The Diary of Lisa Morris

Introduction

So this is a story about a girl called Lisa Morris ( as the title suggests). This books inspired by the Hunger Games, written by Sue Collins. I hope you like it! Please comment and let me know how you found it 😃

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Saturday 15th July 

My name is Lisa. Lisa Morris. I'm 15 years old and live in a war-torn country called Miridam. I have 3 sisters, Miriam (19), then me, Isabel (11) and Rose (9). Isabel and Rose fight a lot - probably because they're so close in age, whereas Miriam and I are best friends. She means the world to me, and I would do anything for her... But she's getting married to some man in three months, in April. Her wedding day will be the worst day of my life, but since she announced her engagement to Fred, I've tried my hardest to appear happy for her. I've kept my mouth shut all through the engagement party, the wedding planning, the dress picking and the rehearsals but I can't stay strong for much longer.

To keep my mind off things, I run. With my best friends, Andrew and Sal. We grew up together from nursery all the way to secondary, so needless to say, we're inseparable. I first discovered my talent for running at the beginning of secondary, when our terrifying PE teacher made us run 3km in our first lesson, which happened to be a double period. I coasted ahead of the others, only slightly out of breath at the end. After that I joined the after school cross country club and after a lot of training and competitions, I became the local running champion.

My life may seem like the average 15 year olds but it's far from it. Exactly one year today, Miridam was taken over by a larger neighboring country, Prusnia. Its powerful army swept through our country, annihilating anything and anyone in their way. It was an easy win for them. Though we fought our hardest, we were taken completely by surprise and secret agents from Prusnia had already disabled the main communications line, meaning word about the invasion travelled slowly and the military and government didn't have time to assemble an army. Within a few days, those in power (the royal family, government, landowners etc.) had been overthrown and executed. And Miridam was in Prusnian control.

To control us better, our new rulers split us up into areas from 1-7. We are a pretty small country, so there were just enough people in each area to be able to know almost everyone else, so everyone got along well. The only downside was that you couldn't do anything without the whole neighbourhood knowing. No one knew anything about any of the other districts- all correspondence was stopped the day after the end of the war; however we were given a chance to sort out family issues, for example who was going to live where. Complete isolation from the outside world was one of the best tools the government could have. It meant there was no chance of anyone becoming influenced by any goings on in other areas, and destroyed any hope of country unity and patriotism. Our supplies, such as food, water, money, wood, were all delivered to us via a sophisticated underground railway system prioritized for goods. Six Prusnian soldiers armed with high- tech machine guns guarded the entrances 24/7 on shifts and searched everything going in and out. They were equipped with lasers, stunners and had panic buttons built into their bulletproof armour. There was no hope of going anywhere through there.

Each area is surrounded by a man made desert 15 miles in width. Its so hot there that any water evaporates. And at night, animals come out. Rabid dogs, bred to survive even the most vicious heat, poisonous lizards and scorpions, you name it. A team of twenty was sent out to explore. That was four months ago. No one has heard of them since.

I live in area 5. It has a pretty landscape, with rivers and trees everywhere, and the people live in cottage- like houses with roses at the door, beautiful wildlife and sunny sky. Not so pretty are the dead bodies that often litter the town square, publicly executed by the sick law enforcers. Petty criminals are killed for stealing bread for their starving families without trials. The justice system is a corrupted mess, full of bribed and brainwashed judges and blackmailed police.

Due to this, the community in Area 5 is very close. We are all unconsciously united against the law system, and take pleasure in knowing that we run an illegal trading system under the officials' noses. The Slager is the nickname for Mrs.Slage's house. She runs a hub for a roaring black market trading centre, earning 10% of all profits made by the traders. I buy clothes, extra food and other miscellaneous items for my family from there. It's a huge risk, but I've been going there for years and nothings happened to me...   

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Was it good? It's my second story so far, so comment and let me know if you think anything could be improved pls ;)