“Lights out, Sohyun.” Dad said, poking his head through my doorway and giving me a quick nod. I nodded back before setting my laptop to the side and getting off my bed to go and turn off the lights. Dad left me to my own, allowing me time to get ready for bed and the next day. It was almost ten o’clock now, which was the well-known time for everyone in our neighborhood to not only be in their houses but to also be at least in their beds. Government had set that up and for the past few years, no one had been caught breaking the curfew.

                I say caught because this was the time that I usually snuck off to take pictures of the Rebels and their actions of standing up to the Government. Whether it was protest in front of factories or riots in the main streets, I liked to be near it all and take pictures.

                Considering that I had once been a part of those fights, it was the closest I could get without risking my life or the life of my family.

                Pulling my camera bag from underneath my bed, I quickly scribbled a small note to my family in case I wasn’t back by morning and climbed out through the fire escape outside my window.

                I knew the streets around our condo building better than anyone else, so walking around at night wasn’t a worry for me. The only thing I was concerned about was the National Guards catching me. They were the basic army underneath Government that did all of the dirty work that was ordered.

                Killing was their specialty.

                They roamed the streets at night looking for any Civilians out past curfew. They were the ones that inflicted punishments. And because of the information that I knew of what the Rebels were up to tonight, I didn’t want to get caught.

                It took twice as long to get down to Base as it usually would, considering I had to take the long way with all the back roads that the National Guards didn’t know about, but I made it before the Rebels did.

                Base is where National Guards meet and train. And from what a classmate said, tonight it was where the Rebels were going to raid for more weapons and ammo.

                I stayed across the street, hidden in the darkness between two buildings, in an alleyway.

                The wait wasn’t long. A truck filled full of National Guards drove through the gate set up in front of Base and even before anyone could really wrap their mind around the fact that the National Guards sitting in the back of the truck weren’t actually National Guards, they were already on their feet, attacking the ones closest to them.

                I fumbled with my camera as I got to my feet, snapping as many pictures as I could as the Rebels revealed themselves. They had black paint running across their faces in different ways, as to not give away themselves just like they always did. They jumped out of the truck and pushed the National Guards back, making good progress towards Base rather quickly. More Rebels came out from the bushes close by and climbed over the high gates to join in the fight as National Guards came pouring out from Base. Although outnumbered, the Rebels had skills that the National Guard only dreamed of matching.

                I took a small step out onto the street to get a better angle for photos and snapped a few more of a specific Rebel that a friend of mine had pointed out in my photos before. He was currently wrestling a gun out a Guard’s hand and trying to flip him off the guarding post at the same time. I snapped a photo of him just as he succeeded.

                Grinning, I lowered the camera to flip through the photos.

                I knew that I didn’t have to watch the riot since I would know what was going on soon enough. I wasn’t the only one from my high school that snuck out to follow the Rebels around. I wouldn’t be surprised if I wasn’t the only one hear at this moment either.

                “Hey, you!” my head snapped up in time to catch sight of a National Guard storming over to me. He had a baton in one hand and gun strapped to his side. And anger burning in his eyes as he came closer. He grabbed me by the wrist, making me drop my camera, and yanked me forward, further into the street.

                If this was any other time of the day, I would have been hit by a car.

                I stumbled and fell to the ground, scraping my knee and the palms of my hands as I sank down. I was too shocked from being caught to really respond as the Guard began to yell at me.

                “It’s passed curfew!” he yelled, using the baton to hit me across the back of my head. I sank further onto the ground and squeezed my eyes shut. He grabbed a fistful of my hair, pulled me back, and whispered in my ear, “Bad things happen to people that are out passed curfew.”

                I felt the barrel of the gun press against my temple and I glared up at him defiantly. If killing me was all he was going to do, then fine, he could go ahead and do his worse.

                But my family wouldn’t let him get away with it.

                That was the only thing stopping me from fighting back at that moment.

                A shot rang through the already noisy night and the Guard cried out in pain as he fell to his knees on the ground beside me. I turned in surprise to see the Rebel I had been photographing earlier standing a small distance away, with a gun in one of his hands. He walked over and gave me a small nod of acknowledgment, before yanking the Guard to his feet again. The Guard cried out once more in pain and that’s when I noticed he had a new wound in the back of his leg.

                “Apologize.” The Rebel growled into his ear, leaning threateningly close to him. The Guard said nothing in return, which caused the Rebel to shoot him once more, but this time in the other leg. “I said, apologize.”

                “Wait, stop.” I said, quickly getting to my feet. I felt dizzy and my head hurt to no end, but I walked towards the Rebel and lifted the baton that belonged to the Guard up. I stared at the Guard straight in the eyes and smirked. “Bad things happen to people that are out passed curfew, isn’t that right? Bad things.”

                His face visibly paled in the light of the Base, but it was too late for him. 

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so story time? story time *nods*

my mom was driving us home a couple days ago and she passed our neighborhood and i had to remind her where we lived (again) and she was like "oh! i was just spacing out and driving and i didn't even notice!" so she had to turn around and i just sighed and leaned back in my seat. she turned to look at me and she goes "how does it feel to have such a spacey mother?" and i thought about it for a while then i just shrugged and replied "i don't know, you get used to it after a while." so she hit me and yelled "THAT'S NOT WHAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO SAY! you're supposed to say, 'no mom! you're not spacey! not at all!'" and i just started laughing.

my mom is pretty cool ^^ 

thanks for reading~