Tomorrow Will Be Kinder by The Secret Sisters
Haymitch POV
Black clouds are behind me I now can see ahead
Often I wonder why I try hoping for an end
Sorrow weighs my shoulders down
and trouble haunts my mind
But I know the present will not last
and tomorrow will be kinder
"One more fucking day", that's all I keep telling myself. Only one more day and I can leave this room and drown my nightmares in the bottom of a bottle. I know I'm a bastard for thinking this way, for being so goddamn selfish. But as I watch the vitals of my boy declining I can't help but hope that he'll give into the freezing temperatures. I've watched twenty-eight children go to their deaths, technically twenty-seven until this poor one finally gives out. Faces of each one that I've lost flood through my mind every day that I sit in this room, watching the screens, trying to secure sponsors. Every year I hate myself a little more because I haven't been able to save one of them, not one goddamned kid yet. And as my mind wanders to my living nightmares, my body aches for my only true companion, but each year I make a promise to stay sober long enough to try to help, maybe one year I will actually help and one of them will stay alive. If only I could get one out, it's a prayer I whisper every year. It always goes unanswered.
Tomorrow will be kinder
It's true I've seen it before
A brighter day is coming my way
Yes, tomorrow will be kinder
The monitor beeps as his heart rate slows, dangerously close to giving up. It's not the best way to die slowly freezing to death but I wonder if it would have been better if he went at the Cornucopia like the girl. This is gentle compared to how she was ripped apart by the Careers.
Today I've cried a many tear and pain is in my heart
Around me lies a somber scene
I don't know where to start
But I feel warmth on my skin
The stars have all aligned
The wind has blown but now I know
that tomorrow will be kinder
I can't stop the silent tears that come every time as the monitor in front of me flat lines. When I've taken in every detail of his face to add to the collection in my mind, I lean forward and gently turn the screen off. As I look around I see that there aren't many mentors left in the room. It's unusually quiet this year, this arena with its bitter snow and ice has claimed many of the tributes itself. It's been the biggest competitor and kept many of the sponsors away. Even the Career tributes have been hard pressed to find anyone willing to donate when they have hardly been entertained. The lives of these children aren't enough for them to be interested in saving. And without being entertained why bother investing.
Tomorrow will be kinder
It's true I've seen it before
A brighter day is coming my way
Yes, tomorrow will be kinder
Every minute that the train chugs along gets me further from the Capitol. I've come to terms long ago that I'll never have another happy day in my life. Whoever decides our fate is not a friend of mine. But as I think of the two children whose bodies I carry with me, at least I can say that they are free of this fucked up world. How they died should never be forgotten, it should be condemned in fact. I'm not brave enough or stupid enough to say so without my white liquor coming out of my pores. Tomorrow will be kinder to me though, I'll be drowning at the bottom of a bottle. I'll have a year of kinder days until my nightmares are my waking moments again.
Tomorrow will be kinder
Yes, tomorrow will be kinder