"Run! Run!" that's all I could hear from behind me as my brother, James, and I sprinted away from our Circle's Town Center. We had just been walking home from school when the trouble had begun. People in our Circle had been becoming restless with the new system after the 20 years we have dealt with it. My name is Annabel Fukoshima and I live in the most outer Circle of this settlement. Things are very different then I heard they used to be.
What the government likes to call the "New Beginning" completely changed how the world worked. Directly before, the economy had been plummeting and the government needed a solution, so they looked into the past for ideas. The way we live now is almost like medieval times where everything was based on rank. Each settlement is made up of a series of circles; the richest live in the center working out to the poorer people in the outer circles. We were placed in these positions by the government at the New Beginning. Wherever you were in the economy at the time was where your family would be stuck for generations unless you did something outstanding for the community to move up in the system which is almost impossible.
I live with my family of four including me, my two brothers, James and Paul, and my mother. My father passed away a little after my youngest brother Paul was born from a disease that had been spreading at the time. As I said before we live in the most outer circle otherwise known as the poorest. The conditions here are not very good, which of course was the cause of the riot on our way home from school. Then we have the Order Guards who make our lives that much worse. The government has placed them in each circle to keep order obviously from their name. I have yet to hear of a single person who likes them.
James, Paul, and I rush into our house hoping that we had escaped any trouble. "What's wrong? Why were you running?" Mother asked us in a rush.
"Don't worry Mother we should be fine we just ran into some trouble in the Center. Some people were getting riled up again." James answered to calm her down.
"They just don't know when to stop do they. They're just bringing more problems onto our circle, as if we don't already have enough with all the sickness going around here." She sure is right about that. Every time people start arguing the portions of food sent to each house becomes smaller and smaller and same with the supplies. Ever since our economy almost hit rock bottom the government has been in control of pretty much everything. Everyday they send a certain portion of food and other necessities to each household depending on their jobs and the number of people living in the house, or as they should be called here shacks. Our mother is the only one bringing in any money for our family since my brothers and I are still too young, so we already go hungry so much of the time. So many people in our circle go hungry there is hardly anything any of us can do about it except try to move up a circle which is almost completely unheard of. The only way my family sneaks by is because when everything first started my Mother had planted some vegetable and fruit plants. Luckily they are low growing so no one sees them over our fence. If we are caught with them we could be in serious trouble. It sure is nice our family usually has pretty good luck.