Suzanne Collins owns all characters in the Hunger Games trilogy.
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It's your sad reality
It's your messed up family tree
And all your left with all these questions
Are you gonna be like your father was and his father was?
Do you have to carry what they've handed down?
No, this is not your legacy
This is not your destiny
Yesterday does not define you
No, this is not your legacy
This is not your meant to be
I can break the chains that bind you
~Matthew West: Family Tree
Chapter 6: Yesterday does not define you
Liam’s POV
The week that I got back to District 4 I spent thinking mostly. I thought of Jennifer. I thought of how lost she’d seemed and I wondered whether I seemed like that to other people.
People saw me every day. Did they wonder if I was lost? Did they think I was waiting to be found? Was I waiting for someone? If so, who?
“Liam!” I hear, from the depths of the house.
I’m in my bedroom on the third floor. My mother is probably in the kitchen on the first floor, or down in the basement. She likes it there for some reason.
Now I know what you’re thinking. Why on earth the two of us live in such an enormous house. Simply because it was my father’s house. When he died, my mother got the choice of staying with her parents in her house in the Victors Village or taking up permanent residence in my father’s house.
She chose to take me to my father’s house. And that’s where she’s stayed. Her parents have since died but she stayed in my father’s house. I asked her why once. Why she chose to move into a massive house on her own with a tiny baby when she got back to four. She said it was because her house could have been anywhere. But being in my father’s house made it her home.
She once told me, “Liam, you can have a house anywhere in the world. But you’re home isn’t just a place, but a piece of you. I love this house because it reminds me of your father. And he is a part of my home. Without your father, my home wouldn’t be complete. Like it wouldn’t be complete without you. And I want you to remember that.”
I’d nodded and not really understood at the time. But now I did. As I delved into my past, hoping to find out more about my father and his past, I understood my mother’s words more clearly.
I understood what she meant. For the things I did know about my father, without them I’d be lost. And so the things I know about my father make my home. And that makes it unique to me.
But I still didn’t know enough about my father back then. So I decided that the only way I’d get answers would be to ask questions.
So I went downstairs to talk to my mum.
“Hey Mum.” I say.
“Hey honey. You ok?” She asks.
I nod. “I was just thinking.”
“About what?” My mother asks.
“Dad.” I reply.
She nods. “That’s nice.”
I nod. “I just wish I knew more, you know?”
She nods. “What do you want to know?”
I shrug. “What did you like about him?”
My mother sighs. “I loved everything about him. He was the kindest most caring person I’d ever met. I loved the way his eyes reminded me off the sea at home. The way light danced off them, like the sunlight did the sea. I loved the way I felt safe in his arms. I loved absolutely everything about him.”
I smile. “He seems like such an amazing person. I can’t believe that I, just plain old me is related to him.”
“You remind me so much of him. You have his eyes, his hair and his personality. You couldn’t be more like him if you tried. Or less like me for that matter.”
I smile. “What was it like when you found out that he was never coming back?”
“I felt like a tiny piece of myself had flown into the clouds with him.” My mother says.
She stares into emptiness for a while and I see tears welling in her eyes.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
She shakes her head. “I just haven’t thought about him in depth for so long.”
I nod.
“I didn’t feel like I’d be able to go on. We’d been married less than a month and he was already gone. I was already a widow. I just couldn’t believe he was really gone. I couldn’t believe that I’d never see him again. And that the only place he’d ever exist again would be in my memories.”
I nod. “I worry about that sometimes.”
“About what?”
“That when you die, you’ll only exist in my memories. There’ll be no one else who knows you enough to keep you alive in spirit for me.”
She smiles. “I’m sure there’s someone out there right now who was put here to be with you.”
I smile. “I think that’s the biggest accomplishment for any human being. To know exactly why they were put on the earth.”
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Song -----> Family Tree by Matthew West
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Picture -----> Liam
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Dedicated once again to ivygadgetfreak who I know is super excited for the next chapter! Don't worry, I'm working on it!
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I just want to say something really quickly about the song. I chose this song because I think it really shows the way Liam feels. He's stuck in a messed up situation where he knows next to nothing about his father. And people expect him to. So that's why I chose the name of the chapter. I really loved that line the first timeI heard the song. I chose it to tell Liam that although he feels put down by his past, it means nothing to his future.
(And I do things like that because I love my characters! They're like siblings or really close friends to me!)
Thanks for reading!
MissPotter98x
P.S. Tell me how you feel about Liam. If you could give either Liam or Jennifer or both of them advice, what would you tell them?
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The Truth Behind the Eyes (Prequel to CIBT?)
FanfictionHunger Games Fan Fiction. Completed. Jennifer Kelsey Mason. She was always told she was a surprise. But now that she’s old enough to understand what that means, she’s a little hurt. It means she was never meant to be. As she delves into her family h...
