The basement of the school held government offices for the
administration of the Capital Punishment law and the overseeing of the Mercy Rule. The basement actually extended far longer
underground than the upper areas of the school.
While the execution chamber was located in a completely separated
building from the school, the Suicide Room was located directly beneath the
school. Many parents were initially
concerned that the transporting of criminals into the same building as students
would pose many safety problems for students.
However, with the increased security, armed guards, and physical
barriers, in over ten years since the mercy rule was promulgated—which was a
few years after the Capital Punishment law was enacted—there had never been an
incident. At least no incident was
officially reported.
Most of the suicides went smoothly. Occasionally, some criminals who signed
waivers for execution and chose the Mercy Rule failed to be able to complete the
task and ended up being Listed again, and assigned a death date. Sometimes it was a surprise as to which
criminals couldn’t pull the triggers, some of the most hardened criminals
failed to. Known killers who killed
without conscience couldn’t pull the trigger on themselves.
Upon exiting the stairwell, there was a security desk with
an armed guard. The guard requested Micah
show two forms of identification, and asked that he put his school bag through
the x-ray machine. The guard motioned
for Micah to go through the metal detector.
He beeped, and had to remove his shoes before going through again.
“Do you have any electronics on you?” The guard asked. He was holding Micah’s laptop and eTextbooks
in a container. “We have to hold onto
any electronic devices while you’re down here,” he said. Micah emptied his pockets and placed his cell
phone in the plastic bin. The guard gave
him a label to place on the bin with the contents he left and his name and
identification.
Next, he had to walk down a ten foot white hallway
slowly. He knew his body was being
bombarded with a light shower of x-rays, and the screeners were looking for any
unusual shapes that might be hidden in his clothing indicating weapons. Screeners found that walking often shakes
items loose, whereas if the visitor just stood there, it might be
concealed.
The screener gave Micah the OK sign and allowed him to pass
through. The hallway was lit with
florescent light bulbs that were too harsh and too weak at the same time. The light made everything look a sickly
yellow, even the concrete walls. The
hallway ended in a small waiting room with a receptionist at the front. A few other people were waiting in the room,
but he didn’t recognize any of them. The
receptionist had a friendly smile and motioned for Micah to come towards her. She had a grandmotherly face and her silver hair
was pulled back tight into a small bun at the base of her head. He walked towards her and a few people in the
room glanced up then quickly glanced back down.
“Are you here for the orientation?” she asked. Micah nodded.
“I guess,” he said. “I
was supposed to meet with Mr. Livingston, but I’m a little early.” She smiled and waved her hand.
“Don’t worry about that, dear” she said. “It’s fine.
Just sign in here, put the location you’re visiting, and I’ll get you a
visitor’s badge,” she said. She pulled
open a drawer that held the badges and handed one to Micah as he signed
in. “Have a seat over there,” she said
motioning to the battered chairs along the wall. “I believe Mr. Livingston said he was
expecting about three students, so we still have to wait for them.”
Micah moved over to sit in the chairs, which were more
comfortable than they initially looked. He
noticed they were bolted into the concrete floor. He looked around the room, and realized everything
was either bolted into the floor or wall, or covered with a metal guard that
was bolted into the wall and locked. He
looked at his watch. It was still
another twenty minutes. He sighed, slouched into his chair, and closed
his eyes for a moment.
“Hey Micah,” a girl’s voice woke him up. “Are you here for the orientation too?” Micah
opened his eyes and squinted briefly through the brightness of the room. The voice belonged to Penny, a small-ish girl
with mousy brown hair and large glasses covering her green eyes. She was wearing a large knit sweater and
hugging her book bag to her chest.
“Penny!” Micah said smiling and sitting up straighter, “yeah,
‘supposed to be meeting with Livingston down here. How’ve you been?” He asked he rubbed his eyes
and glanced at his watch. Still ten
minutes to go. “I haven’t seen you since
second year.” Penny lived only lived a
few houses down from Lilia’s house and they all used to play together as
children. But for some reason the last
few years they all grew apart. Penny
nodded.
“Yeah, we never seem to have the same classes together
anymore.” She took a seat next to Micah
and stretched out her legs. She kept her
book bag on her lap. “I’m in the same
class for Humanities as Oriana and Isaac,” she said. “Williamson’s class.” Micah nodded.
“How is Williamson?”
he asked. “I haven’t really asked
those guys about her—is she any good?”
Penny shrugged
“She’s okay, I guess,” Penny answered. “But then again, if I liked her, maybe I
wouldn’t be down here.” She gave a small
laugh. Micah smiled.
“Naw, I don’t think it’s only the teachers,” he said. “It’s the whole system that’s screwed up.”
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