Cherish Ahava, District 4

Everything about me screams my father. I am very tall, towering over my mother at 5’10, as she is only 5’2. I am a lot taller than most of my fellow female classmates and the other girls seem jealous of me, but I can’t see why, in my eyes, my height is ugly. My weight is 140lbs, but next to none of it is fat. It is all muscle, and I love it that way. My muscle is what defines me, makes me seem a threat. My legs are very long, at makes it easier for me to swim.

My hair is one of the only things I love about myself. I have long, light brown hair, with natural highlights of sunshine, as my mother would describe it. My hair falls in natural curls, and is as long to the middle of my ribcage. It hardly ever gets tangles, and is easy to brush. I never style it to anything but down, except when I am swimming, and then it is only back in a simple ponytail.

My face is rounded, and my cheekbones are low, and hollow. My eyes are almond shaped, and slanted slightly upwards, and are brown, again with golden flecks. My cheeks have no freckles, and no moles. My nose is quite long, and is another thing I detest about myself, when I get angry, my nostrils flare up. My lips seem too large for my face, and are normally chapped, from being in the sea salt for to long

On the outside, I am a sweet, innocent little girl, but I only put on that persona so people won’t repeatedly ask me what is wrong, and then eventually get bored with me. I have only one person I can tell all my problems to, and that is my best friend, Rocko. Rocko and I have been best friends since I was 10 years old, and I don’t know what I would do without him. He is the only person, except my brother, Jasper, I would mind if he got killed, and that includes my parents.

My real personality is sour and disrespectful. I hate talking to anyone older than me, just because I always feel as if they are trying to hide something. Adults have this idea that if you spare a child the truth, they will repay you in the long run, but I don’t believe that is how it works. I believe telling a child the truth will help them understand the world a lot better.

The only thing I really love to do is swim, or fish. This may sound cliché for someone who lives in District 4, but it is the truth. Swimming makes me feel alive, and I love how I am surrounded by fish, so free and well, tasty. When I fish, it is a whole other story. I become a hunter, seeking my prey out with my well adjusted eyes, with a spear in my hand. Yes, I don’t fish the normal way, I attach my spear to my hand with rope, and throw my spear into the gut of the fish, making a smooth hole, and allowing the fish to be sold at a good price.

I remember when I was 8 years old, it was the year of the 52nd Hunger games, and I stood with my mother at the back of the crowd, waiting for the older residents of Panem to be reaped. My mother cried, like she normally did, but this time it was different. My older brother, Archi, was twelve years old, and this was his first reaping. The girl tribute was chosen, and then came the moment when my mother almost strangled me and my 4 year old brother, Jasper, when the escort chose the name from the reaping ball, and said very clearly:
“Archi Ahava”

My mother fainted down to the ground, and my father started to weep, something I have never seen him do. The local healer was on hand for my mother, but I saw the look on my big brother’s face as he walked slowly up onto stage. When volunteers were called, Archi insisted that no one took his place, being the proud young man that he was. He was killed in the first five minutes of the game, with a sword. This is when I knew that adults were all liars, and they had nothing better to do then cause misery to familys.

When I met Rocko, I was 10, and he was 11. I was down near the harbour, waving my father off for his day fishing, and Rocko was doing the same. As soon as his father’s fishing boat had left, Rocko jumped into the water, and disappeared for over two minutes. I didn’t know what to do, so I jumped in, and dived down to try and “Save” him, but when we got up to the surface, Rocko was angry because apparently, I had stopped his training for the games. I asked him how he knew he would be picked in the years to come, he said he would volunteer. So, of course, I took an instant dislike to him. But, over the years, I have always been drawn to volunteering, but when I remember my little brother Jasper’s face when Archi was killed, I knew I would never do it.