Chapter 37

District Four has a lot of water.

A lot of water.

A lot.

Water.

The first day, I spend helping Annie move into her old house. Not the one in Victor's Village, but the other one. Its not difficult, Annie wasn't putting up a fuss, she was talking animatedly to a very unimpressed me about all the things she plans on doing with me.

Its moving the things she needs or wants from Finnick's house that has me doubled over trying to catch my breath.

Not necessarily because I'm working so hard.

Please I don't work at all.

The little shack was homely, and needed repair, but it was good.

I board up the windows once I move in the things and an armchair Annie particularly liked, because the windows had been shattered in.

It reminded me of Seven. Us kids, once someone moved out or died, the moment we found out we crashed in the windows with rocks. A fun little game, increased my accuracy, I was the only one capable of reaching the little windows on the roof open from the attic to help vent.

After the windows were boarded up, Annie started a fire to get it warming up. It's late fall and it's starting to get cold out there, although not nearly as cold as the northern Districts.

We've both had our Victory Tours and we know what it's like.

I climb up on the roof and nail down a few loose shackles with a crudely carved wooden nail, temporary. I happily straighten the gutter hanging from the chimney and I restack the bricks. It'll last long enough for me to go to town and get supplies, or build supplies if we need them.

I'm straightening the last little bit of the gutter when I feel something touch my head.

I whip around and touch my head where I could swear something touched me.

Nothing. I go back to my job wrenching the gutter upwards when I see a spot splatter on the plastic. Then on the back of my hand.

It's raining.

I look up and notice the clouds, I look down and can see the rain splatter on the roads, turn the white sandy beach to a yellow color, and make the waves crash deafeningly.

Then I'm back in the dungeons my head under the water struggling to get up, but I can't, because I'm paralyzed and I can't move.

I can't I can't I can't.

I flash back to District Four again and I'm already halfway down the gutter sliding down like I was sixteen again.

I burst through the door and climb up into the slightly wood rotten rafters.

"Johanna?"

I close her off to focus on not seeing what I'm seeing now. I pull my knees to my chest and start rocking back and forth on the tiny rafter only about the width of my shoulders.

I lean my forehead on my knees as I try not to listen to the water dripping from the gutter to the windowsill.

Make it stop.

The rain lasts all night and I don't close my eyes at all.

Annie gives up eventually and goes to bed. When morning comes she calls up to me to see if I'm still there, then she goes to cook.

The smell of eggs and something else finally makes me come down.

I slip and fall about two feet and hit the ground. I jump up rubbing my neck embarrassed even though no one saw it.

I walk in and catch myself in the mirror on the wall, I look like crap.

I run my hands through my hair in a half assed way of combing it out.

"You came down." Annie says smiling at me flipping the fish she's pan frying.

I nod. I splash some water on my face and scrub it with a rag. "Yeah," I grunt. "Whatchya cooking?"

"Flounder with a brush of lemon juice and over easy eggs with toast." She says smiling. "It'll be good trust me." She says at my slightly disgusted look.

We look at each other sideways.

Both of us decide to ignore the comment and go on with our lives.

Obviously, my thought process is, I don't trust easily. And her thoughts? Why would she trust me? I won, not her sister.

But hey, I don't think I would change a thing. I don't think I would want Scarlett to see everything I went through.

But it would be someone pushing for my rescue.

I once told Gale that I knew no one cared if I got rescued. Finnick couldn't think of anything but Annie, Katniss only wanted Peeta, but everyone forgot about me until they found me.

He said that unfortunately it was true. I was the forgotten Victor. The lonely, tough, bitter, little Victor.

Guess what? The only ones that survive are the tough and the bitter ones. The fighters. That's who survives.

Who am I kidding? I'm hopeless.

I eat quietly not making eye contact with Annie. "I need to go through your finances so that I can go into town and get some things to fix up the place."

There's a knock on the wood rotten door.

"Miss. Johanna Mason?" A girl with blonde pigtails says looking at me.

She's about fourteen but she looks excited.

"What?"

"Mail?" She says handing a pile of envelopes to me. "It was delivered to the wrong address."

Annie comes up behind me and starts up a cheerful conversation offering her and her family to come inside for some tea or other bullshit I don't care about.

I look through the envelopes and sort them out while the girl and her older brother sit in our living room talking about how they lost their parents, but Brodie, the boy, was old enough to take care of Alecia, the girl.

I don't pay much attention to them and they look curiously at me.

Annie smiles and diverts them to the dining room, inviting them for dinner. She even offers them help whenever they need it.

What are we a charity?

It starts to rain again, but I don't have a full out break down, I just start pacing like a caged panther. I look crazy, but I really don't care.

Brodie watches me with a smirk on his face; he's about twenty two, so he's my age. He has brown hair that is combed back with a part down the center of his head so that his hair falls perfectly down the back of his neck. His eyes are a watchful blue, so deep a blue you'd think my little brother had colored them with a crayon. So blue you think that it can't be natural. His hands are tough and calloused, they're clenched in fists as he sees the way my eyes dash around the room every time that damn leak in the roof drips. He's tall, although he's sitting down currently, he has long stretching legs. Almost lanky, he wouldn't have done well in District Seven.

In Seven, you need thick biceps, although his arms are not small, he doesn't have the right amount of strength.

Alecia is cute, but a little preppy. Her eyes are an icier version of her brothers she has this attitude of being just too sweet.

I wonder if she took a leaf out of my book to deceive people.

Does she have a gun? Is she about to spring a knife on Annie?

I move closer to Annie so that if anything happens I can protect her. I watch them both carefully; Alecia and Annie are very talkative while Brodie stays relatively quiet except to answer questions sent to him.

I can read them both like an open book. Alecia apparently aspires to be a singer, now that she can of course, and Brodie just wants to be a deep sea fisher like his Father.

I still haven't gotten used to their dialect, kinda prim and well enunciated.

That ain't the case in District Seven, if they know what you're saying, you can talk as badly as you want. Grammar? Who needs it? You know what you're saying! Why must you pronounce 'others' like 'Uh-th- errs'? Why not? 'Et-errs'? It's quicker and easier!

It makes Alecia look even more annoyingly prim.

Not as the girl in ashes, but you know what I meant.

Although, we do sound quite a bit stupider than the other Districts. It has nothing to do with our lack of education I'm sure.

"Johanna? Why don't you sit down?" Annie says breaking through my deep thoughts.

I look at all three of them. Slowly I sink down on the hearth by the fire to watch them my hand close to the poker.

I pick it up and look at it. "I'm bored." I say getting up and walking over to a trunk of my things.

It's really just a brief case of weapons.

I open it up and pull out a tiny hatchet.

"I'll be back in a bit."

"Where are you going?" She asks eying the hatchet wearily.

"Nowhere important."

Then I leave at a brisk pace.

If I looked crazy before, I look even crazier now as I run up to all the trees knocking on them, stripping their bark, sniffing the bark, listening to the tree.

I'm in District Four, a coastal area, all the wood is waxy and malleable. I want nice hard wood, like an oak, or a redwood.

That would be nice; I'd deal with pine if I absolutely had to.

So, many palm trees and beech woods, which are really stringy, don't want stringy wood that's for sure.

I find a pine and mark it in my mind to come back to later, I don't want the excessive sap, but I'll have to make do if I can't anything better.

I walk about an hour inland in search of the right tree when I finally find a tough old maple. How it's alive I have no clue. Maples don't usually grow this close to the shore.

I scoot up into the tall tree to find a nice thick branch.

I balance myself very half hazard-like and start chopping with one arm. Finally the branch falls with a huge crash and several snapping branches.

I twitch down kinda like a squirrel does and look at the branch I have to carry back.

I lift it over my shoulder and shift it so that I'm barely balancing it, I'm dragging the leaves but other than that, it's nice and stable.

I walk slowly because it's kinda heavy. The branch is about eight inches in diameter, and it's dragging me down.

I finally get back to the shack and bust in the door. I carry it to the far corner of four room shack. I dump it on the floor and rummage through my case for a collection of carving knives I nicked from District Thirteen.

Once I pull them out I notice everyone staring at me.

"I'm making a better ax." I say like it were extremely obvious.

"With all of that?" Annie says dubiously.

"Of course not, I might make a center piece or something. Are you kidding? All of that for one little ax handle? What a joke!"

"Well Jo, I'm not from District Seven, I'm from District Four, there's a difference."

I give her a lopsided smile. "I know, but honestly?"

She gives me a stern look and goes back to serving tea to Brodie and Alecia.

I start chopping it into the rough cut shape of what I need. Then, I throw the splinters and the unusable parts in the fire to burn off.

"Are you going to open these letters? The place is a mess Johanna!"

"We got here yesterday." I say taking the handful of letters and opening each one.

I pale. "Great," I mutter.

"What is it?"

"We're broke," I grumble under my breath to her. "They took away our Victors funds to pay for the war damages and debts."

She just looks at me.

"Go entertain yourself." I say shooing her away. "I'll figure something out."

District Four and I, are not going to get along.

A/N Hey guys! How's it going? I got this chapter to ya pretty quickly eh? Yeah, I have water damage in my dining room so my family and I have to fix that up. Also, I would really love a review! You guys really are the best! (Better than some of the Harry Potter Universe I think) But Shh! don't tell anyone I said that! ;)

MB: Since your review was anonymous I couldn't reply, All's I wanted to say was It's fine sweetheart, I wasn't all that offended I have those kinds of problems too and I understand how you feel, so don't worry Everything's good I'm glad you liked my story enough to get impatient ;)