The Republic of Linae (Book 1)

Chapter 1: Allyson

Someone is going to die today.

None of the kids inside of the cell block know who this unfortunate soul is or when they are going to die, but we know for certain that it is going to happen. We saw it on the calendar posted at the front of the school wing several hallways away from where we sleep. All the dates of someone's eighteenth birthday are circled in an ugly, red marker that gets more and more pink as time goes on.

There is something heavy about the atmosphere that surrounds the cell blocks, which indicates that Executioner Bill Jacobsen hasn't come to take the individual to their death quite yet. Perhaps it means that their parents chose to save them from such a gruesome fate, allowing for them to be sold off into slavery instead. Or perhaps they were even kind enough to allow them into the real world to live their life in poverty.

Considering the fact that they are in here, though, that last part is highly doubtful.

On her dirty, moldy mattress across from me, Lydia bites at her nails nervously. She did not have to work in the coal mines today, so there is less grime covering her pale, freckled face than normal. Her red hair looks almost brown in the yellow lighting, covered in grease and dirt.

Hopefully, the First Lady will remember to create shower times for the older Catipilis soon. She seems to have been forgetting them a lot more recently.

"You're going to completely bite off your nails again," I warn her. When her green eyes dart to my face, I can see the hint of panic in her eyes. If I did not know any better, I would say that she is going to die today.

That's impossible, though. She would have told me if it was her eighteenth birthday. She promised me that she would.

Pulling her nails away from her mouth, Lydia sits overtop of her fingers. "Why isn't he just getting it over with?" She questions. Her voice is a little loud, and I am certain that people in the cells surrounding us can hear her shouting.

The 'he' that she is referring to is obviously the executioner. Never before has he waited so late in the day to take care of getting rid of someone. He usually does it when the Catipilis children are divided between their jobs in mine or at school. That why not everyone is subjected to the sight of one of their friends getting brutally murdered.

Unless you are under the age of fourteen, most of us have been a witness to an execution. We've grown used to the varied manners in which Executioner Jacobsen chooses to dispose of his victims.

Perhaps today, he wants to make a public spectacle about it. It certainly wouldn't be the first time the president has made a suggestion for such an "encouragement". Wolfani parents want their Catipilis children to discover their potential powers as quickly as possible. That way they can easily avoid any rumors or scandal about their child's sudden disappearance.

It's not like people cannot see the marks that are tattooed onto their wrists the moment that they are categorized at the age of five. The CT is a marker used to keep track of all Catipilis and will be left on their wrists for the rest of their lives. President Hansen's predecessor, who was his own father, made it illegal to get the marks removed. That law is still in place today, which makes it easier for people to discriminate against the Catipilis.

Even after enduring all the horrors of the Encouragement Camps, these children will never get to live normal lives. It's ensured by the laws, traditions, and opinions of the people in the Republic of Linae.

"Maybe the person he was going to execute discovered their powers at the last minute," I inquiry. It's happened before, much to Executioner Jacobsen's dismay. Once a Catipilis discovers their powers, they are immediately released into society. That's the promise that was made when the Encouragement Camps were first opened and no one has disobeyed the rules for as long as I have been here.