Hunger Games: The Second Quarter Quell - The Story of Haymitch Abernathy

Chapter 11: The Northside

As it turned out, the forest to the North side of the arena thinned to a spacious area filled with pine trees, which seemed a whole lot more pleasant than the West side, where Haymitch had spent the last nine days, and the East, which was currently concreted with igneous rock and toxic fumes. 

As Haymitch and Maysilee discovered, neither of the two of them had ventured to the South, so whatever dangers lay down there remained a mystery. 

At around midday, the sun at its highest point in the sky, the two entered what was most likely the centre of the pine forest, as trees were at their densest, and supplied much-needed shade.

'Can we stop for a while?' Maysilee asked, and Haymitch silently agreed, following her to a small, grassy spot, where they both took a seat. 

It remained awkwardly quiet for a moment, with even the birds speechless, before Haymitch spoke.

'So... where were you when the... volcano?' he muttered quietly.

'Up in these woods. I've been Northside pretty much the whole Games. What about you?' Maysilee replied, picking grass with her fingers.

'I've been west. But I was at the Cornucopia when I figured out it was about to erupt, and ran. But I—'

'Hold on. You figured out it would erupt? How?' Maysilee interrupted, pausing her grass-picking in genuine interest. 

Haymitch shrugged, glancing off into the trees. 'The ashfall. It was everywhere. And the grey clouds when I woke up,' he responded, avoiding Maysilee's gaze.

'Huh,' Maysilee mused, intrigued, 'anyway, what were you saying?'

Haymitch frowned, thinking for a moment, before resuming his train of thought. 'Oh, right. I ran through that stupid stream on the Westside during the eruption and it pretty much burned the skin right off my ankles,' he grimaced, lifting one pantleg to reveal the scabbing skin surface where the water had touched. 

Maysilee flinched in sympathy, inspecting Haymitch's leg. 'Jesus. The stream did that?'

'Yeah. It killed Quince, too,' Haymitch murmured, glancing down at his feet in shame. 

Maysilee fell quiet for a moment, before clearly having a thought. 

'You hated him,' she pointed out.

Haymitch hesitated, frowning. 'How did you even know that? I was such a prick to you. I barely said two words,' he sighed, finally glancing up to meet Maysilee's eyes. 

She shrugged, giving a small smile. 'I don't know. I could tell. And yes, true. But it's alright; I forgive you,' she joked quietly, her gaze falling back down towards the grass. 'What changed?'

'We spoke the night before the Games began, and he... he was this whole other person. It was like the annoying Quince that only bragged all the time was some... like...'

'Disguise so he didn't have to be vulnerable with anyone?' Maysilee suggested, and Haymitch looked to her in surprise.

'...Yeah. Exactly like that,' he murmured.

'Like you, too,' Maysilee added, and Haymitch bowed his head in shame.

'You knew?' he asked quietly, watching as Maysilee smiled warmly.

'Yeah, of course I knew. Don't you think that thought hasn't crossed the mind of every person in this arena in the past two weeks?'

Haymitch frowned in thought for a moment, desperate to change the subject. .