While Shelly was at work the next day, Margaret began to prepare herself for what was to come later in the evening. Margaret makes her way out of the basement to the backyard.

"Hi, Bruno!" She walks up to her black Lab and scratches behind his ears. Tongue out, tail wagging, Bruno rolls onto his stomach for a belly rub. "Oh, bud, I'm going to miss you," Margaret sighs sadly as she begins to rub his soft stomach. After giving him one last pat, she grabs his collar gently and takes him inside. If I want to escape without being caught, I need to make sure Shelly doesn't wake up.

Thinking to herself, she decides to pretend to fall asleep on the couch like she sometimes did at night. This wouldn't look suspicious to Shelly and would help her in the process of hiding Bruno.

•••

Shelly walks through the door to find no one. This is unusual, she thought. Normally Margaret and Dana are here to greet me. She takes a peek into the kitchen to find nothing.

"Margaret?" she calls. When there is no reply she walks down the basement steps into her daughters room. Nothing is on the walls except a few picture frames of Margaret's friends and Shelly as well. No personal decorations were anywhere. All of the rooms in every house were like this. Shelly remembers the time when she was Margaret's age with posters of her favorite bands and her radio sitting on her dresser always playing music. Nothing was special anymore. There was no feeling in a world without love, a world without men.

Tearing up, Shelly remembers her husband, Margaret's father. He was a loving man and was so happy when Margaret was born, as was Shelly, until the government ruined everything.

Shelly looks around Margaret's room some more, noticing there was a large bag sitting alongside the wall. It was then that Margaret notices the sound of water coming from the en suite. Shelly moves over to the bag to see it was filled with Margaret's belongings, mostly clothes, but other necessities as well. Shelly sighs, knowing exactly what Margaret planned to do. "Oh, Margaret." The tears from before now came out of her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

The water shuts off. Shelly runs up the basement stairs and then up another flight of stairs to the top floor of the house where her room was located. She shuts herself in and crawls into bed, crying until she eventually falls into a midday slumber.

•••

After her shower, Margaret gets dressed into some jeans and a gray t-shirt and walks up the stairs into the living room. She assumes Shelly is home since it is almost 4:00.

"Shelly?" The roles had switched between mother and daughter, Margaret calling out for Shelly this time. Cautiously making her way up to Shelly's room, Margaret opened the door and peered in to see her soundly sleeping. She closes the door softly and makes her way back downstairs to begin preparing supper for her and Shelly.

After putting cut-up potatoes in a pan, adding onions, salt and pepper, she begins to fry them until the potatoes and onions were caramelized. Margaret's mouth begins to water as she pulls chicken out of freezer, just thinking about the good home-cooked meals she was going to miss when she leaves.

•••

The stairs creak as Shelly walks down them, notifying Margaret that her mother was now awake. Margaret sets the last piece of silverware on the table when Shelly comes through the kitchen door. It goes completely unnoticed by Margaret that Shelly's eyes were still red.

"Thank you for making supper, Margaret." Shelly's voice is slightly raspy and her eyes are puffy, but Margaret, -- being oblivious -- pays no mind and just nods.

They both sit down at the table and pick up their silverware. Margaret dives into her fried potatoes. They were her favorite thing for breakfast (however, she wouldn't be experiencing another fried potatoes breakfast with Shelly anytime soon). The clinking of forks and knives is the only sound while the two females consume their chicken and potatoes. Margaret breaks the silence.

"How was work, Shelly?"

Shelly peers up. "It was fine, like usual."

Margaret nods. "That's good then."

Silence once again covers them like a blanket. Finally, when both women are full, they part ways to get ready for bed. In this case, Margaret is going to couch. The young girl heads downstairs into her en suite and begins brushing her teeth, combing her hair, and washing her face. She slips up the stairs and out the back door where Bruno is laying on the grass with a stick.

"Bruno..." Margaret whispers. His black ears perk up and his head turns towards her. "C'mere, boy." Bruno has his tongue flapping and tail wagging as he bounces over to his owner. She takes him by his collar and takes him inside and down to her room. When she comes back up, she closes the basement door to ensure he doesn't try to escape.

The fluffy cream colored blanket on the back of the couch awaits Margaret. She jumps on the comfortable leather, grabs the blanket, (at the same time reaching over to clutch the TV remote tightly in her hands) and settles herself.

Shelly doesn't come back downstairs.

•••

Midnight rolls around, so Margaret decides she should get going. She walks into the kitchen and grabs a piece of paper from the notepad by the microwave and the pen that was laying on top of it. She writes:

Shelly,

I love you. Even though I didn't know you were my mother for the longest time, (and didn't even know the meaning of 'mother') I still loved you. You have always taken care of me, so I thank you for that. I'm sorry that I left but I feel like I should do something about the ridiculous government that has been established around this world. Something tells me that I can do something about it. I'm sorry, but then again, I'm not. I'm glad I'm doing this. I'll miss you.

Love always,
Margaret

P.S. Please tell Dana the truth. I don't want her to worry about me. She deserves to know.

After pouring her heart out into a longer than expected note, Margaret walks over to the front door. She pulls on her tennis shoes and starts to search for her bag.

Aw, crap, she thinks. I left it in the basement!

She begins to tiptoe over to the basement door, the floorboards creaking slightly under her feet. When she reaches the closed door that leads to the underground level, she slowly twists the doorknob and opens it. Creeping down the stairs, she walks into her room.

Bruno isn't there.

Margaret shrugs it off and walks over to pick up her large bag. Even though she knows she shouldn't, she peeks in the bathroom. There Bruno lays, curled up in a fuzzy black ball. Margaret smiles and begins her extremely short journey back up the basement steps.

With her bag hoisted up on her shoulder and a small grin on her face, Margaret walks out the back door -- silently, of course.

The whole entirety of the quadrant seems quiet except for the chirping of crickets and sounds of animals making their noises in the background.

Margaret begins the long journey she will have to make to make it to the fence. As she walks out of the seventh quadrant's boundaries and into the huge forest, she thinks of Shelly, Dana, Bruno, and Lucy. I'll miss them so much. Margaret's thoughts make her want to turn around and go home, but she knows she would regret it if she did.

A/N: Kapow kachow! Margaret's on her way! (: Thanks to everyone who is reading this!

Much love,
Fae x