district 13 - part 2
johanna’s pov
A couple weeks after my arrival in District 13, I’m sitting in Prim’s room and watching a live broadcast of Katniss in District 2 to pass the time. Katniss stopped by before she left to say goodbye to the two of us, promising that she’ll visit again as soon as she gets back, so I’ve just been hanging out with Prim while we wait for her.
“I don’t like this,” whispers Prim. She still doesn’t have her voice back completely, but the doctors told her to keep talking a bit each day and it’ll get stronger. “These people didn’t do anything.”
“I know, but it’s not about them. It’s about taking these weapons away from the Capitol,” I argue.
“But they’re the ones who will die if they can’t find the way out. That’s not fair at all.”
“Yeah,” I mutter, not knowing how else to respond.
A single trolley car finally comes out of the mountain, and people spill out of the doors before it even comes to a full stop. Over the TV, we can hear people screaming for them to drop their weapons. Almost all of them obey, except for a man stumbling toward Katniss.
“STOP! HE NEEDS HELP!” Katniss yells as she runs toward him.
Out of nowhere, he presses a gun against her chin.
“No!” Prim croaks. “Katniss!”
“Someone will shoot him first,” I insist as I stand up and step toward the TV. “Someone has to shoot him. Come on!”
But no one does anything. I can see the man’s mouth moving, but I can’t hear what he’s saying or what Katniss is saying to him. I’m so freaked out that I start to pace the room, staring at the TV and almost walking into things. Katniss’s costume is probably protected, but her face isn’t. And if this asshole pulls the trigger, she’s dead.
After what seems like years, he lowers the gun and lets her go. I stop in my tracks and breathe a sigh of relief, glancing over at Prim. She reaches her hand out, and I take it.
“That was a close one,” she whispers, squeezing my hand.
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
Katniss takes a step toward the rest of the District 2 soldiers. I can feel a Mockingjay speech coming on, so I let go of Prim’s hand and turn my attention back to the TV.
“These people are not your enemy. We all have one enemy, and that’s Snow. He corrupts everyone and everything. He turns the best of us against each other. Stop killing for him!” Katniss shouts. “Tonight, turn your weapons to the Capitol. Turn your weapons to Snow!”
For a second, I think they might listen to her. And then one soldier stands up and shoots her square in the chest.
I’m in the hallway before I can even process it. I hear Prim hoarsely calling my name, but I keep going until I reach the entrance of the hospital. There’s a guard and nurse that they station there, who always know everyone that’s supposed to come in and out.
Plutarch knows better than to air something like that live. The broadcast would have had to be at least a minute or two behind, to account for anything going wrong. And now that everything’s gone wrong, Katniss could be touching down in District 13’s hangar any minute now.
“Where is she?” My voice sounds distant, like it isn’t coming from my mouth. “Is she coming back here?”
“Relax, Miss Mas—”
“Don’t fucking tell me to relax. Tell me where I can wait for her.”
The guard points to my room. “Wait for her in your bed. Someone will come and brief you once we know the situation.”
“Yeah, right,” I scoff. Briefing me will be the last thing anyone wants to do, which means I’ll probably find out if Katniss is alive next Tuesday. “Fuck you too.”
I storm down the hallway back toward Prim’s room to wait. There’s a crowd of nurses around my door, all looking at some piece of paper and talking in hushed voices. As I pass them, I catch a whisper of what they’re saying.
“A complete record of what they did to her…”
“Beetee Latier hacked the Capitol system to get it.”
“No wonder she’s so messed up…”
“What?” I shout, turning around to see them scattering like mice. The one in the middle, who was holding the paper, turns white as a ghost and freezes. “What the hell is that?”
He trembles, holding the paper close to his chest. “Miss Mason, you’re not authorized to—”
I snatch it out of his hands, ripping the bottom part.
+ PROPERTY OF THE HOSPITAL & HEALTHCARE DEPARTMENT OF DISTRICT 13 +
PATIENT: JOHANNA MASON, DISTRICT 7
Updated to include information obtained from Capitol records
Primary concerns: emaciation, muscular atrophy, possible heart complications due to repeated electric shock, morphling dependency
Continue to follow current dietary/exercise plan until further notice
Monitor cardiac function + set up plan for long term check ups
Continue to decrease morphling use at a daily interval
INJURIES SUSTAINED:
Bilateral burns to the face/skull over the temples, 5 cm in diameter
Origin: Mandatory viewing device (Corroborated by PH)
Patient’s pain report inconclusive
Treatment: continue to monitor for infection, ask patient about pain at later time
Scar to the right shoulder
Origin: Attack from a tribute during the finale of QQ. Knife penetrated the skin after being thrown by said tribute. Healed while patient was under Capitol custody
Pain report inconclusive
Treatment: continue to monitor for infection, discuss revision options at later date
Scars to the left bicep
Origin: Attacks from tributes during QQ. Healed.
Treatment: see above
Bruising to the left arm, torso
Suspected origin: excessive force from restraint by hand, physical contact with Capitol staff. Not reported in Capitol records
Pain report: 5 with movement or contact
Treatment: No internal injuries detected, continue to monitor for infection or delayed healing
Multiple burns, scars to chest region extending the length of arms
Suspected origin: electrical shock, with exception of bilateral scars from apparent misuse of defibrillator and subsequent failure to heal fully
Pain report: Initially reported as 7, revised to 4.
Treatment: apply burn cream liberally twice a day, monitor for infection. Physical therapy once a day to address mobility limitations
Additional info: Dr. Aurelius suspects that patient initially underreported pain, especially given the impact on her mobility. However, she has begun to exaggerate pain levels as she is weaned off of morphling.
Marks from restraint on wrists, ankles
Origin: patient was restrained for duration of stay in Capitol
Pain report: 3 resting, patient became aggressive when touched
Treatment: provide care for swelling and abrasions. If patient presents behavioral issues and must be restrained, use alternate measures such as chest restraint
WARNING: Patient can be combative and uncooperative. Exercise extreme caution when giving water to patient or bathing her. While in Capitol custody, patient’s room was frequently flooded as a means of torture. She was given significant electric shocks, leading to an event where she required resuscitation. Due to the nature of this torture, she is sensitive to threats of shock and submersion in water. Patient’s pain reports are unreliable, she frequently exaggerates to obtain morphling or sedative drugs.
DO NOT GIVE PATIENT MORPHLING WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION.
The words float around in front of me. I shove the paper back at the nurse, not wanting to read another sentence. He lets it fall to the floor as he watches me, waiting for a reaction.
“How the fuck…did you know…about the…” I can’t finish. I can feel my heart racing, my blood pulsing loudly in my ears. “Who told them to hack the Capitol for this?”
“Miss Mason, please try to calm dow—”
“ARE YOU SERIOUS? YOU WANNA TELL ME TO CALM DOWN?” I grab the nearest object, which happens to be a cart of medical supplies, and shove it toward him. It topples over and spills its contents across the hallway floor as he jumps backward. “DO YOU THINK I COULD CALM DOWN EVEN IF I WANTED TO? YOU KNOW WHAT I WENT THROUGH! YOU KNOW EVERYTHING NOW! I CAN’T EVEN HAVE ONE FUCKING THING TO MYSELF BECAUSE YOU WANNA WRITE THIS BULLSHIT AND TALK ABOUT ME BEHIND MY BACK? LIKE I’M SOME KIND OF MUTT FOR YOU TO STUDY? YOU WANNA SEE ME ACT LIKE A GODDAMN MUTT?!”
I can see the guard running toward us, but I don’t care. The nurse is still standing there with the ripped up paper. I leap over the fallen cart, hearing a scream as I bear down on the nurse and raise my fist.
Suddenly, I feel a pair of arms around me, and they lift me off of the nurse as I thrash in the air. I can’t even understand why I’m so angry anymore. It’s like someone flipped a switch in my head, and I need to kill someone before they kill me. Whoever picked me up backs up until they hit a wall, still holding me in place.
“Johanna, you’re ok,” I hear Finnick whisper in my ear. “You’re in District 13. You’re safe. No one is going to hurt you. Do you know where you are?”
I elbow him in the ribs as hard as I can. “District 13. Leave me the fuck alone, I’m not having a fucking panic attack.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” he grunts, tightening his hold on me. “Why don’t we breathe mindfully for a bit? In for three…out for three…”
“I’m gonna rip your goddamn—”
“Breathe or they’re gonna sedate you.”
“What if I wanna be sedated?”
“Well, we’ve all been there. But Katniss is back and asking for you. So how about you breathe in, and I’ll tell you where she is,” he says.
She’s asking for me, which means she’s ok. Reluctantly, I do the breathing exercises until Finnick finally releases me. I’m suddenly so physically exhausted that it feels like I’m the one who got shot. I try to ignore the way that everyone in the hallway is staring at me and turn toward Finnick.
“Come on,” he says quietly.
He leads me to a room on the other side of the hospital wing, far from where they’ve been keeping the rest of us, and stops at the door to let me go in first. “I’ll come back later. You two have your…moment.”
I scoff and look at him, trying to determine what he means by that.
“She’s your best friend, isn’t she?” He winks. “Your gal pal.”
“Shut the fuck up, asshole,” I whack him in the shoulder as he laughs, “It’s not even like that.”
“Well, you let me know when that changes.” He smirks at me one last time and saunters away.
I step into the room and all eyes are on me. Katniss looks at me like she’s feeling guilty for almost dying, and it makes me want to punch her in the face. Meanwhile, the doctors and nurses try to appear as if they’re not staring at me, but they all shuffle away from me as I walk toward Katniss.
“What? Scared I’ll become ‘combative and uncooperative’ if you look me in the eyes?” I finally snap at them. They all instantly flee the room, clearly not wanting to be stuck dealing with me. I sigh and sit down on Katniss’s bed. “Hey, Mockingjay. Man, what a speech you gave. I still have goosebumps.”
Katniss rolls her eyes.
Now that I’ve read my chart, I know this might be my last way to access morphling for a while, so I carefully remove the drip from Katniss’s arm and attach it to my own port. “Relax,” I say when she tries to fight me, “I need it more than you.”
“I got shot.”
“Please, no you didn’t. Cinna thought of that already. Of course your costume would be bulletproof.” The morphling starts to hit me and I sigh deeply, feeling the last of my rage from earlier start to ebb away. “What are your injuries, anyways?”
“Bruised ribs. Bruised lung,” she rattles off.
“Bruised ego?”
“Hasn’t been diagnosed yet.”
I chuckle as I lay down on her bed next to her. “Scooch over. My back hurts.”
“My everything hurts,” she groans, but makes some room anyway.
“I’ll remind you the next time you try a stunt like that.”
She sighs. “I just wanted—”
“I know why you did it,” I interrupt. “Defender of the fucking helpless. You didn’t want anyone else to die. You Everdeens are all the same.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was watching it with Prim.” It hits me that I should’ve gone and told Prim that Katniss is ok, but I’m sure someone else already told her by now. “She was saying how it wasn’t fair that they were paying the price for the Capitol.”
“It wasn’t fair,” Katniss murmurs.
We lie next to each other in silence for who knows how long, our arms touching through the covers. It feels nice to just be here with her. I don’t want to say anything or do anything to break this moment. I just wanna lay here forever.
But then Haymitch walks in, laughing at the sight of us in a hospital bed together. “Sorry to interrupt the slumber party, but your sister told me to bring this to you, Katniss.” He sets something wrapped in a handkerchief down on the bedside table. “Carry on.”
“Will you open it?” She asks me. “I can’t sit up.”
“Sure.” I crawl out of the bed and unwrap the gift. There’s a picture of a man, who I guess is Katniss’s dad. He has the same serious face as her, the same gray eyes and dark hair. I set the photo on the very edge of the table where Katniss can reach it.
The next thing is the little gold mockingjay pin, the one Katniss wore in both arenas. This thing helped spawn an entire revolution. I can’t believe she would want a reminder of her status as the Mockingjay here in the hospital, but I put it next to the photo anyways.
And then, at the bottom, is the golden locket that Effie Trinket gave me to wear into the Quarter Quell. I open it and see the pictures of Mrs. Everdeen, Prim, and Gale. So it was Gale that carried me out of the Capitol prison. I close the locket and hold it out to Katniss.
“You kept that?” I ask quietly.
“Yeah.” She blushes a bit, turning the locket in her hand. “You gave it to me.”
Maybe it’s the morphling making me emotional, but I want to cry. I turn away from her and disconnect the IV line, standing up carefully so that I don’t fall. “I’ll, uh…let you get some rest.”
“Johanna,” she says, but I don’t turn around.
She didn’t say she kept it because she wanted to have more photos of her family. She doesn’t look at it and think of them, or maybe she does. But she also kept it because of me. Because it’s the one thing she has to remember me by.
I thought I wanted Katniss to care about me like that. But she has too much else to deal with right now without me. She worries about me too much, even though we’re supposed to just be friends. I can’t be another person that she has to fight for, because she’s already fighting a war for her family and the rest of the goddamn country.
When I was in the Capitol, she was hanging onto that locket. Thinking of me. And I thought I wanted that, but now I’m not so sure. If I don’t want to be another person for her to worry about, then maybe I don’t even want to be another person she loves.
I wish I was still lying next to her, back when we weren’t thinking about the war or anything at all. I wish we could just be normal people together.