeta in the time she had returned home.
I knocked on her door, banging the wood a few seconds later. I knew she was home since she had left me a rabbit on my kitchen table early that morning. What I was going to do with it I don't know. As I was about to turn around and leave I heard the latch on her lock click. She opened her door leaving a crevice so I can only see her face.
"Hey, I need to talk to you."
"What do you want Haymitch? I don't have any alcohol here if that's what you looking for,'' she snickered. "Sheesh, take a bath before coming over here." She placed the back of her right hand in front of her nose.
"I wouldn't be here if you would just picked your phone. So before you slam the door on my face and make snide comments about my hygiene, I have news from the capitol I have to tell you."
She looked at me, confused then her eyes widen. She opened her door wider. "What is it?" Katniss asked, her hands clutched at her sides.
"Peeta is coming home." Without further ado, she slammed the door on my face. 'Well at least she didn't kill the messenger,' I snickered. I turned around, walked straight home and opened a new liquor bottle. Before taking a long swig, I toasted to myself. "The odds are never in our favor."
Present time –
Before I knew it the train stopped in front of me. A few people disembarked. I searched around to look for Peeta. Seconds later I see him. He no longer looked like the boy I knew. His hair was cropped too long; his face drawn and dark purplish bags under his dull eyes. He lost a lot of weight. Whatever muscle mass he had was gone. He looked lost and frightened. This boy I see was not Capitol Peeta, a killer who was tortured and hijacked. He was someone I didn't recognize. When his eyes caught mine, he looked down and away. I walked towards him. I didn't know whether I should shake his hand or hug him; he looked frail and uneasy. Whatever I imagined of this reunion, this was not what I expected.
"Hey, Peeta, how was you ride back?" I grimaced realizing how lame I was for asking.
He shrugged his shoulders, "Okay." His voice was soft, a whisper.
"You look beat. Why don't I walk you back to your house? Do you have any bags we should get?"
Peeta shook his head and adjusted the duffle bag on his shoulder. "This is it," he said and started to walk off.
The walk back to the Victor's Village was one of silence and awkwardness. I could tell that Peeta was struggling with his left leg. I wondered if the bag he was carrying was heavy. It didn't look full but flat and light. It wasn't as if he had lots of clothing options. Gray hospital gown was not the fashion these days. As soon as we reached the village his pace quickened. "You didn't have to meet me at the station, Haymitch. I would have made it on my own," Peeta said.
"It's no problem, kid. I wanted to see you," I returned. Peeta looked at me gauging to see if I was lying to him. Once we were inside the village I was surprised that Peeta walked straight to his door. "Hey, Peet." I walked next to him his hand on the doorknob. "Look I know you just got back so…"
Peeta looked back at me. His eyes were blank. In all the times I known him, I have never seen that look in his eyes. Dead, lifeless. It reminded me of myself when I returned from the games.
"Listen, it's been a while since you've seen her. It's best that you let her get used to you being back before you see her," I stumbled with my words. If I know Peeta, he would be at her doorstep if I weren't accompanying him back to his house. "She missed you. We all have, but try to give it a couple of days before…"
Before I could finish, Peeta turned around and slammed the door. Sighing to myself, I left his porch and walked to my home. Glancing at Katniss' house, I noticed one of the curtains moved.
I am too old to be babysitting Katniss and Peeta. But what else can I do. I was riddled with guilt for I had lied and manipulated them since we've met. In the games, it became my job to help them survive but in life I was ill equipped to advise them how to live afterwards. I am the worst example and role model. For many years I drank myself to oblivion for the guilt I felt not being able to save my tributes. The odds to save one were never in my favor, but it was a miracle to have saved them both. But in reality, it was both Katniss and Peeta who had saved themselves. My mentoring was only for the games but outside the arena, I was hopeless. How do I ask them to fight, to live and move on if could not do the same? I had hoped that once the war was over they find each other again. They fought to stay alive together, they sought to die for each other but in the end they lost each other.
To save Panem I sacrificed their lives, their families' lives, their hopes and dreams. Was it worth it? Panem's liberty is owed to two young kids from District 12; the girl with the bow and the boy with the bread. They are free and alive, but at what cost. It would have been better if they had not survived. I grasped another bottle off my counter. We are free but we are alone; shattered and broken. This is the cost of freedom, blood on our hands and souls shattered. The war for freedom is over but it is the battle of day to day living that had just begun.
