Part 3

Haymitch found it extremely easy to locate Effie. He just needed to find the coldest part of the house. He found her at the end of the empty hallway that morning; a lone figure in front of one of the few mirrors he had in the house. She was staring despondently at the mirror, questioning her own existence or lack thereof.

"Where was I buried?" she asked when she heard his approaching footsteps.

"In the Capitol," he answered. "Next to your sister."

"I see," Effie nodded. "I can't see myself... How do I look? Do I still look like... me?"

"Yeah, exactly as Peeta had painted you, sweetheart."

"I look as I did just moments before my death, then."

Not quite, he wanted to say. Her once rosy complexion dusted with eyeshadows and blushers were now pale. Her hair that was always silky and shiny under the lights seemed lifeless. Those were little differences but ones which he noticed nonetheless because he had spent nights tracing the curves of her body and memorising the planes of her face.

"You look... lovely, still."

It startled her and her next words made him realise that he hardly ever complimented her while she was still alive, "that's... very nice of you. If I knew you'd be this sweet, I would have died sooner."

"That's not funny, Effs," he scowled at her poor attempt of a joke.

She looked away briefly, a flash of guilt in her eyes before she turned to give him an apologetic smile over her shoulder. Her smile was still the same; her real, genuine smile that she reserved just for him. That did not change in death.

It made his heart ache so terribly and he didn't think he could take being in the same room with her at that moment. Haymitch left the house abruptly much to her confusion. He heard her calling for him but it only made him picked up his pace.

XxX

The warmth of Peeta's house was a stark difference against his own. It was almost a welcome reprieve but Haymitch didn't stop to bask in the warmth. He went searching for the boy and without any sort of greeting, he said, "I want that painting."

Peeta was hunched over the kitchen counter, brushing egg white over his pastry dough. Katniss who was sneakily eating a cheese bun while Peeta wasn't looking froze suddenly. They both looked up, turning towards Haymitch.

"What painting?"

"The one of Effie; the one you displayed during her…" he swallowed, "during her funeral."

"Oh," Peeta straightened up. "That's a very sudden request. You've never wanted it before when I offered it to you. You didn't even want to look at it. I'd be offended except I know it wasn't because my painting skills were horrible. So why now?"

"I changed my mind," he said simply.

The kids exchanged a glance; a silent communication took place between them. Haymitch watched with a pang of jealousy. He used to do that with Effie. He knew what a slight crease of her eyebrows meant and she nearly always knew what he was thinking. Peeta nodded after a while and Katniss left the kitchen, climbing the stairs to the study. She returned with the painting which she handed over to Haymitch.

"Okay?" Katniss queried, standing in front of him with a look of concern on her face.

"Yeah," he mumbled. "Just thought of this painting this mornin' and I –"

He shrugged away the explanation.

"It belongs with you anyway. You should have it," Peeta said gently, coming to a stand next to Katniss. "She would love it, do you think? I hope she would."

Haymitch nodded numbly.

"How are you coping?" Peeta ventured to ask.

He wasn't truly expecting a reply or an honest answer but Peeta tended to ask Haymitch that question once in a while. His intentions were good but Haymitch was never one to discuss his feelings. Katniss on the other hand understood that. She never asked but the girl was there as much as she could just as he had been for her.

"Thanks, kid," Haymitch said instead.

When he returned, he hung the painting above the fireplace. His last good memory of her was waking up next to her warm body that morning before she died but this Effie was perpetually cold so he hung the painting in a place that would give off some warmth. That was how he wanted to remember her. He wanted to remember her warmth; her breath on his neck and the heat radiating off her when she wrapped herself around him.

Effie floated up next to him and all thought of warmth fled his mind. He clenched his teeth as a cool gust of air blew in his face. Beside him, Effie made a strangled sound. He saw her hand rose, reaching out to touch him before she remembered and it fell to her sides. He thought maybe she had wanted to hug him.

"Thank you," she whispered. "I won't forget how I look. Not ever."

XxX

Sometimes in her excitement, she forgot that she couldn't quite feel solid objects. That afternoon, Haymitch walked in the front door just as Effie went towards it. She floated straight through him and he let out a string of curses that would have made a sailor blush.

"How very vulgar," Effie shook her head.

"Watch where you're going," he barked.

She trailed after him. "Where have you been?"

"Out."

"That much is clear. Out where?"

"You're keeping tabs now?"

"I was just bored," she pouted. "There's nothing much to do. I've been alone the entire day with no one to talk to. I've been scaring your geese. I think it made them mad. They kept hissing. Aside from you, they're the only other living beings that can see me."

"Did you have fun?" he sneered.

"Scaring your geese is not an activity that occupies my entire day. The excitement wore off after a while."

"Leave my geese alone, sweetheart," he said tiredly and sank into the sofa, stretching out across him.

"But where have you been?"

"Helping Peeta at his bakery," he covered his eyes with his arms hoping she would take the hint and leave him alone.

No such luck.

"Why?" she pressed.

"Cause you told me to, didn't you, sweetheart?" he growled under his breath. "You told me business was doing good and the boy's overwhelmed, said something 'bout not wasting my time or whatever," he mumbled. "Figured I might as well – being here with you all day drives me crazy. You ain't even real."

"With how things are turning out for me, I am certain ghosts are real," she told him patiently. "I'm here, am I not?"

"Hmm."

"But, oh! Oh, I am so delighted to hear that you did something with your day, Haymitch! What did you do? How was your first day?"

He peered at her, finding her enthusiasm rather intense even though that was how she had always been. "Nothin' much. I fixed one of his ovens."

"You fixed one of his ovens? I wasn't aware you knew how to fix appliances. Was that your talent after you won? I never quite know what yours was."

"Nah, it wasn't," he shook his head. "When you grew up in the Seam and you're the eldest child, you gotta learn to know how to do things, y'know? There's always things that needed to be fixed so it can be reused - can't afford to buy new things or anything like that. That and I guess, hanging around Beetee taught me a few things or two."

Effie smiled affectionately at him. He looked away. "Did you only fix his ovens? You were gone the entire day," she pointed out.

"The boy made me stay - said it'll be good for me to get to know people. Tried to shake him off but I ended up handling the casher register. It was either that or serving customers. I chose the lesser of two evils," he scowled. "Katniss had a good laugh."

Apparently, Effie found the situation just as comical as Katniss because she giggled.

"They expect me there again," he sighed.

"Can I come with you tomorrow?" she asked eagerly. "If you won't be home then I'll get bored here all alone. It turns out, there's really not much fun to be had being... dead," she laughed bitterly.

"Effie... I don't think..."

"Oh, please, Haymitch," she begged and pierced him with a look that almost always made him relent.

This time it was no different.

Effie in Katniss' and Peeta's presence next!