One Last Game -Haymitch Abernathy-

Chapter 47

It was late when Amelia knocked on the door. She felt nervous. Part of her doubted if this was a good idea. It had been a week since they were rescued from the Capitol. In that time, Amelia only found sleep when she was sedated. It was impossible to fall asleep on her own. All she ever felt was scared.

She didn't visit Katniss. Selfishly, she couldn't. It was too hard. It wasn't the right time, not yet. She did learn that Peeta had attempted to kill Katniss. The Tracker Jacker venom poisoned his mind. It wasn't his fault, but it was him—his body, but not his mind.

It seemed everything had changed. Peeta was different. His mind scrambled from the Tracker Jacker venom. Katniss was healing from her injuries but was will playing the part of the Mockingjay. Amelia had been allowed to watch all of her propaganda footage. She learned what happened to District 12.

The door opened. Haymitch rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Amelia's hands were behind her back, a scared look on her face. "Amelia." He was surprised to see her. "What are you doing here?"

"I didn't mean to wake you-"

"It's okay," he assured her. "Would you like to come in?"

"Sure." Despite her hesitations, she stepped into the room. It was smaller than her hospital room, but the lights were a different color. They were more yellow. Haymitch stood in front of her, his hands stuffed in his pockets. "Um," she cleared her throat. "I just wanted to apologize for throwing a vase full of flowers at you."

Haymitch smiled faintly. "It's okay." It wasn't okay. Amelia knew that. "I thought they would help."

"I just," she was nervous. "They were fine, really." Haymitch wasn't sure what to do. He wanted to embrace her and assure her that it would all be okay. But he couldn't do that. It wasn't what Amelia wanted. "A kind gesture, I just-"

"Just what?"

"I don't know," she said. "I think I used to like flowers, but now I don't." Amelia didn't know. "It's all jumbled together in my brain. It's hard to tell what's there and what's already gone." Haymitch understood. He had seen what happened to Peeta up close.

Amelia remembered Haymitch. She remembered loving him, but so many of the memories were lost. She didn't remember when they met or how they got together. All she remembered from before the games was loving him. The Quarter Quell was a different story. She remembered every detail. She remembered the hovercraft leaving them behind. Haymitch left her behind. "But I wanted to say sorry." That was all she wanted to do. Amelia knew he wanted to get closer. She appreciated that he didn't.

She turned around to walk away when Haymitch spoke. "You like tea." Amelia froze. "You drink it in the morning." She stared at the door, her back facing him. "You hate sleeping alone at night. You always get cold and wear sweaters. They're usually mine because you refuse to get your own." Slowly, she spun around. "You never match your socks. You hate when your shoes are too tight. You like strawberry ice cream." This was all new information to her. "You used to love flowers. Particularly wildflowers." Haymitch stared at her. "That's why I had Effie engrave them on your ring."

Amelia blinked a few times, tears in her eyes. She looked down at her hand, but there was no ring. "I don't remember."

"I know," he whispered. "You always lose your jewelry. That's why I-"

"You put it on a necklace." Out of instinct, she touched her neck. It wasn't there. The necklace was gone. "I think I lost it."

Haymitch pulled at his collar with one hand. With the other, he grabbed a chain. Pulling it from under the shirt, he revealed the necklace. Silently he slipped it off and held it out for her. Amelia approached him slowly. Her movements were cautious. Her fingers grabbed the necklace. They brushed against his palm.

"You had something for me, right? I'm pretty sure I'm a part of this team."

Haymitch rolled his eyes at her attitude. "Come here." Amelia approached him. The older man pulled out a box. She wanted to question why he had it but didn't. Haymitch opened the box, and inside was a ring. A gold band with flower engravings. "I know you lose jewelry." He pulled out the ring to reveal a chain around it. "I thought this would help."

Haymitch moved behind her and gently put the necklace around her neck. In front of her, Effie was crying. "Haymitch." She let her fingers skim over the gold ring. "I-" tears started to stream down her cheeks.

Amelia held the ring, the memory replaying in her mind. She remembered. She remembered the ring. Without thinking, she put the necklace around her neck. "It was Effie's idea for the gold, right?" Effie was another person Amelia had started to forget.

"Yeah," he whispered.

"Effie," she repeated the name. "I don't remember-"

"I know." Haymitch didn't want to stress her out by springing too much information on her at once. It would take time, but he had to believe things would get better. "It's okay."

"I think it's going to take me some time, but I'm going to try." She wanted to try and remember her life. "But it's important to me that you understand whoever I was before, she isn't coming back." That person was gone.

Haymitch looked away from her. "I know."

Amelia nodded. "I should get back."

Haymitch didn't want her to go. He wanted her to stay. "Okay."

"Thank you, Haymitch." With that, Amelia turned away and opened the door. She wasn't ready to be with him but hoped one day she would be. For now, she had to focus on healing herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Haymitch was right. Amelia hated sleeping alone. It scared her. There were so many unknown noises. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the tortures coming towards her with the electric prongs. It was nearly impossible to sleep.

Amelia didn't trust herself to sleep next to anyone but Johanna. They had done it for weeks. They trusted each other. Silently, she slipped out of bed. Her bare feet padded against the tile floor. Amelia managed to slip out of her room without making a sound. She glided down the hallway quickly. There were three occupied rooms. One was hers. The other two belonged to Johanna and Peeta. Amelia hadn't seen Peeta since the arena, but she would hear him screen in pain.

She pushed open Johanna's door, only to find the girl wide awake. Johanna jumped but instantly relaxed seeing Amelia. There was a silence as the girl approached Johanna. Without asking, Amelia got into the bed with her. Johanna moved back, allowing her to get comfortable.

They faced each other, their bodies only inches apart. Amelia was exhausted and, for the first time, felt comfortable sleeping. The trust they shared was unmatched.

"Amelia," Johanna whispered.

"Yeah?"

There was a pause. "When was the last time you showered?"

Amelia laughed loudly, a genuine smile on her face. "When was the last time you showered?"

Johanna grinned at her, a real laugh of her own passing through her lips. Her eyes traveled down to the necklace she was wearing. "What's that?" She recognized it from the arena.

"Oh." Amelia glanced down at the ring. "It's a ring."

"I see that." Johanna wasn't an idiot. "I didn't realize you still had it."

"I didn't," she explained. "Haymitch did."

Johanna smiled at her revelation. After their earlier talk, she was happy to hear that Amelia had sought out Haymitch. No more words were spoken between them. The two girls both fell asleep. It was the first time they slept through the night since arriving at District 13.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Wow! I can't believe how many people are reading this book. Thank you!

Also, I recently re-watched the Mockingjay movies, and I've fallen in love with Pollux. I've had to talk myself out of writing a story because I fear nobody would read it (or know who he is). Let me know your thoughts!