Everything's Illegal in Marenford

I haven't posted in a while, but here is another story!

Image: Pinterest

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I didn’t like sneaking out. But Sam did.

“Come on,” she said, gesturing for me to follow her.

Our only lights were the yellow streetlights that were planted along the sidewalk. Our footsteps echoed on the concrete as we ran. Sam was laughing, her brown ponytail bouncing behind her. 

“You’re going too fast,” I complained, my breath catching in my throat.

She paused for a moment on a streetcorner. Every house on this street looked exactly the same. A white exterior, a dark blue roof, and a simple, mahogany door. Even though I’d never been in any of these houses, I would know my way around. By law, every house in Marenford had to be built the same. It made me sick to my stomach. Something about it felt eerie.

Sam was smiling from ear to ear as she waited for me to catch my breath.

“You know this is illegal, right?” I asked with a smirk, looking up at her and crossing my arms.

It was something I said a lot whenever Sam had had the bright idea to do something else stupid. Like sneak out at five in the morning to see the sun rise.

I shivered as a wind blew past us, thankful I’d worn my knitted sweater.

Sam rolled her eyes. “Everything’s illegal in Marenford. You can’t even breathe in this place.”

“No, I can’t breathe because you’re running too fast,” I joked, turning my chin upwards.

Sam rolled her eyes. “Didn’t you do track last semester?”

I tilted my head and smiled. “Race you there.”

We continued running, both of us laughing this time. We passed by all of the cookie-cutter houses, and I could’ve sworn I saw a little boy staring at us in one of the windows. That was weird, because it was illegal to be up before 6 AM. It made sense, for safety issues. You wouldn’t want kids wandering around early in the morning, what if they stuck a fork in an electrical outlet or something?

The houses started becoming sparse as we came to the field. It was green, like really green, not the fake green we had in our lawn. I didn’t understand why my mom still watered it, but she said it was because it reminded her of a time before. I didn’t know what she meant by that. 

The grass tickled my ankles as we started slowing down. There were flowers in the field: poppies, marigolds, and tulips. I looked up and Sam was beaming. She turned to me.

“See? We made it just in time.”

I looked to where she was pointing. The sun was rising. It cast a yellow, dappled glow over all of the trees. The sky looked like a tie-dye mix of pink, yellow, and orange. 

This was worth it, I thought. Getting up at 5:43 in the morning and sneaking past my mom’s bedroom even though it made me feel super bad was definitely worth it for this.

“Isn’t it awesome?” Sam asked. “Ethan showed me this place.”

“It is,” I agreed. “It's beautiful.”

I had never seen a sunrise before. I saw them in paintings and old pictures in the library, but never in real life. It was so different. It was almost like you could taste it.

Sam sighed, watching the sun get pulled up into the sky. “Why is this illegal?”

I turned to her, not understanding. “What do you mean?”

“Why is seeing the sunrise illegal?” she repeated.

I shifted my feet uncomfortably. She had started asking questions like these more frequently now. Why couldn’t we whistle? Why couldn’t we buy groceries on Tuesdays and Thursdays? Why did we have to pick from the 57 approved meals the Government chose and not freely make whatever we wanted to? Why couldn’t we get up before 6 AM?

“Sam, you know why…” My voice trailed off. The truth was, I didn’t totally get it either. But the Government had their reasons. They always did. It was to keep us safe. 

“Right, right, I know… ‘Your safety is our priority,’” she said, echoing the Government’s motto. “I just sometimes wonder…”

We watched the sun rise in silence. The sky turned to a pale blue as white fluffy clouds floated in the air.

“We’re lucky we didn’t get caught,” I said with a smile. “I thought the Petersons’ dog would rat us out.”

Sam let out a loud laugh. “That dog is evil.”

“Right?”

Sam took a deep breath in and sat down on the grass. Which was also illegal. How could you know if you had a grass allergy or not? But I sat down next to her anyway.

The sunlight made Sam’s face shine. She looked happy. But I could tell she was still thinking.

When did Sam start questioning the Government? Was it when she discovered that secret anti-Government forum online? Or was it when her boyfriend started interning for the Government and told her what happened behind-the-scenes? Or was it when they were kids, and Sam would get in trouble all the time for not following the rules? I wasn’t sure.

“Do you ever think about… leaving?” Sam asked.

The question sliced through my chest like a knife.

“Leaving… leaving where?” I asked, concern knitting my eyebrows together.

Sam tilted her chin forward. “There.”

I looked in front of me. All that was in front of us was a field with rolling hills. Nobody lived out there. Not even wild animals.

“Yesterday, Ethan told me there are people that live out there. The Government doesn’t control them, only keeps an eye on them,” she explained, turning to me. Her brown eyes were shining with excitement.

I raised my eyebrows. “Really? Why don’t they teach us that?”

Sam put a finger over her lips. “It’s a secret.”

I wondered if it were true. Ethan always told Sam cool stuff, but Sam wasn’t supposed to tell me any of it. She always did, though.

“Did he say anything else?” I asked, curious.

Sam shook her head with a small smile. “I know he knows more, but he doesn’t want to get in trouble.”

“Wow,” I breathed, shaking my head. “So you want to go… there?”

Sam pursed her lips. “Listen, Jasmine…”

Her tone was icy.

“Yeah?”

“I’m… actually leaving soon. Like really soon.”

I cocked my head. “You got Government approval?”

She let out a bitter laugh, her shoulders shaking. “No, of course not. I’m just… leaving. Soon.”

“Leaving illegally?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Oh.”

I didn’t know that was an option. I had never seen Sam look so serious. Her eyes were focused forward and she wouldn’t make eye contact with me. It scared me, honestly.

“How soon is soon?” I asked.

Sam wouldn’t look at me. Anxiety gripped my chest.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked. “You want to leave Marenford?”

Sam rolled her eyes. “I have a -83. I can’t even get a cashier job with that.”

I stayed silent.

It was true. Sam had the lowest Worth Score of anyone I knew. Which didn’t make sense, because Sam was awesome. She was just a rebel. Mine wasn’t amazing, either, on account of everything we got into together. But Sam didn’t really have a chance of a future here with such a low score. It would take her years of building it back up before she could get a good job.

So Sam was serious about leaving.

“But… What about your parents? And Ethan?”

“Ethan said he’d meet me there,” Sam said, running a hand through her hair. She turned to look at me. “Listen, this is the whole reason I wanted to bring you here. There aren’t any cameras out in the fields and I wanted to talk to you about this.”

She pointed upwards, where all there was was sky. In the city, there were cameras everywhere: behind streetlamps, above windows, next to buildings. Everything you said and did was monitored. Not here, though.

I bit down hard on my tongue, anticipating her next words.

“I wanted to invite you to come with me.”

My breath caught in my throat. I had never considered leaving. I didn’t even know it was a possibility. Well, it wasn’t really, but we were making it one.

“I’ll come,” I said, the words spilling out of my mouth before they registered in my mind. Was I crazy?

Sam flashed me a toothy grin. “Really?” she asked. “I wouldn’t want to leave without you.”

“Oh, please,” I said, rolling my eyes. “You’d be fine leaving with Ethan and without me.”

Sam’s eyes turned serious. “Jasmine, we go back way before Ethan. Don’t say stupid stuff.”

I chuckled and picked at the grass. My skin was itching. I wondered if I had a grass allergy.

“I’m leaving tomorrow before sunrise,” she said.

I whipped my head around to look at her, my eyes wide. “That soon?”

Sam nodded. “I wanted to tell you sooner, I just… didn’t know how to.”

I let out a deep breath. The sky was bright now. If we were smart, we’d leave before people started getting up. It was illegal to be out in the fields. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” I said, getting up and dusting the grass off my jeans.

Sam got up, stretching out her arms. 

“Before sunrise... which is illegal,” she added with a smile.

I shrugged with a grin. “Well, you know, everything's illegal in Marenford.”