Chapter 2
Once school was over I decided to head home. At the time I was just living with my Aunt Cass. She was a sweet lady, not much over 30. My dad died before I was born but I still had my mom until I was 8. She had worked in the mines along with a few other strong women who'd volunteered after the number of workers suddenly dropped. One day she and some others stumbled upon a tunnel seething with radiation fumes. They ran as fast as they could but for some it was too late. Most of those who hadn't gone as far as my mom and her friends were either right as rain or just sick for a few days.
But out of the seven that actually went down there, only four made it out. My mom, Cass, a young girl named Charlotte Everdeen only a few years older than me and Mia French, one of Charlotte's friends. Charlotte was fine; she was luckily as healthy as ever. Cass was ill for a few days but managed to get better with the help of Charlotte's parents, a pair of herbal specialists. My mom and Mia weren't so lucky. Mia died the day after they got out and my mom was bedridden. She spent seven days in pain before her lungs finally gave up on her. But all that time, Cass stayed by her, even when she was sick herself. She even promised to look after me if anything ever happened to her, though she insisted mom would be fine. On her last day on Earth, I think even mom herself knew she wouldn't recover; she could barely sit up herself. When she died, for a while I just stopped speaking.
Maybe that's why I never noticed Haymitch earlier. I started talking a few weeks after my mom died but I was so- shy, I guess. I was always scared someone would bring it up. When I turned 14, I finally started talking but everyone had their cliques by then. I was alone.