Peeta glared at him the entire day after his birthday. Katniss was quiet but it's not the nice quiet Haymitch preferred. Johanna made a fuss before she left with Annie and Finn and Chaff repeated what he said to him last night. Of course, he regretted snapping at Effie like that. He's not good with self-control when he's drunk and seeing her again after two years was something he was not prepared. Effie really do have a thing for timing. For the first time in a long time, he picked up the phone and dialed her number. He just hoped that she still got the same number but the phone just rang. No one picked up on the other end.
"Who are you calling?" Katniss asked.
The girl can be very stealth when she wants to and it does not help that he never locked his front door.
"It doesn't matter", he answered and went to the kitchen to get a drink.
"You should go to her. Talk to her", the girl said.
He frowned at her but took a gulp from the bottle.
"What are you on about?" he asked.
"I'm not blind, you know. I know you love her. I may not understand it but I get it. She loves you too, I think. She's just lost. Peeta wouldn't talk about it but Effie seemed to be having a hard time dealing with…stuff and he knows it but he couldn't do something about it. That's why he was upset when she left this morning. He thought she would stay and he can help her heal somehow", she answered.
Haymitch stared at her in shock. He knows that he and Effie weren't subtle back then but they've always thought the girl was oblivious than Peeta. One shouldn't underestimate a hunter's eyes.
"She doesn't want to be here or have you forgotten the last two years? We're all dealing with stuff, girl. We just don't shut people out or push them away", he retorted with full bitterness.
He has that tendency but Effie broke down his walls and he found himself dependent on her but she broke her word and didn't come back with Peeta.
"Effie is not like the rest of us and you know that. Even before all of that happened, she's not the type to burden us with her problems. She liked to keep face and pretend so we wouldn't worry about her. It never worked really. Peeta and I always knew when she's upset but we've always known you would be there for her. Don't you think this is the same thing?" that much is true about Effie. If she can spare the kids, she would have, "She brought a suitcase with her last night for fuck's sake. If she doesn't want to stay here, she wouldn't have bothered carrying that around but something she saw last night…heard last night drove her back to the Capitol", Katniss argued.
Meaning his spiteful words and Hazelle by his side…those were what drove Effie back to the Capitol.
"What the fuck do you want me to do then, huh? Run to the Capitol? Beg for forgiveness? I ain't the one who said to come here with Peeta two years ago and decided to break it without bothering to give the reason why. I ain't the one who never bothered to call or check if we're all still alive here. Why are you pestering me? Why won't you pester her instead?" he exclaimed.
The front door opened once more and Hazelle came in and frowned at the two standing in the kitchen.
"What's going on here?" she asked and that struck a nerve in Katniss.
"None of your fucking business. Go back to your own house", she snapped.
That shocked both Haymitch and Hazelle.
"Katniss…"
"This is not your house either", Haymitch snapped back.
Katniss glared at him with such intensity that it sobered him up in an instant.
"Fine. Do what you want in your own house. Don't expect me and Peeta coming over until you fix this and better keep your housekeeper away from me before I shoot an arrow at her", she said and walked away leaving a very scared Hazelle.
Katniss and Peeta didn't set foot in his house for days. He ended whatever it is he got going on with Hazelle and sent her back to her son in Two. Then, he let himself drown in alcohol, begging Effie to pick up and answer his calls every single night. No one ever answered him.
He toyed with the bangle around his wrist, one he never took off even when Hazelle tried to force him into removing it once. Katniss was right, every single word of it. There has to be a reason why Effie didn't go back to Twelve with Peeta or why she stopped calling for two years. He's never going to know the answer to that if he's not going to be able to talk to her.
It was a hasty decision but he packed a suitcase and walked out of the door. He left a note at Katniss' door before going to the station. Katniss will be fine. She got Peeta. Sae would be looking after them as well. He needs to get to the Capitol immediately and talk to Effie. He needs to understand and to convince her to come back with him. For the first time in so long, he found his purpose again.
Peeta had given him the address of Effie's new apartment when he got back, hoping that maybe he would go to the Capitol and get her. It took him two years but he's doing it now. He knocked on the door but no one seems to be home so he picked the lock and went in.
The apartment is huge. It's bigger than her last one. He wondered how Effie was able to afford it when she got no job and the rebels confiscated her money. He checked every room and there's no sign of her which made his stomach turned.
'Plutarch Heavensbee speaking'
"Where the hell is she?" he asked.
'Haymitch?'
"Yeah…it's me. Save the propriety for some other day. I'm at Effie's apartment and she's not here. Where the hell is she?" he asked again.
There is a long pause on the other line.
'I'll send a car over and we can meet'
Plutarch's driver drove him to the hospital and he couldn't stop his fingers from fidgeting. Is she hurt? Is she sick? Did someone try to kill her? Torture her again? His blood is already boiling when Plutarch came to him.
"Where is she?" he asked right away.
"Alright…I need you to calm down first because I need to talk to you—"
"I don't have time for your bullshit, Plutarch. Just tell me where is Effie", Haymitch snapped.
He's been on edge since he left her apartment. His question was so simple and Plutarch answered him with a limo that brought him to the hospital.
"She's here. She's been admitted", the former Head Gamemaker answered with a sigh.
"Admitted? Why? Is she hurt? Who hurt her?" he followed up.
"She did…Effie hurt herself", Haymitch frowned. "She tried to kill herself by jumping from the Central Bridge few days ago. She's lucky someone passing by saw her and called for help. We're able to revive her but after what she tried to pull off, the doctors won't let her go until they can make sure she won't do it again. We tried calling her parents but they don't want anything to do with her and she specifically told us not to call any of you", he answered.
Effie jumping off a bridge is something that never crossed his mind ever. She had tried to kill herself once before and he was a fool to think that it would never cross her mind again especially now.
"I want to see her…now", he demanded.
Effie is sitting on the floor, hugging herself. The room does not look like a cell but it's not much. She's pale, dark circles around her eyes…she looked different than the last time he saw her during Peeta's birthday.
"The doctor said she's been like that after she woke up. She's responsive. She talked but when she's alone, she just stares into the space for hours on end", Plutarch supplied.
He had seen her like that when she was arrested by Coin.
"I'm taking her out of this place", he muttered.
Plutarch turned to him with wide eyes.
"Haymitch, you can't…the doctors will not allow her to leave without assurance that she will be safe", he reasoned.
"She will be safe with me", Haymitch said.
"You're not her relative, Haymitch, and despite being of legal age, she got her parents here in the Capitol—"
"…who don't give a fuck about their daughter. She's coming with me. I don't care what you do or how you do it but she's leaving this place with me and I am taking her back to Twelve", Haymitch cut him off.
Plutarch sighed and glanced over to Effie inside the room.
"Well, there's one way to do that but I don't think she's going to like it. You're going to be her guardian. She'll have to relinquish her rights to make decisions for herself…like I said, she's not going to like it", he suggested.
She's definitely going to flip out when she finds out about that.
"I don't care if she hates me for life. I doubt she's liking it very much in there", Haymitch said.
"Alright…I'll get the papers ready", Plutarch replied.
It took Plutarch almost 24 hours to finalize everything. Haymitch signed the papers and he's declared as Effie's guardian. He signed her out of the hospital and went to get her inside her room.
"Princess…" he called.
The reaction was immediate. Her eyes found his and recognition kicked in.
"Haymitch? What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here", she asked in disbelief.
He crouched in front of her and she recoiled involuntarily. He knows it's not because of him but he felt hurt nonetheless.
"I came here to take you away from here. Come on, let's go home", he answered.
She frowned at that but did not protest. It's obvious she hated the room, the hospital so she took the offer.
Plutarch's driver took them back to her apartment where she finally relaxed. He watched her as she tried to rummage her kitchen in search for something.
"Fuck", she cursed and it shocked Haymitch.
Since when does Effie Trinket swear?
"Everything okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I ran out of vodka, unfortunately. Thank you for getting me out of there. You didn't have to. I told them not to bother you or the kids", she answered.
She settled for a glass of water instead.
"They didn't. I found out when I came here. I was looking for you and you weren't here so I called Plutarch", he explained.
Confusion sets in her eyes.
"Why did you come here? Are the kids okay?" she asked in worry.
"Yeah, kids are fine. They hate me but they're fine. I came here to take you back to Twelve", he answered.
Her face hardened and started walking towards her bedroom.
"I appreciate the thought but no, thank you. I would like to remain here. I refuse to be burden and a reminder to all of you", she declined.
Haymitch recalled what he told her the night of Peeta's birthday.
"Sweetheart…I didn't mean it. You know sometimes I say things because I'm stupid and drunk. You're not that to me, never. I'm sorry", he apologized.
That stopped Effie from fussing around.
"You're saying that now because you feel guilty about what happened. Don't be. It wasn't on you. Just go back to Twelve and things will go back to the way they were", she said.
"Oh, I am going and you're going to. There's nothing you can do about it", he snapped, his patience is running low.
"…and why is that?" she asked.
"…because if you don't, they will put you back in that room. You're coming with me, princess", he answered.