Authors note:
I must confess it's been a minute since I've read Mocking jay so please at any time if you see anything inaccurate please don't be shy to point it out. Please and thank you!
There was something about today that was a bit off, for it would have been reaping day. In the back of my mind I am still in that set of mind, you can't just shut it off. My state of mind and my point of view will forever be changed by the games. I'm not the same person I was about twenty five years ago, I wasn't the same when I claimed innocent people's lives. I'm not the same person as I stumble down drunk every night to ease my pain. "There's some big news update today," Effie said turning on the television. "Who cares what they have to say? I sure as hell don't!" I say picking up my bottle of liquor and take a big long drink. "Give me that Haymitch! I want you sober through what ever this is." She says taking my bottle away. "Why don't you have a little sip of it yourself? I'd like to see the Queen act out of accord for once." I say burping up gas bubbles. "Shh! It's starting!" She says hitting my shoulder.
President Paylor takes stage behind a Panem banner. "Fellow Citizens of Panem, in respect to the anniversary of the reaping, we will be participating in a mock games. This time it is not just for the children" She says and then pauses. She seams to collect her thoughts before saying her next statement. "I ask for all of you to visit your town square, and I'll meet you there to explain." Then the broadcast is finished. "What is this?" I scream out. "Haymitch relax she said it was a mock games, no one will be harmed." She explained to me trying to calm my nerves. "Nothing good has ever came out of the games, or the reaping. I don't have a good feeling about this thing." I say getting up to take a drink of liquor. "Come on Haymitch, we need to leave now." Effie says dragging me out the door when we see Katniss punching her cabin. "I told them, no games! Not for the capitol, not for the districts, not for any one! Paylor promised me that one thing." She kicks a brick, if she wasn't so angry she would probably be in pain. "Haymitch what is this? I am not going through one more reaping, I can't do it!" She says when she finally notices that I'm here. "I'm pissed off too, I just want to get to the bottom of this." I say moving through the crowd.
In the half re-built town square, the president's face appears on every screen. "This reaping will include everyone except District 13 officers and our country's leaders. As always may the odds be ever in your favor." She says and the screen goes black; I turn to Effie and Katniss, "I have a bad feeling about this, she is very vague." I say. "Haymitch, you're being paranoid why would Paylor want to kill innocent people?" She asks me. "I don't know you tell me! why did Snow and Coin kill innocent people? Who is to say that power has gone to Paylor's head? Would you get your head out of your designer shoes and back into reality? The problem her is the power." I say as a few officers take stage. "Ladies first!" The man exclaims drawing his hand into the larger then ever bowl of names. "Effie Trinket!" He yells out. The air in my lungs deflate, she looks shocked. "Haymitch... I'm starting to think this really is the-" The officers take her away before she could finish her sentence. "EFFIE! NO!" I scramble to my feet but the ground shakes from under me. "I volunteer! I am the tribute! Please let me save her!" I scream out from the chard broken ground. "My Effie, please, please come back." I cry, my mind echos her name until I forget what words are.
" Josephine on her flying machine; up she goes, up she goes." My mother sings to me holding me with a death grip. "Mommy! Stop it! I'm not Josephine!" I scream covering my ears. "Up she goes, up she goes." She repeats. "Sing with me Josephine, sing! Up she goes, up she goes." I start to cry, I thrash at my mother. "Stop it! I'm not Josephine! SHE'S DEAD!" I scream out, tears washing out my face. "Up she goes, up she goes." She sings again and again. "Mommy loves you Josephine." She says holding me so tight I can't breathe. "DADDY! HELP ME!" I scream with what breath I have left. Mom only holds me tighter. "Up she goes, up she goes." She says again, "Josephine died in the games mommy! Let me go!" Just then my dad bust through the door. "Lorraine, let him go! That's Haymitch not Josephine." All I can hear is sobbing and the world goes dark.
"Haymitch please wake up, please... Oh please!" I hear a woman cry. "Oh god! Oh god! Please Haymitch." She says shaking my body. "Careful there Sweetheart. You wouldn't want to shake too hard." I moan feeling like I've been hit by a truck. "Oh Haymitch you're okay!" Effie says hugging me. "You know me, I'll make it through anything; in a past life I was a cockroach." I try joking through the situation. "It's not a time to be joking Haymitch something bad is happening, something really bad." She says. "What's going on?" I ask after a beat. "We are going to be in the very first Panem Games." She says with a tone that I've never heard her use before. "What?" I ask, confused. " We can win this thing Haymitch. Together. Two people from each District can win." She says and then she wraps her arms around me, "I'm just glad you're okay! I love-" She stops dead in her tracks. "Effie I-" I'm shocked but then she suddenly says "I love you, Haymitch Abernathy! There I said it." She says slightly blushing. "Eww.. " I mumble. "What do you mean eww?" she asks taken aback. "Eww you love a old revolting fool as me?" I tease and she glares. "Just never mind I don't know what I-"
"I love you too, Effie." I interrupt before her annual hissy fit. "You what?" She says leaning closer to me. "I love you!" I exclaim, strangely that's the moment she bursts into tears. "And now we are going to die!" She screams latching onto me. "I won't let you die Effie, our love will live on." I say. "I can't fight Haymitch! I'm a useless spoiled capitol girl. I'll be dead before the Games even begin." She says folding into a ball, crying. "I'm going to teach you. Everyone is good at something." I say kissing her forehead. "Don't worry about a thing." I whisper.