Illume Darnell/District 3

I’m not going to brag about my looks, or be one of those girls who call themselves ugly so other people will say they’re pretty. I’m going to be a truthful as I can be, but I hope you’ll forgive me if there is a bit of bias. I am talking about myself afterall. Anyway, I have medium length brown hair. It used to be longer but a friend of mine chopped it all off a while back and it’s just starting to get back to a decent length. Also, and this is one of my favorite things about myself, when I’m standing in just the right light, strands of my hair seem to light up like liquid gold.
My eyes are brown, and pretty unremarkable. In fact, the only noteworthy thing about them is that they don’t work right. My parents thought I was just stupid when I said I couldn’t read what was on the blackboard at school. Oh no, when I said I couldn’t read it, I meant I couldn’t SEE it. As such, I’ve been wearing glasses my whole life. Nothing fancy, just black wire rimmed, but they make my life a whole lot easier.
My face is super round and I have a crooked nose with a smattering of freckles running across it onto my cheeks. I didn’t notice until a friend of mine pointed it out rather rudely one day, so it obviously isn’t all that noticeable.
I’m skinny. Not because I work out or diet or anything those fancy capitol people do to stay in shape. I’m skinny because we don’t always have a whole lot of food around. District 3 isn’t like 1 or 2. We’re poor. Well, the factory workers are anyway, like my family. I mean, we’re not in danger of starving to death, but we don’t always have something for dinner. Despite this, I’m pretty average height though, at 5’ 4”.

I wouldn’t say I have any remarkable personality traits. I am sort of a pushover though as I hate confrontation. For me, the easiest thing is to just walk away rather than get all upset over something simple. I forgive pretty easily too. My friends say that I’m too nice since I never get upset about things, but it’s not that I don’t get upset though. I just don’t act on my anger. I wish I could though. Sometimes I really want to step up and say something, but I never do.
Besides my slight pushover-ness I’m pretty average actually. Just your normal 16 year old girl. Nothing interesting about me… Besides… well…
Taken from the psychiatric profile of Illume Darnell
Illume shows signs of a sort of phobia concerning the Hunger Games. Not only does she appear to be afraid of being selected as a tribute, but she seems to fear the games themselves. She has reportedly become hysterical whilst viewing the games, often screaming and crying incoherently and in one instance, vomiting after the death of a tribute from district 3. Her mother has reported Illume being unable to sleep for days in advance of the reaping and for sometimes weeks after the games she will disappear from her house for hours at a time. When asked about her behavior, Illume says she feels a large amount of guilt after the games. She says that she feels guilty for being relieved someone else is going to die instead of her.
Illume shows signs of having a unique case of Survivor’s Guilt.

My parents thought they were being clever when they named me. Illume is a shortening of the word illumination, and as my parents both work in a plant that makes light bulbs, lamps, and other such devices they thought it was appropriate. For me, I’ve been teased for having such a name pretty much my entire life at school.
In 3rd grade my, now best friend did one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me. He gave me a nickname. Spark. While it isn’t any less odd than my actual name, at least it’s something everyone knows how to pronounce.
My parents think I’ll probably become a factory worker like them, or become an engineer. Honestly though, I don’t know WHAT I want to do. I do know that I don’t want to work in some factory, and since I don’t really have any talent with electronics, I probably won’t be engineering or inventing anything either. But there has to be SOMETHING I’m good at right? Right. I just have to find it.
Other than my lack of direction, nothing really remarkable has happened to me. Nothing. Really. Well, nothing except the last couple of years with the Peacekeepers…
It’s kind of a long story. I just… I don’t…
I hate the Hunger Games.
When I was a kid my parents didn’t really worry. I mean, watching teenagers slaughter each other? What kid isn’t going to have nightmares after that? But it only got worse as I got older. The more I understood what was happening, the more I’ve grown to dread them. And now, every year I face being forced to compete.
I’ve never taken tesserae. And because of that my family has gone without dinner some nights. I feel so guilty but I just… can’t. My parents don’t pressure me either, but I know their lives would be easier if I did.
Sometimes I create a bit of a commotion when we’re all forced to watch the games. I’ve been told I scream and cry. I don’t really remember these times, but the Peacekeepers have taken me into custody due to the problems I cause. At first they thought I was trying to be rebellious, what with the things I screamed. They said I cursed the Capitol, and I blamed them for our poverty. I also broke a Peacekeeper’s nose when he was trying to carry me away. They had someone come and see me I guess… They said I have Survivors Guilt or something. After that I’ve been able to watch the games at home.

I'm not sure exactly how to include a picture into my post, so if someone could explain that to me I'd greatly appreciate it. EDIT: Thanks!