Angels

The Library

Tyler yanked on a dark grey parka and inserted a pair of cobalt blue earbuds. He stuffed the latest assignment and a couple of books into his satchel and swung it over his shoulder, humming along to some Coldplay. Songs from the 21st century were his favorite. However, since it was now the 31st century, he got ridiculed a bit. He yelled through the house to let his mom know he was off to the library, and shut the door behind him. He lived in uptown New California. Since World War Three, California had split off of the United States in a nuclear bomb attack. Now it was part of the Provincial Regions of America. They got supplies from the mainland, but mostly stuck to themselves, deciding their own government and using their own currency.

Tyler walked down the street to the massive library, careful to turn left instead of right. The right road led to the ghettos, and the bridge to the mainland. Many people got mugged, and the ancient subway tunnels made the un-reinforced streets unsafe, and dangerous to walk on. He was glad he was an upper class citizen, who didn't have to worry about collapsing streets.

A blur of grey appeared within his peripherals, and he was suddenly knocked to the ground. He gasped for air for a moment, and blinked as the world came back into sharp focus. A pair of startled green eyes looked back at him. The person had dark black hair, and their hands were on either side of Tyler's head. They smiled and stood up quickly.

"Sorry mister, didn't see you there! Please don't report me, I didn't mean to. Besides, I'm not a Downie, so can't only people older than me report me? Anyway, sorry sir, I just gotta get into the library now. See you later, bye!" A girl that was nearly his height hauled him back to his feet and dashed up the stairs into the formidable building. She stopped and handed the security guard her permission pass. He scanned it, barely glancing at the numbers, and she rushed inside after throwing a quick glance over her shoulder at Tyler

Tyler rolled his eyes and smiled as he walked up the steps. Those green eyes were the same colour as the precious stones in their Digitexts. Emeralds, he thought. With hints of gold. He reached into his pocket, as a skinnier boy with blond hair and huge glasses argued urgently with the guard.

"No, sir! I told you, that girl with the green eyes ran into me and she must have pickpocketed me! I swear it!"

"Sorry son, I've seen her here before. She isn't a Downie. You just lost it. I'll send out a team to raid the Downies, and then sweep the library and your home. Come back later." The beefy security guard smiled at Tyler. "Hey Ty! How's it goin'?"

"Hey Freddy," Freddy grinned and scanned Tyler's card before he went inside.

"Later Fredster!" Tyler smiled and walked inside.

The main entrance was huge, and two massive doors greeted him. One was designed like the motherboard of a computer, except it was done in precious metals and rare gems. The other was a solid black door, which made it stand out against the white granite stones. Studded in diamonds, sapphires, topaz, and every other precious metal and gem you could imagine, it looked as if a piece of the universe had been cut from the sky and turned into a door. Upon closer investigation however, you could see that the stones created the pattern of a very ornate tree with animals surrounding it.

Tyler smiled and brushed his longish brown hair out of his eyes. He pushed the animal door open, and walked into a hall with twenty more doors in a large atrium. Some were rough-hewn slabs of wood with various carvings, while others were moving galaxies that were really just projections on a wall of mist.

Despite all of these fantastic and interesting doors, Tyler selected one that looked like a plain old door. The small silver plaque read "The Hall of Classics". It's silver handle fit smoothly into his grasp, and he twisted it to the right. The musty, papery smell of thousands of book filled his nostrils, and he smiled. He walked through the towering bookshelves until he found 'R'.

"Tolkien... Tolkien... Ah, here we go." Tyler stared at the shelf with every book ever written by J.R.R. Tolkien. But the Hobbit, the one he had come for, was missing.

Only one copy of the precious literature existed, always hard backed. Every book ever written in the history of the world was here. The large doors represented the two main divisions. Fiction and Non-fiction. Each of the smaller doors within them represented sub-genres, as divided by the government. Now The Hobbit was missing. This puzzled Tyler, because the librarian said that he and two other people ever came here. One was a very old man who preferred stuff like Roger Lancelyn Green.

Tyler sighed, and decided to hunt through the Hall of Classics until he found the culprit. No book was allowed to leave their designated hall. It was strictly forbidden, and everyone in the upper provinces always followed the rules.

And thus began his adventure of a lifetime, where rules didn't apply. Where breaking the rules was how you survived.