Chapter 1: How It's Always Been
It was never supposed to be this way.
I was always supposed to live a wonderful life, and being from District Ten, that was pretty rare. I had everything you could want in a world where some people had nothing. Those were the people I had always pitied, wishing I could do something to make their lives as easy as mine. Every day I sat home and looked through the window out to my family's farm, hundreds of acres filled with livestock, watching the workers carry out countless strenuous tasks no matter what was going on around them. It could be a blazing hot day, a thunderstorm, or anything in between, and they still did everything that had to be done. And believe me, the list of things was never ending.
It wouldn't be as bad if my parents were kinder to their employees. They weren't mean people, and they always loved me, it was just that they were always focused on the money. Running one of the biggest farms in the district wasn't easy, which leads up to a lot of stress that they seemed to take out on their workers. I always dismissed the thought, but one day they were going to die. Being an only child, this farm would fall on me to take care of one day. When I was eight years old, I promised to myself that I would treat these workers with the respect they deserved. People are people, no matter their financial standings. I never really talked to my parents about this issue, but I always tried to help the less fortunate in any way I could.
Coming from a family with more than most has allowed me to do things that most kids in the district probably don't get to, and I have my parents to thank for that. For example, I have really good grades in school because of all the time on my hands. While most kids are working, I can get in a good amount of studying. I'm smarter than most of my classmates, which comes with some perks. It's kind of nice to be the one that people come to when they can't solve a math problem, or when they don't know what a word means. It's nice to have people think highly of you, which results in a lot of friends. My district doesn't value being book smart very much compared to having common sense, but who knows where my smarts could lead me later in life?
I've also learned a lot in the medical field specifically. Most of the best doctors are in the Capitol, and no one specializes in animals there, because unless you live in ten, it's kind of pointless. I really enjoy taking care of the animals at the farm, it makes me feel proud when an animal is in pain and I can stop their suffering. Many things about animals carry over to people too. I've never really had to help a hurt person though, as there is a hospital right near the farm. The things that I have learned help my parents a lot when there is a problem with one of the animals, they always tell me how proud they are of all of my "prestigious accomplishments".
But they weren't so proud when I told I was dating Ryder Murphy. I remember their faces when they found out that I was dating my father's very own farmhand. He gets paid pretty much nothing, and his family is extremely poor. I didn't care about that, I just like him for who he is. At 14 years old, I'm sure I'm in love. Adults would laugh at the thought, but we've already had conversations about where our wedding is going to be (10 years from now) and the most important life lessons we want to teach our children. At least that's how it's supposed to be. Though some things don't happen like they're supposed to,but what we have is something that could never be taken away from me.
It took a while, but Ryder grew on my parents. When they hired him, all they saw was a poor eleven-year old who was begging for a job. Normally, he feeds and tends to the cows. When my father saw how hard of a worker he was, he started to take a liking to him, seeing as he would work extra hours for barely any money. My father told me once that he saw himself in Ryder. As a boy, he was poor, but he worked his way up to where he is today. I admire my father, because if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have the life that I do.
My mother was significantly harder to win over. She had the opposite upbringing of my father, growing up wealthy, just by some stroke of luck. She'd heard from around town that Ryder was a mean angry brute, but so have I, and it didn't stop me from loving him. He has a bad reputation, and it's probably because he gets into fights at school for being poor. District Ten might not be the richest of places, but most of the families aren't starving like Ryder. She's always taught me to never lie, so when I told her that Ryder was different around me than when he is with others, she realized the kind of boy he is. I wouldn't say that my parents like him that much, but my father respects him and my mother accepts him.
Ryder has told me before that he would do anything for me, and I don't doubt that at all. I'm pretty sure he cares about me more than he cares about himself, and the same thing goes for me. I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I didn't have him beside me, and I know how lucky I am to be able to call him mine. Although he has anger issues, he tries his best to keep it in check around me. It's almost like he's another person when I'm there. I love him, and I love every imperfection about him, even when he is angry. My life was a fairy tale, and I couldn't ask for anything more.
What could possibly go wrong?
Author's Note: Hello all! This is the story of two characters that I submitted into the SYOT Reaped: The 18th Hunger Games by TheBlaBla245. This chapter is basically a summary of Addy Walker's life before it is all about to change.
Yours Truly,
CuriousClove :)