Anonymous

Chapter 1

A cool breeze hit my forehead forcing my body to shift awake. My grandpa must of opened my window in the night, it was a little warm out. Out here in these parts of Oregon it's almost like we're in the middle of no where. There's mountains and forests everywhere. My grandpa was always a big hunter. He taught me how to catch fish with a spear and how to hunt for food. It was a very masculine thing to learn and it seemed like the popular thing to do. In reality, it wasn't.

     I've lived my whole life in a cabin home. It's a three bedroom home with a basement, that's were my grandpa keeps his weapons. It's just the two of us in this house, along with my sister, Raelyn. She is the same age as me, sixteen. We're not twins at all but we do get along and we both love our grandpa. The fact he took us in after our parents got ill was very kind of him.

     Growing up in a rough time period in a rough area has not been kind for me our my family. I still here the screams of pain and misery in my dreams. I've asked my grandpa about it and he always replies with "it's just from our government system." But I have nightmares almost every night. Some are about me saving my sister. Some are about someone killing me. They all are as scary.

     I grabbed a shirt off the grown and lifted it over my head and straightened it up. I ran my fingers through my hair and got up off of my bed. I put on my leather boots and grey flannel along with a grey jacket over. I walked out the door seeing Raelyn outside of her room sitting down looking out the window.

"What are you doing?" I asked her as she stared at the outdoors.

"Just," she breathed, "enjoying the sight."

I sat down next to her. "Is anything wrong?"

"No nothing's wrong. Where are you going?"

"To Jax's house. I'll be back soon."

     I got up from the seat and walked out her door. Grabbing my backpack and gun, I left my house. We live on a little creek with s big yard and lots of trees. Next door is my best friend Jax. He takes care of my family when I can't be there. Along with my other friend, Andy. She's always been there for me. She usually is gone out smuggling supplies into the poor sections. Every so often she comes by and sees Jax and I. There's one thing she never shuts up about, how much she hates the "LA dogs." That's her nickname for the rich families in Los Angles. She steals their belongings and brings them to some poor people including her family and Jax and I.

I've known Andy longer. She and I met when my parents died and I moved to this cabin with my grandpa and sister. Andy is a very quick girl and is stubborn. She only trusts me and Jax and hates the rich side. She has long brown hair and green eyes and a high pitched voice. She sings in the forest all the time, it usually let's me know she's nearby.

I saw Jax in his backyard with a giant stick. Jax is a very tall athletic guy. He's 6'4" and has brown hair and brown eyes. He looked like he was making a fire. I snuck over to scare him as best as I could. I tried very hard not to make a noise. Sneaking behind him I shook him and made a noise. He completely jumped and almost fell into the fire but I caught him and staged him down.

"Marcus! I hate you!" he yelled relived he didn't fall.

"Oh don't be a baby Jax. Do you know when Andy is suppose to be back?"

"I'm right here." I heard a familiar voice behind me. I turned around and saw Andy. I quickly jumped up and hugged her.

"When did you get back?" I asked with excitement in my voice.

"Last night. It's a surprise," she smiled to me.

"I missed you." I smiled at her.

Jax walked over to her and grabbed a box she had. "What's in here?" he asked her.

"More apples I found. I know how much you boys love them so I got you two a box of them."

"Oh my goodness thank you!" Jax yelled in joy.

I laughed and grabbed one to eat. "Do you guys think the market is open?"

"Maybe, we can go check it's worth a look," Andy suggested.

The market is were we by a lot of our food when Andy doesn't bring any. We don't pay with coin or bills around here. Instead we trade valuables for food or food for valuables. Due to everyone here being poor. There's shops all around and it's an open trading store. It's a little dangerous when we go there, or anywhere other than our homes in the woods. The reason why; our poor district has very little police. And when we do have some, they don't care about us poor people. They just care about the next meal they're getting, however, I don't blame them.

The three of us got up and stated to walk to the Market. "How about a race? Who's ever first pays less."

"Deal." They both said.

"Ready. Set. Go!" We all shouted.

I ran as fast as I could jumping over logs and sliding under low branches. I made sure to stay ahead as long as I could. I looked back to see if anyone was on my tail. There she was, Andy. She got close to me and hit my back.

"Hey you cheater!" I yelled laughing.

"Oh well!" she yelled back.

I guess she didn't want to play "nice guys." I ran faster and grabbed a stick off the ground. I quickly hit her with it and threw it in her face.

"Pay back aye?" I laughed.

Eventually, we made it there. Luckily, it was still opened. I found a good shop and found lots of breads and cheese to trade.

This is a day in my life. Not too bad so far, but this is just the beginning.