The Sun's Rays

A Visit to the Hanging Tree

***Warning attempted suicide and self-harm are the main themes of this chapter, so read at your own risk!!!***

I stumbled in the hall and Dale pulled me up while running. I took a few shaky steps before going at full speed.

"Where are we going?" panted Dale.

Rye shrugged and kept going. I stopped. Rye and Dale kept racing through the halls, at top speed. I leaned against the wall, trying to catch my breath. Where would be a place that Haymitch would go? He knew Atlantis more that anybody. There must be some room...oh god. The room that Rye and I were in the other day!

"RYE! DALE! I KNOW WHERE HE IS!" I said running in the direction of the room.

I considered waiting for them, but there was no time. If he was about to do something stupid, like commit suicide, then seconds are counting down. I barreled down hall after hall. I think at one point I ran over Dale's mom, but I am not sure. I come up to the cracked wall and jammed my finger into it. I felt a slight pull on my finger, but it was quickly pushed out of my mind as the stairway pushed open. I ran up the flight of stairs. I threw open the door on the top of the stairs and saw Haymitch climb on top of a mound of furniture. He took a rope that was attached to a small wooden beam that was on the ceiling that I hadn't noticed before this. Did Haymitch make this himself?

"Haymitch, stop!" I screamed.

He looked down on me of his throne of death.

"There is nothing left for me now Primrose," Haymitch said in a dull voice ",Amy is gone. You and Dale are always there, yes, but you guys are now closer than ever. When you are around me you remind me of what could of been."

He looked up at the ceiling.

"I'll be with you soon, Amy. Goodbye Primrose." he grabbed the noose.

"Don't do this Haymitch! She might be alive!"

He ignored me as he fit it around his neck. I have to do something. I saw a drawer of utensils sitting on the bottom of the pile. I tore through the piles and finally got what I wanted. I threw the butter knife at the rope that Haymitch was currently hanging from and cut the rope. His limp body was falling down, down, down. I tried to catch him, but he fell too fast. He landed with a thud on the ground. I didn't hesitate to pick him up. I opened the door and ran down the stairs, as fast as I could with a heavy thirteen year old on me. I may be ripped, but I wasn't that ripped.

I opened the final door when I saw Rye and Dale at the entrance.

"He tried to-" I began, but Dale took the body from me and started to run down the hall.

Rye and I exchanged a look and took off after him. We ran all the way to the hospital wing. I really haven't been there that much since I got here. The only real time I came here was to get some Advil for some cramps I was getting. Dale burst in the room and a doctor, seeing Haymitch's limp body directed Dale to put him on a hospital bed. I slumped in a chair and watched the doctor do a series of things to stabilize my brother. My brother. Is he going to die? I wondered at that moment. No, he won't die. Not before the Capitol falls. I thought. What if he's already dead? A small part of me wondered.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by the doctor who completely ushered us out of the room. I felt bad for Haymitch who is stuck in that room with completely nothing in it, except the tubes that are keeping him alive. I went in the waiting room and slumped in a chair. Dale and Rye sat on either side of me. I was surprised that they were still here and I told them so. They immediately came back and said they wanted to wait for news of Haymitch too. I leaned my head back and started people watching.