Chapter 2

Haymitch woke up when something sharp scratched his face. He was aware of a person being dangerously close to him. He reached for his knife and found his pocket empty. Another slice to his face and he tried to grab the perpetrator's knife. Instead he touched flesh.

He opened his eyes and looked into dark green eyes. He'd never looked so closely at these eyes but he had seen them in the past. Ruby Rain.

Ruby was the daughter of the only current living Hunger Games Mentor, Rupert. Twelve years ago, he won the games because he had a girlfriend and an unborn child to come home to. His girlfriend, Ruby's mother, died giving birth and Rupert had to raise her by himself. Rupert had been Haymitch's mentor in the games, but he knew that Rupert was a very depressed man.

"Hold still." Ruby said and touched his face again. A sharp stab sent a jolt through him and he jerked away. He grabbed her wrist and saw that she had removed a thorn. He sat up and saw the bowl of thorns she'd already removed. He flinched and moaned when he realized they'd all come out of his skin. Then he remembered the rose bush between his house and the next.

"This is going to hurt. On so many levels." Ruby stated. She lifted up the last of his liquor bottles and splashed it on his skin. He screamed.

"What are you doing?"

"It stops infection." Ruby held the bottle away from him. He reached further and she jumped back. It was hard for him to focus on her movement. She moved so fast, he was surprised when she was suddenly in his face again.

"It doesn't make you go away!"

She didn't even look offended. She ignored it and wiped his hair out of his face, pulling thorns and leaves out.

"I've put up with a lot worse insults, Sweetheart." She said 'Sweetheart' in a very callous tone. "You're going to have to do better than that." She smiled.

She started dabbing the scratches with a thin cloth and got lost in her concentration. Haymitch watched her as he remembered everything he could about this girl.

Ruby's parents were never married. They were District 12 orphans, and notoriously famous for their relationship. They are the example all the parents use to make sure teens wait to be 19 before we get married and or sleep together. It's a very good example because even though they were together, he was still a tribute, and she was still young enough to be a tribute if she'd survived childbirth. And now Ruby can also be chosen. Being a victor's child does not exempt you from the games.

Ruby had a nanny from the Capitol who took care of her when Rupert was on his victory tour and eventually during every game. This gave Ruby a bit of an accent but she hid it well – by never talking. Which was also why her voice on the roof had alarmed him.

She had gone to school with the rest of the kids from 12. She was very quiet, but by all means the best groomed kid. She didn't have any friends. Even the teachers disliked her. But for a well-fed girl, she seemed too scrawny. And yet, she had somehow managed to get him back into his house.

Ruby finished her work and started cleaning up.

"You don't have to thank me or anything." She said as she stepped away. She disappeared into his kitchen and returned with coffee. Haymitch sat up and tried to get his head together. Ruby sat down next to him after setting the coffee on the table.

"I've never heard you speak before." Was all Haymitch could think of saying.

"People never listened when I said sorry, so I stopped talking." She said. She shook her head as if to clear a thought. Her hair fell out of its place and she proceeded to take it out of the bun and put it up again.

The most memorable and striking thing about Ruby is her hair. It's what she's named for. She has ruby-red hair. She used to cut it short, like the boys, but it stood up in tuffs so she grew it out and pulled it into a bun permanently. The girls in school, including Haymitch's girlfriend, believed that Ruby has her hair dyed by her nanny each time her dad is in the Capitol. But she hadn't gotten a nanny for years, and everyone knew her to have red hair from when she was a toddler. It was just another reason to exclude her. They all said she was too Capitol. That she was the enemy. But Haymitch remembered her always having red hair. It must have been something she got from her mother's side.

With her hair down, Haymitch saw innocence in her that he'd never seen before. The red hair waved down to her waist and fell over her face. Her skin was strikingly beautiful and her dark green eyes made the picture complete. Haymitch suddenly wondered why none of the guys in his school ever asked Ruby out. She's beautiful. And rich.

"How old are you?" Haymitch asked.

"Thirteen." She said. That took Haymitch by surprise.

"Thirteen? You're just a baby!" Haymitch mused. Anger flared up in Ruby's eyes as they snapped up to meet his.

"I haven't been a kid, since my dad tried to kill himself the first time." She retorted. "I saw the blood, the crumbled up sorry letter, which he dumbed down so a six-year-old child could read it! I watched as the Capitol people carried him away, cleaned up my house and returned him to me doped up on morphling. And ever since that day I've had to talk him out of suicides and overdoses every single day. I'm not a kid."

"I'm sorry." Haymitch stared into her eyes. She was right. She didn't look like a kid. She has decades in her eyes. They reflected back the pain and guilt and sorrow of everything that's wrong with this world.

"Can we start over?" Haymitch suggested, holding out his hand. "Hi. I'm Haymitch."

She stared at his hand for a minute before shaking it. "Ruby."

"I know. Ruby Rain. Rupert's daughter. It's nice to finally meet you." Haymitch added a smile, which she returned.

"It's nice to meet you too, Haymitch. Uhm. Welcome to the village."