Haymitch Abernathy, 66
Victor of the 50th Hunger Games: District 12

Ten years ago, everything changed for Haymitch.

His life had been pretty consistent for 40 years straight. Each year after his victory of the 50th Hunger Games looked the same. With his family dead, he didn't have much going on at home in District 12. He'd wake up, start drinking, and wouldn't stop until it was time for bed. When he was 50, he finally hired a woman who would come five times a week to make his meals and clean the house, because even in his drunken state, he still realized that he was living in disrepair.

Once each year, Haymitch would go to the Capitol to mentor the two tributes from District 12, and each year he would watch both tributes die, usually early on and usually at the hands of a Career tribute. The only exception was for the 84th Games, where District 12's Donica Jade Tenor had won after charming the sponsors with her good looks and wit, but truthfully, that was more Donica's own doing than Haymitch's. His only Victor and he couldn't even take credit.

After Donica won, things started looking up. For the first time ever, District 12 had two mentors. Haymitch wasn't able to pull any more Victors after her, but with the individual attention, District 12's tributes started getting better. They went in with plans and allies, and even sometimes received sponsor gifts. Haymitch started to slow his drinking habits. He wasn't sober by any definition of the word, but he started to be more coherent more often.

But good things can only go on for so long. Just days before the beginning of the 90th Hunger Games, Chaff Wheeler, the Victor of the 45th Hunger Games and Haymitch's closest friend, died of alcohol poisoning.

Today marked not only ten years since Chaff had died, but ten years that Haymitch had been sober. People had been telling Haymitch ever since he won the Games that alcohol could kill him if he wasn't careful, but after 40 years with the same habits, he was starting to think he was invincible. Surely if alcohol was going to take him at some point, it would have done so already. But seeing how quickly things changed for Chaff was a turning point for him. After alcohol took Chaff's life, he swore to never touch it again.

Withdrawal was hard. Just hours after vowing to stop came the shakiness, dizzy spells, and the sweats. Originally, Haymitch had tried convincing himself that he was simply in shock from the news of Chaff's death. But the longer it went on, the harder it was for him to avoid it. He hadn't realized how hooked he was.

Two days in, the fever came. He resigned himself to his bed and had Donica come over constantly to make sure he was okay. After a couple of days of fever, it started to look like things would be better for Haymitch. That was until the hallucinations came. Each day was plagued by the terrors of his Hunger Games nearly 40 years ago, from the starving and thirsty nights to watching his District partner, Maysilee Donner, die. But this time, they were twisted. Everything was hot, all the sound echoed, and when Haymitch would look away, it seemed like the world took a few seconds to catch up with his eyes.

The more Haymitch tried to escape the hallucinations, the worse they became, which led to the next step in his detox; the rage. He became so angry and violent that Donica had had to tie his wrists and ankles to his bed to stop him from hurting himself or her. Haymitch still vividly remembered lashing out at her, kicking his feet and screaming.

Finally, after several weeks of struggle, Haymitch was better. He was weaker after his detox, having lost at least twenty pounds, and his hands shook all the time. But after four decades of dependency on alcohol, Haymitch was finally free. He apologized profusely to Donica afterward for how he treated her, and even though she swore up and down that it was okay, he struggled to believe her. He still felt guilty every day.

But now, with ten years of sobriety under his belt, Haymitch's life was the most peaceful it had ever been. He found himself able to enjoy the small parts of life, like good company, tasty food, and a beautiful sunset. His struggle with alcohol was lifelong- not a day went by that he didn't think about drinking again- but with his new peace of mind and Donica and her family to keep him company, he was getting through it one day at a time.


Hey, it's Saturday! This is later in the day than I wanted to get this up, but I've been really busy with move-in weekend for college. The tribute list can be found on the blog (link in my bio/ deceitkillshg . weebly . com), along with all the information you'll need for the sponsoring system for this story. Some of the decisions were really difficult, and if I didn't take your tribute, please don't take it personally. I really loved each submission I got.

The next chapter will be one last mentor prologue, and after that, I'll start with the Reapings. They will go in District order.

I'm gonna start with questions now to help people get some sponsor points.

1. Which mentor (Cato, Johanna, Haymitch) has been your favorite so far?

2. Any thoughts on the blog? Who are you excited for? Skeptical about?

3. Who do you think is going to have the final mentor prologue?