Looking around me, I see nothing but darkness. Nothing catches my eye, but I know there’s something beyond the lingering twilight… something calling to me. I slowly walk forward, reaching out my hands to catch myself if I fall. I feel a presence in front of me.

“Hello?” I call, but there is no reply. Suddenly, two small orbs appear in the distance, close together and unmoving. I realize they are eyes, and I move toward them, reaching out to touch their owner as the space around me begins to grow lighter.

That was a mistake. The sound of what seems like a million screams fills the air. I quickly cover my ears as the noise engulfs me. The eyes disappear, and I fall into darkness once again.

I wake up shaking. It was all a dream. I rub my eyes, trying to wipe the image and its soundtrack from my memory. It doesn’t work very well. I fling my blanket to the side and climb out of bed, making my way to the bathroom to get myself a glass of water. After drinking it, my body seems to calm down a bit.
Then, a soft rumbling sound can be heard coming from outside the room. I fly to the window as the sound grows louder. Peeking through the curtains, I see a dozen dark, concealing outfits advancing down the street almost in unison. I make sure my face is out of their sight as I watch them set fire to a mailbox a few houses down. After they advance toward the house, I pull away, unable to watch anymore. When will this end?
I crawl back into bed, pulling the covers over my head as if they will protect me from the atrocities occurring just outside my window pane. Slowly, I drift back into a fitful sleep.

I wake up early the next morning, slinking down the stairs so the rest of my family will not hear. Grabbing a quick muffin, I pull on my shoes and unlock the front door, cautiously looking around before hastily closing it behind me and hurrying to pick up the paper from the cracked driveway. Unfolding it, I read over the titles and head briskly down the street, turning the corner as I reach the end of the block. The headlines are the same as usual.

“Local Church Burned Down”, “House Robberies More Common”, “Stolen Car From Wisconsin Found in California”.

However, today the front page contains a surprising headline.

“Danger Subsiding”.

My eyes widen in surprise. Did they think all of this disappeared overnight? Look at what I saw last night. Clearly, these rebels are far from losing their power. It will take years to stop them, especially when practically no one is working to lessen their effect.

I angrily roll up the paper as I reach a field of trees and escape into the shadows. I walk through the forest, stepping over rocks and dodging branches until I reach a tall oak tree. Walking around to the other side of it, I see the boards of woods nailed carefully up the tree’s trunk. I look up to see a small tree house, almost completely camouflaged by bright green leaves. Glancing around to make sure no one is near, I clench the paper in my teeth and slither up the boards, entering the sturdy structure. Brushing my hands together, I put the paper on a small table in the far corner and look around. The room is empty, save for the wooden table, a few chairs, a short bookshelf, and a mini-fridge.

No one else is here yet.

I stumble over to the mini fridge and open it, looking inside. There are four metal water bottles lined up side by side. I pick up one of them and close the door, heading back to a chair and taking a seat, waiting. I open the bottle and take a sip as three teenagers, one girl and two boys, ascend the ladder. Waving in greeting, I stand up, putting the bottle down on the table and picking up the paper, bringing it over to my colleagues.

“You aren’t gonna believe this,” I tell them, handing them the paper. They look it over, shaking their heads.
“This is false advertising,” one of the boys says.

“They want people to believe they’re fixing the problem,” the girl explains.

“They’ll never fix the problem if this is how they’re going about doing it,” the second boy comments.

“That’s why we’re here,” I remind them. “It may take a while, but it’ll happen.”

“We won’t improve anything if we keep on standing here,” the first boy points out, heading back toward the ladder. The rest of us nod and grab our water bottles, following him down the ladder. When all four of us reach the ground, we make our way out of the forest.

“Where shall we go today?” the girl asks.

“We could check the city,” the second boy replies, and the rest of us agree as we walk in the direction of City Hall.

The hall itself is guarded. It is considered the Headquarters of the rebels. None of us have ever actually been inside, but we have heard that it is the storage building for all of the rebels’ weapons. It is also where they plan their attacks.

“We should try to get in,” the girl suggests. The rest of us look at her in surprise.

“How are we going to manage that?” I ask.

“Yeah, you know how protected this place is,” the first boy adds. “It’s nearly impossible.”

“We’ll have to find a way,” the second boy tells us. “If we want to stop all of this, getting into the headquarters is the only way to do it.

“There’s no way we’ll be able to do this alone,” I mention, shaking my head. “This place is too guarded.”
“We won’t be doing it alone,” the second boy states. “I have a few friends in the next town who hate how the rebels have been treating us. I’m sure they’ll be willing to help.”

The rest of us exchange doubtful looks, but decide in the end to follow our friend. This could be our best chance, after all.

The walk to the next town is longer than I expected. Nearly half the day has passed before we reach a smaller wooden house. The second boy knocks on the door, and a tall boy answers it. When he notices my friend, he smiles.

“Finally come for our help, eh?” he asks, and my friend smiles and nods in return.

“Follow me,” our new recruit says, closing his front door behind him and leading us down the road to a large field where a large group of children and a few other teenagers are sitting in small groups, talking quietly to each other. Our new friend calls to them.

“Hey, guys! Everyone come here for a second. We have a job to do.”

The small army stands up immediately and crowds around us to hear what their leader has to say.

“My friends here are looking to get into the City Hall. We all know this is the only way to stop the rebels, but none of us have had enough resources… until now.”

The children all look around at each other, murmuring softly. Our friend raises his voice to be heard.

“These four live in the city. They’ve been watching the entire city, and if we work together, I’m sure we have a chance of breaking into the Hall and succeeding.”

The members of the group all begin to nod, and they automatically go back to their smaller groups, chattering amongst themselves. The rest of us look at our friend in confusion.

“We’ve been formulating ideas together as groups for as long as I can remember. After a while, we all just sort of banded together. Now, we need a plan.”

Hours later, we have finally thought of a strategy that may just be crazy enough to work. It is now nearly midnight as we begin our trek back toward the City Hall. I sigh to myself, thinking of my family, what they must be doing. They are certainly worried about me.

Sorry, everyone. I won’t be coming home tonight.

As we tread along the rocky terrain, I begin to get nervous. Who knows what will happen if we’re caught. I can’t help but begin to get cold feet. I shake my head, snapping myself out of my moment of doubt. We will put it right, I tell myself. As we approach the building holding the people who have made our world a living hell, I repeat that phrase to myself until I believe it to be true.

We will put it right.