venture (n.)
a risky or daring journey or undertaking.
CHECKMATE #1
"i'd rather die without heartbreak than live on their bones and blood."
Gwyneth Anderson was nothing short of a normal teenage girl, wondering if her bland and boring life would e...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
EVERYTHING CHANGED, the year she turned ten. The year she was old enough to do everything she wanted, but it was all taken from her.
Gwyneth Anderson was a normal girl with a normal name. Since the day she was born, she had lived in the Adelaide Woods, leading a happy life.
In her thirteen years of life, Gwyneth Anderson had never complained about anything. She was obedient, kind, caring, humble, well-known and popular in her school as a good friend to many.
The Adelaide Woods was a small country in the middle of a forest with dense foliage that extended all the way to Capitol City. It had been there for as long as anyone could remember, until history proved them wrong.
The community used to be a peaceful place, where things like terrorism were unheard of... Until three years ago, just a mere few days after Gwyneth's tenth birthday, which she happily and proudly celebrated, Byrok declared war on the once calm Adelaide Woods, sending everyone into a frenzy.
Gwyneth remembers that at the time, Byrok had just developed the technology to revive dead people, but was lacking the Information Technology chip to do so. The Adelaide Woods had a really close connection to the Capitol City, which was a large country that had the chip that Byrok was looking for.
No one in the Adelaide Woods knew this, but the Byrok forces weren't powerful enough to conquer the Capitol.
And so, they declared war on the Adelaide Woods as a force to push the Capitol City in their direction and give them the chip that they wanted.
A period of dark days followed, where there were no supplies, no excessive activities, and no anything.
The news was announced: The Capitol had signed an unfair treaty with Byrok to sell them their newest technology AI chip.
Gwyneth watched from her own window as the armies fought against each other, helpless as her childhood playground, along with many precious memories, was destroyed, before her own eyes.
A month into the war, the Adelaide Woods was in chaos. The barrier broke down, and the Adelaide Woods had no other choice but to surrender to Byrok, in fear of any more harm caused to the country and their people.
A new government was sent from Byrok to rule. They were known as the "New Regime" and people started to think everything bad inflicted on them was Byrok's doing.
Byrok then proceeded to take the chip from the Capitol and bring it back to their own country, where they set up revival labs, but the people in the Capitol dare not rebel, because fear overwhelmed Adelaide Woods' citizens' hearts once again when everything changed with Byrok taking over.
Gwyneth witnessed darkness and fear fill her country. The Adelaide Woods lost their freedom and were cut off entirely from the outside world. Everything not absolutely necessary for the citizens' survival was prohibited. All of Gwyneth's leisure activities were cut off, and all that was left was school.
Gwyneth loved school. She loved being able to see her friends and learn something new every day. But since the Byrok government forced them to attend, she found that it became less and less joyful each and every day. The worst part was that Byrok became extremely strict with her grades and learning abilities. She was no longer allowed to explore any of her interests and wasn't allowed to be creative in any way.
Now that all freedom had been taken from her, all that Gwyneth had to look forward to was the walk home with her best friends, getting home and spending time with her parents. For Gwyneth, that was the best part of the day, because no one could ever ruin it for her. At least, that's what she thought...
One may ask, why the citizens hadn't rebelled against the New Regime. In fact, the answer was simple. The Adelaide Woods had surrendered. Byrok wanted to prove their power to the citizens. Everyone lived under the constant fear that one of them would be punished. With one command from the Byrok government, thousands of innocent lives could be sacrificed, in a public execution. That was the only way Byrok could remain in power; they had to be able to keep the people in fear. No one dared to rebel against them because if they did, they risked being punished.
In the three years that her life had changed drastically, Gwyneth Anderson had learnt to be an even better girl, to politely keep her mouth shut when needed, even if it was against her own free will.
She was expressive and strong-willed. Gwyneth didn't enjoy the days of raging war, yet knew to look forward to a better tomorrow. Everyone had flaws - hers were her loquaciousness and inquisitiveness. Her traits led to her being recognized at school for academic excellence - but almost failed her at times of war. She craved communication, liked reading the news and learning more about people in other countries and their lives. Once Byrok cut off all outside communication, it was like she had been stuck in a cage, like a hamster running on a wheel, every day, just waiting for its imminent death. Gwyneth felt she'd never achieve anything in life now that her dream had been shattered.
War obviously was miserable and disappointing, and Gwyneth sometimes felt she'd lost her life's spark, but eventually, her strong sense of independence and resilience allowed her to ignore the fear that she was living with every day and enjoy the simple things in life with her loved ones. Though the sleepovers and late-night hangouts with her best friends were gone, she still looked forward to school every day and seeing her friends.
She was safe, and her friends were safe. She was content.
Gwyneth Anderson thought she had all she would ever need. Good friends. Her family. Everyone she loved. She was only a teenager, after all. She was only thirteen. She wouldn't ask for anything else, but before these people were torn away from her without warning, she had taken everything for granted.
Since she was ten, Gwyneth Anderson had been living in this dark hole, wishing that one day it would go back to normal, and that Byrok would return her life to what it was before the terrible invasion. And though part of her wish came true, it came with a deep, dark price.
