STOP
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The Beginning:
Previously on The Child:
The room that Ghil led me and Vile into
was another relatively small room that was even smaller than the main room.
Right when you walk inside, there is another door that lies directly in front
of you on the opposing wall. The room in which you stand in was such
a great pitch of white that it nearly hurt to look around in the room. Due
to the room’s brightness, the ceiling seemed to be several feet above our heads
creating a big vacant space—though I doubt this was truly the case. The room
continued only a few more feet to my right, the entirety of the room laid to my
left. Right to my left—no more than a few inches—began several wooden rows of
benches that led from my side of the room to the other in which the other door
stood. The room was vacant; a window lied to the left of the door across
the room that took up the rest of the wall. On the other side stood several
people with their backs turned to us. A great toll of impatience filled the
room as everyone was growing restless and a select few were checking their
watches.
'Lets not keep them waiting any longer
shall we?' Ghil said. 'Ville, you know what to do so lead our mutual friend to
the appropriate place and stay there till I come for you.' Ville nodded as we
followed Ghil into the other room. He ran over to the other people as Ville
motioned me to stay standing by the door. Just then, a set of large doors
opened to our right and a long silver train approached us very slowly. I
have never seen any train in the likeness of this; it was sleek and no ridges
around it at all—this was truly a modern marvel that I have yet to witness. In
the opposite direction, another set of doors opened to offer natural sunlight.
The room lighted up just like the room from before but an amazing view of
the cityscape. Ville started to whisper to me, as the train was moving forward.
He explained that the city was split up into several sections but that had no
significance to me at the moment other than two distinct areas. One being the
one we were currently and the second being the one we were going to.
'Just imagine the city being split in
half. One being the actual city and the other being a set of suburbs and
outskirts of the main city. In order to live within the city's main gates you
need to receive an authentic city identification. You can get one either from
being born within the walls or you have to work for it to prove that you will
be a helpful member to the city. Now what Ghil does is determining if and when
they could be a citizen to the city.'
'You keep mentioning this city.' I
explained further. 'Yet you don't bother mentioning it's name.'
'Calpernicius.' Ville immediately
responded.
'What?'
'Calpernicius. The name of this city that
you are so interested in, Calpernicius.'
'Oh.' I scratched my head. 'I’ve never
heard of the place.'
'Yet here it stands. This place is no
secret, thousands upon thousands of people live here.' A loud bell began to
ring and a set of doors to the train opened vertically to show its insides. As
Ville and I walked towards the train I looked towards Ghil and the others, Ghil
stood at the opening of the train asking for something from every person
before they were able to enter the train—my guess was their city
identifications. Ville continued. 'In fact, this place is placed between two
bodies of water which makes transportation to and from neighboring cities very
simple. Many places go here as a form of a central area to trade and relax,
this place only thrives.'
I entered the bus to see several seats on
both sides of the hallway next to long rectangular windows. Everything was a
form of silver; seats, floor, walls and lights came from every corner within
making any shadow flee into the distance. As the door began to close, Ville
motioned for me to sit down. I picked a seat midway down the hall and Ville sat
on the other side; he then leaned into the hallway to face me. I turned to look
at him and something like a discomforting gaze was shown to me, he sighed a few
times trying to find the words to say and I just waited patiently.
'There’s more to this whole system
Emery.'
'And what’s that?' I asked
'We take them inside the city walls and that’s
it. I mean yes, it is better than they were but it’s like just getting dropped
into a fancy neighborhood with no money in your pockets. Most of the peoples
entire life savings went into that little city identification.'
'So what happens then?'
'That’s when they have to become
dependent on the politics we have set up. They have only heard about some
things when they were outside but not the whole tongue and cheek in a manner of
speaking. That’s when they have to sign contracts to whoever will offer them
the money and mostly anyone who owns a small business or larger can just write
up these contracts and this is when it gets sketchy.'
'How so?'
'There are various rules and regulations
through the city and without probable cause, officials wont have a single right
to look at a contract from a business to its employee. These contracts are
strictly between those two people which enables the business a whole hell of a
lot of wiggle room to what the contracts can contain. This brings in a new type
of contract that the government and officials are very well aware about and that’s
called the death contract.' The train began to move as a light digging within
the train began to sound. A little vibration started but within the time
that the train began to move it felt as if I was weightless. The train followed
a track that began to trail slowly through the neighborhood we were in then we
ascended greatly to move us above the public but the taller buildings continued
to pass on both sides. Ville continued.
'The death contracts basically mean that
you have to do something and if any complications arise that will endanger the
employer then the employee will be executed in any way the business seems fit.
These contracts aren't for someone to make a pizza or something like that but
something that will be equal or greater than the persons life that will be
acting out the contract creating organized crime.'
'How can people just stand by and watch
that without any repercussions?' I asked.
'And this is what I'm trying to tell you
Emery. This city runs on organized crime and through the peoples weakness and
vices, the government exploits it and uses it to their advantage to whatever is
in their best interest.'
'So, what stops the organized crime from
toppling the government?' The view from outside the train turned from dismal
greys and browns to vibrant greens, whites and blue. I shifted my gaze midway
through my sentence to see this for miles in every way that I could see.
Looking back I could see a rather tall wall blocking the stacked buildings from
the outskirts within a few inches of the wall. Directly on the other side began
fields of grass and clean white sidewalks surrounding the fields. Water
fountains and streams tunneled underneath the sidewalks and in several areas of
the grass as large silver and glass buildings began to spring in the horizon
ahead of us.
'Well its better to learn this sooner
than latter Emery. The government doesn't get toppled from organized crime
because the government’s underbellies are the exact same thing. I'm telling you
all this is because I am not sure on what is going to happen when we reach our
destination. I'm telling you this to warn you of the evils that this city
possesses in case if I am not there by your side. Any chance for you to be
innocent will soon end in this environment, you need to understand that Emery.
In order to keep your ties with the box, you need to keep up that mentality.'
I reached into my pocket to feel it once
again, it has been growing smaller and smaller since the day we left The
Family. It was now just a little larger than both of my thumbs combined; this
was helpful on the case that I needed to keep it concealed. 'Do you understand
me Emery?' I nodded to him. 'Good.' Ville responded. He then leaned back in his
seat, folded his arms and closed his eyes then finished his sentence. 'Because
the calm before the storm will end within seconds of this train stopping and us
walking outside to feel the warm breeze.'
Remember me
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