ghosts that we knew: A mockingjay fanfiction

27

Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games trilogy or any of the characters created by Suzanne Collins.

Chapter 27

Haymitch

••••••FLASHBACK••••••••

Snow is none too happy with me or my little stunt. I bent the rules, played the Game I wanted to play rather than using the instructions the Capitol had laid out for me to follow.

I assume my punishment comes in the form of staying in the Capitol longer than the schedule originally intended. Snow knows how much being among these people rubs me every wrong way, and since I rubbed him the wrong way by tossing an ax into his force field, he is simply returning the favor.

Two weeks agonizingly stretch on, but eventually the press conferences come to a close, the television recaps die down, and my meeting with President Snow, while strained by the obvious fact that he is displeased with how I won, is polite and cordial-a task I didn't know I could accomplish until my hot headed, boisterous self is led out of his office. The social milieu of the Capitol has officially run out of sights and sounds for me to divulge in and they have no choice but to send me and my team packing on a train en route to District Twelve.

As I step from the station platform, train chugging off into the distance behind me and my solitary bag, I can't help but smile as I inhale the familiar scent of burning coal, with just a dash of poverty to make things cozy.

I'm finally home.

Bounding to the Seam, I am filled with a new appreciation for life at the thought of getting to return to my mother, Eleanor, and my younger brother, Blake. Undoubtedly, the love of my life and the deliverer of my token in the arena-a small, bronze band that symbolized our eternity together-Amara would be with my family as she upholds her promise to protect them while I'm gone.