Shun

I woke up, practically hanging off of my bed. I propped myself up with my elbow, and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. When they came back into focus, I was faced with the back of Alice's head. It took me a moment to remember that I had fallen asleep while I was trying to comfort her after she had a nightmare.

Quietly, I climbed out of my bed, being extremely careful not to wake her. I made it out of the room without disturbing her sleep. "Shun?" I jumped when Christina said my name. I was too focused on getting out of the room without waking Alice. "Huh?" She was the only one in the room. Either the kids were still asleep, or were outside playing. Most likely the second scenario.

I sat down at the makeshift table that was in the room. Christina was cleaning our food box of spoiled contents that couldn't be salvaged. "What was all that commotion last night?" I yawned, stilled rubbing the last of the sleep out of my eyes. "It was Alice. I guess she had some kind of bad dream. Because when I walked in there, she was seriously freaked out about her grandfather. She wouldn't tell me though, so I don't know what really went on."

Christina looked over at the closed room and said, "I hope she's going to be okay." I nodded. I hadn't ever seen anyone that out of it from a dream; I had seen my share of people losing their minds though. Out of the old window, I could see the sun was vanishing behind gray clouds.

Christina saw this as well and said, "Looks like we'll finally be getting some rain soon. Good. We were running low on water." The ominous clouds were coming from the direction of the mountains, and coming in fast. If they did hold rain, it would be here within the hour. I said, "If it's going to rain, then I better go and fix Anna's floor before the bottom falls out."

Christina nodded as she put the food that was still good, back in the box. "That might be a smart idea." She handed me a small portion of food to eat. I wasn't all that hungry, but that didn't mean that I wouldn't be later on during the day. Especially if I was going to be doing work.

I heard the click of my room door, and Alice stepped out. Her hair was slightly messed up, but it looked like she had tried to fix it. Her eyes were still red from where she had cried last night. I stood up from the table and made my way towards her. "How are you doing?" I asked softly.

She rubbed her eye like I had been doing mine all morning. "Fine. I need to get going." She turned to walk out of the house, but I stopped her by grabbing her wrist. She turned and looked at my hand with confusion. "Go? After how you were last night? Don't you think you should at least rest a little bit more and make sure you're fit for travel?"

I knew she could make the short trek back to the City, but she still looked dazed and lost. Almost like she couldn't decide what was real or not. "I wish I could stay more, but I have to make sure my Grandfather isn't hurt." She tried to slip through my grip, but I wasn't letting her go anywhere.

"Alice, that was just a dream. I'm sure he's fine." Her expression told me that she didn't believe me. "I have to make sure though," she said sternly. She stared me down, but her face still showed signs of the fear and grief she was showing last night.

I sighed, and let go of her wrist. Her hand fell by her side. "Alright. Go and make sure your grandfather is okay." She thanked me for understanding, and ran from the house. I prayed that nothing bad happened to her.

Alice

The only let-up I had from my nightmare, was when I had fallen asleep the second time. Maybe it was because Shun said he wasn't going to leave until I fell asleep, and I felt safe from whatever might be out there that was trying to hurt me.

But the moment I woke up, I immediately thought about my grandfather. I couldn't stop thinking about my dream, and how I had to watch as he was taken away to some mysterious place by the Officials. A tear rolled down my cheek. I had to know if he was okay. I climbed out of the bed, and ran out of the room.

Shun and Christina were in the other room. They both saw me, and Shun was the one who stood up and walked over to me. He asked if I was alright, and I told him I was fine. He didn't seem to believe me though. When I told him what I was about to do, he grabbed my wrist and wouldn't let me leave.

He kept on telling me how my grandfather was probably fine, and that it was all a bad dream. I didn't care if it had been the happiest dream in my life, I wanted to make sure he was safe. Shun finally let me go, and I ran out of the house.

Quickly, I started to close the distance between me and the City. I would be there in no time. Above me, the sky had clouded over with clouds. They looked like they were going to bring rain soon. I ignored them, and kept my mind set on getting back to my grandfather.

My eyes locked onto the opening in the fence, and I didn't hesitate to slip through it. Any thoughts or worries I had about the Officials didn't even occur to me. I just wanted to get back and home and see if everything was just as I had left it. If there were any Officials standing around, I didn't notice them. I ran up the walkway of my house, and through the front door. "Grandfather? Are you in here?"

My heart dropped when nobody answered back. "Grandfather!" Still nothing. Frantically, I began to run around the house looking for him. All of the rooms were empty. When I ran back into the kitchen, I saw that the table that he always sat in, had been flipped over. That doesn't mean anything. That table always falls over.

I started to think that he may have gone into the City for something, and that he would be back any minute. But I didn't want to wait a minute. I wanted to know where he was right then and there. I ran out of the house and started to make my way towards the market, thinking that I would find him there.

Up ahead, I saw Runo standing around one of the vendors. "Alice?" She started to run towards me, and stopped when she finally reached me. "Alice? Where have you been?" Her voice was strained and her words came out quickly. "I wish I could tell you, Runo. But I need to find my Grandfather."

Her facial expression turned from worried, to grim. I noticed this drastic change and asked, "What happened, Runo? Tell me!" She grabbed one of my hands, and walked me over to the Courtyard across the street. She sat me down on a bench. "I want you to be sitting down, Alice." I shook her hand off of my shoulder.

"Where is my Grandfather?" I demanded. A few people turned around when I shouted. Runo shushed me by holding her finger up to her lips. "You really don't know?" I was almost on the verge of tears. If she knew where my grandfather was, then why didn't she just tell me already and save me so much worry? "Just tell me. Please," I begged.

Runo sat down next to me on the bench, and looked at me with her same grim expression. "The Officials took him away sometime last night. They were saying that he was plotting an escape from the City and conspiring with the Outcasts."

I couldn't believe my ears. My grandfather had never spoke to an Outcast in his life. And plotting an escape? He had never gone ten feet near the fence because he obeyed the laws of the City. They were trying to get to me through my Grandfather. Tears were now flooding down my face.

I didn't know what was worse, the dream where I watched the Officials take him away, or not even knowing it and now finding out from one of my friends. I pushed myself from the bench, and started to run back towards my house. I didn't want to believe it.

I couldn't come to terms with the idea that my grandfather had been taken away, was too horrible for me to even think about. People stared at me when I ran by them. They were probably wondering why I was crying. I ran back into my house, locking the door behind me.

A part of me was saying that was the right thing to do in case somebody tried to walk in. They'd at least have to work their way in if they wanted to get to me. But it didn't seem like I had been followed from what I could tell. I pulled the curtains shut on every window.

All I wanted to do was be alone, and not disturbed by anyone. I paced around the kitchen before setting the fallen table upright. It was all so surreal. They didn't have to take away my grandfather. I would have gladly taken his place if it meant that he would be safe.

After all, this did happen because of me. I was sure of it. Other than the table, nothing else had been disturbed. All of it was the same as it looked when I left the other day. Out of anger and frustration, I stomped my foot down on the wooden floor. It didn't make the usual sound it did.

This was more hollow sounded than solid. I bent down, and traced my fingers along the wood board. There was a semicircle cut at the top of the board, which I had always thought had been a hole. But it was certainly cut by human hands. I hit against the board with my knuckles.

It made that hollow sound, and even moved a little bit. This board wasn't nailed down like the rest of them were. I had lived in this house all of my life, and never noticed this strange board until now. I looked back up at the hole at the top of the board. Slowly, I hooked my index finger in it, and lifted up.

The board came up with no resistance. I laid it over to the side, and was faced with a small hole that was dug into the dirt underneath. Rock solid dirt made up the sides of the hole, which was no bigger than a square foot. But resting in the center of the hole, was a rusted metal box.

It had to be something my grandfather had hidden. How else would it have gotten there? Carefully, I lifted the box from its hiding spot, being cautious as to not cut myself on the jagged edges. I set it down next to the board that I removed. The lid wouldn't budge, when I saw a little button on the front of the box.

I placed my thumb on it, and pushed it to the side. The lid then popped up slightly, allowing me to view the contents inside. I lifted it up, and was greeted with a yellow-stained piece of paper. When I took it out, it felt as if it would fall apart in my hands. The edges were brittle, and little pieces of the paper were flaking off and landing in my lap and on the floor.

It made crinkling sounds as I unfolded it. My eyes widened when I saw what was on the inside. In faded colors, was a map. It showed a little place circled, and next to that was written in ink, "City." All around that, was a gray color that had "Wastelands" on it. There was another circle that seemed to be about a mile from the City.

That has to be where the Outcasts live. And beyond that, was a group of triangles that represented mountains. There was a question mark on the other side of them. I found that there was more to the map, and unfolded it the rest of the way. There were more spots circled along in the Wastelands.

Nothing was written beside them. What did they represent? When I looked closer at the map, I noticed there was a faint line that started at our City and went from circle to circle, then ended at the mountain range. It was marking directions to take. I looked back in the box, wondering if anything else was inside of it.

And there was. It was another piece of paper, newer and smaller than the map that I had found. It was folded the same way. Written in my grandfather's handwriting, was a list of detailed instructions. They were explaining what steps to take for escaping the City, and where to go after that.

They ended up at the mountain range, and just like on the map, the step after that had a question mark. My Grandfather….He was actually trying to escape. An educated guess was that the circles on the map, were actually more Cities that were like ours.

I suddenly grew paranoid, and hid the map and instructions in the pocket of my dress. I dropped the box back down in its secret hole, and covered it back up with the board. This was why they took my grandfather away. What Runo had told me was true; he was planning an escape and was going to help out the Outcasts along the way.

But why would he want to leave and go someplace, that he wasn't even sure existed? He had to know something that was going to happen. Making sure that the map couldn't be seen from my pocket, I left out of the house as naturally as I could.

I knew if I had been at home when they took my grandfather away, they would have taken me as well. Whether I knew his plans or not. Right now, I could be killed for having this map. I slipped back through the fence, and ran out into the Wastelands. There wasn't any reason to worry about being seen anymore.

They were already hunting me, I was sure. I placed my hand on the pocket that held the map. Shun needed to see it. This map was something that was concerning a possible freedom on the other side of those mountains, and he had every right to know.

ah. suspenseful? isnt it? :p no uploads from March 22-26. i'm going on a band trip, and there shall be no internet. unless i can talk my boyfriend into letting me use his laptop. which i doubt he's bringing it. oh well. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~