Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games

"Ugh! The reaping's today!" I yelled loudly as she threw another knife at the tree across from her. Whatever, my name's only in the bowl once anyways, I probably won't get picked. But I thought that a few years ago too, didn't I? Aaron's name was only in the bowl once, too. But that didn't stop Puff from picking his name.

I threw another knife at the tree across from her, much harder than the last one. Crap. That was Aaron's knife. Well, it wasn't Aaron's anymore, but it was his, and it was my favorite knife. I examined where it was. High up, really high up. Damn. Guess I better go retrieve my knives now.

This was a game I played when I got bored - which was often. I would climb up into a tree fort I finished building several years ago, and throw my set of knives at the tree across from me. When I threw all the knives, I would climb that tree and retrieve them. It was fun, and a challenge at the same time. It was fun because I got to throw knives, but sometimes they were hard to retrieve. I had gotten really good at climbing trees though.

As I climbed down from my fort, I thought about Aaron. I had tried to move on from it, forget about those thoughts. But when you're alone, sometimes thoughts are the only things you have. I never knew who my parents were, or even what happened to them, I only knew that my mom's name was Lillian. I don't even know how I know that, I just do. But since I never had parents, I relied on my older brother Aaron. He raised me. He was my family. I'm not sure how he was able to keep both of us from going to an orphanage, but he did, and he provided for us. Being his age now, I can't even imagine how he was able to do it. He was 18 and I was 9 when he was reaped. I remember crying and having a neighbor watch me while he was gone. I wasn't sent to an orphanage right away, because he had a good chance of winning. He was strong, a good hunter, good with axes and knives, and he was smart. He did well too, he made it to the top six. But then he mysteriously died. They didn't even show it on television, somehow the cameras missed it. Caesar told the audience that he accidentally ate some poisonous berries. The next year or so had been a blur. I remember being forced to move into an orphanage, and constantly crying my eyes out. I had thought about his death a lot. If he hadn't eaten the berries, he could've won. Everybody else has been injured to some degree, but he was in perfect condition. Sometimes I wondered if the Capitol had anything to do with it. After all, Aaron hated the Capitol and hadn't exactly hidden that during the pre-Game stuff. And he was the first person ever to not have his death shown on TV.

But even if it had been some sort of Capitol manipulation, what could I do about it anyway? I am a single girl in District 7, what power do I have?

I brushed thoughts of Aaron aside. That was seven years ago. I climbed the tree that I had thrown the knives in, retrieving the first four easily. There were another three further up, and then Aaron's knife, even higher. I was able to climb up to get the next four, but Aaron's knife proved difficult. There weren't enough branches around the knife for me to climb up and get it. Damn it all. Ugh, why is life so difficult.

I climbed back up to my tree fort and fell back into the position I was in before I got up. Soon, Lora from the orphanage was going to come by to make sure I went to the reaping, like I had a choice. If I didn't, the Peacekeepers would come and hunt her down.

"Johanna!" speak of the devil, "You better get down from there, the reaping begins in half an hour! Don't make me come up there!" Please, like Lora could climb up and get me out. She wasn't exactly the most nimble being 20 pounds overweight. I wouldn't put it past her to shoot me down, or find some other way to get me out. Lora and I weren't exactly on good terms. Ever since I was forced into that hovel the rest of the district called an orphanage, I isolated myself from everybody else. I built my fort, and I basically lived up here. Lora tried to get me to do work, but I just pretended that I sucked at everything, which got me out of it. The district seemed content to just let me live up here, I didn't contribute, but I didn't get in anyone's way. The only time I interacted with people was when I was selling my carvings at the Val, the town market. The Peacekeepers didn't like the market, but it kept the district calm, and I guess they eventually decided that it dissuaded rebellion, so they let us keep it. The Val was stupidly named (it's in a valley, so they just shortened valley to Val), but the Val gave me a place to buy food. In my spare time (I have a lot of it), I would carve stuff. You know, shoes, boxes, jewelry, or anything someone in the Val asked me too. Turns out I'm pretty good at it, because the merchants at the Val like my stuff enough to buy it. A lot of people avoid me because they think I'm cynical (I can't help it if I immediately hate most of the people I meet, can I?), but I had a few consistent customers who were the closest thing I had to friends. There was an old lady, Kalkaska, who loved my jewelry, and would give me really good boxes of food in return. Sometimes the box would have soup, salad, or meat. But whatever it was, it was always good.

"I mean it Johanna! I'm coming up there!" God, she was still there?

"Shut your trap, Lora! Just give me a second, okay? I'll come down!" I yelled down to her. "Whiny bitch." I muttered under my breath. Slowly I got up and made way out of my fort. Time for the reaping.

I didn't bother putting on nice clothes, or even fixing my hair. I wasn't self-conscious, so I didn't really care if I looked like shit or not.

I got in line with the rest of the sixteen year-old girls and waited for Puff to get this whole ordeal over with. 'My name's only in there once. I'm not going to get picked.' I kept reminding myself. It was hard not to be nervous before the reaping, but I was trying my best to be as calm as possible. The stupid video from the Capitol played and I tuned most of it out. I had already seen it too many times. 'Just stupid, bullshit, Capitol propaganda used as an excuse to justify all of this,' my brother would've said. God damn it, Johanna, get a grip. Stop thinking about him!

"Well, let's get started then! Ladies first as always." said Puff say too perkily. Her real name wasn't Puff, it was Galoriah or something stupid like that. But I've always called her Puff because of her ridiculous hair, which can't be described in any way other than neon orange and 'puffy'. She sauntered over to the large bowl with the names of all the girls. Her face wore the stupidest grin ever, and I fought the same urge she fought every year: to just throw an axe at her. What I wouldn't give to be alone with her in the forest with no one around..."And the lucky girl is...!" I held my breath.

"...Johanna Mason!" Great. Fucking