Haymitch's Love: The Untold Story

Chapter 7

Nemit: A Shoulder To Cry On

Nemit is running. Where she is running to, she has no idea, but all thought has left her except for this simple task. The weather has turned suddenly cold and dark. Storm clouds are billowing through District Twelve, casting a well deserved, ominous atmosphere. With tears streaking down her cheeks and her eyes red and puffy, the freezing wind bites at her face as she pushes herself to go faster. She needs to get away from here as quickly as possible.

She passes many cheerful, relieved people, all coming home from the reaping, their sons and daughters spared for another year. The idiots....

She clutches a painful stitch in her chest as she huffs and puffs up a steep hill, not stopping...never stopping if she can handle it...

Finally, she can see the place her feet have carried her to: a large, crumbling red brick house. She slows down as she approaches, hops over the white gate and sprints up the gravel pathway. She comes to a halt at the doorstep.

Why did Nemit choose to come here? She supposes that she is seeking a place with happy memories, with people who don't despise her. But with Haymitch gone, she realizes that there aren't any places like that. She desperately needs someone to comfort her...someone to hold her and love her, to tell her that everything will be okay... It's times like this when she wishes she had a family, especially a mother.

Disregarding the brass knocker, Nemit raps the door once with her knuckles and almost immediately, it swings open, revealing Zelda, who is clutching a handkerchief, her face a soaking mess. As soon as Nemit meets her eyes, Zelda's lower lip begins to tremble and she bursts into tears for, what Nemit guesses to be the umpteenth time. She grabs Nemit by the arm and pulls her inside and up to the attic where a sniffling Belta lies on the ground.

Nemit and Zelda collapse onto the floor beside the other girl, a fresh wave of sobs washing over all of them. The three girls sit, holding each other's hands and weeping on each other's shoulders. They cry for the longest time, not speaking at all; just being in each other's presence is enough. Just knowing that someone is there, that someone cares, that someone understands is plenty. Finally, their sobs turn into heaving breaths, and the three sniffle themselves to sleep on the hard, wooden floor.