fantasy | johanna mason

chapter two

The sun started to disappear behind the tall, green trees, and I dropped Rowan off at home. Then I headed to the house to the right of mine, occupied by my fellow victor, Johanna Mason.

I knock on the door, and Johanna replies with an irritated "what."

"Johanna, what the hell was that?" I ask, angry.

Johanna laughs. "That in the woods? It's called a joke, Elowen."

"Well, it wasn't a very good one. You made my sister feel bad."

"The redhead?" asks Johanna.

"Her name is Rowan, for fuck's sake," I reply.

"Fine. Tell your little sister I'm kind of sorry," Johanna says.

"Kind of?" I ask, exasperated.

Johanna sighs. "Yes, kind of," she clarifies. "Go home, Elowen North. Isn't it going to be your bedtime, soon?"

I roll my eyes. "You're literally a year older than me," I say. "Bye, Johanna Mason."

-

Rowan wakes me up the next day. "Dad's gonna help me improve my axe skills," she says. I don't say it, but my father probably wants Rowan to be able to use an axe because of the Hunger Games. Because I am a victor, I cannot be reaped, but Rowan still can and the 73rd Hunger Games are approaching.

I smile, sitting upright. "Okay, I wanna come with you."

I get dressed quickly and grab my beat up leather backpack that first belonged to my grandmother, then was handed down to my mother, then to me when my mother died. 

"Row told me you're gonna help her with the axe," I say to my dad as we head out to the woods. Rowan is already there, probably in a tree.

"Yes, I taught you so I figured I should teach her, too," he replies. My father is a burly man with wrinkling skin, his body hardened and scarred from cutting trees down for most of his life. After my mother died, his already heavy workload was doubled, leaving Rowan and I to scavenge for food. It wasn't pleasant, but manageable, I guess.

"Rowan!" I call up at the tall trees. I spot my sister's mane of red hair, and start climbing the trunk of the tree. 

"Hi, Owen," Rowan says.

"C'mon, dad is waiting," I say.

As Rowan and I slide down the trunk of the tree, my father laughs. "You girls really can climb."

I smile, and my dad hands Rowan a shiny axe, probably brand new.

Rowan examines it. "This isn't one of the ones the workers here get, is it?"

"Not at all. For most people it would cost a fortune, but we have way too much money, anyways."

Rowan looks at me, and I nod. "Throw it," I say.

She throws it into the trunk of a tree, and it sticks for a second, then falls onto the hard earth. 

My father walks over to the trunk, assessing the depth of the cut. "Not bad at all."

Rowan throws the axe again, but it doesn't stick where she expects and hits my father's hand.

Dad and Rowan scream. I am in a state of shock, but no sound comes out of my mouth.

"Row, get the bandages out of my backpack, front pocket!" I say to Rowan, rushing up to my father.

I yank the bloody axe blade out of dad's hand and let it fall to the ground. The wound is deep and rather nasty, but I've seen worse in the Games.

My father moans in pain. "I guess Rowan's better with the axe than I thought she was," he jokes.

I shush him, and Rowan tosses me the bandages. I wrap his hand with the white material, but I know it won't be enough. He'll need medical attention.

"Okay, we need to go home and call a doctor," I say.

"I can help dad," Rowan says. I nod, and shove the bandages and scissors back into the backpack, retrieving the axe.

Once we get home, Rowan calls a doctor, and soon enough, my father's wound is being attended to.

"I can watch dad, Elowen. You can get out of here," Rowan says. She probably said that because the kind of injuries my father has remind me of the wounds I saw in the Games.

"Thank you," I say, leaving the house. Before my mind decides where I want to go, my feet are sprinting towards the woods.

When I'm far enough into the endless woods of District 7 but not far enough that I'll get lost, I sit down, looking up at the trees.

A scuffle behind me makes me jump up, grabbing the pocketknife I keep in my belt.

Johanna Mason laughs. "Scaredy-cat," she says.

"Jesus, Johanna," I say, annoyed.

"Do you carry a knife with you everywhere?" she asks.

"Yeah. Mostly because I'm paranoid as fuck, but I would think someone like you would, too."

Johanna shrugs. "Nope."

"Then how do you kill people who treat you badly?" I ask.

"With my bare hands, of course," Johanna says with a roll of her eyes. Seemingly noticing I'm not with Rowan, she asks, "where's the redhead?"

"Taking care of my father. He took an axe to the hand."

"Ouch," Johanna says, sitting down. "It coulda been the head, though. Not that bad."

"I guess so," I say, sitting down as well because it would be awkward if we were talking and Johanna was sitting and I was standing.

"How the fuck did your dad manage get an axe stuck in his hand?" Johanna asks.

"My sister was practicing with the axe."

"On your dad?"

"No, on a tree. Why would she be practicing on our dad?" I ask, exasperated.

Johanna snickers, and I glare at her. "Dunno," she says, ignoring my glare. "Is he okay, though?"

"He'll be okay, I think."

"Great," Johanna says, standing up. "I'll be going now."

"Yeah, okay."

As I watch Johanna disappear into the trees, I wonder if she's been hanging out here for the last two years, or even before she won her Games. Even though Johanna and I only tolerate each other, I can't help but feel bad for her. Her family was killed by the Capitol after she refused to prostitute for President Snow. As far as I know, she doesn't have any really close friends, unless you count Blight and Finnick Odair from District Four.

Is it weird I'm thinking about what Johanna Mason does with her life and how lonely she probably is? Maybe. We don't even like each other.

Or, we've convinced each other we don't.

-

A/N: yeah so i wasn't expecting this book to do as well as it's doing lol. i don't really have a plan for this book because i wrote it on impulse but i'll try to make it interesting.

-PFJ