Smuggler

Chapter 1

I walk through the streets, keeping my head down. Guards stand on the corners, but over the years I have become very good at avoiding their gaze. I duck into an alleyway and crawl through a hole in the adjacent building. When I stand up, I am standing in an abandoned warehouse. Its pitch black inside, with the only light behind me. I pull out my flashlight and click it on and off three times. Then I wait.

It doesn't take long. In a couple minutes, I hear footsteps. I crouch, ready to run if I need to.

"You got it?" a harsh voice asks. I pull the package from my bag and slide it across the floor. I have no idea what is in it, but it doesn't matter: I delivered it. He examines the package and seems satisfied. He tosses me a roll of ration coupons, probably enough for a couple weeks if I'm careful.

"Good job, kid." He has nothing else to say to me, and walks off. I hide the coupons in a secret pocket that I have sewn in my backpack and crawl back out of the building. I casually look around, then walk out of the alley. I follow down the familiar streets to the apartment blocks. Each "apartment" houses between one and four families, and in this part of town they're only one room. When I walk in, the man behind the counter calls out to me.

"Hey! You in A184?" I nod.

"You need to pay rent if you don't want to be out on the street." I walk over to the desk and hand him two coupons. He takes them, but shakes his head. "It's three now, new policy." He points to a sign that I can't read.

"Last month it was two. Why'd it go up?" I ask accusingly.

"More people need homes. Now pay up." I glare at him, but hand him another coupon. He stamps something in a book and waves me away. I walk up the stairs to the apartment I share with my sister. There is one bed in the corner, and a pile of old blankets in the other. I pull out the wad of coupons and count out the amount a normal person would have at a time: seven. Just enough to eat. I don't know how they expect us to survive. I leave the rest in the hidden pocket.

My sister, Maya, walks in. She drops her backpack on the bed then, turns to me. She looks angry.

Damn, what did I do now?

"Did you pay rent?" she asks.

"Uhh... yeah?" I raise my eyebrows at her, confused.

"And where did you get the coupons for that?" she accuses. "Are you planning on not eating, or are you trying to get yourself killed again?"

I groan and lay my head back. Whenever I "make a delivery," I run the risk of being publically executed for something-trafficking. Whatever ends up being in the package. However, nowhere is hiring, so we have to pay for rent, and clothes, and whatever we need other than food with the few coupons we get from the government. This leaves us without food for about a week every month. I generally make sure that the coupons come out of my share, rather than Maya's. This makes her mad. She also gets mad if I happen to "find" some extra coupons around. I can't win. I quickly decide if she will be madder if I lie to her and she finds out later, or if I tell her the truth. What the hell, honesty is always the best policy, right?

"I'm trying to get myself killed again. And you can't stop me, so I don't want to hear it, ok?" I pull out the food that I picked up on the way home, using two of our ration coupons. I toss over her portion, a small bundle wrapped in foil. "Eat up."

She stares at me, clearly deciding whether or not to push the point. Eventually she turns around and opens her food, eating it while she does her homework. I quickly eat mine, then lay down on the blankets, using my backpack as a pillow. After an hour or so, Maya gets up and turns off the light. After she lays down, I hear her voice.

"I'm sorry, Mel. I just don't want you to end up like mom and dad."

I pretend to be asleep.