Living Past Curfew

Chapter 2

THIS IS DEDICATED TO IMMANUEL_IMG BECAUSE SHE IS THE AWESOMEST PERSON EVER. THANK YOU FOR MAKING MY TRAILERS DOLL. (FYI: She didn't make my trailer for this novel....I made it myself, so sorry if it's not as good.) BUT, THANKS SO MUCH JASLYN. YOU ENCOURAGE AND INSPIRE ME, THAT'S WHY I DEDICATED THIS STORY TO YOU. :D So, as many of you probably already know, I didn't win the Lisa McMann contest...I didn't even make the top ten. :( Honestly, I don't know why, but now that it's over, I can continue working on this story. YAY! So I'm super excited for this because I really love this novel and I feel like it's coming along great. So many people read the first chapter and I hope that when I upload this chapter (in like a few seconds...hehe.) I will get just as much good feedback and response as the first chapter. Remember: all critics are welcome, all votes are loved, all fans are worshiped, and all comments are taken seriously. Well, I hope you enjoy the second chapter of "Living Past Curfew!"

“So his goal isn’t to just imprison innocent people?” I asked the girl sitting beside me. She nodded her head slowly. I had met her over at the clothing pile where she was trying to reach a shirt in vain. So, being the gentleman that I was, I pulled the prettiest one from the top. After that, I didn’t really have a place to go, so I had just followed her back to her cot. I could obviously see that not everyone had a cot, and she was lucky to have it, for there were many people sleeping on the floor. “Ok. Good. I thought the emperor was just some whack-job.”

“Well, he kind of is,” a boy said, walking over and sitting beside us. He smiled at the girl and then turned to me. “I’m Easton,” he said, sticking his hand out. He was a scrawny looking fellow with a short buzz cut hairstyle. He was even wearing a sweater vest, which was extremely strange due to the fact that I had not spotted one sweater vest in the whole mountain of clothes. He was definitely not the type of guy that I would normally hang around and definitely not the type of guy that I liked.

“Leo,” I said, ignoring his hand. “I’m new here.” Easton looked me up and down.

“Yeah, I can tell,” he said smiling and clapping his hand on my shoulder. I narrowed my eyes and looked to my right. There, I saw the girl trying to suppress a smile. When she saw me looking she let out a giggle and then gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. I rolled my eyes and turned away. I couldn’t take it. Being with these younger teenagers wasn’t quite working out for me. “Marcy, it’s fine. Leo isn’t going to hurt you, are you Leo?” Easton asked me, crawling over and taking Marcy’s hand. I thought I would throw up. “Leo?” Easton said, still waiting for me to answer.

“I’ll get out of here and leave you two alone,” I said standing up. I turned to walk away and it was then that I felt a small hand on my shoulder. Figuring it was Easton I shrugged it off.

“Wait, don’t go yet.” I turned and saw Marcy standing there. Easton was still back at the cot, obviously not happy with the fact that Marcy had stopped me. “There’s still so much to tell you.” She took my hand and led me back to the cot. Giving Easton a look, she sat back down, forcing me to sit down with her. Easton stood and gave Marcy a pathetic look.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” he said to her, before turning away and walking back through the throngs of people lying on cots and spread out amongst the floor. Marcy watched him walk away and she shook her head.

“I’m sorry about him. He can be...” she struggled for the words.

“Difficult?” I suggested which made her smile and nod.

“Yes, difficult.” Marcy glanced in the direction in which Easton had left, but then turned back to face me. “I have something to tell you,” she said quietly. “You have to promise not to tell anyone.” I smiled and nodded, for I loved secrets. “I’m the one that knows. I know what the emperor wants,” she said seriously. “I’m the only one that can stop him. I’m just…scared.” My eyes must have been a dead giveaway for what I was feeling, because Marcy cocked her head and looked at me strangely. “What is it?”

I grinned. “Marcy, you don’t know anything about this. Who are you trying to kid? This isn’t business that a young girl could handle by herself. Trust me.” Her eyes narrowed and she scooted away from me.

“Trust you?” Her words stung like knives, which was odd because I had just met her, and I expected to feel nothing from her accusation. “You want me to trust you? It’s you who he’s wanted all along. It’s you,” she said, finally realizing that I was the one who the emperor wanted. She looked upset and I saw tears welling up in her eyes. “It’s you. All along, we’ve been stuck here while you’ve been out roaming around and doing nothing.” She was crying now, and I felt bad. My goal wasn’t for her to cry, and now we were bringing attention to ourselves. “It’s all your fault. I…I hate you,” she said as I glanced around quickly, and seeing Easton walking our way, I tried to comfort her.

“Marcy,” I whispered fiercely to her, forcing her to look up at me. “I didn’t mean to imprison you or keep you locked up here or anything. I swear I had no clue what was going on.”

Marcy laughed, a cold solid sound. “You didn’t know that he was imprisoning us? You had no clue? Didn’t you notice when your friends started disappearing? Why do you think we have a curfew?” This caught me by surprise. I hadn’t known any of this.

“I…,” I stuttered. “I don’t have any friends,” I finally muttered, making Marcy laugh.

“Of course you don’t,” she whispered, looking down.

“Marcy, What do you know? Why did you say that you knew what he wanted? How could you know?” I asked, not wanting to give up. Marcy looked up at me and smiled a sad smile.

“I…I…” she seemed to be forcing herself not to tell me.

“Marcy, tell me,” I demanded.

“I…I can’t,” Marcy whimpered as Easton came over to us.

“What can’t you do Marcy?” he asked in his snobby voice. “Did he try to hurt you? What did this jerk do to you?” Easton was really starting to bug me. First of all, he couldn’t even use my name, and second of all, why would I try to hurt her? What ever happened to the whole, “he’s not going to hurt you” thing that took place five minutes earlier?

“Shut up Easton,” Marcy yelled at him, turning back to me. “I knew your father,” her voice softened when she talked to me.

Easton rolled his eyes. “Marcy, that’s just like you, making everything a big deal. It’s quite annoying. So what, you knew his father, great.” Marcy’s eyebrows furrowed, and tears welled up in her eyes. She seemed to be an extremely emotionally unstable girl. She lay down on her cot and rolled away from Easton and I.

“Look what you did now you jackass,” I muttered to Easton who was leaning against the wall and pouting. “Now she won’t tell me what she needed to tell me.”

“She wasn’t going to tell you anyway,” Easton fired back. I smirked. He was just jealous that his little girlfriend was more into me than into him. Ha. I turned away from him and pulled my knees up to my chest. Finally, I allowed myself to think about what being “imprisoned” meant. I couldn’t get out of here. I couldn’t see my only friend, Roger. I couldn’t even sleep with any girls. The more I thought about it, the worse it got.

“I need to get out of here,” I whispered, more to myself than to anyone else.

“I know how to,” Marcy’s soft voice whispered in my ear. “You just have to trust me.” I turned to face her, her eyes twinkling. “You just have to trust me,” she whispered again. I smiled and nodded.

“I can do that.”

So, what did you think?? Not quite as long as the first chapter, but you got to meet some new characters and you found out a little (just a little) more about what the emperor wants. So, do you want more?? Please don't be a silent reader. Tell me what you think, I'd love to know. Stay tuned for more updates and such. :D