The Mentor - A Hunger Games Story

12 - AFTER

Shelia held Gina's hand as they walked through District 12, occasionally saying hi to passerbys. Haymitch was a step behind them, trying to hide underneath a large hat he'd borrowed from Shelia's wife. Gina begged for a cupcake, in which Haymitch caved and bought her one.

They ended up in the Seam, the poorest section of District 12.

"We unfortunately couldn't afford a plot near your home." Sheila apologized as they rounded the corner to a large, overrun cemetery. Haymitch slowed his pace as she led him to three fresh plots without headstones.

Gina ran around, hopping over gravestones. Sheila held Haymitch's shoulder as he lowered himself in front of the graves.

"Which is which?" He felt pathetic for asking. These wonderful people deserved more than markless graves.

"Your mother is on the left. Harrison in the middle. Aimee on the right."

"And Aimee's family? They were okay with her being here?"

Sheila hesitated. Haymitch looked up to her, to see her trying to look anywhere but in his eyes. She sighed and grasped his shoulder even harder. "The day after she died, they were gone. Their house was completely deserted." She let that settle. "Maybe they just moved. Thought it was too much to be in this district now."

"Sure." Haymitch responded, but had a gut feeling they'd also been killed by the capital. Maybe by peacekeepers after seeing them kill their daughter. Or maybe Snow thought it was only right to take them out too.

He traced their names in the dirt, just so he'd remember who was where. He would make his own headstones when he had time.

"Thank you for getting them here." He felt exposed, openly expressing his emotions to someone he'd never met before.

"It was really a team effort between us and a few other families from the school."

"No it wasn't." Haymitch chided, to which Shelia shrugged with a small smile.

They sat in silence for a little while, interrupted occasionally by Gina's ramblings.

"The day my Maislee_" She cleared her throat. "The day Maislee passed, a lot of us were in the town square, watching on the screens. All day, your brother was at the front of the crowd, convincing everyone that this was inhumane and needed to be stopped."
"Fuck, Harry." Haymitch covered his forehead.

"He avoided the Peacekeepers, blended in with the crowd when they came around. I'm still unsure of how they found out it was him."

Haymitch didn't know how to respond. Sheila thought his family had been murdered because of Harrison's outlash. But Haymitch knew the truth. They violated Maislee, found information on his family, and murdered them for revenge. And to keep Haymitch in line.

"I think he started something, though. Every night I hear whispers about how wrong the Capital is. The talk in every pub is how to fight back. Every mom I talk to wants to make sure what happened to Masilee won't happen to their babies."

"No, no." Haymitch whispered, standing up. "You have to shut that down."

"What?" Sheila looked offended.

"There's no 'making sure this doesn't happen'." He said with air quotes, walking away from his loved ones' graves. "If you step one centimeter out of line, they will kill your entire family. With ease." He spat out. "There's no winning this."

"But your brother_" Sheila insisted as she sped walk after him.

"Was stupid." Haymitch responded without turning around. "He was supposed to keep his head down." He paused and looked back at Sheila, who was crying profusely. "And you should too."

And with that, he stormed away from the only person who would care about him for the next twenty years.