Rewritten

Chapter 16

Daniel dragged his feet entering the dorm. The door bolted shut behind him and he looked up. Faces of dark and light skin, young and old watched him. Some people were kind, some were suspicious. It felt like he was the new kid at school, all eyes on him.

He decided to sit by an old man in his early seventies. The man had a grey beard, wrinkled smile, and little to no hair left on his shiny scull. He wore well-kept black dress pants and a thick wool sweater.

The crowd resumed their separate conversations shortly thereafter and the man stuck out his hand and spilled out a slur of French. "Bonjour, je m'appelle Patrick Ernst. Et tu?"

"I'm sorry, I don't speak French."

"Ah, no French?" He said in a thick French accent. Daniel could barely make out what he said.

"Sorry Patrick, I don't speak a word of it. My name is Daniel Adams."

They talk for a while about their lives that they were taken from. Daniel recounts his experience and then Patrick starts.

"There was a banging noise coming from the room next door to me. That was my daughter's room. I didn't except anything of it. She may have been dancing around her room with her dolls or something. She did that. Then, it started to become more frequent, almost rhythmical, so I became suspicious."

Daniel was really focused on hearing this story when the door opened again. "Daniel Adams, you are needed." A familiar voice said, Reva. She guided Daniel along the long glass sided hallways towards the elevator.

"You're lucky, not many Extracts leave this building after they arrive." She pushed him into the elevator with more force than he expected from her. She stepped in after him and pressed the roof button.

"If you need Extracts, why take me or Patsy?"

"Because you were, how do I put this lightly, unimportant in history, no big accomplishments." Reva said without a glance in his direction.

"Oh," Daniel said.

"Yeah, I mean, you're a nice guy and all, nothing about you. You just weren't all that famous."

"That is actually sweet, thank you."

"Don't get used to it." Reva said as the elevator comes to a stop at the roof. Reva guided Daniel to her hovercar on the far side of the building. They got in and Reva started it up and flew along the glass road. Beautiful lights marked the edges of the roads and holograms shone from the ground. He could see it all now, all the city.

The men and woman wore all kinds of clothing but nothing like he had ever seen, more eccentric. Their hairstyles varied as well. A common hairstyle was a braided bun with many ribbons and for men, they would wear their hair short and combed as Daniel's had always been.

Reva parked the hovercar outside of a huge, darkened glass building labeled with a glowing label.

House of Law
Under the Link System of Justice

Reva and Daniel entered the lobby of tall ceilings, glass panelled walls and hybrid flowers. There was a long glass secretary desk on the opposite wall of the doors. People were lined up and waiting their turn. Reva knew where to go. They went left and a door on the right was the courtroom. He was going to court.