I stand slumped against an oak tree. Tears streaming down my face. It all seemed to cliche, like a bundle of dismal clouds was about to appear, and then pour out rain like my sorrow, or some crap like that. In that moment, the heat of my anger and fear and sorrow quickly evaporating as if my imaginary clouds were soaking all my emotion up, I changed.
It was literally over night, everything my parents ever wanted me to be. Everything everyone ever wanted me to be, was the person I turned into. Someone flicked a switch and my life was turned.
They wanted vicious. I would give them vicious.
They wanted strategic. I would give them strategic.
They wanted a victor. I would be one.
The day before the reaping; shops closed early, work wasn't half as tedious as normal, There wasn't any school., people had quite suppers at home.
That night, things in my house, as well as everyone elses was pretty solemn. curtains were drawn, wax candles were lit. Hands were held. Then covers were pulled. Kisses were delivered. All the happenings of the night before the reaping. Everyone always says the day of the reaping is the worst. But it's not. It's the night, where the impending doom is in the air, where parents minds go n spiraling journeys about how their kid could be taken away from them.
I got out of bed, pulling on the pair of boots I had been wearing for the past two years since my family was too poor to buy new ones, yet they had enough money for my father's drinks.
All I was focused on was my future:
Because I was going to have a future.
Because I was going to live.
Those were the words that ran through my mind as my axe impaled an oak tree. The old one I leaned against over three years ago. The one that I used to talk to when the girls at school picked on me. My comfort, my solace, everything it had given to me, I was taking away. I kept throwing, each time my axe left my hand, I regretted it for the moment it traveled through the air, about to find its target. When I heard the satisfying crunch, all thoughts of regret dissipated, and the cycle started again. I threw into the night, until the stars gleamed in the sky and the moon stood mockingly full and bright, as if to celebrate my fate. Finally Around midnight, I threw the axe one more time, and my beloved oak tree fell to the ground.
I don't know how I got into my bed last night. All I remember was the thud and creak of the tree. and I wouldn't be surprised if the whole neighborhood had heard its fall last night. But I didn't care. It was my way of saying goodbye, in case I didn't make it. Don't think that Johanna. you've trained, you know you can make it. That you're going to win.
Author Drabble: I wouldn't be surprised if you hated this because it has NO editing, and I didn't even read it over when I was done. I just got this undying urge to write this and post it. I wouldn't be surprised if this gets 0 views either. Anyway, if you happen to stick to the end, PM or give me a Review as to whether I should continue with this mess. If anyone wants me to, I will consider doing a series of tribute memories.