Away from the North

Chapter 2

I dive into an alley and press myself up against a wall. Jul stands next to me waiting for the guards to pass by us. They walk by with our looking in the alley, not taking notice of the two of us. I sigh and we walk to the other end of the alley and out of it.
I grab the straps of my backpack walking with Jul in silence. We walk through the middle of a park and sit down on one of the benches. The moonlight shines down on us as we rest for a while. I lean back against the bench and sigh as I look up at the stars.
I look over at Jul and see that he's staring at something in the tree line. I sit up straighter and follow his gaze to a tree. I watch it closely and it seems like something is moving behind it. I tense up and look at Jul, seeing him on alert too.
"What is that?" I whisper to him. He shrugs and keeps staring at the tree, his eyes not leaving it for a second. I see a flash of blue and I freeze. I look over at Jul and see him staring at the place wide eyed.
"It's the guards. We need to get out of here, now!" I exclaim as quietly as I can. He nods and we get up off the bench, making sure we don't leave anything. We walk back into the streets and in our original path but the guard follows behind us.
We walk faster but the guard father up to us and grabs our arms. They handcuff us and lead us back the way we came, stopping in front of a prison. They take us into an interrogation room and forcefully push us in before slamming the door.
There's a deal and a chair behind it but nowhere for us to sit. I look around the room and see no windows. Jul tries the door and It's firmly locked. I sigh and slide down the wall. We're stuck in here for the time being. Jul sits down next to me and leans his head against mine.
I start to doze off but someone loudly opens the door, snapping me out of my snooze. I look up and see a commander walking towards his desk. Jul states at him wide eyed as he sits down. He folds his hands on top of his desk and gestures for us to walk in front of the desk.
I get up off the floor and help Jul up before we walk in front of him. He sizes is up and shakes his head in disgust. I tense up and feel Jul grab my hand and squeeze it lightly.
"What were you two doing outside in the middle of the night?" He asks finally breaking the almost unbearable silence. I look at Jul and he smiles at me reassuringly before he starts to talk.
"Well sir, we are homeless and were passing through the town to get to another one. We needed to rest for a while," he explains. The commander thinks about his reply and nods but then asks why at night. Jul tells him the story we both agreed on before we left.
I hold onto Jul's hand tighter and stay quiet while they talk. Most men here don't want any of the opinions of the woman and would rather that they didn't speak unless they were asked, especially if they are a person of high power, like guards, commanders, and rulers.
We made it so in a situation where we got interrogated separately we could tell the same exact story and not seem suspicious. The guard asks me a couple of questions too and I answer them even though some are the same that he asked Jul a while earlier.
Suddenly I'm glad that we made a story to go with in case this happened. The commander nods and gets up our of his chair. He walks to the door and yells outside for a guard. A guard walks in and talks to the commander in hushed tones.
The commander nods and smiles at the guard. The guard turns to us and walks over while smiling like a maniac. The guard takes us by the arms and throws us into a jail cell.
We stare up at the commander and guard in shock. They laugh and then leave, turning the lights off so it's almost completely dark inside. There are bars over the window in the cell and a bucket in the corner. Otherwise the room is completely empty.
I lean against the wall and stare up at the ceiling. How did I get us into this mess? Jul sits down beside me but I don't take my eyes away from the ceiling. He taps my shoulder and I look over at him with tears in my eyes. He frowns and pulls me into a hug.
"I'm sorry. If I hadn't dragged you into this we would never be here," I whisper. He rubs my back and I hiccup softly. The tears finally start falling down my face and I clutch Jul's shirt in my fists tighter.
"Yuku, it's not your fault. We're going to get out of here," he whispers in my ear when I call down. I rub the years off my cheeks and give him a weak smile. He grins and gets up off the floor, holding out a hand to help me up. I take it and he pulls me off the ground.
My eyes are already adjusted to the darkness and I can make out where the walls in the room are and where there are holes. I walk along the walls, running my hand over them to see if there are any significant holes. When I walk all the way around and find mine I frown and walk back over to Jul.
He points to the corner under the window and there's a hole in the wall. I walk over to it and see that the ground is also gone, leaving dirt there. I look at him and he nods. I dig a handful and throw it outside the bars of the window before walking back and doing it again.
Jul joins in and we get into a routine. I hear footsteps and I signal for him to stop. I grab the filthy bucket and put it in front of the hole we made. I sit down on the ground and lean against my backpack, wiping the dirt on my already dirty dress.
Jul sits down beside me and listens as we hear someone tell from the outside of the cell. The door opens and light floods into the cell. I shield my eyes with my hand and squint at the figure standing at the door. They push something in and close the door.
We walk over and see two plates of food with utensils. And there's a cup of water.