I ran.

“Get in there!! You aren’t a person that should be out!!” the soldier said.

“Let me go!! Riley!! Riley!!!” I screamed and squirted out of the soldier's hands but he grabbed my shirt and that was the end of my life, I was going to die. I looked forward and found a door. I kept squirming and fighting till I got out of the grip. I ran towards the door and opened it and found out that this is the edge of a cliff. The wind blew in my face and I couldn’t do anything. 

“Carissa, don’t!! Run into the maze! They won’t find yo-” Riley said but got cut off as his mouth got tied up. I looked back and saw the person who designed the maze. 

“You know what? I’m going to jump!” I said,

“Don’t be silly, you won’t.” he said. 

“Don’t test me!!” 

“You are better than that.” He said and he kept on talking so I jumped.

BEEP!! BEEP!! BEEP!!!

I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock. I turned it off and stayed in bed with my face in my pillow and my hand off the bed. I had that dream ever since my boyfriend went into the Rooms and the Maze. I heard my Aunt Sara yelling and coming to the door.

“Sweetheart?? You up?? It’s time to get ready for school.” Aunt Sara said as she opened my door. She’s my favorite aunt that’s been taking care of me and my brother. My Uncle Ben lives with us and he is rude. He got into fights with Aunt Sara about money and me and my brother. My aunt says that he wants him out of the house but after a day or two, she’ll tell him to stay.

 Mother and Father died, well got into trouble and they went to the Rooms and the Maze. Same for my boyfriend, Riley, he got into a fight with kids that bullied me for a while. He tried to get them not to bully me. 

I went to my closet and looked at the dress I was supposed to wear for prom 8 months ago. 8 months ago, he left me and he’s gone. His mother and father had a funeral without a body and I didn’t go. I just couldn’t. My heart sank down when they took him.
The dress was pinkish purple and it had sparkly blueish glitter on the bottom. I looked at it for a while and remembered how I bought it. I guess this dress is special, well to me and my thoughts. 

This is 2255. This is London, where there are no presidents, judges, or military. Just the laws that keep us safe and out of trouble. The days of the week go fast. Today is Wednesday, the 53rd of the year.  I know what you're wondering, who is protecting you from doing bad things? Well, I can’t answer that but I know that someone comes during the night and takes you. 

“What dress do you think I should wear for the prom?” I said to Riley as we walked to the shops. 

“I don’t know.” he said as he smiled and put his arm around me.

I smile at him as we walk.

I  grabbed a dress that wasn’t the one I liked but the one Riley liked. I went down stairs and saw my brother, Tzain, at the kitchen table, eating his pancakes. 

“Good morning, love.” Aunt Sara said and gave me a kiss on the forehead. 

“I’m going to go to school. Bye.” I said as I went to grab my shoes and headed for the door.

“You can’t go. You forgot that I’m supposed to drive you to school.” she said. 

“This time I will be alright. I promise, I’ll be home by 6PM. 6:30 the latest.” I said as I opened up the door. “Love you. Bye Tzain. Have a good day at school.” 

“Will do. Love you too.” he said.

I walked by the shops where Riley and I went to get my dress.

We went into the shops. 

“Oh. what about this one?” I asked. He just smiles. “What?” 

“Nothing, it’s just that you are so beautiful I think you don’t need a dress for the prom.” he said as he came closer to me. 

“Oh ya?” I asked as I put my arms around his neck. 

“Ya.” he pulled me closer and kissed me. We kissed a lot but this kiss felt special, like not a special good way but a special in a bad way. 

I walked towards the area where I kept getting jumped but when I saw them, I saw the boys that jumped me. Even their leader, Thomas. Thomas has short brown hair and light blue eyes. I had a crush on him when I was in 5th grade but now I’m in 11th grade. When I had a crush on him, I would always dress cute, but nothing got his attention, so I stopped and went for boys that I guess that could like me and I could like the boy. Then I saw a boy named Nico, he was cute and he would stare at me in class every single day. I don’t know if he had a crush on me or not but I liked him. But I couldn’t get with him so I put him aside, and focused on my school work. For a bit. 

I turned around and went the other way. They looked at me and they didn’t even come near me. 

I heard them laughing at a little boy.

“Keep walking.” Riley said. I looked at him, and he knows that’s not right.

They kicked the boy and punched him. I heard him cry and he looked at me, I looked at him. Those eyes are filled with fear and sadness. I turned to the boy and said, “Hey! Leave the boy alone!!”

“You talkin to me?” one of the boys said.

“Ya, I’m talking to you, so leave this kid alone and pick on someone your own size.”  I said and stepped forward but Riley grabbed my arm. I looked at him and he shook his head.

“Oh, someone has a boyfriend. I’m Thomas and these boys are my family. There’s Eric, Chris, Matt, Zack, Nico, Austin, Jake, and Trey.”

They walked over to me , surrounding and Thomas touching my hair. They looked at Riley and they grabbed his arms. “Ahh. you’re Carissa, the cute girl that likes to be popular. Well guess what, nothing in this world is perfect. Not even you.” 

I looked at him and he smiled. “Just leave Riley and the boy alone,” I said, ready to punch him if he says “No.” 

He laughed and said, “Who do you think I am? A nice guy? Well I’m not and you and your boyfriend will come with me.” I looked at Riley and he nodded his head. I punched Thomas and Riley kicked the kid that was holding him. We ran and they followed us. We ran to the shops and in, we hid near the dresses and they ran right past us. 

“What the hell were you thinking?” he asked me. 

“I’m sorry but the boy is getting beaten to death. You would do the same thing if it were me.” I said, and he hugged me.

“Promise me you won’t do that again. Those kids are dangerous and I don’t want you to get hurt.” I listened to what he said. 

“I promise.” I kept hugging him and I closed my eyes and started to sob.

I saw the school and kids walking in and out. 

“Ok, who knows-” I don’t know why the people in the past put this law up. My mother and father died, well that’s what I think, when I was only 7 years old. For my brothers, he was 1 and a half years old and, for Henry, he was 5 years old, but he died a couple days after it happened. Tzain doesn’t even know about them, he thinks Aunt Sara is our mother. Aunt Sara says just to let him think that because he’s too young to know what happened to them. He doesn’t even remember that he had a brother.

I put my head down and thought of what father and mother did to save us.

We walked down Main St. in the alleyway and saw a man with a gun, trying to hurt a young woman that had a baby in her hands and two children by her side keeping them safe. 

“Please, I’m begging you! Take me, and leave my children alone!” the woman cried. 

I looked at the kids, there was a young boy around my age and a girl toddler, around Tzain’s age. “Father, we got to go help them!” I cried out and Father grabbed my shoulders and turned me to face him. 

“Sweetheart, I want you to run with your brothers, ok? Go over to the park and me and Mommy will be there soon,” Father said.

“Promise?” I asked.

“Promise.” 

I took my brother’s hands and headed for the park.
“Tzain, take Henry and go over to the bench and stay there till I get back. Ok?” he nodded and went to the bench. I still could see him but I wanted to check if Mother and Father were ok.

“Leave them alone!” Father said. The man looked at him and went to him. 

“It looks like you have a lovely wife. And you have kids?” he asked. Father looked at the woman and the children and his head pointed toward me. She grabbed the children and ran. 

“Where’s your kids?” he asked.

“You don’t need to know,” Mother said.

“Oh the woman's talking, your kids are in the park. I know they are.” I looked back at Tzain and Henry and they were still sitting there looking at children playing. 

The man pointed the gun at Mother and Father pointed a gun at him. 

“Leave now, or I swear I’ll shoot.”  he put his gun down and walked away. He saw me and I looked back at the park. 

He was near me and I started to run but he got me. My brothers ran towards me and I told them to stay but they didn’t listen. He grabbed Tzain and Henry and we walked towards the alleyway. 

“Father, Mother! Help!!” I said, They looked at us and Father walked towards us.

“One more step and I will shoot the little girl!” he said as he pointed the gun at my head.

Father put his gun down and Mother went to Father’s side. 

“Please let my 2 sons and my daughter go.” Mother said. 

“No. you will never see your daughter or your sons again!” he was about to pull the trigger. 

BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG!!!

My eyes were tearing up because of the gunshot. I saw Mother holding a gun. 3 gunshots went through that man's body. One in the leg, one in the arm and one in the head. Then, he let us go. 

We ran to Mother. He collapsed on the cold hard ground. 

I hugged Mother and Father looked at Mother and they know what’s going to happen but me and my brother don’t know yet.

RING!!!!! RING!!!! RING!!!!!

The bell rang and I grabbed my books and headed for my locker.

“Hey, Carissa!” Sam said. Sam is my best friend but I haven’t talked to her in a while because I’m too depressed or I’m not feeling well.

“Hey, Sam.” I said as I put in my combination for my locker. 

“I was wondering if you can come over to my party tomorrow night? Everyone is going to be there.” she said. “And maybe it will take your mind off of things.”

I thought about what she said and she might be right but I can’t. 

“Sorry, I don't have to take care of my brother.” I said.

“Okay, then, well see ya later!”

I put my books in my locker and looked at the pictures of me and Riley. I miss him. I smiled a little and thought of what we would be doing right now. 

I shut my locker and went to lunch.

I sat down at a table where no one was sitting. Thankfully because I don’t want to deal with drama today. I dealt with drama for a while. 

I was reading my book and all of a sudden, there was another tray right across me. I looked up and saw him!!

“Hey, Carissa.” Thomas said. 

“What do you want?” I asked, putting my book down.

“Did you know some of my boys went into the Maze and the Room?” 

I looked at him. 

“There’s Eric, Chris, Zack, and Nico.” 

“You look like you have a crush on one of the boys? Which one?” he asked, looking at me with a smile.

“You don’t need to know and if i had one crush you would know.” 

“Your boyfriend isn’t here to protect you, now what are you going to do?”he asked. I rolled my eyes and went back to reading.

“You know, when you walk home, you go past the shops? Well that’s where our new place is. The alleyway and near the shops.” he said. I pretended that I wasn’t listening but his words always got me.

“I don’t care if I walk past the shops and if your place where you and your gang hang out is in the alleyway or at the shops, but your words don’t scare me.” I said, getting up and throwing my tray out.

“Whatever, but today, you will.” He said and he left.

I walked by the buses and looked if Thomas and his gang were coming to jump me. I kept walking and still he’s not here.

I walked past the alleyway and still nothing.

“Moew!!” a cat said.

I went to pet the cat. “Hello kitty.” the cat came up on my leg and rubbed its head on my stomach. The cat’s ears went up and ran away from the sound that was behind me. I looked behind me and there was Thomas and his gang.

“I told you we are going to get you!” he said. I got up and ran, like I always do. 

“Hey, there’s the girl who stuck up for a poor little boy!”  Jake said, and laughed. 

Riley went to his best friend and left me alone but I’m fine with that because I do the same thing with him. 

Jake came over near me. “You look like you need a friend. Why can’t I be your friend?” he asked as he touched my hair. “I like your hair. Your long blonde hair that always smells like strawberries, I wish that I was your friend.” 

“Don’t touch me!” I said and walked away. I wanted to go home so I did without telling Riley.

When I got to the alleyway where the boy got jumped, I saw him waiting for someone.

“Thanks for helping me yesterday.” he said.

“Your welcome.” I said coming towards him.

“I’m Nick.” he said getting up from where he was sitting.

“I’m Carissa.” I said, “Do you have a family?” I asked.

“No, my mother abandoned me when I was 2 years old and Thomas has been taking care of me. And he’s been good to me.” 

“How old are you?” I asked.

“I’m 18.” he said.

“Do they usually beat you?” I asked. 

“Ya but that doesn’t matter,”he said and I looked at him. “They give me food and a bed so that’s all I’m grateful for. But I do miss my mother and father, and I wish they were here. Thomas was my only friend till he met the gang, which left me out of everything, so I would walk and everyday I see you.”

“You’ve been stalking me?” I asked. 

“Well, sorta. You are so beautiful and you had a boyfriend, so I knew I was never going to be your friend. I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok. Anyway, I feel bad for you,” I said. “My mother and father died when I was 5 and my brothers were 1 and 3.  They were saving a woman and 3 children but in doing that the man that wanted to kill the woman and the children almost killed me and my brothers, till my mother killed the guy.”

He looked at me and I looked at him. I was wondering what he was thinking. 

“What about your other brother?”

“He died with cancer at age 2..” I said looking down.

“I’m so sorry.” He said.

“Don’t matter...he’s in a better place…” I said, looking down. 

“How old are you?” he asked, changing the sad subject. 

“I’m 15. And a half.” I said, We stared at each other. His green eyes look so cute and I don’t know why but I have a feeling that I’m starting to get a feeling for him.

He gasped and looked at the boys that were coming.

“You need to hide,” he said. “If they see you here, they will beat me and make you watch.” 

“Come with me.” I said, “You don’t need to deal with them anymore.”
“I can’t. I-I’m sorry.” he took my hand and dragged me to the door of the restaurant. 

“But please, come with me.”  I said before I got into the restaurant. 

“Go, I will hold them off.” 

He pushed me in and I looked at him. I didn’t want to go and that was that. I took his hand. “Please..” 

He started to shut the door and his hand slipped out of mine. I will always remember his touch. And only his.