Chapter 10
Alex POV
I stop short at the sight of my father thrashing around the room screaming. Yelling the word 'MUTT' over and over. He's punching walls, smashing vases, breaking the room. Uncle Haymitch is desperately trying to calm him down, but its not working. I've never seen my father shout, let alone this. The worst he's been is uncontrollable crying, when mum died. We had to stay at aunt Effie's that night. I stagger backwards, until I bash into the door frame. Haymitch sees me, and ushers me in. "A little help boy, that would be nice." He sounds sad and tired, almost depressed. I rush over to him, and manage, with struggle to grab dad's right arm, and pin it against the wall, this causes him to thrash more, but I manage to keep it on the wall. Then, with great difficulty I garb his left, and do the same. I start to wonder where Haymitch is, and why he's not helping, god sometimes he is useless, when I see a flash of red above my head, and feel father's arms go limp. His body slouches onto the ground, knocked out. My mouth drops open; I'm instantly looking at Haymitch. "what. was. That!" I practically shout, but can't hide the waviness of my voice. He looks at me, sadness, and sorrow on his face. "well… the capital, they did something to him…something terrible. And well" he pauses, and takes a deep breath, as if he where trying to decide weather to tell me or not. "He used to have these flashbacks. Things they did to him…your mother…she was the only one who could calm him down. He hasn't had one in…about…well, 10 years." He sais. My mouth drops open wider. Why does no one tell me these things? "so…um what triggered it?" I ask. "well, boy, um why don't you just go to bed, okay? I'll deal with your father." There it goes again. The 'I don't want to tell you because I'm older than you' thing. Its frustrating. I try to conceal my anger as I look at him, but he sees straight through it. "Look, son, I'm not telling you, because, what they did, it was horrible. It's part of his past, and he doesn't need reminding of it. And, its his story to tell, not mine." He pauses. "Look, boy, I know you want to know all these things about your parents past, but you can't. they went through hell. Oh god, they went through some shit, and they don't need to remember any of it. All of us, lost people we loved, because of the capitol. Your dad, he lost his entire family. Listen, just, I know its hard not knowing these things, but its best for all of us." He finishes. I'm a bit taken a back, by all he just said. My father lost his family to the capitol, I just assumed it was sickness or something. God I'm arrogant. I give a little nod, turn around and walk to my room. It's only then that I realize that Rose isn't here, she must have gone back to the compartment.