*Katniss may seem a little out of character, but you try dealing with a major psychological blow. Anyways, enjoy and thank you to everyone that has followed, favorited, and reviewed*
Haymitch woke up early the next morning and made his way to Westlake Memorial Cemetery. He made his way through the tombstones looking for Primrose Everdeen, but it was another tombstone that caught his attention. The name Michael James Mellark Jr. stopped him in his tracks. Looking at the dates, the boy was around twelve years old when he passed. If he remembered correctly, Peeta would have been three years old at the time of Michael's death. Haymitch stood back and took a picture. He would ask Peeta's dad about this later.
He continued through the rows until he finally found the gravesite of Primrose Everdeen. Her headstone was a white marble and there was a small patch of primroses planted in front of it. After paying his respects to the young girl whose life was taken far too soon, he took a step back and once again took a picture.
When he turned to leave, he saw a black town car slowly passing by. He wanted to blow it off and say that it was simply someone coming to mourn a loved one, but the car never actually stopped. It continued to creep down the road before hitting the gas and exiting the cemetery. He stood there for several minutes, contemplating the situation before moving towards his car. There wasn't anything he could do about it, and he really needed to get back to Panem.
Katniss walked into the cafeteria with Cinna by her side. Her eyes glanced across the room looking for Peeta, but instead she found Rue, surrounded by Cato, Glimmer, Clove, Brutus, and Enobaria. Cato was taunting her while the others laughed. She wondered why Thresh wasn't with Rue, but decided that she needed to step in. Leaving Cinna to grab food, she made her way to the group. "Back off!" she said in her most threatening voice.
Cato's eyes lifted to take in Katniss before pushing Rue into Cloves arms and stepping in front of Katniss, "What are you going to do if I don't?"
She stood her ground and even advanced on him a bit, causing him to back up, "I'll make you."
Cato wasn't used to people standing up to him. He didn't want to appear weak to the others so he pushed Katniss hard so that she fell back onto the table. Before Katniss could even register what happened, Cato was flying across the room and Peeta was standing protectively in front of her. Clove released Rue as soon as Thresh appeared in front of her and she ran right to Katniss and hugged into her side.
Gale and Cinna joined them, ready to break up a fight, but Peeta ushered the girls away to a table in the corner. Thresh remained with the others. Katniss could see that he was saying something, but couldn't make out what it was. It couldn't be good by the way Clove's face fell as she stepped closer to Cato. The intimidating boy turned and made his way over to them. After checking that Rue was okay, he turned to Katniss, "Thank you."
She shuffled in her seat, "You're welcome." Without another word he was gone with Rue trailing behind.
"Are you okay?" she jumped slightly at his voice.
She turned to see his blue eyes staring intently at her, "Yeah, I'm okay."
"Are you hungry?" he asked, gesturing to the food counter.
She scanned the room for Cinna who was supposed to be getting her some food, "Uh…I think I've got food coming." Just then Cinna slid a tray on the table from behind her, startling her again.
"I'm sorry Katniss, I didn't mean to frighten you," he said as he took the seat next to her.
"It's okay. I'm just a little jumpy lately."
Another woman approached them carrying two trays, "Here you are Peeta. I went ahead and got you some food."
He smiled at her, "Thank you Portia." They ate their meal in comfortable silence. Katniss wasn't used to being comfortable around people, but Cinna and Peeta had a way of calming her with just their presence. Even Portia seemed to bring a level of peace with her. At that moment, she didn't feel so alone anymore.
Haymitch arrived back at Panem a little after three that afternoon. He considered calling Katniss in first thing, but he decided to call Michael Mellark first. He wanted to ask about the gravestone he found at Westlake. It probably wouldn't mean anything to Peeta, but he was curious. He dialed the number he had and waited. After several rings Michael finally picked up, "Hello?"
"Hello Mr. Mellark, this is Dr. Abernathy at Panem Mental Institution. How are you today?"
"I'm fine. How's Peeta?" he asked.
"Peeta is fine. I had a few more questions to ask you if you don't mind."
"Did you want me to come back in, or can we do this over the phone?"
Haymitch grabbed the picture he took, "Over the phone is fine. Do you have a few minutes now?"
Haymitch could hear a door close over the phone, "Yeah, I just had to get into my office."
He took a second to organize his thoughts, "I have been trying to get background information on Katniss and Peeta, hoping to find anymore connections that they might share. In my travels I went to visit Primrose's grave and I found something. Did you have another son?"
Michael took a deep breath before answering, "Yes, I did. He was killed in a fire fourteen years ago. It's why my marriage broke up."
"I'm sorry to hear that. May I ask what happened?"
"A towel was left near our brick oven. It caught fire and quickly spread. We thought we had gotten all of the children out, but Peeta was trapped in the kitchen. Before we could stop him, Michael ran back in to get him. He got Peeta through the door before the beam collapsed, trapping him inside."
Haymitch thought about it for a moment, "Do you think that Peeta would remember that?"
"I don't see how. He was only three when it happened. He never mentioned it if he did."
Haymitch sighed, having hit another dead end, "Thank you Mr. Mellark. I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me."
"You just wanted to know about Michael? How does that help Peeta?"
"I don't think it will. I was hoping that this information would help trigger something inside of him. Maybe it still will, I don't know." Haymitch set the picture back down on his desk.
"I guess anything is worth a try." Haymitch could hear mumbling coming from the line, "I'm sorry Dr. Abernathy, I have to go."
"That's quite alright. I'll talk to you later." The line went dead and Haymitch placed the phone on the receiver. Every time he tried to get information on Peeta, he seemed to hit a dead end. Maybe the information he got on Katniss would be useful. He sure as hell hoped so.
Katniss entered Haymitch's office and took a seat in front of his desk. She hadn't seen her mentor in a couple of days and wondered what this could possibly be about. Were they finally going into the games? The older man sat across from her and pulled out a file. "Hello Katniss, how are you doing today?"
For some reason she didn't trust his tone. He didn't necessarily sound any different than he had before, but there was something telling her to be careful, "I'm fine."
"Cinna tells me that you've been spending quite a bit of time with Peeta and Rue. How is that going?" She just shrugged in response, not wanting to say too much. "Well, the reason I brought you in here was to talk to you about your sister, Prim." His voice was thick, almost mournful.
Her heart started to race and fear began to creep in on her, "Is she okay? What happened?"
"Katniss, have you ever wondered why it has taken so long for the games to start? Why you are all here?"
She thought about it. It hadn't been that long, had it? "We're here so that you can help us prepare for the games. I don't know why the games haven't started yet."
He leaned over his desk, "Katniss, there are no hunger games. They don't exist. You've been under the influence of a drug that makes you believe you have been reaped into a contest where you have to kill others in order to survive." Katniss began to shake her head. This can't be happening. He must be lying. Haymitch continued, "You aren't the only one. The others have all been affected too. It seems to affect those who have experienced real pain and tragedy worse than others. That is why you are all here."
"No! You're lying! Where's Prim? Where's my sister!?" Katniss could feel the anger boiling over. She leapt up from her seat and nearly grabbed Haymitch by the throat.
"I'm not lying and I can prove it. Please just sit down and I'll explain." She could feel tears welling up in her eyes, but she held them back. She didn't want to listen to him, but she couldn't bring herself to leave. Her nightmare flashed into her mind. She sat back down and gripped the arms of the chair, "This is an article talking about the drug I mentioned. It's called Tracker Jacker and everyone affected believes that they are a part of a vicious game where they have to kill others in order to survive."
He tried to hand her the article, but she didn't take it, "What does this have to do with me, or Prim?"
He lowered his head and pulled out some more papers, "Prim was murdered in a drive by shooting four months ago." Katniss's eyes got really big and she seemed to be in shock. "I spoke to the men responsible yesterday and I visited her grave." He slid the police report and the picture he had taken of Prim's tombstone towards her.
Katniss went from shell shocked to raging denial in a matter of seconds. She grabbed the chair she had been occupying and threw it across the room. She snatched the papers off the desk and ripped them up. Her hand went to grab the phone and stopped in midair. Another picture of a gravestone was sitting next to the phone. One part of the name was familiar and made her breath halt. Grabbing the picture she ran for the door. "Peeta! Peeta!"
Haymitch followed her, unsure what was going on. She raced for the rec room looking for the boy and was nearly stopped by Gale, but Haymitch shook his head, wanting to see where this was going. She continued to call out for Peeta until he appeared around the corner, "Katniss, What's wrong?"
She flew into his arms surprising everyone, including Peeta, "They aren't nightmares."
Peeta smoothed his hand over her hair trying to quiet her sobs, "What are you talking about, Katniss? What happened?" She was sobbing so hard that she couldn't speak. Instead, she handed him the picture in her hand. He looked at it and his face turned white. He finally understood what she meant when she said that they weren't nightmares. She was talking about their dreams, and that meant that her sister was dead. He pulled her in and held her close, letting her cry into his shoulder. He wasn't sure how he felt, but he would figure that out later. Right now, Katniss needed him.
Haymitch watched with curiosity at the exchange between the two. It was obvious that the picture meant something to Peeta and Katniss both. Nothing he said to Katniss had clicked, but that picture seemed to be what got through to her. He would ask about this later, but for now he left them to mourn.