Ghost Stories

Disclaimer: I wish I owned everything. But I don't. :'(

A/N: This is for prompt #58: Ghost stories. I'm glad that I'm finally able to write longer stories again, after all of those stories I wrote that were under 500 words. :P The ghost story Haymitch tells is based off a story for a logging camp in northern New Hampshire. Also, that ghost story is italicized to make things easier on me, and the unitalicized parts are Effie's interjections. :P I think that's it… oh, no, wait! I'm sorry about Cinna. I really don't know how to write Cinna. I feel like he wouldn't really be as… 'Capitol-y' as Portia and Effie, but… for the purposes of this story, he is. Sorry 'bout that. :/ Other than that, enjoy! :D

"And when they walked down below the bridge, a ghost popped out and dragged them under the water, drowning them!" Portia exclaimed. "They were never heard from again…"

Cinna and Effie were enthralled in the story. Haymitch, Katniss, and Peeta, however, all looked bored. The six of them were sitting in the penthouse living room sharing ghost stories the night before training started for the 75th Hunger Games.

Effie started clapping. "Oh, lovely!" she turned to Haymitch, who was sitting to her right. "That story's my favorite!"

He gave her a look of disbelief. "Your favorite? You have a favorite ghost story? It wasn't even that good!"

Portia glared at him. "It was too good!" She scoffed at him and crossed her arms.

Peeta and Katniss shook their heads. "Sorry, Portia," Peeta apologized, "but… it wasn't that good."

"It sucked," Haymitch interjected rudely.

Effie pursed her lips and crossed her arms. "And you think you can do better?"

An arrogant smirk crossed Haymitch's face. "Hell yeah, Princess. I'll tell you a story so terrifying it'll probably scare off all of that clown makeup you wear."

A fire that echoed Cinna's designs lit up in Effie's eyes at Haymitch's words. She bit her cheek to keep from exploding at him. "I don't believe you," she simply said.

Haymitch laughed. "You're on, Princess." He turned to the rest of the group. "If any of you wish to leave so you don't piss your pants in front of all of us—"

"Haymitch Abernathy!"

"—then do so now," Haymitch continued, ignoring Effie's interjection. Nobody moved. "Alright, then. But don't say I didn't warn you!" He cleared his throat and settled deeper into his chair. "Years ago, before I was even born, there was a mining camp in District 12…"

My grandfather used to tell me stories all the time of the mining camp that he worked at… at least, until the murders happened.

There were two people nearby the camp. One's decapitated body was found close to the mining camp. The wounds were clearly made by an axe. The other body was never found. Other miners figured that he went insane and drowned in the river.

A few years after the first murder, a group of six people went to stay at the mining camp. The first night went by, and when they awoke in the morning, they found one member missing. They all figured he just pissed his pants from fright—

"Haymitch!"

—and went running home. After a few more nights, however, only one miner was left. He goes outside in the morning before going home and he hears a noise. He heads outside to go check it out, and it turns out that it's just an animal. He walks back to the camp and walks into the door and accidentally kicked something. The guy looks down and sees a decapitated head rolling around. He recognizes it as one of his fellow miners.

He freaks out and thinks he's going crazy so he grabs some whiskey and heads back to work.

"Sounds like you, Haymitch."

He's about to leave for home when he hears something in the back room. He goes to check it out and finds the body belonging to the head. Or so he thinks. As he leans in to examine it he realizes it's not one of his friends. The skin's wrong, there are new scars, the clothes seem too old…

He then notices that the feet are missing. He freaks out and turns around to pull his shoes on so he can run out. He tries to pull on his boot but finds something cold and wet in the boot. He reaches in and pulls out a foot. He throws it and looks into his other boot, finding another foot. The scary part— they're both left feet. He realizes that the body parts belong to his missing miner team.

He screams and runs to his truck, pulls out, and goes to town to get the peacekeepers. When he arrives back at the camp with them, nothing is in the camp. No heads, no bodies, no feet, not even a single drop of blood. The only thing is a little dent in the wall where it looks like something round had gotten kicked into it. In the dent was a single strand of hair. The strand of hair was sent to the Capitol for DNA testing. It didn't match up with any of the crew's DNA, nor did it match the DNA of anyone who had ever been to the mining camp.

Later that same day, the guy goes back to the camp with the head peacekeeper to get his stuff. They walk in and there are seven dead bodies hanging from the neck in the living room off of the banisters. Scared shitless, they run out and accidentally knock over a kerosene lamp. The whole camp goes up in flames.

As they're driving away, they look out the back window and see the black outline of a man with an axe outside the camp. His maniacal laugh echoed as they drove away.

To this day, if you go to the burn site of the camp, you can still hear his laughter echoing… waiting… for his next victim.

Haymitch finished up his story and sat back, pleased to see that all the Capitol residentslooked positively frightened.

Portia was the first to speak. "…And… and this place is… still in District 12?"

Haymitch nodded. "Yep. It's by the edge of the district. If you go near there at night you can hear the laughter."

Everyone was silent, taking in the scary story. The scary, true story.

A bell chimed, causing Effie, Cinna, and Portia to jump.

"It's midnight," Effie stated. She stood up shakily. "We'd all best be getting to bed! We don't want to be tired tomorrow! It's going to be a… a big, big… big day." She cleared her throat and headed off to her room without another word. Cinna and Portia followed suit, bidding goodnight to the District 12 victors.

Haymitch turned to head to the bar, but Katniss' voice stopped him.

"Haymitch," she said. He turned and looked at her. She had an eyebrow raised at him, as did Peeta. "Mining camp? Really?"

He smirked. "Scared 'em, didn't it?"

Katniss shook her head and headed towards her bedroom with Peeta. Haymitch walked over to the kitchen and grabbed a beer before retiring to his room for the night.

Haymitch awoke to a female scream.

Maysilee.

He sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes. He knew he should have grabbed more than one beer.

The scream sounded again. If it wasn't Maysilee, then who...?

His door flew open and before he knew it there was a sobbing blonde woman in his arms. "What the...?"

The woman pulled away a little to face me, still clutching to my shirt, and I recognized her as District 12's flamboyant escort. "Effie? Effie, what happened?"

"He was coming after me," she said in a shaky voice. "He was coming... coming after me with an axe. I... I ran into the house and... and you were there, but you... you were hanging from the banister, and... and so were Cinna, and Portia, and Katniss, and Peeta, and I didn't know what to do, but then... he was there and he had a match, and he dropped it and locked me in, and there was fire everywhere, and... oh, Haymitch." She buried her head into his chest again. He almost didn't hear her whisper, "I was so scared."

"Sweetheart," Haymitch said softly, rubbing her back soothingly, albeit awkwardly. "I'm sorry I scared you with that story. I was just... being an ass." He sighed and leaned forward to rest his chin on her head. "I'm sorry, Princess."

He held her in his arms until her crying slowed down to just shuddered breathing and hiccups. "Effie, if i makes you feel any better, I made it all up."

He felt her stiffen in his arms and he cursed himself. She pulled away, her eyes trained in a glare on Haymitch. "You what?"

Haymitch sighed. "I... I made it all up," he repeated. "But it was only because you thought Portia's story was fascinating. You can't hear a ghost story and think it's fun or have a favorite. Ghost stories are meant to scare you."

She crossed her arms in front of her. "So you thought it would be fun to give me nightmares where people I love are being killed by your stupid, made-up... bullshit story!" she shrieked. She stood up and started stalking out of the room.

"Effie!" Haymitch bolted off of his bed and grabbed her arm to stop her before she could leave.

Effie whirled around and backed him up to the wall, her face inches from his. "I thought I lost everything!" she shouted. "I thought I had lost my friends, the people I care about!" She paused, tears welling up in her eyes again. "I thought I had lost you."

Without thinking, he dropped his lips to hers, bringing his hands up to cup her face. She pushed him away almost immediately.

"Haymitch Abernathy!" she shouted. "If you think that kissing me will distract me-" He kissed her again. "'-then you are sorely mistaken-" Kiss. "Will you stop it?!"

"Only when you shut up, Princess," he said.

He could see her seething with anger. "Haymitch-"

"Sweetheart," he interrupted. "I am sorry. I don't know what else I have to say to get you to believe me. Like you said, it was a stupid, made-up story. I was just trying to get a reaction out of you. This wasn't exactly the reaction I was looking for, but…"

She took a deep breath and blew it out, calming herself down. "Haymitch, I… I understand your intentions, but… I just… I can't—"

She was cut off once again by Haymitch's lips on hers. This time, though, she didn't bother pulling away. She wrapped her arms around his neck and invited him in. They pulled apart and stared into each other's eyes.

"Haymitch," she said softly, "can I sleep with you tonight?" He smirked and she hit him lightly on his chest. "Not like that, Haymitch. Not after the stunt you pulled." Her voice became serious. "I mean… can I sleep next to you tonight. I want… I need you to be there in case the nightmare comes back."

"I'll always be here, sweetheart," he said, pulling her into a comforting hug.

Effie smiled. "Thank you, Haymitch."

He took her hand in his and led her to the bed. Effie curled up against Haymitch once they were settled under the covers. They were both starting to drift off when Effie suddenly spoke up.

"Haymitch?"

"Mhm?"

"Next time you should pick a nicer story."

He chuckled. "I'll try and think of some 'nice' ones for you."

She smiled against his chest.

"Haymitch?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"Anytime, sweetheart. Anytime."

A/N: Yay angst/fluff! :P Sorry about he OOC near the end... but thanks for taking time to read this! Please leave a review on your way out! :D