I lay face down on my bed doing my meaningless homework aggravated that they are making me write down false information but anything to pretend that I support the new government right? I'm practically pulling my hair out of my head when my parents call me down for dinner. It's a pretty quiet dinner, before my younger sister was born my father would tell me all about how life used to be different but when I got in trouble in elementary school he gave me a talk saying that what is said in our house stays in our house and to do whatever the schools says but don't believe them. For some reason, he doesn't want to tell me sister about the old life. Maybe it's because he doesn't want her to get in trouble or he doesn't want her to have conflicting emotions between school and reality. So now we resort to late night conversations every other night so that I can still learn real history. Tonight is not that night.
Once I finally leave the table, I quickly change into all black clothes and put on my packed backpack and sneak out of my window. That's the advantage of living in our section, they think that since we live life so well we will easily do what they tell us to, and for the most part they do. But not me. I use our sections lack of cameras to guide me to the school without being caught. I close my eyes trying to remember one of the schools secret entrances. I picture the principals office, right above his head a hatch door was open. My hands grip the edges on the bricks and I pull myself up a brick at a time until I am safely on the roof. I walk over to where I correctly assumed the principals office was and dropped down through the open hatch. On his computer screen is a note.
Jennifer,
I know that you are angry at the government and the school for giving you false information but think rationally.
Principal Synal
I roll my eyes and crumple the note and slip it in my pocket. Of course I'm thinking rationally, the students deserve to know. I walk along the walls of the school, knowing that there are cameras in here. I stay against the wall until I am in the center room. Why they didn't put cameras where most students tend to hang out is beyond me. I pull out the spray paint out of my back pack and begin to coat the entire wall with pictures of burned people that I have memorized from the books about the holocaust and other genocides my father has told me about, I even included Jordyn's face, not missing a single detail from her profile picture. On another wall I wrote COMMUNISM in big red letters and DEMOCRACY in big black letters with and X through it signifying that democracy as we know it is gone. On a third wall I take a black sharpie and begin to write Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Just as I finish writing it I hear voices shouting in the halls, but I'm not yet finished. I take my red sharpie and begin to annotate the Gettysburg Address so that it matches what is currently going on in our country while holding a black spray paint can in my other hand.
The voices are getting closer. I take a deep breath and hide myself into a corner of the room and quickly write: we will never forget our true history.
The officers are now in the dark room because they wanted the school to be eco friendly and not allow lights to be on after six p.m. Their loss. My eyes have already adjusted to the dark so I can see all of their shapes. I slip the sharpie into my backpacks pocket and take out another spray can and shake them. I scream and charge towards them spraying the paint right into their faces so that they cannot see. I laugh maniacally as they cower down screaming about getting spray painted in the face. I spray them one more time and kick them in the ribs for good measure, just to make sure they can't come after me anytime soon.
I charge right out the front doors not scared of making noise because they know where I am.
These officers are really stupid, all of them were inside and left no one to guard the outside. I run home, it's a good thing I live near the school, and crawl up the side of my house and into my room.
"Freeze!" A man with a deep voice calls out from inside my room. I slowly stand up and put my hands up in the air. A man dressed in all black points a gun at me and I smirk, noticing my water bottle on my nightstand. I reach out to grab it and he yells again. "I said freeze!"
"I just want a drink of water." I say innocently reciting the lines from my favorite childhood movie that they banned. As I lift the water bottle up to my mouth, another gun is pointed at me. They open their mouths again to speak but I cut them off.
"I know, you said freeze." I jump out of my window and land in a crouched position hiding in the bush right below my window. I wait for them there, waiting for the door to open and shut. "You know that for members of CLOD, I was expecting you to be faster." I brush the dirt off my pants wondering how I am so nonchalant about this whole encounter. Maybe it's because they know I'm such a good child that they're conflicted but they got another thing coming.
"We are fast." One of the men says pretending to sound confident.
"Then run run as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!" I scream at the top of my lungs reliving the first time Jordyn and I played tag and we would scream that line from our favorite book at each other. Suddenly this whole rebelling the government had a new purpose. I can feel their confused glances as I begin to sprint. It's a really good thing the school assigned me to participate in track, otherwise they would have me by now. I don't know where I'm going but I know I'm going fast, too fast for them to catch up to me.
Soon, sirens begin to fill the air and people begin to step outside of their homes with flashlights as helicopters fly over our heads. Not seeing any trees near me, I keep running, pumping my arms and legs, as they keep chasing. My foot hooks onto a branch and my hands reach out in front of me but they barely stop the fall. My nose dives into the cement pavement and I hear a solid crack. I cry out in agony, trying not to attract attention. I push myself up and hold my hand to my nose feeling warm blood trickling down.
The sirens get closer and I immediately begin running ignoring the pain in my throbbing nose. At least if they catch me they'll have to put me in a hospital. Lights begin flashing in the air all around me slowly focusing on me.
"Stop, you're under arrest." I roll my eyes but do as I'm told. "Hold your arms above your head." The man gets closer to me slowly as if he touches me he will gain my hatred towards the government. He brings the handcuffs closer to my hands and I kick my leg up, hitting him right in the sweet spot. He groans, doubling over and soon I have five more guys on me. I crack my knuckles and throw punches, leaving my thumb out like my father taught me, at anyone who dares to come near this bloody mess.
"Come on girl, you know you can't fight all of us." I quickly throw my hair up into a pony tail with my lips pressed into an aggravated frown. "Give us your best swing." He smirks and pats his chest. "Right here, bet you will miss."
I pull my arm back and throw my hand right into his stomach and not even a second later kick my knee up which results in him falling down onto the ground rolling around screaming.
Another man steps up and I wrap my arm around his neck putting him into a tight headlock. He writhes and wiggles and I don't let him go until after he stopped fighting me.
"Just because you can beat us in a fight doesn't mean you are not under arrest, you are still required to go to the jail yard." A laugh escapes my subtly parted lips and the men step back surprise and fear etched in their faces.
"You don't understand do you? If even one youth tries to disrupt the system, there must be more who agree with her. Put me in jail and you will have a lot more to deal with than some girl with a bloody nose." Their mouths open and shut trying to find something to say. "Go ahead take me. At least I know I'm fighting for what's right." They slowly step towards me as if I'm a ticking time bomb. I lift my arms above my head and allow them to come near me. These members of CLOD really are stupid.
When they reach up to click the handcuffs around my wrists I jerk my elbows down landing right on top of the head of the member right in front me and do a round house kick knocking the rest down to their feet.
"Nobody would ever willingly go to the jail yard." I pant out just before sprinting away with the wail of the sirens long gone behind me.
