patience . d9 . fin

I wasn't born in District Nine. At least, not according to the letter that was left with me on my adoptive parents' doorstep when I was just a few weeks old. I was born in the woods outside of the Districts' boundaries: the part of Panem where no one was allowed to wander out to, yet some brave souls still did. According to the letter, when I was born, my birth parents, who both lived in the woods and described themselves as 'wanderers', knew that it was too dangerous to raise me out in the wilderness. Although they knew the risks of having me grow up in a District (i.e. the Hunger Games), they decided it was the wiser of the two options.

The letter gave one request: for them to take care of me. They referred to me as 'Patience' in the letter. That was the name, or perhaps nickname that they had given me. It wasn't signed with their names, though, so we truly had no way of knowing who they were.

When my adoptive parents first found me on their doorstep, they listened to what the letter said, and they took care of me. They were beyond kind, beyond caring and beyond nurturing to me. They did everything in their power to raise me right, and I'd say they've done a fantastic job over the last sixteen years. They gave me a more passable 'normal' name that fit what the government would've expected my adoptive parents to name a child of their own. They called me Dantavia. They passed me off as their own child, and luckily, I looked similar enough to my now-mother than it was plausible.

The District's government believed them when they said that I was their daughter, born just a few weeks prior. They had to come up with solid reasoning as to why I wasn't reported as a birth immediately, and apparently managed to convince the Peacekeepers, since I'm still living with my adoptive family now, or I suppose I should just call them my family. That's what I always call them anyway. My parents didn't even tell me about my birth parents until I was twelve, and I've been told I can't talk about them, so as to not get my family into any sort of trouble. So, I stay quiet.

My family still calls me Patience, even though they named me Dantavia. That's the one piece of my birth parents that I have. Even though I really know nothing about them, it feels important somehow, for some reason. The most important thing about my life now, though, is the family that I have in the present. I have two wonderful parents, and two wonderful brothers. My mom is the hardest working person I know, closely followed by my dad. They both spend hours upon hours doing work, even when they're not at their jobs. They take their work home with them.

My brothers, Beaumont and Benedict, are both younger than I am, but we're all super close with one another. I play games with them all the time: especially card games. They love the different games I've taught them to play, and they've even taught me some of their own. They're both total sweethearts, and I would do anything to protect them.

I'd consider myself to be a very protective person. I've also been told I'm rather strong-willed. It takes a lot to break me down. I'm tough, and it's not just because we live in a rough part of Nine. I've just got tough skin. Words and punches both have a hard time taking me down, and I'm pretty proud of that. Now, I just hope that I can use that to keep all of the people that I care about safe. I won't let anything get between myself and those that I love. Nothing is allowed to hurt them.

We might not share blood, but we are family. We care about each other more than anything. We do anything and everything to make sure one another are safe and happy. We would never lay a hand on each other in a harmful way. We always make sure that each other are making the best decisions for our lives, our safety and our happiness. Bonds are built on love, not just blood.

-----

716 words