Burned

Little one, innocent child, one few scars, burn her while, the fight is done, she's given up. Grow up, grow up, little child. She won for all thats worth a smile, but little one, do not give up when the fight is so  mild. Burned behind her back, not to the face, this is the story of one more, sweet Grace.

 

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Take a whiff of the cherry blossoms as they grow, her father once told her. Do not let the world escape you as you recline on the lower branches of the tree, for the farther you go, the higher the world will see you glow.

Poems were kind of my thing, I must admit I'm amazing at them. A little self-pride, much? Her father always got to her on that. Now, here she was. 7 years after her fathers death, she still sat on the sycamore tree. Its grown a lot since I was 9, and I always seemed to remember that Pocahontas song, Colors of The Wind, when I was up here. My mother sang that to me when I was little. Maybe I was the present day Pocahontas, or maybe just a little too obsessed with Disney movies. Probably a mixture of both.

I climbed down the tree and looked up. It was the biggest tree in the forest, I could practically see the curve of the earth. Or maybe that was just the skyscrapers of the big city shining at me ruining my line of sight. I started to walk home, but where was home, exactly? Since the war, the government took control over the country, raising taxes to a high, and killing off the middle class. Leaving most of the population to be poor. Of course there was always those lucky somebodies who managed to hold onto their money and stay rich. Mostly the famous, but occasionally some lower people who happened to win the lottery. Who knew that only 60 years ago that $1,000 dollar winnings for a lottery ticket wouldn't be a lot. Now, that was what most people craved. The fresh scent of money, maybe with $100 dollars you could buy a loaf of bread. I know what your thinking, crazy right? But with the shortage of money, the government printed more money, making dollars worth less, so the prices on everything went up. The government eventually stopped making money, but now there was not enough of it. The prices remained the high though, and thus began the dark days, where all you could manage was what you grew in your garden, if you could afford seeds, which most could not.

My mother and I were lucky enough to have a small cottage where we could stay and keep warm during the winter months, but in the summer it was required that every young adult, the prime working age, shall work for the government. This could be fighting in the war, building houses for the rich, or maybe even slaving away in the summer heat. The catch was that you would have to be 16-25. I turned 16 just this year, which means that I would have to work for them, which I did not want to do.

I was still a kid at heart, and managed to stay happy while the war was going on, unlike a lot of people.

Just what was the war exactly? It started 60 years ago when the government took control, and killed anyone who tried to stand up to them. This lead to the citizens revolt causing a war. The same war in which my father was killed 7 years ago, and still is going on today.

Personally I think the citizens are going to lose, but I don't dare say that in public. I could be executed, not by the government, but by those of the town. They would accuse me of being a traitor, and that I should just join the Legion. Which is slang for the governments fighters. Some of which who are required to fight for them during the summer, like I said before.

I could be on of those who end up fighting for them, just like my brother. He died noble when he turned on the Legion and fought with the Citizens. That ended badly of course. So now, just me and my mother. Together, but alone.

There's still just a glimmer of hope though. There is supposedly a secret organization called B2TC. Which means, Burned 2 The Core.

Which basically means that they think that this nation is burned, and corrupt with the government, which is of course true. Only few are selected to be apart of this organization though.