District Seven was still. Not even a woodpecker dared to sound as the reaping was assembled outside the hall. The guards stood so motionless and so intimidating that the usual gale of wind had cowered down to a gentle breeze. The reaping was a sight to sicken anyone entered, especially those with extra tesserae- like Johanna Mason.
Johanna had attempted to stand and watch their idiotic escort prepare the stage, but had given up and migrated to the forest. The countless children sobbing with fear was too much for her to handle, so she sat alone on the brush of the woodland, staring out over 7; staring at the land she'd sacrificed so much for over the past 7 years. Her brother was among the terrified children. He'd turned 13 the previous week. Johanna had once again taken extra tesserae in order to buy him a cake. She'd long lost count of how many slips of paper in that forsaken glass bowl contained her name, but every slip had been worth it in the past.
The lumberjack merely watched the toe of her axe calve a dent into the tree root bellow her, admiring how the old, filthy bark scraped away to form a new, marvelous green underlay. Something so beautiful uncovered from something so broken and filthy. With a simple sigh, she penetrated the blade of her axe into the tree besides her and lay back, gazing up at the clouded sky beyond the branches of the trees, once again discovering herself thinking about the feared reaping. Everyone in Seven knew that Johanna was one of the most skilled young fighters they had, and so did Johanna herself, yet it didn't stop that sheer horror of the thought of being reaped.
Countless times Johanna had found herself wandering what it'd be like if she was to be reaped. She wanders what the journey to the Capitol would be like and wanders about the array of delicious foods and drinks- everything her heart (or stomach) would desire. The thought of that part always caused the girls stomach to give an agonizing growl. She places her hand on her thin yet toned abdomen and loses herself in the tantalizing sky again, thinking about the selection of weapons she'd be able to handle in training. This brings a small smirk to her face.
She'd have volunteered to enter the games by now, if it wasn't for her brother. Johanna couldn't bring herself to leave him alone. She had enough boiling anger to tear down any brutal enemy in her way after the events of her past years. Her father's execution triggered the rage inside of her. He protested when a District 7 tribute was wrongly killed by the elements the game makers set upon him. This had lead to her father being bludgeoned to death before her very eyes. Since then, no tears have formed in Johanna's eyes, only burning desire for revenge.
Not a tear did form when her mother too, passed away; leaving Johanna and her young brother alone in the world. Her mother had died of infection, being as Johanna had already taken her months tesserae, therefore couldn't afford to buy her mother antiseptic to clean the infected wound. The death, as far as Johanna thought, was her fault entirely. At first, this triggered a ruthless self hatred, but over time, it morphed into an aggressive hate of the ways of Panem.
The sound of a branch snapping drew Johanna from her thoughts and she shot up, tugged her axe from the tree and looked around swiftly to locate the trespasser. When all she saw was her young brother hid behind a tree, she lets out a breath of relief and gets to her feet, walking in the general direction of the hiding boy with a smirk. "I wander what that could have been?" she said teasingly before reaching around the trunk to grab her brother by the shoulder, rubbing her knuckles into his head with a grin. He has to thump at her toned stomach before she lets go- having realized her own strength was too much. Johanna sits down again, draping her arms over her knees as she looks up at the dark haired boy. "What's wrong, Donnie?" she frowns.
Donnie sat beside his sister and copies her stance, shrugging a bony shoulder. "M'scared" he admits and Johanna smiled sadly at him, nudging him with her elbow causing the boy to chuckle, flicking his overgrown fringe from his eyes. He looks up into his sister' eyes, expressing an emotion Johanna wasn't used to seeing. Donnie was such a strong boy.
"Your name is only in there once, kid" she informs him in an attempt to ease his worry but the boy shakes his head, looking at Johanna with a frown.
"No, I'm not worried about that" he shrugs, looking at the exact dent Johanna had previously formed in the root below them, "I'm scared you're going to be picked."
It'd been a lousy day attempting to hunt on twelve. All of the animals the woods provided had been scared off by the disruptive hovercraft entering the quaint district. Katniss Everdeen huffs and places her bow and arrow back beneath the rock she hid it under before making her way to the fence, slipping under its barbed wire and strolling languidly back into the city, admiring the homely forest and the still lake before she came to the clearing, gazing through the trees at the sight of her home town. The hideous intrusion to the Hall of Justice- the reaping stage- had been set up and Katniss attempts to ignore its presence as she walks straight to her house, smiling politely at the friendly citizens whom wished her luck for the following events.
She enters her run-down home and smiles at her mother and Primrose, her sister, whom were both in her bedroom as her mother's trembling fingers attempted to braid Prim's silky blonde hair. Katniss removes of her bag and walks up to her mother's side.
"Let me" she whispers, taking her sisters' hair into her hands and producing a flawless braid in it effortlessly. Katniss pulls away and returns the loving smile Prim gave her before glancing at the light blue dress the girl wore with a smile of adoration. "That's a very nice dress" she says, despite the fact she'd despise wearing one herself. On her sister, it looked beautiful. "You'll make a brilliant first impression. Every year they'll be back waiting to see what amazing dress you wear next." She teases in a light-hearted attempt to lift the mood.
"Good that you're fond of the dress" Ms Everdeen intrudes; motioning to the garment laid out on Katniss' bed- a matching cloth dress. Katniss fakes a smile of thanks and traces her nimble fingers along its hem, sitting down on the edge of her bed. "I'll let you get dressed" Katniss' mother says before leaving the room with a soft thud of the wooden door. Katniss offers a belated nod and glances at her sister, giving a somber smile.
"How are you feeling?" she asks Primrose, reaching into her jacket pocket to pull out a tattered ball of linen Greasy Sae had given her on her visit to the Hob earlier and frowns, inspecting the greasy material with her curious fingers before realizing it contained something hard. She pulls back the filthy material and it scraped away to expose a new, marvelous golden pin. The pin resembled a mockingjay, surrounded by a golden hoop. Katniss was intrigued by it instantly and smiles at the flawless gold. Something so beautiful uncovered from something so broken and filthy.
"I'm scared I'll get picked" Prim replies, snapping Katniss from her thoughts as she places the pin besides the dress and slips her jacket off. Katniss shakes her head and crouches down in front of her sister, placing a supportive hand on her arm and caressing her skin with her thumb, looking into her younger sisters' eyes.
"You won't be chosen, your name is only in there once" she says surely, which was more than Katniss could say about how many times her name was in the dreaded glass bowl. Prim smiles and nods shyly, getting up and giving a twirl in her flawless dress. Katniss chuckles in adoration at the movement. "Beautiful" she says proudly as Prim leaves her to change.
"In my seven years of being entered, I've never understood why these games even take place" Johanna sighs, walking through the town alongside her closest and only friend- Francesca, watching Donnie solemnly walk ahead, his head bowed as he leads the way to their home. Francesca had been there for Johanna from the beginning, helping her through every tragedy, every dilemma and every mental breakdown. She owed a lot to her friend, in all honestly. Johanna swings her axe by her side as they walk, glancing at the other girl in wait of a response. Frankie shrugs her thin shoulders and runs her fingers through her short, spunky hair as she glances back at her friend.
"To keep us scared" she taller girl says, stopping in her tracks as they reach Johanna's home, leaning against the wooden cabin. Johanna scoffs in repulsion and leans in front of her, arms folded.
"They do nothing but elicit anger" Johanna says, clenching her jaw as she looks beyond the other girl at the citizens of district seven, standing on their doorsteps, preparing their children for the dreaded event, giving them what could possibly be their final hug. She finally tears her gaze away and meets Francesca's eyes. "How many times is your name in there this year?" she whispers, so that Donnie doesn't hear the response as he sits on the front step, kicking at a couple of pebbles.
"35" Frankie replies in the same hushed tone, watching Donnie carefully. "Better than last year" she shrugs before swallowing thickly and looking into Johanna's intoxicating eyes, biting her lip, "You?" she finally asks, terrified of the answer, as always.
Johanna scoffs before shaking her head, glancing at the ground with a small smile hung on her lips. "I lost count after 40" she whispers finally and Francesca's heart sinks. She stares at her friend silently until her elderly grandmother calls for her from the window of her home, opposite Johanna's. "I'll see you at the reaping" she says to Johanna, who still stood staring at the ground beneath them. The black haired girl nods and looks up finally, flashing a smile to her best friend.
"See you at the reaping" she repeats, watching the girl leave before turning to her brother, extending a hand for him in order to help him to his feet before guiding him into the run down house and into their shared bedroom, motioning to the double bed in which she'd laid out two new, white shirts, two pairs of trousers and two thin, black neck ties. Donnie gasps at the new, clean clothes and picks up all of the garments in his size, admiring them with a huge grin. Johanna smiles proudly, well worth the extra five tesserae, she thinks. The boy wordlessly pulls the clothes on and buttons up the shirt before picking up the tie and frowning. Johanna kneels down in front of him and untucks his collar, placing the tie around his neck as she ties it, folding his collar back down and standing. "You look very handsome" she smiles, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'll buy you something new every reaping" she promises.
Donnie throws his arms around his older sister and hugs her tightly before pulling back. "I love you" he whispers and Johanna's lips quiver into a smile, ruffling his hair playfully as he pulls away from the much needed embrace.
"I love you too, kiddo" she chuckles as he leaves. Johanna walks up to the mirror and pulls her shirt on, reapplying the binding around her chest before slowly dressing into the new shirt and trousers, tightening the knot of her tie but leaving the shirt loose. My last reaping she thinks, I can do this.
Trying to calm down Prim was proving rather difficult for Katniss. On the way to the reaping, Primrose stopped countess times, struggling for breath. Katniss' numerous attempts to calm her had finally begun to work and the pair signed into the reaping- Katniss with the rest of the 16 year olds and Prim among the 13 year olds.
All fell silent as Effie Trinket shuffled onto the stage in over sized heels, sporting a ridiculous Capitol couture outfit and outrageously large hair. She taps the microphone and clears her throat, announcing an overjoyed welcome to the reaping of the 74th annual Hunger Games. At this point, Katniss zones out. She looks around, meeting the eyes of her best friend, Gale, who mouths a comedic insult to Effie's outfit. Katniss smiles and looks back at the ground, thinking about when the best time to hunt tonight would be. It wasn't until her ears picked up the ever so familiar sentence of ladies first that she looks up at the stage. Effie was shuffling towards the first glass bowl containing hundreds of slips of paper. The camera zooms in on her as she rolls her hand around hesitantly in the bowl before grasping a slip and pulling it out victoriously, making her way back to the center of the stage. She clears her throat and opens the slip. "Primrose Everdeen!" she calls.
Time itself seemed to stop still for Katniss, the name ringing in her ears over and over. She swore she heard wrong, frantically looking through the crowd to see who was moving towards the stage. When she spied her younger sister making her way to the stage, tucking the tail of her blouse in, her heart stops beating. The world was surely in slow motion as she pushes carelessly through the crowd of lined people to stagger onto the isle, calling her sisters name to have her echoed back at her. The guards seize her by the arms and attempt to pull her back, but Katniss thrashes out helplessly, constantly calling her sisters name as she guards take her by the arms too.
"Stop!" Katniss yells, pushing the two guards aside and stepping forward. "I volunteer as tribute!"
Johanna held Donnie's hand tightly as they made their way to the reaping. He was shockingly calm, which Johanna was thankful for. She nervously runs her hair through her black hair and lifts Donnie up as they stands before the registry desk, giving him the height he needed to reach forward and press his bloody fingertip to the paper. She lowers him carefully and signs in herself before leading him towards the blocks of people. Johanna kneels down in front of him and takes him by the arms, looking up into his eyes.
"You go and stand by the front with the other young boys and I'll be right over there" Johanna says, pointing to the back of the female block. "I'll come and get you when it's over" she smiles and he throws himself into her arms again, holding her close for a lingering moment as the older sibling returns the embrace. When they finally pull back, Donnie smiles at Johanna and confidently makes his way down the line to his assigned area. Johanna swallows thickly and stands up, joining the back of the female block.
Their escort was a complete idiot. His bright blue hair made Johanna wretch. His face shone a green tint and his eyes shone with overly heavy makeup as he announced the 74th Hunger Games in an overly squeaky voice. Johanna showed no respect as the video from the Capitol was played and looks for her brother, smiling to herself as she found him safe and besides a friend of his from school. Johanna glances to her left, looking down the row of expressionless people until she found Frankie, looking back at her with a worried expression. We'll be okay Johanna mouths as she turns her attention back to the stage- ladies first.
Even Johanna's breath came out ragged in this moment- as Xabier, their escort, rummaged his hand around in the gigantic fish bowl before pulling out a perfectly shaped slip of paper, smiling impatiently as he makes his way back to center stage, oozing over excitement. Johanna rolls her eyes and is about to release a sigh when she hears something unexpected.
"And the female tribute for the 74th annual Hunger Games is… Johanna Mason!"