I knew I shouldn't have taken that drink from Lydia. I feel like swearing out loud for the hundred time since I left my bed. I had to wait until Lydia was knocked out from all the alcohol she had drunk tonight. I also had one glass after Lydia won our battle. And then it was two. After the third glass, I knew I was going to be in trouble. It was a struggle just to get out of my room silently.

I hate it when I didn't have control over my body. Therefore I hate to drink alcohol. But of course, Lydia doesn't understand that. She believes we have to be young while we can. And to her, that also means parties and alcohol... and boys. I found her making out twice. With two different boys.

I was making my way to the blind spot, where I usually sneak out of the grounds. The blind spot is where the cameras can't see me. It's behind the school. My uncle found it before I even started my first day here. We had to have an escape route for just in case we were found out.

Usually, it's the easiest thing in the world for me to climb the leader across. But tonight I know I was going to have trouble. I had trouble getting out of the damn hostel. Like forgetting until the last minute where the cameras were. The cameras that can get me in a lot of trouble if I was spotted anywhere else but my room at sleeping time. They are everywhere. Or almost everywhere. That was planned out carefully as well by my uncle.

I make my way to the hidden leader stashed by my uncle. I put it where the blind spot is. "Hopefully," I mutter out loud. I start climbing the leader hoping I don't fall off or miss a step somehow. I won't be surprised if I do. I tripped over my own feet on flat ground a moment ago.

When I reach the edge of the wall, I start swinging my one leg over. I'm supposed to bring the leader over with me, so when I come back I will have the leader the get over the wall again. Luckily I only once feel like I'm going to tumble over the wall while bringing the leader over. That's the only luck I have because I put the leader at an awkward angle and too far away from me on the ground. The next thing I know I'm free falling. A squeal escapes from me. Then I hit the ground. The impact takes the breath out of me. And a moment later I have the move out the way when the leader starts tumbling down to my face. I don't clearly get out of the way in time and a part of the leader hits the side of my forehead. Making me grunt out loud. "Dammit!" I groaned out loud when I touch the bleeding spot on my forehead.

For a moment I just lay there trying to get back my bearings. But then I'm back at my childhood home. I'm a six-year-old again. I hear my mommy and daddy laughing from the porch. I'm high in the sky because my uncle James is pushing me as high as he can on the swing.

"Mommy, Daddy! Look I'm flying!" I heard my six-year-old self scream in delight. My parents laugh and clap their hands. And I want to hold on to that happy memory of my life. But then Uncle Sam appears. Urgently whispering to my parents. And the nightmare starts again. Suddenly I start smelling the smoke. I hear my mommy coughing in the living room. I'm in the kitchen, trying to find my daddy. He can help mammy. 

"Daddy! Daddy!" My six-year-old self screamed again. This time I'm frightened. The smoke is starting to choke me. It's burning my eyes. And I can hardly see where I'm standing. I remember the path to the broom closet. It will lead to the safe place. Daddy will be there. Suddenly I feel water dripping on my face. It must be the sprinkles. That's good, I think to my self. Mommy will be safe now.

Suddenly there's a screeching sound and then I'm back in reality. On the ground. I see the lights of a car just disappearing around a corner. The skies have opened up. Water is pouring down on me. I'm now lying on muddy grass.

Uncle Sam told me the sprinkles didn't work that day. Someone tampered with it. Mommy and Daddy never made it out that day.

Another car passes me and I realize if someone spots me, I'm going to get into trouble. I check my watch and see it's long past nine thirty. Uncle Sam will be worried. No, he will be out of his mind be now. I take out my phone from my jacket pocket to check for any missed calls. Not surprisingly there's already five of them. Along with a voice message. That I'm not even going to listen to. I know what it will say. I just text him that I'm on my way.

Finally, I start picking myself off of the muddy ground. I'm guessing the back of my clothing is smeared with mud now. But I figure the rain will wash it away a bit. I have to make my way to the bar through the rain anyway.

When I make it to the bar the big pink neon sign above the front door holds my attention for a moment. It's screaming rebellion. The woman who runs it has been known to make it a little bit rough for the guards. She likes to grab the attention of the governance. Just like her bar's sign does. That's her response whenever she's asked about it. 

The sign reads out Democrat. There was a lot of guards when the bar first opened. So she did grab the attention of the governance. Alice stuck to her guns and after a few weeks of a lot of debate and even a trip to the sells, the guards let it go. They couldn't find fault with it, other than the name. When the two guards came to tell her she can keep the name, she handed them both a glass of her homemade beer. Along with her infamous condescending smile. I have come to know about that smile. I have received them many times before we became friends.

I received it the same day she gave it to those two guards.

I had been visiting my uncle that weekend. The smile made me feel even smaller then I was at the time. I didn't like her. But now I make a stop at her office every time I go there. She became like some kind of feminine mentor for me. And in some ways, I think she knows me more than uncle Sam and Lydia. We just clicked when an asshole tried to tell me that I don't belong in a bar. I, of course, told him off. Alice heard what I had said. And that day I received a different kind of smile on her face. It was inviting. And then she banned the guy from ever coming into her bar again.

I make my way to the entrance. My body is starting to ache more. On the other hand, I'm a little sober now. Most of the mud in my clothes and hair had rain away in the twenty minutes walk it took to get here. The bar isn't really that far from the school grounds. But you have to stay in the shadows to not get spotted, or discovered. So it takes a little longer.

I will be questioned and punished if I get caught by the guards. A senior in the year before me was caught sneaking out from the school grounds. He never finished school. And we had heard him and his family was sent to the Third Section.

The crowd in the bar is more than usual tonight. It is Friday night after all. It's a good thing. It means there's a lesser chance of me getting recognized or even spotted as a school attendee.

I don't go to Alice's office tonight. I'm already late for the meeting. I'm sure the others won't be very happy with me. I'm supposed to be one of the future leaders to them. And they don't think I'm ready. And me showing up in this state isn't really going to help their opinion of me.

I make my way to the bunker. It's the room that leads to the tunnels. There's your usual secret passageway door. The only other persons who know about the hidden door is Alice and her husband, Mike, and of course me and Uncle Sam. The others have other ways to get the meeting room.

When I open the room I find Uncle Sam furiously walking up and down in the bunker. When he finally spots me, I receive an angry look. But then he looks a little closer and the look turns into one of a concern expression on his face. 

"What the hell happen to you?" he asked shocked. Making his way over to me in a rush. He grabs me by my arm. A sharp pain shoots through what feels like my whole body. Making me let out a yelp. "Not so rough," I said pained.

"What happened?" He questions again, more urgently. 

"I took a fall." I mumbl, looking down at the floor.

He gives me an up and down look. Looking for anything that might indicate an injury. "When? How did this happen?" He asks, still shocked. 

"I fell off the wall," I mumble again

"How the hell did that happen?" He keeps on asking in the same tone of shock.

"I think I had to much to drink."

"You were drunk!" He shouts this time.

"It's really nothing Uncle Sam," I say taking a step back from him. "Let's go, we're already late." I start walking to the passageway entrance to the tunnels.

He looks like someone who wants to shake me, but then he looks to be deciding to give it a rest.

"Fine. But this conversation isn't over." He says sternly. Then he starts following me to the entrance of the tunnels. Hidden behind a bookcase. Like every other secret passageway ever.

"Hey, wait up!" Uncle Sam's says behind me. "You're usually that much in a hurry to get out of here. And now you can't seem to wait to get into those tunnels." He says as he hurries after me into the tunnels.

"We're already late. I don't need Mr. Grumpy pants to have another reason to look down on me." I say. Inciting a sigh from behind me