Zita Van Tuyl | District 11 | FIN

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Feeling the ground beneath her feet was the best thing for Zita. She loved to feel the earth on the soles of her toes. Smooth, ragged, dusty surfaces, she didn’t mind. Having not worn shoes or socks for five years, she has grown rough souls, ideal for walking bare feet. Zita insists she will never wear shoes ever again, she hates them. They confine her feet, they come sweaty, blistered and she can’t see them. She lets her feet breath, feel the air around them. She believes if we don’t wear gloves constantly on our hands, then why must we constantly wear shoes and socks?

People don’t tend to bully her because of this, they’re usually curious.

"Do they not get cold?"

"Surely you must get a lot of cuts on your feet?"

"How are they not dirty all the time?"

She always has an answer for every question. Making people touch her feet during the winter months, they’re always warm. She did used to get cuts on her feet at the beginning but once they got used to the ground, the skin had hardened enough to defend off any unwanted injuries. They do get dirty but she washes often.

They feel better dirty then they do wet and sweaty. If she stands in anything disgusting, she just washes it off, she isn’t a wimp like everyone else.

Working alongside her mother as a gardener, she is used to being in the dirt however she does not mind. Her mother begged for her to wear shoes, she has agreed on occasion to wear sandals but that is only on a rare occasion. Zita enjoys her work; she has a great tenderness for results. She gets a great deal of satisfaction when she does something herself. Zita never has to be told what to do, she will just go do it. She has a great initiative, which many praise her for.

Inheriting most of her appearance from her mother, Zita has blonde sun kissed hair, which falls just above her waist. She tends to wear it in braids or a pony tail. Her mother begs that she cut it but she loves it long so occasionally just chops off the split ends. Eyes like her father, a light shade of grey, it is the only thing that she inherited from him.

Having stumpy legs, Zita barely reaches five foot and three inches and just weighs in at seven stone. Zita has fair skin, with a few moles dotted here and there. Implemented on her chest, is quite a large birthmark, which she likes to cover up. Despite not being bullied for never wearing shoes, if someone ever see’s the mark, they gag. She doesn’t understand why, so tends to wear clothes which hide it. Having a harvester father and gardener mother, Zita doesn’t have the best of income flowing through her house but wears quite stunning clothes. Most which she obtained from her mother and others from the market, she even made some herself. Dresses, beige in colour, bright summery colours, which shine her personality, talented at textiles she was really born in the wrong district.

Growing a care free lifestyle, Zita doesn’t worry about where the path of life will lead her. She doesn’t worry about what people think about her, she’d rather just get on with life. Not being the one to fight, she would most likely walk away from a sticky situation; it is not in her nature to be aggressive.

Loving wildlife,Zita watches birds as well as collecting a variety of plant life. She loves to wear flowers around her head, as well as smell their sweet aromas. Flowers are mostly decorated around her bedroom, probably the best smelling room in the house although she doesn’t spend much time in her bedroom. She would rather be outside, filling her lunges with fresh air.

Selflessness probably her well known trait, she always puts other people ahead of her, helping those more vulnerable. Elderly around the district, the young, the ill or whoever needs the help. She loves to help around the house with her mother, as well as with her work. Zita is a great person to talk too and is known for being the one to cry on, as she is very comforting.

Being the second child, she was treated just the same as her brother was. Her parents being kind in nature also, Zita had a brilliant start to life. Running around in the fields during harvest, rolling around in the dirt, her mother says her immune system must be unstoppable. As an infant, she was regularly found stuffing insects into her mouth and pockets. Her mother regularly found worms wiggling around in her bed.

Growing out of the bug eating stage when she began schooling, Zita really adapted to the life in school. Gaining many friends and great knowledge, she loved the work. Although slowly grew quite claustrophobic stuck inside a classroom most of the time. She used to complain to her mother about it but was still sent back. She wasn’t the one to retaliate, so stuck to her schooling life. Forever sat by the window, her mind would wander off somewhere else. Day dreaming of running through fields, helping her brother and father with the harvest, that is where she belonged; out in the open air.

Visiting the harvests during the season with her mother, she would regularly watch her brother and father at work. On a visit when she was 9, her brother Arron who was 17 at the time was stood on one of the machines while it was moving. A lace had slipped into the cutter bar,where the wheat is thrown in. Slowly the lace was sucked up by the machine,along with the rest of his leg. Panic ran through the field as everyone scrambled to free Arron. Eventually when he was pulled away from the machine, his leg had been amputated up to his waist.

Witnessing most of the accident, Zita didn’t understand what had happened. Before Arron was free, her mother shipped her away from the scene, so that she didn’t see anything. Just a couple of hours later, Zita was told her brother had died. Devastated, she had a great bond with her brother. He always watched out for her, played with her, read with her. He was her true best friend and now he was gone.

Zita tried to blame something for his death, the lace, the lace that sucked his leg into the machine. The lace attached to his shoe. Shoes are a health hazard, nobody has to wear shoes. A year from the accident, Zita threw all her shoes and socks away and pledged to never wear them again.

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