Elaine was always a kind, loyal person but she didn't have anyone to talk to. She was always in her house just like everybody. She spent most of her time reading when she wasn't doing her schoolwork. Elaine was never allowed to go outside unless it was for school, for which she had her mom drop her off. She always wondered why, all she knew was that it was dangerous outside. She would sometimes try to make an excuse that she was getting food, but her mom would not let her. All Elaine wanted was to talk to her friends.
Elaine was walking to the front door when her mom caught her and said “I have already told you to stay inside.” As Elaine opened her mouth to speak, her mom said “nothing you say will change my mind!”.
“Ugh” said Elaine with a voice of annoyance. Elaine jumped to her cozy yellow bed with daisy pillows as she tied her long dark brown hair into a ponytail. She grabbed her favorite book with a picture of the ocean as the cover and started reading. Elaine loved to read. She loved to imagine herself in other places.
Then she went to her desk. She had a lot of papers and decorations. She grabbed her sketchbook and as she opened the book she looked out the window. Elaine lived in New York, but it was a foggy gray day like always. The streets were always quiet because it was too dangerous to go out. As she stared out the window with wonder in her eyes her mom yelled “I'm going to work, don’t go outside”.
Elaine just kept staring outside until she saw someone. She opened the window and said, “Hey, who are you and why are you walking outside?”
The girl was startled by Elaine. Then she said “Um... my name is Ann, and I just wanted to walk around.” Ann had short blue hair that was partly covered by a beanie and was wearing ripped jeans, a pair of combat boots and a pretty white shirt with flowers on the front. Elaine was not used to seeing or talking to many people outside. Elaine had a couple of friends, but they mostly talked on the phone. “It’s too dangerous to walk outside alone,” said Elaine.
“I just wanted to take a small walk and then I will go back to my house, you want to join me?” said Ann. Elaine had left the house, but she had never done it by herself.
“Aren't you going to get in trouble?” asked Elaine.
“Not if my mom never notices” said Ann.
“Well sure I will go with you only if you promise it won't be a long time” said Elaine with uncertainty in her voice.
Elaine had always listened to her mom. But she always wondered what it was like outside. “I promise” said Ann.
Elaine grabbed her bag just incase, and jumped out the window, careful not to get her plaid skirt caught on the window. As they walked through the street it was really quiet. She could only hear the whoosh of the wind. Elaine got startled as Ann said “ What's your name and how old are you?”
Elaine stayed quiet for a couple seconds and then said “My name is Elaine and I'm sixteen.”
“Well.. I'm sixteen too” said Ann as her voice drifted in the silence.
It stayed quiet for the next few minutes as they walked through the silent streets with graffiti on the walls of buildings, and most of the lights turned off. Elaine got shivers down her spine while they walked. Then from a far they could see a small shop with the lights on. They went inside and Elaine saw bags of chips in a neat row with a rack of candy next to it. As she walked up to get a bag of spicy chips and a bar of chocolate she realized she didn’t bring money. “Oh no! I left my money” said Elaine.
“It’s okay I will pay for it” said Ann.
As they walked out of the store with their snacks, Elaine heard a strange noise from the distance. They kept walking and the sound seemed to get closer. “What was that?” asked Elaine with worry in her voice.
“I don't know, but we should hide somewhere until the noise goes away,” said Ann.
They hid behind a lonely building. As they stayed silent, they could hear voices getting closer saying “Lets go get something at the shop!”. Elaine could hear footsteps against the concrete floor getting closer. Then they heard the sound of a door opening. “Lets go quickly” muttered Ann. As they tried running back home they heard a noise. They hid behind another building.
They heard the same voice from earlier saying “Give us all the money you have”. Elaine leaned a little closer to see what was happening. There was a guy with a black sweatshirt and grey sweatpants holding the old man who worked there against the wall and the other guys stood aside wearing the same thing. “What are you doing, Elaine? They are going to see you” whispered Ann. Elaine kept starring. She noticed that the worker did not look surprised or scared.
“Why is he giving him the money?” Elaine muttered. Elaine started walking towards the store.
“Elaine what are you doing?” asked Ann with confusion.
“Well, we need to help!” said Elaine a little louder than intended. The guys turned around but Ann grabbed Elaine just in time.
“Are you out of your mind! They are going to find us” whispered Ann.
Elaine stayed there staring at the worker from the store giving the guy all of the money. “We need to help” said Elaine.
“No, it doesn't matter, we need to get out of here!” said Ann. As Ann walked away, Elaine started walking towards the store. “Elaine stop, come over here!” whispered Ann. Ann grabbed Elaine and pulled her to the nearest building. “Elaine, we need to leave!” muttered Ann.
“Well you can leave, i'm going to help” said Elaine with confidence in her voice.
Ann turned around as she said, “ You don't understand Elaine, we can't do anything to help. This is the world we live in, it's dangerous and we can’t go risking our lives while trying to save someone else's, you would be making a stupid mistake”.
Elaine stopped. Her heart broke just thinking about her mom as Ann’s words echoed in her ear, “This is the world we live in”, but she knew that she wouldn’t forgive herself if she just let it happen. Elaine stared at Ann and then said “well, sometimes you have to go with the stupid decision” and as she walked away she saw Ann’s surprised face. Elaine expected Ann to just walk away, but she didn't. She walked towards Elaine, “and sometimes you have to do stupid decisions with your friend”. They both grinned at each other. At that moment Elaine felt a leap of excitement and she didn't know why. They opened the door to the shop and the guys turned around with a confused face. “Ok, now what?” whispered Ann.
“um…...I don't know” muttered Elaine. It had just occurred to Elaine that she didn't know what to do next. The guys got closer and Elaine felt like she was going to throw up.
“What do you guys want, you should leave.” said one of the guys with a deep and strict voice.
“Yeah maybe we should” said Ann with a scared look. But Elaine was frozen with fear.
“No” said Elaine as everyone looked surprised at her, even she was surprised by what came out of her mouth.
“Well what are you going to do?” asked the guy.
“Well..you can’t just take all his money” said Elaine in a low voice.
“Oh have you never been out of your house? This is the world and we have to survive.” said the guy.
“Well no, but that doesn't have anything to do with this,” said Elaine as she gained her confidence.
“Yeah, you can't just steal peoples money and stuff” joined Ann. They both smiled at each other.
“Well who's going to stop me?” said the guy.
“We are” said Ann and Elaine together.
“Really?” said the guy with curiosity. “How are you going to do it?”
“We won't let you leave” said Elaine. The guy got closer and tried to move Elaine out of the door but he couldn't. Ann put her foot to trip the guy and he fell. As all his friends rushed to help him Elaine tripped them. They all fell to the floor one after the other. As they tried to get up, Elaine hit them back to the floor. “Ok now what?” said Ann.
“Call the police?” said Elaine uncertain. Elaine really didn't know what to do.
“Worth a try,” said Ann but just as she started to dial one of the guys got up from the ground and pulled her phone away. Elaine got her phone out of her pocket, but another guy got up and took her phone away too, while also hitting her in the head. They both watched as the guys destroyed their phones. Elaine felt like she couldn't breath, she tried to catch her breath, but her vision was getting foggy. At that moment Elaine thought “uh I should have listened to Ann,.. Ann! Ann!” she turned to see a foggy figure fighting, watching all the guys fall to the ground. Then Elaine had hope again.
Elaine crawled her way to one of the fridges and grabbed what she thought was water. It was actually tea, but it helped a little and she drank it all. Then she felt her vision slowly get better, what a relief. She stood up and felt a little dizzy, but started walking towards Ann to help her, as she walked towards the aisles, Elaine got duct tape, incase they needed it. Then she passed the cash register, and realized that the cash register had a phone. A big smile replaced her frown. As she started to run, somebody grabbed her foot and made her fall. Then Ann ran up to her and dragged the guy away from Elaine. Elaine grabbed the phone and started to dial 911. She had to cover one ear, to block all the noise surrounding her. After Elaine called the police, Ann and Elaine managed to duct tape the guys’ hands.
Elaine couldn't believe it. She had done something that many people wouldn't dare to do, and she had a friend by her side.
20 minutes later Ann and Elaine could hear the police sirens coming closer. Once the police got there they took the guys away. At that moment, Elaine realized that she was powerful enough to change the world.
One year later
Elaine woke up to the sunlight hitting her window. She got up and looked out the window, it was a beautiful day. The streets were full of color and people. Even after a year she couldn’t believe how much of a positive impact they made. She walked out the door and as she walked through the streets, everyone smiled and waved at her. She waved back. As she was walking she saw Ann and ran up to her. Together they walked the streets with a grin on both of their faces, prepared for whatever came next.