Citizen 4413

“Citizen 4413, are you ready to hear the charges laid against you?”

I said nothing.

“Let the record show that in accordance with section 17 of amendment 469 Citizen 4413’s silence has been accepted as admittance and the State will proceed.”

The little red light beside the lens in front of me started to blink.

“Citizen 4413, you are charged with the crime of theft, tampering with police evidence and endangerment of yourself and everyone else when you did willfully and knowingly cross the Perimeter, thereby entering into Sector Z-23X. Do you deny it?”

Again, I said nothing.

“Let the record show that Citizen 4413 has, again, stayed silent.”

“With the Court’s permission, the State will now proceed with the Evidence.”

“Proceed.”

There was the faint sound of shuffling papers from the speakers.

“Evidence against Citizen 4413 stands as follows: Exhibit A. Testimony against Citizen 4413 by Citizen 6521, a neighbor.”

I remembered her, remembered every single one of her phone calls, every single one of her reports in to my office. Reports on her neighbors, her friends, her family, even the bugs that buzzed passed her windows were not safe from her reports.

I should’ve known she was watching me, should’ve expected her to turn me in.

“Exhibit B. CCTV footage from outside of Sector Z-23X on the date in question, June 29th, at approximately 11:03 PM.”

I shouldn’t have gone then. I’d been careless. Stupid. Scared. I should’ve waited till the time was right, should’ve waited till the cameras were fritzed. But, if I’d waited I might’ve been too late. I’d needed to warn them. To warn him.

“Exhibit C: A golden locket in the shape of a heart on a gold chain, exactly 14 inches in length, with a broken hinge.”

I remembered the first time I’d seen it, on the neck of a little girl with her mother, a little girl who was sneaking into Sector Z-23X with her mother. I knew what I should’ve done there. I should’ve reported them. That was the right thing to do, the thing that everyone did.

But, I didn’t. I just didn’t want to. Maybe it was because I’d had a really long, bad day, listening to everyone else’s reports, complaints and abuse, and I just didn’t want to be like any of them. I didn’t want to ruin another Receptor’s day by screaming at them over the phone about some stranger doing something.

“Exhibit D. A police report, with aforementioned locket listed as evidence.”

I shouldn’t have even seen that report, but someone else had gotten careless and left it lying open and unattended. The bloody pictures were what had first gotten my attention, and then the locket was just lying there right next to it, speckles of blood all over it. If I’d never seen that report, would everything have been different? Would I have just continued on living as I had been? Docile, numb and ignorant?

“Exhibit E. evidence pack from aforementioned police report with aforementioned locket missing.”

Maybe I wouldn’t be sitting here if I hadn’t taken that locket. I hadn’t meant to take it, but somehow when I’d found my way back to my cube it was there, clutched tight in my fist, cutting into my palm. I still remembered the way that image of the little girl, dead in the streets, the bolded words TRAITOR on the report had burned my lids with a physical fire. It burned them still even now.

“And finally, Exhibit F. Testimony against Citizen 4413 by Citizen 3969, a friend and member of the Justice Council.”

My stomach turned sour. I hadn’t realized a rejection could make a person so vindictive, so persistent, so cruel. I should’ve expected it though, after our last encounter. Didn’t I have the bruises on my arms as evidence against him of his character?

“Citizen 4413, do you reject this evidence?”

I said nothing.

“Citizen 4413,” the judge cut in now, his voice crackling over the airwaves, “you are aware that if you refuse to say anything then by law you are accepting any and all charges laid against you. Do you intend to remain silent?”

I said nothing.

“Then the Court will take a brief recess to deliberate and pass sentence.”

A hammer smack clacked throughout the tiny cement room as the blinking red light blinked off.

“Citizen 4413,” the judge was back. Without the audience this time? “We know that you have made contact with the group known as the Rejectors.”

My blood spiked. They did know. I knew that they knew, but now I really knew.

“We understand that it was they that lured you to commit these crimes.”

They? Lured? Crimes? I wanted to laugh. If I hadn’t felt so sick to my stomach I most definitely would’ve laughed.

“We do not wish to punish you.”

Oh, but you do. You really do. If there’s one thing that I’d learned from this whole thing it was that the so-called Justice Council loved to exact punishment on anyone and everyone, all in the name of justice.

“We strongly desire to put an end to the disruption these Rejectors have caused.”

I’m sure you do.

“All you have to do is to tell us, how many there are, when they meet, where they meet, and who their leader is.”

My heart, that was already racing, fluttered. Not him. Never him. I would never report on him, not ever. Never.

“All you have to do is to report this information to us, and we will set you free.”

I said nothing.

“Citizen?”

I remained silent.

“Citizen 4413, are you listening?”

I held my breath.

“Citizen 4413, is your silence to be taken as admittance of guilt and acceptance of sentence?”

I pursed my lips together, teeth clenched.

“Very well.”

The red light blinked on. And we’re back ladies and gentlemen. My grampa used to say things like that. He’d said that the TV’s used to be used for entertainment, not surveillance, lines like that used to make people feel comfortable, not fearful.

“The Court has reached a verdict.”

I swallowed, testing the steel restraints one last time to see if I could break free in the end. I could hardly move.

“Citizen 4413 is sentenced to death by lethal gas. Sentence to be carried out immediately. Court adjourned.”

A hammer smacked.

The speakers buzzed off, the Court and the State were gone, but the blinking red light remained blinking. The Citizens were watching as the lethal gas poured into the room from the vents on all sides.

I looked directly into the lens. I knew that he was watching me, knew what he was feeling. It was that feeling that had driven me to Sector Z-23X that night at 11:03 pm, to warn him. It was that feeling that had kept my lips firmly sealed. A single tear of relief, relief that it was me in here and not him, slipped down my cheek, as with a smile meant only for him I exhaled the breath I’d been holding as the gas covered me.

The End.