Francesca Pomme - D11 - Fin

Eleven was never kind to any of us.  Agriculture.  That was all we were responsible for here.  We picked plants from the ground in order to send them to the capitol.  I hated it.  However, there were things that I hated more in this district.  Like the fact that we were hungry all the time.  Well, not all the time.  There were some days where one of us could be a little bit sneakier than others.  It was hard still.  Picking corn was never fun.  However, we picked more than just that.  We picked various fruits and vegetables as they were needed.  Most of the time they went to the capitol, but there were the rare times where we would get to keep them as a district.  It was why a lot of the pickers tried to take what they could without anyone noticing.

We owned our own farm once upon a time.  It was a magical place with lush green marsh that stretched pretty far across the district.  Of course, this was when I was young, and it was easier to maintain something here in Eleven.  Now a days, it was hard to do anything in Eleven that didn’t have to do with picking vegetables.  There were some people who would wash and rinse the produce as it was picked, and there were even some people who got to taste the product before it went off to the capitol.  Those were the people who were the lucky ones.  The ones who were always fed.  They were the most hated here in Eleven and I envied them.  However, I didn’t pay them too much mind.  There wasn’t much I could do about my predicament anyway.  I just hoped that I didn’t have to subjected to this life for a long time.

I longed for the day someone would come out of nowhere and whisk me away to live in a far away place.  I wished for the day that I wouldn’t have to worry about eating.  I pined for a day where I could go without feeling my hip bones.  It wasn’t like I was starving, but I definitely felt like I was malnourished in every sense of the word.  My parents tried hard to keep us fed, sometimes going without food so they could eat.  I hated when they did that, because it was important that they ate too.  They needed their own strength to push through their job as well.  When they would give them their meal, I would split it with them to make sure that we all ate.  I cared about them more then I cared about myself.  I didn’t even take care of myself the way that others did in the district.  Everyone came before I did at the end of the day, and while I wanted to eat, there were people who I knew were going to provide the district with a better future.  One that I envision would be bright and boisterous.  I hoped that I would get to see it one day, but I also felt like my time was up.

There were days that I spent on that farm in total awe of the world.  I would get lost on it occasionally, trying to figure out what made the world tick.  What made it such a wondrous beauty.  I would walk, and walk, and walk until one day where my parents couldn’t find me.  The screamed and screamed for me, but I couldn’t hear them.  I had wandered off a little too far and found myself near a stream that wasn’t too far from where I lived.  I was curious as a child, and I wanted to keep exploring.  I ended up climbing up one of the fallen trees in order to get a good view of what was around me.  That’s when I noticed that there was a figure running towards me.  I squinted my eyes, hoping that it was my father.  I got excited, thinking that he came out here to play with me in this world that I was amazed by.  I hopped up and down the log until I lost my footing and fell face first into the dirt.  The taste of earth polluted my mouth and my knee felt hot.  I was crying, and holding my leg as I sat up and noticed a bone that was protruding from the skin.  I screamed louder and more violently.  That’s when my dad came to save me from my hell. I held onto him, still very uncomfortable with the bone that was protruding for my skin.  They took me to the nearest doctor and they told me that they could fix it, but it wouldn’t be cheap.

My parents had just acquired that farm as a wedding gift from my deceased grandfather, and now they had to sell it so they could fix me.  They didn’t have any other money to fix me, and they told me, even to this day, that they would never regret what they decided to do.  They sold that farm and they paid for everything that had to do with my leg.

It wasn’t all that bad, seeing as they were able to still buy a house here in Eleven.  Of course, it wasn’t anything fancy.  It was pretty run down, but my dad called himself a handy man, and he worked hard to restore the house back to something more livable.  He started with my room, telling me that I needed to be comfortable before anyone else.  I was still getting over the pain in my leg, but it was a lot better since the doctors fixed it.  However, still to this day, the cold always made my leg feel tingly.  I never knew why, and I never really asked any questions.  I was just happy to be alright now.

As I grew up, I watched as my parents worked hard to provide for the three of us.  After the house, there wasn’t much left for us to use before it all dried up.  I missed that big farm that we had, but my parents told me not to worry about it anymore.  They sold it to people who they knew would make a great profit off of it.  Sometimes they would still let me on it, even though I didn’t work on it anymore.  There were days I would go wandering around, trying to see what else there was to explore in this district.  There wasn’t much besides agriculture, but the forest nearby sometimes brought me a peace that I never knew well.  I wished my life was different from what it was, but at the same time, I appreciated most of the moments I spent here with my family.  I loved them, and I would do anything for them. 

I got home from another long shift and headed straight for my room.  I pulled off the shirt I was wearing and noticed a small bruise on the left side of my stomach.  Probably from being too rough with the ears of corn as they hit it repeatedly.  I moved over the taught skin before feeling a slight sting from it.  I hated when I would come home in random bruises.  It honestly amazed me how many times it happened here in Eleven.  I grabbed a cloth and wetted it a little, putting it to the dirt on my face and rubbing gently, watching it glide over my mouth and over my eyes.  I looked at myself in the mirror and thought to myself how much I wished my life was different.  How I wished I could do more to provide for my family.  How much I wished we didn’t live in these circumstances.

I heard the door open to my room and I stayed planted, still wiping the dirt from my face.  It was my father, coming in to give me a good night kiss.  He told me loved me as he stood in the dirty mirror in front of us.  He lightly caressed my cheek and told me to sleep tight and get ready for another big day.  He turned around and headed back out the door, in which I told him that I loved him.  My mother came by the door and she told me the same thing.  We shared a moment right there, and that’s when I realized that I had to put them first.  No matter what.  I would do anything for my parents.  Anything.


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