Three weeks. Three weeks had passed since I'd walked out of that apartment, and Marvel hadn't called once. I wasn't sure if it was because I'd told him not to or because he really didn't care that I'd left. Either way, I didn't really care. These past weeks had been some of the most invigorating days I'd had since I'd been dating the guy. Atlas and I had seen every important site that was offered between Panem and Portland. What started out as only a ten hour drive had turned into an adventure that took my mind off of all the shortcomings that filled my life. Nothing but free time and my best friend...but it was time to go home.

I'd studiously avoided Mason for four years and the idea of actually having to go back, had me on edge. Every green sign that I'd seen in the last day pushed my heart to pound harder, faster. It's not like growing up there was awful or I had a closet full of skeletons that I'd have to face, but it was the place my family fell apart.

We lost my dad the summer before I turned sixteen, to an accident involving a lumber truck. He never had a chance. It wouldn't have been so devastating, but my mom lost it after he died. She sat for days on the back porch of our house staring out into the forest like something was out there. Eventually I decided we'd lost her too, and it was up to me to care for my sister Prim, who was only ten at the time.

I put food on the table and worked at the bakery downtown, making sure we had money to pay bills and put gas in the truck, all while my mom sat there, doing nothing for us. Just before graduation, she decided she'd wallowed in her self pity enough and began to try to mother us again. Prim loved it but I hated her for it—where was she when we needed her? When I needed her? Graduation couldn't have come soon enough after that.

I received that small black folder and two weeks later I was gone. I didn't look back in the least, I knew that Prim would be okay because my mom was back, but it was time to live my life for myself.

It was in south California, at college for Environmental Biology and Environmental Conservation, that I met Marvel almost a year later. He was the breath of fresh air I'd been looking for—he didn't ask me about my past and he never looked at me with pity because I was the sad girl who's family had fallen apart. We just had fun, and we fell in love.

For that reason alone, I guess that's why I stuck around for the last year, even though things we're falling apart. I had a innate drive to keep things together and without a doubt, I'd still be in that apartment trying act like nothing was wrong if Marvel hadn't told me to leave. But I'm glad he did, four years of running away is tiring.

"Altas, that was nasty. At least roll down the window next time," I admonished. He cocked his head and looked at me from his perch in the passenger seat, understanding nothing I had just said. For some reason, on this last three hour stretch from Portland to Mason, he had been cutting creepers like no other. I cracked the window of my truck, "Never again am I feeding you brisket tacos. Never."

It was dusk, my least favorite time of the day. I always felt like this was the in between time of the day, that it couldn't make up its mind whether it wanted to be dark or light. The beautiful orange and pink sunset had long been gone and this odd grey, blue color filled the sky, leaving an oppressive feeling behind. Dusk was a reminder of my life felt right now—on the edge, teetering between two unknowns, unable to make a go of it one way or the other.

An audible sigh graced my lips as my headlights shined on the welcome sign of my hometown. It had been freshly painted, the words "Welcome to Mason, WA. Pop. 7, 145" in bright gold lettering. Guess someone likes it here.

I drove down the main road with no delay, the three traffic lights all synchronously green. Everything still looked the same and it annoyed me slightly. I'd changed and seen the so many things, and here was this podunk town, still the damn same.

Gravel crunched beneath the truck tires as I pulled into the driveway of my childhood home. I cut the engine and hoped out, grabbing my duffel bag from the backseat. "Here goes nothing," I muttered to myself as I quietly stepped up the creaking wooden stairs. Atlas followed close behind, acting as uneasy as I felt. The old screen door was slightly ajar and I pushed my closed first past, knocking three times on the door.

A few seconds passed and it swung open, revealing a girl with long blond hair. "Katniss?"