The Rulebook

Chapter One

June

I was standing in a wooded area of town, where the trees shielded you from sunlight and all signs of life. My best friend dragged me here for the third time this week to question The Rulebook.

"But what if The Rulebook didn't exist?" He continuously inquired.

"But it does exist and that's all that matters, so stop asking." I replied.

"You're just scared of life without it," he continued.

"And you're questioning the integrity of The Book." I stated.

"So you are scared of life without it." He poked.

"No, I am not. Can we go home now? I've had enough of this sneaking around asking questions about the book, alright?" I was getting annoyed with these constant encounters.

Just then a voice blared over the city intercoms. "All citizens and students report to the town square immediately, all citizens and students report to the town square immediately." I started to walk back out of the dense expanse of trees and realized that he wasn't following.

"What are you waiting for? Come on!" I was starting to feel like a nagging old lady.

"Something's happening. I can feel it." he hesitated.

"Okay Mr. Ominous, lets go now, okay?"

And with that we stumbled into civilization again, curiosity taking over both of us. That and the fact that this was another mandatory meeting. Anybody who didn't show up would be issued a citation and those go on your permanent record.

****

We slipped into the streaming crowds of people and continued towards the town square. There were about 3,000 people in our town so it took about half an hour to get everybody gathered and settled. The town square was a wide area about the size of a football field. Everybody had their heads down because the bricks beneath our feet weren't reliable and there were grass spots here and there. People began to settle into the blocks before the square.

"Welcome, civilians. The Council has recently discovered something that will have a great impact on our society as we know it. But first, I will recall our past." Then he went on to tell us the story that we all learn in grade school. How we are the last of our kind, we survived The Great Destruction, and because of this, Carolina Newall created The Book.

The book was created because violence got out of hand and the governments were too concerned with themselves to do anything about it. Nobody knows how, but one day we all woke up in a world of rubble and ash. Everybody was in the same building and the last thing they remembered was all hell breaking loose. And "everybody" was about 20 people. So they rebuilt society. And Miss Carolina Newall herself wrote The Rulebook to make sure that we kept in check.

"-Excuse me?"

"The book?" That was Ethan.

"Yes, certain things about the book have come to light.." Mayor Livingston retorted.

"Like wha-oof" I elbowed him in the ribs so he would finally shut up.

"The book has been stolen." He stated like she would have stated that he was  male.

Silence.

"Now, I know this may arouse some questions but for now we are going to handle this one step at a time. Any crime committed will now go through the board of trustees, no matter how small. Anybody who may know something concerning the location of The Book is asked to please report to the city building after this message." After that he was escorted to his car, back to the city building.

Ethan and I went back to my house for dinner as per usual and afterwards we went into my room to work on homework. After being best friends with him for so long, my parents finally moved past the thought of us being involved romantically.

"So are we actually going to do homework or was that announcement enough to get you talking about all the crap going on around here?" I could tell he was going to ask that since we left the town square.

"If we're going to talk about anything, then I want to go for a walk. You know I think better outdoors."

"Fine, okay. Anything to get you to talk about this."

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

And with that I end this (sorry) short chapter. I had hoped to write more to fill this chapter but I don't want to keep you waiting.

Please add to your library if you like* vote* comment* follow

-Whatever you do, thanks

:D ~Chloe