Haymitch's Love: The Untold Story

Chapter 14

Chapter 14: 

Haymitch: Play It Cool

Haymitch doesn't even bother to pretend to examine his reflection in the full length mirror from his fancy Capitol room. He is finally free of all the injuries and scars; his skin is practically glowing it's so clean. Behind him, his stylist, Alenia, stares at him admiringly, waiting for his reaction to the new outfit. Upon meeting Haymitch, she had immediately declared him, 'Gorgeous! Simply gorgeous!' before she even had the chance to scrub him down properly. But that treatment has dramatically increased ever since he won the Quarter Quell. It's not just from his stylist either. All the females that he's come across since the arena are acting strange. The avoxes blush madly, the doctors giggle, and Dolly Lomberson, his escort, bizarrely attempts to stroke his arms and back.

Haymitch is wearing a sparkling grey suit with a jeweled orange bowtie. The outfit itself is pleasant, but he just doesn't feel like looking at himself. In fact, he doesn't think he'll ever want to see his reflection again. He knows that from now, he will always see a murderer.

He sighs and hollowly compliments Alenia's work as she gushes over him.

'What's wrong, Mitchy?' She has taken up the annoying habit of using that nickname for him. 'You nervous about tonight?'

Tonight is Haymitch's interview with Caesar Flickerman in front of a Capitol audience, broadcasting live to all of Panem. It will be the first time the country has seen him since he was in the arena. Is he nervous? No, he doesn't think so. His strategy to win the games was to act superior and he doesn't understand why he should lose this attitude now. He'll just act like he did before. Although tonight, his superiority doesn't feel very real, if that's what you'd call it before.

The arena has changed Haymitch. He now regards life with a completely different outlook. Never again will he be the same. Never will he forget the faces of the children that were murdered by each other. By him. By the Capitol. By President Snow. Every night since he has won, his sleep has been infested with dead tributes. He sees their wide, terrified eyes. Hears their tormented screams. Smells the nauseating, sticky scent of blood. He wants to vomit just thinking about it.

Needless to say, Haymitch is relieved when, before he gets to answer his stylist, his mentor, Rockwell Hogget, opens the door by a crack and whispers in his gruff voice, 'Sorry to interrupt, but can I talk to the kid for a sec?'

Silently, Haymitch follows the man out to the hallway.

'Just need to talk over some last minute interview techniques with you...' Rockwell says in an overly loud voice as he drags Haymitch by his shirt collar to a door at the end of the hall. Rockwell is a tall, hulking and dark skinned man in his mid forties. It's no wonder how he won the Games. He leads Haymitch up narrow steps and out to a breezy, outdoor balcony. His heart gives a pang. The same place where he sat with Maysilee on the interview night. The clanging of wind chimes mixed with the infinite number of honking cars and shouting people outside make this balcony a great place to play host to a secret conversation. Rockwell walks around the perimeter towards a maze of a flower garden.

'C'mere. Give me a hug for luck!' Rockwell grabs Haymitch from under his arms and squeezes him tight. He refuses to loosen his embrace. Instead, he leans forward and whispers something into Haymitch's ear.

'Listen close and hard. You're in big trouble from that stunt with the axe. You need to lay low and play it cool.'

The stunt with the ax? What was Rockwell talking about? Could that have possibly been symbolized as an act of rebellion against the Capitol? Haymitch doesn't agree with the Capitol or Snow in any way but by discovering that force field he hadn't purposely been trying to defy anybody, it was just a smart way of winning. Come to think of it, even his prep team might've mentioned it to him in passing. Apparently, everyone in the Capitol is talking about it. But the entire time he had been on that cliff, he had lost too much blood to notice much of anything. He hadn't meant to kill her like that. The prep team babbled on about how clever he had been to use the force field against her.

He remembers watching a particular Game when he was eight. As he recalls, the entire family of that Victor had been murdered by Snow because during the Games, she had apparently performed an act of rebellion. The boy whom she was in an alliance with was from her District and she had apparently been very close with him before they had been reaped. When he was murdered, she refused to leave his body, which prevented the hovercraft from appearing. She began to dig a deep hole in the dirt. After about a day, the hole was complete and she buried the boy's body, setting flowers on his grave. If her entire family was murdered, then what will that mean for Haymitch and his family? Will he come home from the Games only to find his mother, Melmar, and Nemit dead? No, the thought is horrifying. It could not happen. It would not happen. He will not let it happen.

But how is he supposed to 'play it cool?' By acting dumb? His only defense is that he was too delusional to know what was going on with the axe. But then there is still the time he had first figured out the force field... How could he have been so stupid? Why didn't he realize that his actions would hurt not just him, but his mother and Mel and Nemit? Oh, Nemit. He misses her more than anyone. He must protect her! He must save her!

Haymitch forces out some loud and emotionless laughter and then pulls out of their hug.

'Thanks. You're a great mentor!'

'No problem, kid.'

And with that, the two leave the balcony, unaware that somebody had caught every word.