The Eastsider

How It Started

When I was five, the trade between countries started to fall apart. Soon American was sent into a panic. The economy was taking hits left and right. People were losing jobs everywhere. The government came up with a plan that they thought would fix everything, a divided country. They made anyone who had over 500,000 dollars move to the west side of America. All the rest of us went to the east. I had a lot of friends who got moved to the west side, including my best friend Kwon. I got moved to the East side along with my two brothers, Amell and Amory. When we got there, they put us in this small house. There was only two rooms and there were five of us. My brothers and I had to share a room. I ended up sleeping on the floor most nights. After the first month, they took my dad and mom somewhere and we didn't see them until sundown. Apparently if you have over two kids you have to work harder than anyone else. My mom said it made sense. Since Amell was the oldest (only 7 at the time), he had to take care of us. I felt bad for him because he had to take care of a five and three year old. He never complained and he always got us food and put us to bed before our parents got home. One day a machine at my parents job malfunctioned and my mom got killed. I was only seven when this happened. The people never did anything; they still made my dad work and now he had to work harder to support us. I didn't see my dad for three years because of this. When I turned ten, they started training me to work. I couldn't start until I was 18, but they thought it would be best to start soon. By the time I was 12, I knew how to do the job. I helped take care of Amory because Amell got small jobs to help dad. Now I am 15 and all of this is normal. I went to our attic to get our Christmas stuff down when I saw another box. It was labeled "Good Times". I opened it up to see old pictures from when I was a lot younger. It was before the division. I saw a picture of my whole family, including my mom. I put it in my pocket, and I was about to go back downstairs when I saw another picture. It was of Kwon and me before we got separated. I took that one with me as well. After we got done putting all the Christmas stuff up, I went to my corner. I had built a blanket fort around it so I could have some privacy. I pulled out the pictures and stared at them for awhile. I remembered all the games of tag and hid n seek we played. I remember how happy everyone was. I fell asleep with one thought on my mind.
          "I have to make this right"