Johanna
Another day again. Waking up just fills me with memories. Good memories sometimes, but mostly bad. I look into the mirror across my bed and see a young woman. Not a pretty one, just an average one. My long, brown hair is in a mess and I swear I'm as pale as a vampire. I need to get out in the sun more.
I walked outside into the forest surrounding my house, located in the swanky mansion of the Victor's Village, in District 7. The sun is shining and the world is spinning, but I don't feel happy, even on this…what would happy people call it? A lovely day? Every day since that first Reaping has been miserable. Even more miserable than my life before that day. That's tough to do.
I won the 61st Annual Hunger Games when I was only 13. I acted like a weakling to suppress my opponents, but I can seriously swing an axe from all these years chopping wood. Sometimes, it comes in handy. But here's the thing: I had no one to share my glorious new "victor's" life with. I have been an orphan since I was a little kid. My parents left me in the middle of the forest in a basket, the villagers say. I grew up with the lumberjacks. I learned to chop down a fully grown oak by the time I was 6 without blinking an eye.
I am not very popular. My best friend Jason Kirk used to say that it was because I was "hostile and arrogant". Sometimes he'd say I was "stubborn and glum". Or a "downer". Or just anything. I am just typically not liked. I don't get along with people. But Jason…
Jason Kirk was a year older than me. He was tall, dark and handsome. Why would he hang out with me? He was just like me, since we were raised together. It just made all of the girls at my school hate me that much more. But Jason…he was like a ray of sun in my life…and I can't describe how he made me feel. I can't say I loved him… or can I? I'm not sure. But the good times we had were endless.
His dad was actually one of the lumberjacks that helped me along. Jason and I chopped sticks together in kindergarten, logs in 1st grade, and trees in 2nd. He and I were inseperable in childhood. Then, in middle school, the girls realized how good looking he was, and he forgot about me until we graduated. Then, for a while, it was like old times again. I was happy.
But it didn't take long before my happiness was destroyed thanks to the Capitol. Jason was entered in to the Games two years ago. Even though he can swing that axe like a mad man, he was overthrown by a District 2 monster. I told him before he left that… that I cared for him more than friends do. He said to me, exactly, "You take care, Johanna." That's all I got. I got a cold, stale hug and a you take care. And I miss him and his cold, stale heart to this day. Because it was just like mine.
As I walked around I thought about my life. I have nobody here that I love anymore. My lumberjack "dads" have all passed away or moved on, and here I am, a young girl with nobody in the world. Some people don't understand what it's like to feel alone. I'm not friendly, but I'm not a terrible person. I just don't understand.
I made a lap around the woods that I know like the back of my hand, and then I went back inside my marble mansion. The T.V. flipped on automatically. Oh, yeah. The 74th Hunger Games is today. Woohoo.