Johanna Mason | Hunger games

The Reaping

I was known to be rather unpredictable. I guess most people would say I was kind and caring, which I tried to present myself as, but I had another side to myself. You see, the second anybody, friend or stranger, did so much of a prick to my finger, I could switch my personality. Not because I wanted to, but because of the things I thought. It was almost like I had two of myself, but neither was really me, of course. It was a good side and a bad side, I was in between. I was inside these things, almost like a trap. But my body knew how to play these roles, sometimes making a move before the middle could react.

I didn't have many friends at school because of my personality switches. That I knew. But I did have a brother and that was enough for me. My brothers name is Blair. Most of the time our parents would be out working in the forests of district 7, so Blair was all I had. Sure, he was younger than I was, but I took interest in protecting him. Most weekends we worked with mama and papa in the forest for extra money, and I would use that time to work on my hatchet skills. I wouldn't say I liked chopping trees, but I felt powerful with my weapon at hand. Papa always knew I had a skill for them, so he liked having me around to bring in money. It was very calming in the forest, I could swing all I wanted and not one person could tell me to stop. I had a feeling that for me it wasn't a job, but it wasn't a hobby either. Whatever it may be, it's useful.

"Johana, they aren't here yet!" I heard Blair say from the tiny broken room that serves as our kitchen.

"There's nothing I can do! If we don't go right now, peacekeepers will find us and beat us out of our home. Is that what you want?"

"No, but-" Blair started.

I grabbed him and rushed out towards the town square. I was already late, and I still had to check in that I was there. I told Blair to wait in the back to watch from the crowd as he was not old enough for the reaping. Thank goodness. I sprinted up towards the group of girls, finding the age group that suited 17. This year and the next, then no more Hunger games. I thought. Yea, well, I thought wrong. I waited through a long, visibly painful video from President Snow himself, just like every year, when the lady deciding my fate stepped once again into view.

"Greetings, district 7! I now call for the annual reaping of the 71st Hunger games!"

She started clapping, but if you could have guessed, no one else joined in.

"As usual, Ladies first!" Her voice rang out into the microphone. I watched as she walked on her terrible bright orange high heels over to the girls reaping bowl. She grabbed a handful, and purposely took her time choosing the perfect one out of her hand. As she walked back towards her podium, I knew I had a lot of slips in that bowl with my name. The odds are certainly in my favor.

"Ahem ahem. Johanna Mason."

My personality's were already enraged, and strangely enough they still swapped. I was the nice girl now. I heard giggles from multiple places before turning to see that the camera had already found me. I looked up and there I was on the screen. They could all see me..

I began to whimper in horror. I had so much to live for. I needed to keep Blain safe. Time seemed to go in slow motion, and I couldn't hold back my tears. Trying to hide myself from the world, I pretended that it was all a dream. It wasn't. I came out from my trance and had peacekeepers nearly next to me. I wanted to run, but I knew it was no use. I looked up to the platform and knew what I was expected to do next. I started to walk slowly, making my way through the crowd ignoring the snickers. Tears began to form in my eyes and I begged everyone I saw to have me not take part in the games. I screamed for help, but like I said, I had no friends.

"I beg you, please don't let me take part in the games. PLEASE DON'T LET ME TAKE PART IN THE GAMES. NOOOOOOO!" I screamed in agony, as a blank emotionless peacekeeper shoved me up the stages side stairs. Once I was on the platform, I sobbed. I didn't care who heard me, but I knew someone did. Everything happened so fast, and I felt dizzy. I don't know who else was reaped, but I did know that whoever it was wasn't lucky. I could also tell that my escort was trying to acknowledge me, but instead ignored my sobbing and pretended like I was another stupid nothing in the pawn of the games. Right then I figured it out. I wasn't weak. But if I pretended I was, I was unexpected. Like always, I would be unexpected.

I knew it was time for me to shake the male tributes hands, but I really didn't care who he was. That was, until I turned around. Rory Hargreaves. I knew him because he used to be in my class at school, but was later pulled out because of his high skills with an axe. This meant he was to be starting work early. It was hard to remember why I disliked him so much, but he was my opposite. That's why he didn't work out with me. He wasn't like me. Neither was anyone else, but he himself was sure to be a strange fellow tribute. I realized I had been staring for a while, but I figured it was fine because so was he. I suddenly remembered my strategy, and acted sad again. Although I did sneak Rory a look. Eventually I shook his hand, and put aside our clash of personality. For now. I took one look at him and notified that it would be clear about our arena status. We would not become good allies.

Next thing I knew, peacekeepers took me to the Justice building. I was supposed to be saying my last goodbyes, but I'm not sure if I can handle that. Plus, it was all distracting from how soft the floors carpet happened to be. It was better than any thing I've ever felt before! Just then I saw something walk through the doorway. Not something, but someone."Oh, my Johanna!" I heard, coming from the scratchy voice of my mom. She must have been crying. I saw Blair running to me, but instead of hugging me, he collapsed around my legs and started squeezing me as if, well, I was going into an arena with blood thirsty kids trying to kill me. Which, if you haven't noticed by now, I was. Now I was actually sad. My papa walked in and pulled Blair off of my leg.

"Johanna. No doubt am I being watched. But you need to know, this has gone on long enough, don't you think? The games, I mean. You are my strong girl. If anything, you'll find an axe and hide in trees to survive. This wasn't your fault, use your plans. Just remember, make them pay."

He hugged me, and then it was my moms turn. She held me tight, not letting me get a single breath of air. She kissed me on my forehead, and insisted on making my hair nice. She tied my hair into a neat bun with her worked and scabbed over hands, and then gave me a meaningful sorrow look.

"You know what to do." She said to me.

She started crying, and ran into my dads arms for comfort. But even worse than seeing her cry, was seeing Blair cry. Him standing there, with dark brown hair and a small boys face. He looked so delicate, but in this moment, he looked broken. He grabbed my dress and pulled me into an embrace. He hugged me until a peacekeeper dragged him away from me, but at that point he was bawling his eyes out. The last thing I saw was the door slam in my face before I was told that I had no more visitors.

I thought about how much I loved my family, and now being torn apart from them was terrifying. But if I'm being watched... I sat down on the couch and sobbed. I knew I was doing this for my act, but it really was painful. I had every right to live, and I didn't want these games to take that away from me. I was going to make them pay, I just needed to find out how.