the rebel, written by husna najmi

THE REBEL
A story written by Husna Najmi
Hello, take a seat. Oh? You want to hear a story? Well, so be it I suppose. I will now tell
you a story about a group of friends who wanted to stand out, but were surrounded by
rules. Their country weren’t like any other country. You weren’t allowed to express
yourself or do what you desired to do, doesn’t that sound horrible? Oh, now I’m
talking too much, lets start with the story shall we? But listen closely, because I will
only tell you this once.
In a small town we meet a girl who nearly came late for school, a classic, right? Maria,
a fairy like girl with a beautiful smile, arrived at school two minutes before the bell
rang. Lucky huh? Well, actually no. Maria had ran the whole way from home and now
she was drained in sweat. Her hair became sticky and her uniform had dark spots
everywhere. It doesn’t sound like a problem, but there was a rule that any changes on
the uniform will be punished. That was only one rule out of many others. The poor girl
huffed and went inside of class as if nothing was wrong, trying to hide her dark spots
with her schoolbag. “Maria, you can’t look like that while in school! You should’ve just
went back home and, I don’t know, said you were sick or something?” Her friend said.
This is where we meet our next hero, Gen. A person who possesses many talents and is
strong willed. “I can’t, finals are in a week and if I fail who knows what they will do
with me? I can’t stand out no matter what Gen!” She whispered back in an irritated
tone. Gen looked at the girl as if she didn’t already stand out, but didn’t say anything
more about it. “Anyways, did you hear the news? I was so shocked, but I was a little bit
afraid to wear my favorite clothes because what if its just a test to see if anyone is
gonna disobey the rules”, Gen said in a serious tone. “What on earth are you talking
about? I didn’t have enough time to watch the news anyways”, Maria replied, but when
Gen was gonna answer, they got cut off by the school speaker. The man in the speaker
was surprisingly a policeman and he talked about what had Gen was about to say to
Maria. “Last night our crew was able to find food and toothbrushes laying on the
ground. Some clothes in our local mall were not hanging on their original place, and
cars were painted in red which is against the law. There were also someone that sent I
message to the news saying you can wear whatever you want to. Whoever is guilty of
this horrible crime will be punished and will be kicked out of this country”, the speaker
said, and after that it turned off. “God, I wish that was me. Any other country is better
than this shit place”, Robyn sighted behind Gen. “I agree, but we still don’t know what
other countries are like, so I wouldn’t take the chance”, Amanda stated. Amanda and
Robyn, now where do I start? They are the two girls you would not like to be around
during a fight. They are both strong willed, but have their opinions on different things.
And of course, their opinions are always different. “What do you mean? Australia
sounds like a super cool place. If I could go there right now, I would for sure!” Robyn
exclaimed. “You’re always so different Robyn, could you please look at it in a different
perspective? You don’t know if Australia is any better, what if they also have rules on
everything?” Amanda talked back. As the two of them bickered at each other, school
was over and everyone went home. Well, everyone except for the little friend group.
They had a little place for themselves in the forest. It was against the rules to be at any
other place after school, but our small rebels didn’t really care. “I really want to know
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who that person on the news was, maybe we should look for him!” Maria said in a
happy tone. “How do you know it’s a boy? What if it’s a girl”, Robyn scoffed, still being
a little angry from the bickering at school. “Or non-binary”, Gen said while fiddling
with their fingers. “Oh right, I’m sorry”, Maria apologized, and Gen just nodded in
reply. As they continued to talk about the mysterious person, they got to a conclusion.
“Okay so, tomorrow when the sun goes down we will meet here and try to find that
person”, Amanda said, trying to sum it all up. “No”, Robyn said while looking at the
three others. Now it’s getting exciting! Oh wait, you wonder why she didn’t agree?
Well I can’t tell you that right now. Oh, let’s continue with the story before I forget the
rest. “I said no”, Robyn said, repeating herself knowing the others were in shock. “Why
would you talk about wanting to get out of this country if you’re not gonna help us
find the person?” Gen said, still not catching on. “I didn’t say no to helping, I said no as
in were not doing this at all”, Robyn replied, throwing her bag on her shoulder. “Do
you think that person will do anything tonight if they know that someone is trying to
catch them?” She continued, “even if all you’re trying to do is to help them, I think its
best for us to just not be noisy” Is Robyn going to leave the friend group? This is so
exiting I want to spoil it all right now! But I’m gonna wait, let’s continue with the story
shall we? When everyone got home, they decided to not go out just as Robyn said.
They all brushed their teeth and went to sleep, and when they woke up, the first thing
they did was to turn on the news. “Last night was horrible, and we are taking this very
seriously”, It was the same police officer as yesterday. “Someone had the nerve to paint
and write on the beautiful walls in our town. On the walls it says no more rules and
freedom. We hope everyone knows that our rules and laws are made to protect our
people, and to keep you guys safe from making choices on your own” The man was
done talking and everyone was in shock. I would never be brave enough to do
something like that! But rebels know what they’re doing, and that’s really admirable!
On to the story! When everyone arrived at school, they stopped and looked at the
school wall. “This is what the police man talked about today!” Someone shouted. “I
hope whoever did this gets caught!” Another added. Everyone talked about how
horrible this crime was, and that it couldn’t get any worse. “Haha, whoever did this
can’t spell for sure”, Maria said and laughed. On the wall it was written my choise.
“Well its kinda hard writing on a 6meter tall building while running from a hundred of
guards that want you dead, don’t you think?” Robyn said. “How would you know?” Gen
and Amanda asked, even tho they agreed with her. “Common sense”, Robyn replied,
while walking away. The school day went as usual, even tho the school was completely
ruined. But, in the law it says that everyone needs to have a normal day everyday, so
the teachers didn’t do much about it. When the group were about to walk to their
usual spot, they spotted paint and other kinds of trash just laying on the road.
“Whoever did this is not scared of anything, I want to be like them so bad”, Maria
exclaimed. Gen nodded in agreement, while Amanda still was a bit skeptical. “I told
your guys that we should’ve went outside to find that person! Our school was my first
thought, we could’ve met that person right there!” Maria continued while Gen still
nodded. “Why did you stop us?” Amanda asked in a serious tone, holding Robyn’s
wrist. “Let go off me! I already told you why”, Robyn said, not giving Amanda the
answer she wanted. “Robyn, I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently, and I’m gonna
be really bold with you. Are you that rebel?” Amanda said while looking deep into her
eyes. “No? Where the hell did you get that from. Let go off me!” Robyn shouted,
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throwing her arms around until they became free. “My apologies, it was only a hunch”,
Amanda replied. It was an awkward silence between the group. “Well, let’s just go
home and meet at the spot we agreed on tomorrow? I need to read for my English test
that’s in five days.” Maria said, and everyone agreed. Well that was dramatic, I wonder
why Amanda thought it was Robyn. Sounds like a lot of drama is going on around
those two, maybe something happened in the past? Oh now I’m talking too much
again, now where were we.. oh right! After that, they all went home and did their
homework and studied for their finals. Before going to sleep, Gen turned on the news
but was shocked. On the screen there was a person with a mask over their face. The
person just stood there looking at the viewers through the screen. Gen’ hands were
shivering, and after some time the person started talking. “I, and many others want
these rules to vanish from this country. Think about it, a rule where everyone has to go
home right after school or work? A rule where every car needs to be blue? A rule where
you can’t sweat because it will make your uniform look different from the dry ones?”
Gen was shocked. The voice clearly had auto tune on, it sounded like an alien. But
something that took Gen’s attention was the sweat part. Were they talking about
Maria? If so, how did they know? Was it someone on their school? The voice
continued. “Right now I’m in the local park. You can take me away, but not my
message”, Gen didn’t have time to call the others, and began to run towards the park.
They had their phone in their hand to still listen to the person that was talking. “Ive
had enough, our dreams are not valid when it comes to the government”, Gen looked
around and saw the park. They continued to run while they still listened to the voice.
“Why do we need to be the same. Why can’t everyone be their own person with their
own minds”, Gen nearly tripped but caught themselves, they were so close to the park
entrance and could already see someone stand on top of a statue. Police cars were now
surrounding the area as the place began to flood with people. “Ive had enough, and I
know that everyone else also has had enough”, Gen was now standing in front of the
person, and after that they felt something touching their arm. It was Maria and
Amanda. Oh! Do you now know who it is? You maybe do, but let me continue with the
story please! “Robyn..”, Maria said while looking at the person before them. The sirens
from the police cars were getting louder and louder, as the car doors opened and many
people flooded into the park to take Robyn. “I always knew it was you, you always
talked about how you wanted to be different. You stupid jerk!” Amanda said to herself,
tears streaming down her face. “Now you’re gonna get taken away”, She cried knowing
that she couldn’t stop hundreds of policemen to take her friend. A strong breeze of
wind danced through everyone’s hair, and made the mask fall of Robyn’ head. “I did
this for you guys, don’t stop breaking the rules. They can´t take you all”, Robyn said
while a single tear fell from her eye. They caught the rebel. The rebel that hid among
them. Amanda reached her arms out to her friend, but was only able to reach the
glittering sky above them. Robyn jumped down and ran away before they were able to
thank her. “Until we meet again”, Robyn whispered, while red and blue lights shone in
her eyes. Now that was a story, wasn’t it! A story about four friends, how touching! Oh,
you wonder what happened to them after that? Well, unfortunately Robyn was caught,
but she got sent to Australia as she wanted. Maria, Gen and Amanda continued to
spread her message and rebel against to government until the laws and rules vanished
like dust.
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Oh, you need to go? Well, goodbye for now! And remember, break the rules that are
holding you back from being yourself.
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