Anastasia, Fierce Girl From District 7

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“Hi my name is Anastasia and I am 14 years old. I guess you all want to know EVERYTHING about me so I will tell you. I am 5 foot 5 inches, which is a few inches above the average for my age and I clock in at exactly 100 pounds. I am slender, but not scrawny and frail. I’m actually the exact opposite. I am pure muscle all the way to my core from doing work with my dad in District 7 and I am very athletic. I have sun kissed skin from working out in the sun. My hair looks like a dull light brown at night, but in the day when the light hits my hair it is a variety of different colors. The colors range from a light red all the way to a supple blonde. Every time I turn my head and the light hits it, some colors can be seen. With my natural highlights and strands of different colored hair I am very unique.
Besides my unique hair, my eyes change color as well. From green, to a soft forest brown with flacks of gold.
On my right shoulder I have a birthmark that almost resembles a tree. The whole birthmark is no-bigger than two acorns. Besides my beautiful skin, smile, and almost perfectly straight teeth, I do have a scar. Here is the story short and without all of the juicy, gruesome facts, that some people like to hear. I was a young girl and I was using my dad’s saw to cut some wood for my family’s fire at home. When I was about done cutting the wood, the saw was coming out of the almost sawn log, my grip slipped on the handle and my left hand fell just as the saw was cutting was through the logs bark, coming into contact with my skin. Lucky for me, it wasn’t too mighty of a blow to saw my hand completely off, or bleed to death. The scar is about an inch long going across the back of my hand, and about ten strands of hair thick. It is puffy still and not too pretty looking.
People can usually find me in a white; two inch shoulder-strapped tank top, with my grandfather’s weathered, chocolate leather brown strap that goes across my chest with different trees and the District 7 symbol engraved onto it. The cross-strap helps me carry all of my knives and sharpener, plus leaving space for my sharp machete or axe. Sometimes I can squeeze in both. On my legs I wear khaki military cargo pants that come to my knees and have deep pockets on the side to help hold more tools, food, or even a small blanket to keep me warm at night if I choose to stay out and camp. My shoes are boots that can go to my knees but the top can be folded down to go about mid calf on me as well. They have soft rabbit fur on the inside and tan material on the outside. The boots have thick treads that help me to grip the forest floor better, and double lace up strings to the top. On the side of my right boot I have a secret pocket that lets me hold a tiny dagger. My hair is usually pulled back into a pony tail with jaw long bangs hovering on the edge of my face, or tucked behind my ear. On my upper right arm I have a golden band that grips my skin and it has my name written on the inside that was given to me by my grandmother to “help protect me”, from the dangers of the world, whatever that means. I love to be in the fresh air, and I will do anything to be there."

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"I am a very social, caring, and friendly person. Social because I absolutely love to talk, caring because when I see someone sad or hurt I want to help immediately, and friendly because I want to always be a person that anyone can fall back on and be there for. Just watch out when I am in a bad mood or someone has offended me big time. Then I am fierce like a lion and snap at you when you say something rude or mean. Kind of like a split personality, I guess you could say. What a freak I must be! Oh well! One of my flaws that I have, which I don’t like, but I guess everyone has a flaw, is that sometimes when mad, I do not think clearly. Another is that I get WAY too cocky and the result is that I then don’t think too much about decisions and then make a bad choice.
Gosh, talking about this makes me really uncomfortable in the sense that you could use this against me!
Oh ya, another prob that I have is that I DON’T think before I speak. My mom says I need to work on that. Let me tell you, a lot of feelings have been hurt that way. I will just tell you sorry now ahead of time.
Any who, when I am under pressure I will take the lead and try to hold in my panic. If the situation goes too long for my taste, I will become stressed and pick someone else to lead, saying that I have a headache. The funny thing is they always fall for that…ALWAYS! Back to my story about me! Trying to relieve myself of the built-up stress is hard for me to do. To get out my stress I do not do it by relaxing, eating too much, or not sleeping, but instead I work and sometimes sit alone to think. If I am extremely stressed, early in the morning before school, I will climb up the tree in my back yard that has thick limbs, and is about two feet away from another one, that is on the other side of the electrified fence, and also has massive limbs. (If that makes any sense whatsoever!)I will jump onto the branch and shimmy down the trunk into the wilderness. Next I will run into the forest with my set of knives and an axe or machete strapped to my grandfather’s handmade chest strap. In the woods I will search for a good log and start to chop wood and think. Once I have gotten bored or unwilling to do that anymore, I will start to throw knives at nearby trees, trying to aim for anything incredibly tiny and strike it. Yes, I think I know what you are thinking, I need a stress ball, but that has never worked. I have to kill tiny innocent bugs with my knives. Gosh! Somehow this helps me to pull the built-up stress, out. If I am still stressed when I get to school, I will focus on my school work and make all of my negative energy help me focus and get the work done. When not put under pressure, I am quick to make realistic decisions and at times I act on impulse.
My family and friends describe me, after I asked them for the truth, as a leader, and one who gets things done. My dad says that I am quick, like a cheetah. They say I am witty, lively, quick, cunning, and also unpredictable. I have a great personality and a funny sense of humor. Almost everyone that meets me becomes friends with me on the spot. I hope they are telling the truth and not making me sound all goody-two-shoes!"

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"I have two siblings who are about six and seven years older than me. There was supposed to be another child but she died early in her infancy for an unknown reason. She was born about two years after me, making me about two years old. I never really thought about it until now. It did have a big impact. That is why every day I help my family and live every moment for her.
Coming out of that sad/ maybe not so sad moment, I will continue.
The oldest of the three of us is Cameron James Drake. Cameron is quiet but when he sings, the District 7 people around him say he makes those that hear him stop talking and listen.
The second oldest is also a boy. His name is Daniel Alexander Drake. Daniel was born about one year after Cameron was born and is feistier! (They extremely dislike it when I tell people their middle names. I have no idea why!) Going back to…hmm, oh ya, Cameron (James) Drake. Ha ha, when he goes and comes from work he is almost always dancing. Both were lucky enough to not be picked for the reapings that came once a year. So far that has been the case for me. Hopefully it will stay that way.

My mother's name is Ella Cynthia Bartholomew Drake. She is quite beautiful and those in town come to her for the best pies in town. My dad’s name is Stewart Chad Drake. He is handy with a knife for carving and gave me a knife set that had a sharpener to make them razor-sharp. My parents are about three years apart, my mother being the younger one. The towns’ people that knew my mother when she was younger say that she was quite the performer, because she could sing and dance like light and ripples do on water.

I am a normal kid that isn’t popular, but I am also a person who isn’t without any friends. I have two close friends, Paige Wilmington and Elena Carney. We always do things together and love to talk, talk, talk! Paige is about an inch taller than me, and Elena is two inches taller than me. Since we are really tall compared to the other girls, we became buds because we were the “out-casts for height” and have been besties ever since! The nickname that they gave me is “Tiny”. I guess I am to them. At least I didn’t get the name Sasquatch, yeti, abominable snowman, or Bigfoot like I was going to give them! Fun times. Anyway. They both have red hair, and pale skin. The only difference between them is how tall they are, their feet size (Elena has BIG feet compared to Paige), hair length, last name, and a few other things. They are both hilarious though.

Here comes another sad, or maybe not sad moment again. So be prepared! When I was a little girl, about 8, I saw a man come running through the town square holding his left hand that was covered with blood and crying out for a doctor. It made my heart rip into shreds at how he looked. I later found out the next day at school that the man was the father of one of my best friends, Paige Wilmington. The doctor had to amputate the hand, and my friend’s father now has a stump instead of an actual hand. He didn't have any numbing medicine to help ease the pain while they sawed the hand off and stitched it up. My friend looked exceedingly sad and I made an oath to myself right then and there, saying that even if I was not in high spirits on the inside, I would still be cheerful on the outside for others.
My family lives in a medium size house that has two floors and a tiny yard in the front. In the back of the house there is a little bit of the forest that was kept inside of the district. Since my dad is a great architect, it is different than all of the other homes. He also hand built it to fit my family’s needs. The kitchen in the house is on the bigger side because my mom is always cooking. There is an extra room upstairs where the boys and my mom sometimes practice their dancing and singing in their free time.
My father always had a knife with him anytime, so he can carve shapes and designs anywhere, anytime."

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"My parents knew about the reapings and the possibility that one of their children could be selected and compete in the games. So they fit each of our names to something like “warrior” or “fighter”. Since I was their only girl, they put the most thought into my name, each part with a meaning. (I feel very special!)
Here is my name broken down:

Anastasia- one who shall rise again

Eloise- famous in battle

And

Drake- Dragon

I am handy with a knife, and in my free time when I was younger my dad and I made a range in the back so that I could practice throwing knives. Beside the range there is a little studio that I use to draw anything I want and carve. The only thing I can’t draw is people. I can’t even draw a stick person! You better not be laughing at that! (Oh all right, go ahead. Have your laugh.)
It felt soooooo weird to talk about myself. I makes me feel all self-absorbed, conceited, self-important, and Narcissistic! Which by the way, I am NOT! I was asked to talk about myself."