The Unintentional Rebellion | Teen Ink

The Unintentional Rebellion

November 3, 2014
By sammy.k BRONZE, Cupertino, California
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sammy.k BRONZE, Cupertino, California
1 article 2 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
'The sidelines may be safer, but life is played on the field' -Wendy Mass


Author's note:

 
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You know that time you have in your life when you just want to explore the outside world after being kept from it all your life, or when you just want to break all the rules and not care about what will happen to you afterwards? Well that’s practically my life. I am always trying to run and not care about what will happen to me after, but somehow the fear always catches up to me. The thoughts of what might actually happen to me. All of the worry about what the Seniors would ask or tell my parents. That voice in the back of my head that kept saying I would be in a terrible position with my foster parents. Sometimes running is the best thing for me.
Each time I go a little further away from my “home”, hoping to find a path to leave. But by then I’ve already been caught. ‘Why do you run’, is something everyone asks me and I tell them ‘life has taught me to not trust anyone and so I don’t need to tell you’. Now sometimes people won’t ask any more questions, but most do. ‘Why can’t you trust anyone’? I won’t tell them anything, I just walk away. Trust is something I’ve learned the hard way is not always good.
Now why? Because when I was six, my mom and I went to get some groceries. When we were coming home we took a different turn, on a different street. I was smart enough to know that something was about to happen, either to me or my mom and I was scared. Everything was too much for me to process at once. My mom crying, her telling me to sit on the curb, and that she would be back in a few minutes. But surprise, she never came back. Not hard to believe right? I was an orphan, but I found a family that took me in after begging them. I tried to find my mom’s family in lots of ways, even something about my dad, but I only found dead ends.
Later, when I was about eight, I found out that my mom died in a car crash. Did I regret not going to the funeral her friends and relatives, not crying over her, not trying to find her before she died? No I didn’t, I only felt bitterness towards her, and maybe 1 percent of regret. But in all I learned that I shouldn’t have trusted her, or at least as much as I actually did.
   "Huh, huh, huh". My lungs were on fire, my heart was racing, and I felt like I was going to collapse any minute. But I knew I had to keep going, I had to leave this time and wasn't going to stay any longer in my "home". I hadn't run away for a long time, longer than normal. This was because I saving up money, getting materials, and preparing for this day for almost 4 months. I could hear the whir of the helicopters in the distance, getting closer and closer by the minute. The woods finally came into view and I started running as fast as I could. I was almost there, after months of running and getting in trouble was finally going to pay off. I had heard over the years that once you cross into the woods, the government stops chasing you and they send their ‘secret agents’ in.
“Please stop running and calmly climb up the ladder”, said the General Myers. Almost there, come on you can do this. This was all that was going through my mind. Boom! They were getting impatient and had started to shoot. Boom, boom, boom! “Agghhh, damn it”, I screamed louder than I had ever in my life. Struggling to keep myself steady, I tried to run faster towards the woods. By now I could visibly see the boundary; it was actually pillars lined in a straight line. Boom, boom, boom, boom!
“Please surrender calmly and we will not hurt you”, said General Myers.
“You already hurt me, you butt hole”, I screamed but was drowned out by the whirring of the helicopter that was right behind me now.
10 steps, 5 steps…
“STOP”, screamed the pilot, “STOP RIGHT NOW, YOUNG LADY!”
3, 2, 1… Boom, boom, boom! And the last thing I remember before I blacked out was that something unusual happened to the bombs, didn’t even come in, they just dissolved into thin air.

When I wake up it’s the morning and I have no idea where I am. I also don’t how my arm is all bandaged or who did it. My supplies are all next to me in my pack, so with the help of a nearby tree I get onto my feet and suddenly the world turns upside-down.
“Whoa, what do you think you’re doing? Rachel, come here and help make her steady.”
“Wait, I’ll be right there Meg”
“Oh, no”, I said.
Bllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuaaaaaaaaaaahhhhggggggggllllaahhhh
“Wh-, oh man that’s really gross”
And just like that I was out cold again. The next time I woke up it was nightfall, and there was a fire going and it felt warm. I sat up and correctly scanned my surroundings and that’s when I realized I had finally made it to the woods, after all my hard work I was finally here. I tried to look for the other two people I saw last time I was awake, but they don’t seem to be here. I moved closer towards the fire when I hear soft voices, and I think it’s the two girls. But then they sound like they’re really mad at each other. ‘Creeeak’. I find the closest thing that I could hurt someone with and find a stick shaped like a spear and slowly turn around to where the noises came from. I’m about knock the person out but then I am suddenly pulled into the heated conversation between the people that are arguing.
“- don’t trust you, I mean why should we, what have you done to help us?”
“Because I’ve been raised so close to their techniques that I could help you defeat them.”
“Still, we already took another girl in, and we aren’t even sure if we can trust HER fully. So why the hell should we trust you?”
“Where is that girl anyway?”
“Here I’ll show you”
I don’t know why, but I ran. I just took my pack, my stick, and just hid myself.
“New girl where are you? Meg have you seen the girl?”
“Last time I saw her was when she threw up all over shoes.”
I heard them shuffling all their stuff to see if I took anything or any clues to where I went. The place where I was hidden was really uncomfortable and that’s when I you find out that I had been a stupid idiot. I moved to make myself comfortable, but when I did I stumbled and fell. Apparently I had been standing on a ridge and so when I moved my feet slipped of the small area.
“Help, agggggggghhh”, I screamed.
“She’s down there guys, she must have sat on the ridge”, said Rachel (well at least I think it was her).
When I reached the bottom the pain actually hit me. It hurt like hell and I wanted to cry out again. I heard the stumbles and the sound of footsteps coming behind me. Everything around me started to look fuzzy and I didn’t feel that good. And then I threw up again. But hey I guess Meg was lucky, because this time it wasn’t on her shoes.
“Hey girl, get your s*** together and get up.”
“You be nice to her, I mean seriously she’s hurt!” said Rachel.
“Just help her up, Adam”, Meg ordered
“Fine, I’ll pick her up and you can just stand there doing nothing”, he mumbles. 
Adam helps me get on my feet and also helps me walk back to the campsite. He gently sets me down and then sits next to me while Rachel and Meg go to gather some supplies to help me. It’s been more than 30 minutes and we both start to get worried.  Adam got up and started pacing the campsite. He comes up with different ideas of what might've happened to them, each more ridiculous than the last. Then finally I get fed up with him and sit up. Seriously I might have a curse for getting bad ideas because the minute I do that I fall (fortunately) into Adam's arms.
"What the heck did you do that for? You still look bad so I guess you still don't feel good", he asks.
"Of course I don't feel good, stupid”, I exclaim now annoyed, “And I did it so you would shut up”
This kid was starting to get on my nerves. I remember what he said to Rachel. ‘Because I’ve been raised so close to their techniques that I could help you defeat them’. I’m guessing that by this he meant that he had been raised near the government and could help us defeat them, but I agreed with Rachel, why should we trust him. For all we know, he could be one of those spies that the republic sends in when they want someone dead or he might be giving the Republic information on what we are doing. That’s when I know that’s what he is, that’s why he’s so anxious to help us and be with us. It’s because he is helping the government spy on us. I watch him closely looking to why the government picked him of all people. He’s tall, with a nice frame and this look on his face that makes it look like he’s amused. But he doesn’t look that smart, strong, fast, or many other features that the military have. So I start looking at the way he talks, his attitude, and any other small details I can find. That's when I hear them.
"HELP!"
"HELP!"
"Adam, isn't that Rachel and Meg?” I ask.
"Ya, I think it is, come on let's go see what happened."
He helps me up onto my feet and we go to find Rachel and Meg. All the time I’m are worried, hoping that the people who helped and took me in aren't hurt in anyway.

Adam and I have been walking for forever through the woods, but we still haven’t Rachel and Meg. Occasionally we hear someone saying what sounds like ‘HELP!’, but it comes from a different direction. And Adam is starting to really annoying me because when we hear someone say help, he turns in that direction, so we've been going in circles this whole time. Walking so much hasn't helped my leg from when I fell off the ridge and I don't have anything to help it so my pace is getting slower and slower by the minute. Finally, he sees that I'm starting to get tired and helps me sit down on the nearest rock. He sits down next to me and stares into space. This is the first time I've been able to actually look at him properly, even better than last time. He has brown hair that looks almost black in the dark. His hands look sturdy as well as his body frame, but I know that the main reason is because of living with the governments military. His eyes are so many shades of brown, but that hint of sadness in them would have made any girl fall for him within seconds. In the moonlight his expression looked guarded, but also relaxed. Then he directly looked at me. His eyes said that he wanted to tell me, Rachel, and Meg why he’s here. But his expression said otherwise. It looked like he wanted to be mad at me, but didn’t know how.
"Are you feeling okay now?"
"Um...not really, but I'm feeling better than before.” I responded.
Adam sat silently for a minute and then asked,
“Why did you run away?” he questioned.
Startled by his sudden question, “Why do YOU care, are you planning to take the information to the Republic?” I say defensively.
“What, no”, he says with a surprised look on his face. “Wait, why would you even think that and what did you even get that from. Ever since I got here, I’ve done is help YOU.”     And I realized that his was, sadly, correct. So I just shut up and thought about what might be going on at my home. My mom would be reading, my dad would be watching the sports channel, and my sisters would be sleeping. In ways I sort of miss them, but then I remember all the times they talked bad about me, made fun of me, or just laughed when I was being bullied. I’m thinking about my past memories with them, when Adam asks me a question.   
“Huh?”
“I said what’s your back story. Actually what’s your name first of all?” he says.
“Well first of all, my name is Sammy Knight. Then my back story…well it’s complicated”, I say.
“Is it complicated or hard for you to talk about?” he asks.
“Both I guess, I don’t know”, I murmur quietly.
He grunts OK and we sit in silence for a few minutes. Then he stands up and starts to put up the extra tent we brought. I’m about to offer my help, but he just shakes his head. I don’t know why, but this makes me smile and feel a little more comfortable with him.
“My dad died in a war when I was one year old. My mom never really told me anything about him when I asked her. My mom and I really never had that good of a relationship because of my dad, but then she crossed the line. When I was six years old and one day she just left me on the streets and when I was eight she died in a car crash.” I explained.
He stops what he’s doing and sits down next to me to listen to my story. He’s listens nicely and doesn’t interrupt me. Also it looks like what he’s listening to is really sad and doesn’t want to hear it. I keep talking about how I’ve lived with a foster family for the past few years. Then I explain how I've been trying to run away for a long time, but haven't been able to because of the Republic. Through all of this he is still listening with the same focus.
“The reason I’ve been trying to run away is because I wanted to just stop following all the rules, stop being the good girl like everyone else. I wanted to show people that you can do what you want and sometimes following the rules isn’t always good.” I said quietly.
We sat in silence for a few minutes. Then he got up and put his hand down to help me up. I took his hand and then almost fell over (again). Apparently I still wasn’t strong enough to support myself yet, so Adam helped me walk over to the tent that he set up and set me down inside I could rest.
“Take some sleep; I’ll take the first watch. Then I’ll wake you up for the second watch, is that ok with you?” he asked.
“Yeah that’s fine. Oh and thanks for ‘taking care’ of me right now”, I said embarrassed
He nodded and laughed while he went outside. I couldn’t sleep so I thought about where Rachel and Meg were. I really hoped they weren’t hurt in anyway.

I swear I had just closed my eyes for a second, when Adam shaking me awake.
“Is it my turn to watch?” I said groggily.
“No, but I need to talk to you”, not waiting for my answer he starts telling me what happened.
“Okay, so Rachel and Meg are ok, but they are being guarded by someone who works for the Republic. I know this because first of all, I know the guy. And second of all I found a way back to the campsite and that’s where I saw this.” he explains to me.
“We have to careful. You saw this last night so they should still be alright.”
“Well, actually I saw this three days ago. You’ve been sleeping that long, I couldn’t wake you up. You in such deep sleep, but at point you started screaming a little bit, dunno why though.” he says quietly.
"Also I was eavesdropping on what they were saying and the guy has been talking to the Republic. Because of you, rebellions are breaking out between the people and the government. I know you never intended to do that, but that's what happened.The government wants to kill you more than ever, now"
“WHAT?! HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!” I scream,"I mean I get the part about them wanting to kill me more, but rebellion, that's something I thought I would never do. But why?"
"Because they have never had freedom, but the minute you went through the Boundary they wanted that freedom that they've never experienced before."
He helped up on to my feet and led me outside. We put the tent in the bag we brought, and then hide that. Slowly and quietly, we start moving in direction Rachel and Meg should be. We don’t talk while walking, so I have some time to think of what to expect, why I was screaming at night, and if something happened to them in these last three days, it would be my entire fault.
We walked and walked for what seemed like eternity, until Adam finally stopped and the pain started (again, I am a seriously weak thing).
“Okay, here we are. Check it out”, he whispered.
This was the last thing before I heard darkness, and thing I felt was pain and guilt.



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meghnasarkar said...
on Nov. 24 2014 at 5:39 pm
NOOOOO WHAT HAPPENS NEXT NOOO I NEED TO KNOW