Sorry for the last chapter being sooo short! I'll try to make longer ones now, but I can't guarantee anything.
Test weeks are coming up, so I might not be able to publish things daily. But I'll try to do it, because I completely love doing this.
Disclaimer: All of the characters used belong to Suzanne collins, I do not own anything.
Haymitch
A few weeks passed by. Every night I could hear the screams coming from the house next to mine. Not even a single time I decided to come over. Instead I just got myself a bottle of wine, carefull not to get too drunk. Ever since my stay in district 13 I was sober a lot of times. Then, one night, my phone rang. I wondered who would call.
"Hello?" My tone was annoyed.
"Haymitch? I could really use a drink now. Can I come over?" Katniss cried. I nodded. After a few seconds, I noticed that nodding wont have any effect, since I am on the phone instead of talking to her in person.
"Sure."
There she was. She was wearing a simple shirt with a jeans. I guess she dressed up for coming here. She isn't the type to sleep in jeans, I guess. I had a few bottles of white liquor already on the table.
"Suit yourselve, sweetheart." She nodded and then grabbed one of the bottles. Her face looked exhausted of crying.
"Katniss, do you ever sleep?" She shook her head, and I saw she was in no mood of talking.
The mood changed rapidly as soon as we finished a bottle each. Katniss, who clearly wasn't used to the effects of that much alcohol, loosened up a little. The same happened here, since I already drank something before she came. But still, a part of me was responsible enough to stop her from drinking more as soon as she started to giggle a bit too much.
"Katniss, thats enough, okay?" She bursted out laughing. She grabbed the last bottle of white liquor.
"No. You're not my father, Silly Haymitch!" She laughed. This made me laugh too.
"But I am the one who owns this drinks." I said, snatching the bottle from her hand. She just sat there, laughing like an idiot. A cute idiot, actualy. Her cheeks were bright pink because of the drinks.
"Haymitch?" She mumbled, smiling.
"Hm?"
"Why aren't you and Effie together?" She laughed before she could continue. This question caught me off guard for a second.
"I could ask you the same with Gale." I said quickly, hoping to not having to give an answer.
"Simple. He lives in 2 now, and I can't travel. Still, there is no chance at all for us to be together, because he is my best friend, not my love." I felt bad for him now.
If you love someone, hearing that you are nothing more than a friend is bad, very bad.
"Now you" She laughed. I thought about it.
"Listen up, sweetheart. I have no clue where Effie hangs out now, and she is more of one of my real friends." I say, laughing with her, because its true. Effie is more like my mother even than like my lover. We are like the exact opposites, just like me and Katniss.
"Ah… Now I understand!" She kept laughing and laughing. I joined in.
"Haymitch?" What now? But I didn't react grumpy. Talking her was… Fun.
"Hm?"
"What's your favorite colour?" What was that for a question? I laughed.
"White1" I said it before thinking of it. It was the first colour that came to my mind. It was pretty accurate tough. I laughed and made myself comfortable on the couch, while Katniss sat down on a big sofa, trowing her legs over the support.
"Yours?"
"Green."
Katniss
This reminded me of my conversation with Peeta.
"Orange… Like the sunset." I blurted it out without thinking about it. Funny. So I laughed.
"What's with that?" Haymitch asked. I shook my head, not giving an answer. The alcohol made me feel free for once. So this is how Haymitch survives. He had to detox in 13 tough. He barely drank after that.
A shiver went down my spine. I was cold.
"I'm cold." I said very seriously, as if it was some important news. After that, i bursted out laughing again. I drank some stuff before, but never this much.
"And what should I do about that, little miss mockingjay?" Haymitch asked teasingly.
"I don't know. You think of something!" I really couldn't figure out how to fight some cold. I forgot. Then, i felt something being trown on me. A blanket? Haymitch had grabbed it from upstairs, I guess. Had I noticed him being gone? No.
He tucked me in on the sofa, but the cold seemed to pierce straight trough the thick blanket.
"Still cold" I stated.
"You're never statisfied, are you?" I shook my head and repeated the fact that I was cold. Then I thought back to my happy time in district twelve. In cold winters, Prim and I tucked into the same bed together.
Prim. She was so lovely, so incredible. She was so gifted to follow in her mother's footsteps, she was so goodhearthed.
She always thought of the bright side of people. Then Coin killed her.
"It's my fault" i whispered. I hadn't noticed, but I was crying as hard as ever. No more laughing. I felt cold, and alone. Haymitch tried to calm me down, only causing me to cry harder. I couldn't stop shaking.
I am alone. No, i'm not. Yes, you are. It was only then when I noticed that I wasn't on the couch, but that Haymitch was holding me, trying to stop me from crying. It didn't help. I kept wispering the same sentence over and over. It's my fault.
"It's not, damnit, listen to me! It is not your fault Katniss!" I looked up at him, my vision slightly blurry because of the amounts of drinks I had.
"It is, Its completely my-…" Was all I could say before I was cut off in my sentence. I didn't know completely what exactly happened and how it happened, but he leaned forward, making our lips touch.
I stopped shaking, stopped crying. Then he let go again.
"Now listen to me goddamnit. Katniss, you couldn't help it okay? " I nodded. I felt myself dosing off in a new pair of warm arms. No nightmares came.
My head… I woke up, feeling miserable. I was in my own bed, Nicely tucked in.
The morning passed, and I was badly hungover. I could barely remember anything.
As the day continues and my hangover fades, I decide to thank Haymitch for his company.
I walked in, seoing a total mess inside. Haymitch must have kicked over a few things.
"Haymitch?" I asked. No reply. I looked around the living room, finding him behind the big couch. He slept. I've learned that the only way of waking him was with some water. And so I did. He slashed around with his knife wildly a few times before realizing what he was doing.
I chuckled.
"Damn Sweetheart, I'm an idiot, don't mention it." What did he mean?
"Hm? I only came here to thank you for the drinks." He looked at me, shocked almost, as if i've done something wrong. He hestitated, then laughed, dropped his head again, making it bonk on the floor over and over again.
"Haymitch, you okay?" I asked, worried. Never before I saw him like this. It couldn't be a hangover, but then what?
"Fine." He was hiding something. For sure!
Haymitch
Was it right not to tell it to her? She would become outraged if she found out about it without me telling it. What was I thinking anyways? I'm a pervert, idiot, jerk… But how could I lie to this girl.
"Swe- Katniss, sorry for last night. It was the only way to shut you up, The alcohol suddenly had such a bad effect on you…" Her eyes widened as she started to understand what I said. That is one of the best things of Katniss. She isn't stupid. She's smart as hell.
"You did what?" Her tone was furious, outraged.
"I'm sorry, damnit!" She walked up to me and slapped me. My cheek burned.
She didn't say anything, she only stalked away trough the front door, going the opposite way of where her house hould be. I followed her. She made her way to the meadow and slipped under the fence that bordered district twelve.
Katniss
How could he. He was my mentor, my friend, and now he abused me while being drunk like this. I hate him. I always did. How could a part of me even think about him having a good side, him having a heart?
I knew he was following me, but I didn't care about it. I made my way behond places where i've been. I passed the meetingplace of me and Gale, the lake and several places where we used to set traps. Then I saw it. The small, golden body of a tracker-jacker. As far as I knew, there were no nests nearby, so this must be a lost one.
I changed directions. Those bugs have a nasty effect on you, and they are the cause that Peeta will never be the old again. I felt something on my arm, and before I could see what it was, a nasty sting. The tracker-jacker. I cursed in myself, turned around and started making my way back to district twelve.
Haymitch kept following me, and I became sick of it. I whirled around, ready to shout to him to leave, but instead, it was Gale following me. The sight of him amazed me.
"Gale?" I said, not sure to laugh or to burst in tears.
"Katniss?" He asked, his face confused. Why didn't he call me by my nickname? Indstead of thinking, I closed the space between us, wanting nothing more but comfort by my friend.
"I missed you, Gale…" Gale didn't reply. All that he did was step back, making me loose him from my vision for only a blink of an eye.
It wasn't Gale after all. It was Peeta. He didn't smile, tough.
"P-peeta?" Seeing him made me more desperate than ever.
"You came back?" Then I looked around me. I wasn't in the forest, how could I think that. This is the arena. I am still in this game.
"Peeta, how many of us are left?" I asked. He didn't answer. He didn't look to good. Then I felt my own hunger. We didn't have food, and I didn't have a bow…
Haymitch! He could get us sponsors!
Then I remembered. If I wanted sponsers, I have to give the audience a good show. Me and Peeta, the star-crossed lovers. I never really loved him, but I couldn't let him die. I just couldn't. I stepped up to him, took his head in my hands and kissed him. When I stepped back, no silver parachutes came. Why aren't they coming?
Then, I blacked out.
1 Might not be true, but is never told.