fantasy | johanna mason

chapter one

It's been almost a year since twenty-three other kids died in the 72nd Hunger Games and I was crowned victor. My father and sister, Rowan, moved into one of the nice houses in the Victor's Village in District 7.

Although it's nice to be alive and back in District Seven, it doesn't feel quite the same. My father doesn't have to work cutting down trees all day due to the extravagant amount of money we received following my victory in the Games. I don't have to scavenge for food with my sister, bartering with other people in the black market. My neighbours are no longer the large family with three girls who my sister and I used to play with when we were younger.

Now, my neighbours are Blight Jordan and Johanna Mason, the other victors from District Seven. Johanna was my mentor during the Games, but we don't get along. I have an attitude, and so does she, so we clash. It's strange, since Johanna and I are so close in age and she won her Games just a year before I did.

The thing about living in Victor's Village is that I am always reminded about my Games. I am no longer the small, scared female tribute from District 7, I am a victor. My life will never be the same again. After I came home from my Games, I refused to leave the house. No amount of begging from my father or Rowan would get me out. My concerned father got me a therapist to help me with my trauma. Even though I know it will haunt me until my last breath, it's better now.

Or I'd like to think it is.

"Elowen, come with me into the woods!" Rowan, who is fourteen and three years younger than me, exclaims.

"Sure," I reply, grabbing my backpack. Rowan and I both love the woods, and since the Victor's Village is surrounded by dense trees, we spend a lot of time in there.

"C'mon, Row," I say, taking my sister into the woods.

Rowan takes off, scampering up a tree. Before my mother died, she taught me the basics of climbing trees. When Rowan was old enough to learn as well, my mother was dead, so my father taught her. Rowan is much faster than I am, but she's too scared to climb up really high. I, however, have no problem with it, which is how I won my Games. By hiding in a tall tree.

I should really stop thinking about the Games.

"Rowan!" I exclaim, and my sister giggles playfully from the tree.

"All right, I'm coming down now," Rowan says.

A voice behind me makes me jump. "Are you teaching the redhead to climb?" Johanna Mason's voice says.

"Johanna," I reply.

She smirks. "Did I scare you?"

"No," I reply with too much attitude behind my voice.

"I thought you were a victor, scaredy-cat."

"Shut up."

Johanna changes the subject. "The redhead is your sister, right?" she asks, nodding towards Rowan.

"I'm Rowan," Rowan says, then adds, "Elowen's not teaching me to climb. My father taught me when I was four."

Johanna begins to walk away. "I'll let you and the redhead do whatever with the trees, I guess," she says.

Rowan walks up to me, confused by the whole conversation. "What does Johanna Mason have against people with red hair?"

"I'm sure it's nothing, Row," I reply. My sister has gorgeous, deep red hair, which part of the reason why she was given the name Rowan. Rowan is the name of a tree, but it also means 'red-haired'. I myself was not blessed with red hair. My hair is a dull brown.

"Let's find a nice spot in the tree to sit," I say, tapping the trunk of the tall tree Rowan climbed up.

We find a nice sized fork, big enough for both of us to sit. I pull two water skins out of my backpack and hand one to my sister.

"Thanks," she says, taking a sip of water.

"Wanna go higher?" I ask. "Maybe it'll help you get over your tall tree fear."

"No chance," Rowan says.

I laugh, climbing higher up the tree, Rowan craning her neck to watch me. When I get to a point where the branches are too thin to hold my body weight, I slide back down.

"Show-off," Rowan mutters, and I elbow her playfully in the stomach.

As long as I have my father, my sister and the woods, I think I can begin to forget the Games.