Everybody Talks: Sequel

Group Epilogue

EPILOGUE (3 years after first epilogue)
****Haymitch's POV****

We're in the meadow which is not too far from the high school where the strong bonds between all of the people that are here and those that we have come together to remember were formed.

Once ever year, on the anniversary of the wars end, all of meet up here, no matter what, and remember those that we lost eight years ago now. We always spend all day out here, watching the sun rise and set before heading home. We watch the children chase after each other, tell stories which make us laugh and cry, update one and other on the events of our past years as this is sometimes the only time the remaining Victors and Careers get to see each other, and the day ends with Peeta making his annual speech; the boy has always been good with words.

I admire all of my former pupils for going through so much and still managing to smile every day. For overcoming so many difficulties and still leading the lives they always wanted to. For coping with their losses and realising that it could be good again, even after such horrific things happening.

Katniss and Peeta are just as strong as they were when they first got together in high school. I am so proud of the two of them. Katniss for pursuing the same career and doing it ten times better than I ever could. Just under three years ago she started working in a high school with minimal training with the principle at the time agreeing that she could learn on the job and around a year ago the same school needed a new principle desperately, no one stepped forward so Katniss decided she may as well apply and she got the job. I am proud of Peeta for taking on the family business and opening a new branch whilst running the whole business with one brother instead of two like he imagined he would. They both manage to do those demanding careers whilst doing such an amazing job of being parents to two children who are both adorable and complete trouble-makers at the same time. I don't get to see this branch of the Mellark family much due to them moving away to the house they bought by the beach but we keep in contact through phone calls, emails and video calls and it makes every time I do see them seem even better.

Delly is such an inspirational person. She lost the boy she saw as the love of her life at such a young age after so little time together and, with help from a beautiful letter that he wrote for her, she made the decision to follow her dreams. After Gale's funeral she flew out to England, unsure of what she was going to do when she got there. She settled in to life and then realised what she wanted to do with here life: she has become a highly sought after wedding planner. To us who remained in the states we were a little shocked and confused by this career choice because of her losing Gale but after a while she explained to us that she chose to become a wedding planner because she wanted a busy career which would keep her busy but she also wanted to make other people's dreams come true, even if her own had been taken.

She's made quite the name for herself and she's so busy that we see her on the anniversary meet-up and sometimes once more in the year. Today when I arrived here I noticed a man sat beside her, I knew him as her boyfriend and now know him as her fiancé. Understandably, it took her a considerable amount of time to move on from Gale but eventually she started dating again and after two years of dating he proposed and she said yes. They- and by 'they' I clearly mean Delly- are planning their wedding to be in England in around six months time. Of course, I expect it to be the most amazing wedding ever and nothing short of that with Delly's success in the industry. They hope to have children not far into the future and Delly is considering taking a temporary career break at that time to spend as much time with her child (or children) as possible.

Clove and Marvel are engaged and the wedding is slowly being planned, they've both been very focused on their careers for the past few years with Clove becoming a photographer and Marvel starting off low down in a car company and now being one of the senior managers. A couple of years ago they told everyone they'd decided that they didn't want children. There was a period of time which lasted maybe three or four weeks, Katniss and Peeta had an argument with Marvel and Clove about their decision because there was a time when it was thought it would be impossible for them to have children and Katniss and Peeta felt as though they were taking the ability to have their own children for granted and just throwing it away when all that some couples want is to be able to have a baby but after they had time to sit down and think about it Katniss and Peeta apologised, realising that not everyone want to have children and that's their decision and, for all we know, one day they may change their minds. Whatever happens it's their decision and as they're happy, none of us should have any objections to what they want to do.