So Unpredictable - Johanna Mason Fan Fiction

Chapter 3: Snow.

The sound of our breathing is easily heard. No one is moving, not an inch. I feel myself becoming ridged, refusing to become weak and break down like I so want to.

The darkness is disorientating. I can't even see my hand in front of my own face! None of us is saying anything. The whole room is eerily still.

All of a sudden, each light clicks on, one by one until the train is fully lit up again. The train gives a shudder before rolling smoothly down the tracks. I look round the room, fearing the worst. Nothing has changed. Nothing out of place. Everything is just right. Food is on the table, drinks fill the once empty glasses and the curtains are still wide open. Everything is how it was before.

"That was...?" I begin but I can't find the right word to finish my sentence.

"Odd." Blight supplies.

I nod my head in agreement and look round the table. Una's petrified face is looking directly at mine, her eyes shooting daggers at me. If only looks could kill.

Cade is looking down at the food with an amused face.

"What?" I spit at him, not in the mood anymore.

"Nothing. Nothing." He replies.

"Tell me!" I yell while slamming my fist onto the mahogany table, causing it to wobble and Una's face to pale even more than it was before.

"It's just. Why would Snow still give us food after that performance?" He replies, looking a tiny bit scared.

My mind thinks Cade is right, why would Snow give us food? The better part of my brain tells the rash part to keep quiet. Does it? Hell no.

"You want to know why?" I raise my voice.

Blight is trying to hide his smirk underneath his beefy hand. Cade is looking down at his food as if I'm not there. Una has practically fainted into the bowl of soup in front of her.

"Because I'm going to die anyway! Right? Isn't that right Snow! You just kill any little annoyance, right? Turns out I'm a huge one! You didn't like it, did you? Me against you? Well bring it on! You're weak, cruel and heartless! You deserve to be dead, along with all the other poor children you killed!" I yell.

The lights don't turn off this time, nothing happens. I laugh crazily before standing up abruptly, making the table shudder again. Glasses of water spill over and food spirals off their plates.

"I'm done." I announce and walk to my bedroom compartment.

The bedroom is light and airy but carries a heavy atmosphere; I can almost feel it weighing me down. I switch on the light and I see a note lying on my pillow with the name JOHANNA scrawled in blood red ink. At least I think it is ink. I walk up to the note and I begin to read it.

Miss Mason.

I do believe we are having some issues with you. You clearly aren't adjusting to the Capitol's way, are you? This note is just to say something to you. Promise you something. I want to say this personally, if you step out of line again, I will not be as kind this time. Watch you back, Miss Mason.

SNOW.

The note falls out of my hand and floats down to the cream carpet. Just as the note touches the floor a shrill noise rings out. My head whips up, startled, and my eyes scan the room rapidly. In the corner of the large room, I see a device Una called a telephone. I've seen them before but I've never used one. I've never been rich enough to own one. My feet take baby steps towards the phone while my heart rate rises and my palms begin to get clammy. Once I am touching distance away from the phone, I gingerly reach out and grab hold of it. I pull it up to my ear.

"H...h...hello?" I stutter.

"Is this Johanna Mason of District 7?" A slightly gruff voice asks.

"Yes." I gulp.

"I am sorry to say this to you now." He pauses. I wait for him to speak up but the wait is taking forever. My heart rate soars even more than before.

"Your mother has passed away. I am truly sorry for your loss." This man says it as if you say this sort of thing every day.

"How? Where? When? Why? What?" My voice comes out creepily high pitched.

"I am sorry Miss Mason. As for the cause of her death, it is unknown. Again, I am sorry. I wish you all the best in the arena. Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favour."

He hangs up.

The phone slides out of my hands and comes crashing onto the carpeted floor, making a dull thud. My body feels like a dead weight and my chest aches for my mother. The woman who raised me, the person who loves me unconditionally, the person who I love back. She is gone, she is dead, she is away from the horrible place we have to call home. Then it all clicks. Everything does. Why didn't I think about everything before opening my huge gob?

It was Snow. It was Snow who killed my mother. But it was my fault.

Her death wouldn't have been now if I didn't say anything like Blight told me too. Nothing would have happened and I could still be eating with the rest of them. But no, instead I've just been informed that my mother has died. Died? No. Brutally murdered? Yes.

I underestimated how evil and blackmailing Snow could be. I thought he couldn't hurt me. I thought he wouldn't hurt me. Why would I think like that! I'm so stupid! I'm just a stupid child, going into the stupid arena. Snow could kill me with the push of one of his fancy buttons. But no, he broke me instead, using my family against me.

My head conjures up ways he could have killed her. Whipped her, held a gun to her head, beaten her to death by Peacekeepers. The list goes on.

As my body falls to the ground, one sentence keeping buzzing round my head.

I KILLED HER, IT WAS MY FAULT.