Skinny Love

Mr. Jackson Hadley

Good morning! So, my name is Mr. Jackson Hadley. I was born July 16, 2178, making me 37 right now. Yeah I get it. I'm an old man. Ha! I have blue eyes and dark blonde hair. I do my best to keep up with the appearance of being happy and carefree. It really isn't that hard. The only people that seem to even have the chance of noticing my pain are my children, Cato and Logan. They both go to the Training Center and then come back to help out at the bar if it's a busy night.

Yeah... I own the only bar in the District. Not that bad of a job. I get all kinds of people coming in here looking for drinks. Plenty of fights too... Half the time it's just women getting pissed off at whoever won't stop hitting on them. That's always amusing for me to watch. I don't care about age here either. If someone wants to drink then they can drink. There isn't a set drinking age that I'm aware of. I know that my sons have even drank behind my back or taken up a bottle when they had friends over. It doesn't bother me though. I think that they should get the chance to live out their lives as much as possible right now. No one knows when they're going to get reaped or even when they're going to volunteer...

My wife was Violet Parks-Hadley, tribute of the 56th Hunger Games. Notice how I said "was" and not "is"? Yeah... She was killed in those Games. Slaughtered by the tribute from District 4. He slit her throat like she was some kind of animal and then ran for it. Christopher Greenleaf, her partner for those Games stayed by her side to try and comfort her. He kept mumbling something to her and that's when I realized it. He was talking about how grateful Jennifer was that Violet volunteered for Lynn. Jennifer was pregnant with one of her children at the time. Violet had just brought Logan into the world a few months earlier. Just a few short months before she volunteered and was taken away from our children. Three months earlier to the day. She was gone from the world... Both of our children were too young to fully understand that she was going away for good. I had to show them the tapes when they began to think that the Games were just some form of entertainment like the rest of the District did.

Back in the days that I could get reaped, I was in the same Training Center that my two boys are at now. I was great with the sword and whip combination. As for the sword alone, well I wasn't bad. The whip was nearly a back up in case I couldn't get in a clean shot... I've heard that Cato is training with the sword now and that he's at the top of his age group. It brings this huge feeling of pride that he can fight with the same weapon I once used. As for Logan... He's in the middle of his age grouping and focuses on daggers. He still has time to improve his skills. Not very much time though.. The reaping is coming soon... Sooner than I would like it to come...

Cato probably thinks that I'm blind to the cruelty of everything around me. I'm not though. I see it happening everyday. I see the people that voice their opinions out loud and then get murdered the next day. It isn't fair... People should be able to voice their opinions freely and not be afraid of getting murdered... A country doesn't work that way. If a war was to start now, I wouldn't hesitate to join the fight. I want my children to be able to have a better life. I blame the Capitol for many things. Things that are better left unsaid... Things that will never be voiced unless District 2 is taken by rebels... Rebels that are growing stronger and looking for a leader... Don't ask how I know. I have my sources...