User blog:Leshawna333/The Life and Times of Johanna Mason

Oh Hi
Wow. It has been a long time since I've been on here. Well, basically, I'm bored, and I want to write a story about Johanna Mason. I don't know how many users I know are on here,but if I don't know you,hello.

Part I:The Games
It's the day of the Reaping. I realize this as I wake up. I look to the bed across from mine, where my brother, John, sleeps peacefully. My parents thought they were so clever for naming him John and me Johanna, just because they're spelled and sound similar. I'm sixteen, he is nineteen. He is safe. I am not.

I walk past the stairs and into my parents bedroom. I smell the alcohol before I see their bodies, seemingly lifeless on their bed. But I know they're alive, at least physically.

I walk downstairs to make myself some breakfast. I take two slices of bread, then I see the time. The reaping begins in thirty minutes. Crap,I think. Im supposed to be at the reaping. ''I run up, shake John awake, tell him I'll be back in a few hours, then leave. I'm just outside my yard when he stumbles out after me.''

"Wait, I want to come with you!"

I sigh."Fine, just try not to embarrass me."

"What? Me? Embarrass you? Never." We both smile, then head off. We make it to the square just in time. Livedia Xenel, our escort, is making a speech about how these Games, the seventy second, will be the best ever. I roll my eyes.

"Well, I think to shake things up, we'll start with the boys this time," Livedia chirps. "Fern Pericles!"

A boy, thirteen or fourteen,I think, walks up to the podium.

"And now,for the girls!" Livedia pulls out a slip of paper. "Johanna Mason!"

My eyes widen for a second, then narrow. I won't allow myself to show weakness. Fern and I are taken into the justice building. John comes in right away, but says nothing. We just embrace. As he's being lead out, he says,"I love you, You are fierce, cunning. You can win." The doors slam.

I'm taken to the train, where Fern sits, stoic. Smart boy. Livedia and our mentor, Blight Macentyre, enter, Livedia is chattering away, Blight silent. He doesn't do much of anything. He's pathetic. They sit down next to Fern, and we watch the reapings. The tributes from One are beautiful, as always. Two's are monstrous. The tributes from Four are hideous. I guess they can't all be Finnick Odairs. The boy from six is ginormous, a distinct threat. Something in his eyes isn't right. Titus, I think they said his name was. I see Fern get reaped, then me. My brother is in the background, crying. I've always been stronger than him. The girl from eight looks smart. The tributes from nine are siblings. The girl from twelve looks wily.

After the reapings,I go to my compartment and lie down. I don't know what I'm going to do,I just don't want to be with those three.

The next day,we get to the Capitol, in all it's hideous glory. Fern and I are taken to our stylists. My prep team are triplets. They are coated in one color. Trina is violet, Tyke is crimson, and Talula is forest green. They're bodies are just their colors, clothes,makeup,eyes,lips,shoes. They repulse me. My stylist, Alicia, is awful. She is ancient, and has dressed all of the tributes from 7 the same way. The only thing she says is,"You're a little one, aren't you?"

My costume is a tree. I hate my life.

The chariot rides are upon me, and Fern and I get in ours. The careers are eyeing everybody. Titus looks hungry. I make eye contact with the girl from Four, who stares me down. I hold my gaze, and eventually she looks away. Then the pair from District One is gone.

All the chariots leave. I look down at my feet the whole time. The Capitol doesn't deserve to see my face. Once we're out of the crowd's eye,I jump off my chariot, then head towards an elevator. Titus and the pair from Three are in it with me. The tributes from Three hop off, and then it's just Titus and I. I look straight ahead, but then he starts sniffing me. I slap him across the face. He grunts, then gets off the elevator. Freak.

When I get to my floor, Livedia is waiting for me.

"Training begins tomorrow. It's very important for you to have a strategy. I think it'd be best if you-"

I slam my door in her face. She's right, but I need time to think. I stare into the mirror. A tiny girl with brown hair and brown eyes stares back at me. ''I'm tiny. Alicia is right, ''I think. But then I know what my strategy is. All of these tributes are huge, but dumb. They'll target the biggest threats. I'll just pretend I'm as weak as I look.

The first day of training is uneventful, aside from Titus eyeing everybody like they're food. I just stick to survival stations, learning as much as I can. Some of the mentors and gamemakers watch. I see Finnick Odair staring at me. I turn back to the knot I was working on.

The second day is similar to the first. The tributes from 1 and 8 argue about a spear that landed in a trainer's thigh. I screw up every weapon's station I try. I hear snickering, but I'll be snickering in the end.

The third day we train privately. All the tributes are called one by one. When it's my turn, I just go in and throw a spear unsuccessfully at a dummy, then accidentally cut myself with a knife. Then I cry. The gamemakers fall for it hook, line and sinker.

That night, the careers all get between an eight and a ten. Titus gets a nine. I get a 2. I hear the crowds laughing. Fern gets a 5. The rest of the tributes get average scores. Mine is the lowest by far.

The next day Blight and Livedia train us for the interviews. I am told to act sweet and cute.

The interviews race by. All the tributes are trying to act differently. Titus just grunts the whole time. When I go up, Caesar smiles.

"So,Johanna, a two in training. How do you feel about that?" He asks.

"I...I don't know. I mean,I guess they know what's best, but still..." I babble.

Caesar continues,"Well maybe they made a mistake. Now, what is your favorite thing about the Capitol?"

"Um....I like the um... the buildings. We don't have anything like that at home, it's all forest." I stammer.

The audience laughs, Caesar does as well. "And what about the tributes? Think you got some competition?

No. 

"Yes. Oh wow, they're all so much bigger than me. I don't know what I'm going to do."

The buzzer rings. "Well,best wishes to you, Johanna Mason!"

I zone out for the rest of the interviews, I don't care what these people have to say.

I go to bed as soon as we get to our floor. It's important to get rest.

The next day,I awaken, and Alicia takes me to the hovercraft. My tracker is inserted, but I barely feel it. Then, down under the arena, I drink as much water as I can. I don't want to dehydrate. My outfit is a thick jacket, a t-shirt, capri pants, a tool belt, and a pair of sturdy boots.

A voice tells me it's time to get in the tube, and I do. Then I'm launched up.

It's cloudy in here. I look around me. The boy from 5 is on my left, the girl from 1 on my right. We're surrounded by mountains, the tops covered in snow. I know I need to get to the other side of them to survive. I see the supplies laid out before me. Items are scattered randomly. two packs are five feet from me.

The gong rings and I rush out to grab them. I see a knife and grab that as well. Then I pick up an axe and run towards a mountain.

Then I hear running behind me, and somebody grabs my long,flowing hair, and pulls me to the ground. The girl from 8 stands above me, poised to stab me through with a spear. Suddenly, somebody calls out to her, and she whips. An arrow lodges in her eye, and she falls. I grab her spear and run into the forest surrounding me.

I don't stop running until I get to the mountain. Right as I arrive, the cannons fire. One,two,three... eventually 12 cannons have fired, half of the tributes dead. But I am not one of them. I see a path leading up the mountain. I begin to climb. About half way up, snow begins to fall, fast and heavy, and as darkness sets, I decide I need to find a shelter. I spot a cave, and carefully head inside it. Nothing jumps out at me, so I assume I'm safe.

I dump out my packs, and sort through the supplies. Two sleeping bags, some wire, four packets of jerky, two packets of fruit, a flashlight,a bowl, some darts, two half-full jugs of water, a pair of binoculars, and a hat. It's freezing, so I decide to put on the hat, but not before I take my knife and cut off most of my hair. I don't want anybody grabbing it again. When I'm done,I look at my reflection in the jug of water. My hair is about 3 inches long, jaggedly cut. Oh well, fashion doesn't matter in the Games. Winning does.

I hear the anthem and peak my head out of the cave to see who's died. The first one to appear is the boy from two. This is followed by both tributes from three, both from five, the girl from six,I guess Titus survived, poor,innocent Fern, the girl from eight, both tributes from ten and eleven.

I stay up a few hours before getting in one of my sleeping bags, later putting one inside the other, so I have double the warmth, and falling asleep.

I awake the next morning to the sounds of walking. I freeze. The boy from twelve walks right by me, not even noticing. I wait until I can't hear him walking anymore and begin to pack up, taking one piece of jerky out to eat on the way.

When I get to the top,I see the boy from twelve surrounded by careers. I have no idea how they got there without me noticing, must've walked by when I was asleep. I duck behind a boulder, and watch as the boy from twelve stabs the girl from 1 in the chest with his knife. Then the girl from two gets stabbed in the throat. But the boy from one ends it when he snaps the boy's neck.

The cannons fire, nine remain, and the careers begin to talk.

"How do we get down this slope? That's a narrow drop" the girl from 4 sighs.

"We can just slide down. We can't stay here, Titus is a beast." The boy from 1 says.

Then he disappears as he slides down. The other two follow him.