We needed information about Plutarch's "plan". But I was the only one that knew that raising any type of suspicion could ultimately lead to Haymitch's demise. While Johanna and him were ready to go, I knew that that was not a risk I could take so easily. But even Haymitch himself noted to us that he began to feel a sense of uneasiness around Plutarch and wanted to silence his suspicions once and for all.
"I have reason to believe that Plutarch is in communication with someone. Someone outside these walls," Haymitch began telling us as we huddled around the bed, eager for his next steps. "That person is the one who is most likely pulling all the strings of his operation. He has a laptop that he keeps with him at all times. And my best bet is that he keeps all of his most incriminating things there. But I've never got an opportunity to peruse through any of his stuff. Everytime I try to snoop around, he seems to appear out of thin air. It's like he's tracking me somehow. And I'm slowly running out of excuses."
I scratch my chin, pondering the situation. "Is there a time where Plutarch is away from it?" I ask.
"None as far as I've seen," Haymitch responds in a defeated tone. "Maybe when he's asleep but he has a knack of locking his room at night."
"I guess it's up to us then," I say to Johanna, who is getting too comfortable in my bed and beginning to fall asleep.
"Whatever," she says, shrugging her shoulders and burying her head into my pillow. I roll my eyes and Haymitch lets out a chuckle.
"You guys are like siblings who can't stand each other's guts," he says to us.
"Well, you're not exactly wrong about some of that," Johanna responds before I can think of a clever comeback first.
"Ok enough nonsense," I say, rolling my eyes once more.
"Right," Haymitch responds. "Now I know that he has all sorts of good information on that laptop of his. And with enough time, I can gain access and extract some files from it. I just need about ten minutes or so."
"Is that all?" Johanna says, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, it shouldn't take longer than that."
"Leave it to me."
While ten minutes didn't seem like a long time, keeping someone like Plutarch's attention for that amount of time seemed like an impossibility.
"How do you expect to keep him distracted for that long?" I ask her.
Johanna rises from the bed and begins looking around. "Do you have something to cut with?"
Haymitch reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small switchblade. "Will this do?"
"Perfect!" she exclaims, snatching them from his hands and beginning to slice up the top of her shirt, exposing her cleavage slightly. She then begins to cut away at the bottom of her shirt, revealing her abs. Her skin was battered and bruised but she still had a figure any man would kill to see fully. Looking over to Haymitch, his gawking smile and wide-eyes were proof that whatever Johanna was planning could work. Like a drooling dog at the sound of a dinner bell, Haymitch was mesmerized. If I rolled my eyes any harder, they might have fallen right out of my skull.
Johanna takes notice of Haymtichs ogling and slowly begins to make her way over to him. With every step closer that she approaches, Haymitch's face grows brighter and brighter red. Johanna pushes him to his back on the bed and straddles him. She begins to grind steadily on him and Haymitch's panting begins to become audible. She grabs his hand and places it right between her breasts and throws her head back with a loud exaggerated moan of pleasure.
I had seen enough and let out a disgusted sigh.
"Ok! Enough! We get it," I yell out, pulling Johanna's skinny frame off of Haymitch. She proceeds to giggle like a little girl as I set her down on the other side of the room.
"Was that really necessary?" I ask her.
"Yes," Haymitch responds from the other side of the room, his eyes still fixated at the ceiling.
"Leave now Haymitch!" I blurt out.
"Uhh, I can't exactly get up," he says embarrassingly. "At least not right now."
"Why not?"
Johanna giggles again and proceeds to point at the noticeable bulge in Haymitch's trousers.
I turn to leave the room, a look of disgust on my face, and Johanna howls behind me gleefully. Anger begins to boil up inside me, and I feel it overflow as I spin around and run at Johanna. I get within an inch of her face, and her eyes widen in shock.
"There's so much on the line here and this is what you resort to?!" I bark loudly at her. " While you're giving your little strip show, the lives of countless others could be hanging in the balance!"
Johanna steps away, her hands up in surrender. "Woah Katniss, I'm sorry. I was just trying to have a little fun."
I close the distance once again. "A little fun? This is what fun is to you?"
"Why the fuck would you care anyway ? For months you were always with Peeta! It was Peeta-this and Peeta-that! When did you start caring about anyone else?!"
"Don't you dare say a word about him!" I say through gritted teeth.
Johanna pushes me away but I jump back into her face, locking eyes with her intensely.
"You know I have a valid point which is why you're getting so defensive! Baker boy is the only one you care about. And caring for him and only him is the only thing you're even good at!"
"And being a tease and giving yourself up easily is the only thing you're good at!"
A crashing sound fills the air and I look over to see that Haymitch had dropped a cup he had been drinking from. Its shattered pieces lay sprawled out across the floor and his face was full of shock.
Was I missing something?
I look back over to Johanna and her eyes begin to glass-over. She drops her head and begins to sob loudly.
"Fuck you!" She yells out, taking a swing at my head. I'm able to lean back just fast enough that her fist whizzes past me. Her momentum sends her spinning and she ends up falling to the floor. She continues to sob on the floor and confusion fills my thoughts.
Did I say something that bad? What was the trigger?
Haymitch tries to help her back to her feet but she slaps his hand away aggressively.
"Get away from me! You fucking disgust me!" She jumps to her feet and marches to the door. Before leaving, she whips her head back around to me. Her eyes are full of tears and sorrow. I've never seen Johanna like this and for a second, I was terrified and concerned.
"Good luck with your plan!" She yells out, and with that, she runs out the door frame, sobbing loudly down the hallway.
In confusion, I turn to Haymitch and he wears a look of utter disappointment.
"You don't know, do you sweetheart?" Haymitch says through his hand on his face.
"I don't know what?" I reply back
"Her past."
"Her past? Why does that even matter?"
"Her past matters completely!" Haymitch lets out a disappointed sigh. He motions for me to sit next to him and I sheepishly comply.
"Johanna developed at an early age. And because of that she was often sought after by older men. After her victory in the 71st, the Capital wanted to traffic her for the purpose of sex. She rightfully refused to sell her body off and for that, her entire family was slaughtered. Behind that snarky demeanor and quick witted temper is a truly broken woman who had had experiences that others couldn't fathom going through."
I sat in silence for a few moments after Haymitch finished, trying to get my thoughts together. But one thought repeated indefinitely.
"I messed up."
Don't worry," Haymitch says, trying to reassure me. He stands up and begins to make his way to the door. "I'll go talk to her."
"No!" I yell, jumping to my feet. "I need to do this. It has to be me."
"Are you sure sweetheart? You aren't exactly known for your calm demeanor."
"Yes. I'm completely sure."
Haymitch sits back down on the bed and lets me leave without restraint. "Suit yourself. Good luck."
I needed to make this right. Now it was just a matter of finding her.
Authors Note: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! In order to give you guys the very best I will be releasing chapters every other week now. That way I don't feel like I'm rushing things and not giving you my 100%. Look forward to Chapter 9 on August 2nd!