There Are Much Worse Games To Play

Chapter 10: Reunion

The sense of protection and security is gone when I wake up. I'm not in Peeta's arms. He's not even by my side. Instead, I find Haymitch snoring away in the rocking chair by my bedside.

I move my hand to my throbbing head and find a huge bump. I guess Peeta must've hit me hard... Peeta! I start to panic and this rouses Haymitch. He walks over to me and I give him a hug. "Peeta?" I say desperately, tears filling my eyes. "Uh... Yeah, Katniss... He uhh... He hit you. Hard. With a frying pan. I heard a clank. I came through the door and saw you lying unconscious on the kitchen floor and Peeta was nowhere to be found. I walked over to you and lifted you up. That's when I saw Peeta. He was above my head. On the ceiling. I ran upstairs with you in my arms and laid you down here. Directly after that, I rushed back down and I called the hospital because I didn't know who else to call. Five minutes later, I heard sirens just outside the house. Your mother and Dr Aurelius-" "Of course," I say under my breath. "came in with three other men. They wanted to cuff Peeta and take him to the ambulance, but he shot some kind of laser out of the palm of his hand. Your mother and two of the other men got hit. And- And they... uh... they didn't survive." 

It takes ten seconds for me to let it sink in. My mother. Dead. Tears begin to stream down my face as I remember how I yelled at her in the hospital. How she was the only family I had left. No... She's not the only one. I have Isabel and Charlie. Peeta.

"What- What about Peeta?" I ask. "They uh... they-" Haymitch begins, but his tears cut him off. Huh. Haymitch never cries. It must be serious. He looks at his hands and says: "They brought him to the hospital..." "TELL ME, HAYMITCH! PLEASE!" I yell at him. "PLEASE! I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT HIM!" He continues: "and they- they said they didn't have the appropriate equipment here." He looks deeply into my eyes. I frown because it's like he's been hypnotised or something. I'm just about to punch him in the face when he says: "Katniss. They've brought him to the Capitol." And he stands up and walks out of the room.

Peeta's in the Capitol.

Where all the madness started. President Snow. The rebellion. The hijacking. Those gruesome deaths; Boggs, Cinna, Finnick, Prim. The Games.

At the thought of what Peeta has to go through, I scream. I bury my head into the pillow and pull my hair. An attempt to take away the pain in my heart. But it doesn't. It only adds to the pain.

When I'm cried out, I slump my way down the stairs, where Haymitch is already on his third bottle of liquor. I sit down beside him, snatch the bottle from his hands and take a huge gulp. My thoughts drift off to Isabel and Charlie. "Where are the kids?" I suddenly ask him. "They're at my house." "What?! You left them alone?!" I say in anger. "No, of course I didn't! When Peeta arrived in the Capitol, everyone knew about it. You still know Effie Trinket, right? Well, she came here and I told her to watch the kids for me." Okay. I guess I can live with that. 

When Haymitch leaves, I go upstairs, get dressed and I go downstairs again. I put on my shoes and walk over to Haymitch's house. I don't bother to knock and walk straight in. As soon as I enter the living room, two small human beings clutch my legs. "Mummy!" Isabel and Charlie exclaim. I crouch down and hug them tight. "Where's uncle Haymitch?" I ask. "He opened the door and let a strange woman with a big colourful wig and a pretty dress in. I think they went upstairs," Isabel says.

I walk upstairs and hear voices in the bedroom. I look through the crack of the door and see Haymitch and Effie stand opposite each other. Then something unexpected happens. Haymitch kneels on one knee, holds something out to Effie and says: "Effie Trinket, will you be my wife?"