The Reaping
"Miss Johanna Mason!" exclaims Amelia Tourniquet, the escort of District 7.
Frozen, I stand there, dumbstruck, fear taking over me. I look around the crowd of children, seeing both strangers & familiar faces. Then I turn behind me to my mother, the cameras following my gaze. I don't expect her to cry. If it was Joseph, she would be sitting with the rest of the bystanders, rocking like a child, crying. Even if it was Jillian being reaped, mother would show emotion, but not as much as if Joseph was reaped, of course.
Oh, her sweet old Jo. At eighteen, he's the first born, the skilled lumberjack, the most intelligent, the most like our dad, Jo is everything to mother. Even poor, sweet Jillian means something to her. Jill, only thirteen, with her long blonde hair, reck's havoc among our district, and has been whipped in the square at least 4 times for it. The worst she's done is provoking a peacekeeper, by throwing a rock right at his helmet. But it's nothing compared to what I apparently did to father. Mother blames me for his death, and I can't help but blame myself too.
It was over three years ago when father asked me to meet him out in the forest behind our mill, near the electrical fence that keeps us out from reaching our neighbouring districts. I thought it odd that father wanted to speak to me, since he had been so distant lately. Before leaving, I wearily told mother that I was venturing to the woods to grab some lumber for Jo & I to chop. She mearly nodded her head, not even tilting her face upwards to see me. She knew something was off, the quiver in my voice giving me away, and after a moment of awkward silence, I bolted into the thick bundle of trees.
Branches scraping my bare arms, I began to make out the figure of my father turning to stare at me. I clashed into him, almost knocking him over with my hug. We small talked for a bit, until he quieted down, while I stared blankly at him.
"Johanna, I need you to be mature for a minute, okay?" he said hoarsely.
"What is it father? Is someone sick?" I asked confused. Oh, how naive I was.
"No hunny," he said. "I need to tell you something, and I don't expect you to understand. Not yet, anyways." he continued.
"You see, right after you were born, my mother died, she was very sick. My mother was absolutely everything to me, my whole world. So I fell into a deep sorrow, not working, completely ignoring you & Joseph, and I just wasn't being the man of the house. Honestly, your mother thought that she could fix me by giving me another child, Jillian. But once Jill was born, I feel like my depression has gotten worse."
"And well, you can tell that your mother and I have been butting heads lately, for I have started to fall back into my old habits again. Johanna, I've recently learned that my father is now ill, the same disease that claimed my mother too. I don't want to be an orphan, because believe it or not, even at my old age, I need my parents." he said, but the phrase I need my parents came out no more than a whisper. He continued,
"He is in terrible shape, Johanna, and my life just isn't going the way I wanted it to. My business is failing me, I can't support my family, and we are going hungry. I try, Johanna. I try so, so hard. But you'll understand when you get to be my age." I began to loose focus, trying to get at what my father was saying. I didn't understand. But then he reached for a wooden axe below his feet, and I knew, just knew.
Tears welling in his eyes, he said "I just can't take it anymore Johanna! My life is a travesty!" And that's when I started to cry too. He said that his depression started right after I was born, so I thought I might have been the cause of his stress, even though he said it was due to his mother's death, I didn't buy it. He began speaking after a few moments of silence.
"I know what your thinking, Johanna. It's not Joseph's fault, Jillian's or yours. Especially not yours." he knelt down to my height, and spoke again. The last things I would ever here him say.
"Now you are going to give me a big hug & kiss, and you are going to go back home. You are not going to tell anyone about this conversation, your siblings would feel betrayed, and your mother too. I'm trusting you, Johanna. Don't let me down." He then leaned in and gave me a compassionate hug, the two of us crying into each others shoulders.
"I love you so, so much. You'll never know just how much, sweet girl." he whispered.
"I love you too, father." I replied. And the last time I saw him, was when I was walking back home, tears staining my delicate face, and I turned around. We made eye contact, and then he picked up the axe.
Suddenly laughter & chuckling break my thoughts. I continue to look around until I found the source of the laughter, and I couldn't have been more "surprised". There, my mother stands in front of me, laughing, for all of Panem to see. God, she looks like a mad-woman.
I' m enraged. Wasn't it enough that I was practically being sent off to my brutal, televised death? Weren't the lash-shaped scars she gave me on my back punishment enough? I walk through the crowd, the people in it parting like the red sea, making a pathway. I stand right in front of her, four peackeepers watching me closely, and I do something that shocks myself. I look right at her, and give her the middle finger with both hands. The crowd gasps, especially the Capitol representatives & escort. Of course they would, it's damn great television.
I abruptly turn around, and walk up to the stage, confident, no fear in my eyes at all. I am accepting it. I'm going to die, so I might as well go out with a hell of a bang. I step up on stage, not saying a word, and just politely stand there, waiting for the escort to read the next name going into the 68th Hunger Games with me. It couldn't get any worse than this, right?
"And now, for the gentlemen" she says. Her hand dives in the bowl, until it lays upon a single name-slip. She pulls it out, and a nauseous feeling overwhelms me. She begins to open it, and gasps.
"Well! We have quite a turn of events!" she says, and a twinge of fear goes through me. She clears her throat, and then speaks into the microphone once more.
"Joseph Mason! Come on up dear!"
I was wrong. Things are about to get a hell of allot worse.
Thank you for reading! I promise you it will get a bunch more exciting! Please Please PLEASE vote & comment! It means SOOOOOO much to me! :)
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Johanna Mason: Before the Quarter Quell
Fanfiction**Please excuse the cringey content; I wrote this when I was 12** You know Johanna Mason. In the third Quarter Quell, she was part of Katniss' alliance. But's she's also much more than that. She's feisty, intelligent, and good with an axe. But who i...
