Water makes me feel at peace. Taking a deep breath, preparing my body to be caressed by the crashing waves around me, before finally being taken away by the movement of the ocean to somewhere I don't know, and don't want to know, either. I lay on my back, eyes scanning the patchy blue and white sky, letting the cold, deep sea decide my movements for the next few minutes - I don't want this moment to end, I close my eyes not wanting to think about anything while I still have the time.
A few moments of blissful thoughtlessness pass me by, when the thought I worked so hard to push away somehow manages to creep back into my mind. No, I refuse to think about this here, the ocean is my sanctuary, I won't let such a tranquil place for me become dark - not today. I force my head up, seeing just how far away from the shore I've become and I'm surprised when I'm only about a mile or so away from the lush, white sand. I quickly turn onto my front, deciding I should probably begin to swim back before my family start worrying about me like they usually do after I've been gone for a while. They don't seem to realize I need the time alone sometimes, but I try my best to keep them happy, especially this around this time of the year.
I swim quickly, elegantly, bobbing my head up and down, sucking in as much air as physically possible when my head is above the water, just to release all the oxygen from my lungs again a minute or so later like little bubbles escaping my lips, like little secrets. I like being able to hold my breath underwater for a long time, it makes me feel like I'm connected to the sea and all it's inhabitants somehow. For the time I'm underwater, I can't help but wish I could stay under the surface of the ocean for the rest of my life with all the curious creatures that swim around me this very second, jealous of them living down here and myself living up there. Stepping out onto the warm, grainy sand, I wring my hair out leaving a large damp patch on the sand, which is untouched other than my footprints. The beach seems lonely, abandoned in the last few weeks, with such a troublesome and somewhat stressful event approaching very quickly, the people of my district have better things to do than visit the ocean and they prefer spending time with family. That will change in the next few weeks, when my sanctuary will become such for most people. I step lightly until I reach a large rock, and reach around it for my bag.
I use my towel the pat myself dry in the warm air before placing it back in my bag & throwing my bag over my shoulder and begin walking to the edge of the beach, where sand mixes with small, rough pebbles. My feet are used to it though. I walk a few more meters and glance upwards at the large cliff, and I instantly see my second home, somewhat concealed by shrubs and vines, and I begin stepping up the large rocks that almost see designed to be stairs, and then begin carefully climbing up using small indents in the rock until I'm high above the sand and can see the ledge I need to reach. Throwing my bag up, it disappears into the hole in the rocks and I reach up with a grunt until my hands are holding all my body weight and heave myself up.
Heaving myself up onto the ledge of my hidden home, uses a fair amount of my upper body strength but I do make it. I crawl over to my usual spot in the back, feeling safe. The cave is quite small, but feels large enough for me to be comfortable there. The opening is only about a meter wide, but once inside it seems to open up into a tall dome, closing up into a narrow tunnel in the back I daren't crawl into, doubting I'd get back out due to it's size. I keep a small pillow hidden at the small tunnels opening, for the nights I sleep here to get away from it all, a small jarred candle, a box of matches, and an incredibly fluffy blanket - It's homely like that and I love it. I dry myself off further, strip out of my bikini leaving it to hang off the edge hoping the slight breeze will dry it off, and wrap myself in my towel tightly. I sit on the edge and spent what feels like hours admiring the view and feeling proud to live in District 4, it truly is such a beautiful district. I let out a sigh of relief - feeling glad our landscape was never ruined by ugly factories and landfills like many of the other districts. We have one or two factories though.
This cave is the most important place for me, it has meaning as it's where I come when I'm upset, irate, or just need somewhere to be alone for a while. This cave had meaning for someone before me, I know this as when I first discovered this hidden treasure one day a few years ago when I needed shelter from a storm, I found a necklace far in the corner made from rough rope, only with the most beautiful charm hanging from its length - a small trident carved from wood along with a long abandoned base for a fire. From the day I found it I keep it secured around my own neck thinking of it as a goodluck charm for myself, although I do wish I could return it to its rightful owner.. I doubt the owner's still around, though, or surely they would have returned for it years ago, and for this reason I haven't searched, it would be futile after so long. I look as far to the right as my neck allows, just managing to see the large clock tower, designed to signal workers of one of our seafood factories know when their shifts are over and notice it's 7pm - I should've realized it was getting late. There's barely enough light here anymore to even see as far as the corner where my bag is. Quickly pulling my towel off, I reach into my bag and change into some underwear, I throw a black vest over my head and getting it wet in the process, jump into a pair of jeans and secure my leather boots around my ankles. They're made from comfortable, supple leather that quickly molded to the shape of my feet, I think of them as a luxury, much better than the flat shoes and sandals most of the population wear. My hand works as a comb and my long hair is finally free of knots, so I gather it up on the back of my head and secure it in a bun, being far too lazy to make it look decent, I roll up my wet clothes and hurriedly toss them into a plastic bag, throw the plastic bag inside my normal bag to prevent my other belongings getting wet and drop it over the ledge allowing it to collide with the sand, allowing me to begin making my own way down the rough cliffside and commence my hour long walk home.
Finally I find the key in the bottom of my bag and thrust it into the lock. If there's one thing I react terribly to, it's being cold, and cold is what my district is. I run upstairs instantly to get changed into my warmest bed clothes and robe, leaving my bag on my bed before making my way downstairs again to have dinner with my family; my mother, father and Alexis my little sister. We're a close family, closer than any other family I know. Me and my sister are inseparable, I care about her, I think of myself as her guardian and protector.
I used to be quite distant to her a few years ago, never quite growing out of jealousy when she was the baby of the family, but 3 years ago my brother Cayden was reaped for The Hunger Games when he was 18. He was the first tribute to be murdered in the bloodbath in the Cornucopia by a career tribute from District 2. The tributes from District 1, 2 and 4 usually pact together to be allies, but Caydens fellow District 4 tribute was a 12 year old girl, with next to no skills and a weak body. The other Careers refused to let her into the alliance and therefore Cayden wanted no part in it, either. I have the uptmost respect for him for his actions. Watching your older brother, your role model, get murdered when you're only 13 makes you realize what you have and from that day onwards I went on to build a much stronger relationship with Alexis and my parents. I was their shoulder to cry on, despite only being 13. Alexis was only 9 at the time, I often had to sing her to sleep and coax her to eat and drink for months after the incident, she would sometimes sleep cocooned into my body and my voice would soothe her to sleep, only to wake from nightmares most nights. These are the reasons I protect her.
My parents drifted from us. They often went away and we wouldn't see them for days, we're just assuming they went to stay with family in the south of our district, nowhere else they could've gone as general public aren't allowed to use transportation. Slowly they became aware of us again, of real life. It took us a while to heal, but we're closer than ever now.
Dinner comes and goes, and we gather in the living room to watch some mandatory programme from the Capitol. It's President Snow speaking about how The Hunger Games came to be, how the Capitol who loves them and feeds them were betrayed. We know all this from school, and frankly I doubt all this was the rebels fault, they wouldn't have acted how they did without reason, that I know for a fact. President Snow has clearly been surgically.. er, enhanced. He's an old, small, thin man, with paper-white hair and thick lips that seem pulled across his face. He looks revolting to say the least and whatever he seems to have done to his lips did him no favours what so ever. He then goes on to speak about The 74th Annual Hunger Games.
And in that second, the dark cloud I tried desperately to keep out of my thoughts return in an instant. In a weeks time, there will be a public reaping outside the Justice Building of all 12 districts, where 23 children will die needlessly once again.
I re-wrote the entire chapter due to when I read it back to myself, I really did not like it. This is my first ever fan fiction, therefore I have no idea what I'm doing wrong, and what I'm doing right (if anything) so I'd highly appreciate any reviews to help me for when I write the next chapter. I will be updating very soon and probably will with every chapter as I have a lot of free time on my hands! Please and thank you to anyone who takes the time to read this, I'm grateful! ^_^
