Chapter 2: The second reading


"How'd you sleep?"

I really wasn't in the mood to answer my thirteen year old brother's question.

"Oh just my usual nightmare. You know, the one that replayed dad's death. Plus I got struck by lightning. Must've been the best fucking sleep I had in weeks." I said this in a sarcastic tone, even though I really meant it.

Over the years, Michael became used to my sarcasm. But even he couldn't hide the sadness in his expression when I mentioned our father's death.

"Well hurry up, breakfast's on the table."

I walked into the bathroom and looked at the mirror. Though I would never admit this to anyone, I knew I was handsome. I knew most of the girls talked about me at school. I knew this... and I didn't quite hate it. On top of being flattering, it always made me feel proud to know how much I looked like my father. I had the same curly black hair and Seam grey eyes. My eyes even had the same dangerous glint in them as my father did. Michael looked a lot like me, but he had bright blue eyes like my mother's. They had an innocent and carefree look to them. My mother used to look like that a long time ago. Now her eyes were clouded over to the world. Every once in awhile she would lose that look and become sober again. During these brief blessings, she would tell me what a good job I was doing. Then in a flash she'd remember all the times she was close to hurting us and give away to quiet tears. I knew how broken she was and I tried my best to comfort her because I really did love my mother. I just knew that after her little brother's death she was never the same. I, on the other hand, would never crumble like that. I even snorted at the thought of me losing my mind.

"Haymitch?"

"What?"

"I'm going to eat your food if you're not here in five minutes."

I sighed. My brother was so sweet.

I tried to wash up as quickly as I could to get to the food. I ran through our little house and shoved Michael away from my plate.

"Delicious as always, Michael." I said between forkfuls of caramelized blackberries and gulps of milk. It was hard to insult my brother's cooking, since he was actually good at it.

"Well, we got a bigger profit yesterday. Silman brought some of his friends over so there were some extra customers."

Zver Silman was the Head Peacekeeper. He inflicted some brutal punishments, but had a soft spot for liquor. This helped us a lot. I was able get food and other necessities for our family by selling illegal liquor to Silman and a few others in District twelve. Sure it was breaking the law, but people couldn't rat us out without turning themselves in too. My innocent "customer log" took care of that. Besides, I could get rid of the toxic substance that was polluting my mother and get profit at the same time. That itself still wasn't enough, so I also hired myself out to do lots of little odd jobs. Anything from getting rid of a wild dog in the house to doing some brain work for mining. I was unusually smart for my age and I could plan out the most successful mining plans. If only I had planned my father's trip...

"Make sure you get back early today. Can't miss the reading of the card."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." I rolled my eyes. Them I remembered something, "Is mom ok?"

Michael stiffened, "Clair is in her room right now. She is asleep."

Michael didn't care for my mom as much as I cared for her. He wouldn't even call her mom. Always Clair. He probably never forgave her for the time she cut off his left pinkie. Ever since then, he never trusted her. I was careful, but I still loved her. I had the feeling that Michael wouldn't even hesitate hurting her if he had to choose between my mom and me.

"Well... leave her some breakfast on the table. We both need to come to finish this job. There's an old tree trunk in someone's backyard that we have to uproot. Fun. Maggots and worms'll be uprooted and all kinds of delicious things for a rodent like you."

Michael sneered. After a few seconds, we both burst out laughing. I could never stay mad at my brother and he could never stay mad at me, even though we tried sometimes.

We left the house and walked about 2 miles to a mining tools shop. I knocked on the front door and wiped off the coal dust that was on my knuckles. A minute later, an elderly lady opened the door.

I asked her, "Is Marie Cole here?"

A musical voice called from the inside of the house, "Haymitch?"


A/N: ok so this might be a little short but my new teacher's a bit of an asshole and likes to assign us on stuff we haven't learned yet. So it's taking me a while to figure out this stuff. Also I sort of smashed into a pole b/c of my best friend so my head rlly hurts -.-

I ALMOST DIED WHEN THIS STORY GOT A FAVORITE LOL. So happy ^.^ Btw Zver is Slovenian or something for beast... ya i got bored xD.

I'll be posting up another fanfic sometime...maybe... it's about Cinna. I srsly think that he needs more fanfics about his background cuz he's awesomeeee

Keep viewing, favoriting, plz follow and plz review!

Thx :)