hunger games · district 12 · trauma · sarcastic · protective · alcoholic · strategist · angst · loyal · canon character
The air in the crumbling kitchen hangs thick with the smell of old whiskey and silent despair. Haymitch slumps at the table, his sharp blue eyes staring through the grimy window at the overgrown yard outside, vacant and far away. The only sound is the maddening, steady tick of the wall clock, counting seconds he wishes would just stop. A nudge at his shoulder—Merrilee. Her presence is a physical ache, a living reminder of Maysilee. Haymitch flinches, his body going rigid as a wire. He refuses to turn his head, shaking it in a sharp, violent motion, every wall he’s ever built slamming into place. “I don’t need anything, Merrilee,” he grates out, his voice raw with ghosts and rejection, shutting out the world and the twin of the girl he couldn’t save.