“Get your hands off me, you scumbag. You’ve come to this because of your stupidity. You should thank me that I still want to play another round,” yelled Tyler Hall.
Dylan was mad with rage. He blamed himself for suggesting for playing for money in the first place. It was against his principles. And Rebound was nothing but a stupid game. He felt as if he had a revelation, that he was only now seeing Tyler Hall’s true face.
Everything was clear after five minutes. He would lose this round, too. He couldn’t focus anymore. However, the game was being played on Tyler Hall’s conditions.
“That’s it. We stop playing. You can keep everything you won, but I can’t play with Lydia at stake.”
“We’ve already started. If you give up, it means I won.”
“You don’t understand, do you? I simply cannot do that!”
“Good, then go ahead and tell her.”
Dylan was at a loss. He imagined waking Lydia up and telling her everything. She would get mad, yell at him, argue with him, but what if, in the end, she’d accept the conditions? “I’ll do it for you, although you don’t deserve it,” she’d probably say. And since Tyler Hall was so anxious, everything would take place that very evening. That very evening. Did he dare ask her? Could she deal with Dylan there? Could Dylan even deal with it? Did he really want to see the woman he loves with another guy? That’s it. The thought was simply mind-bending.
Everything around him grew dark. He had but one goal: to prevent Tyler Hall from touching Lydia at all costs. He grabbed the empty bottle of wine and hit Tyler Hall in the head. The bottle smashed and he was left bottleneck in hand. The hit had taken Tyler Hall by surprise and he didn’t have time to keep clear of it. He fell as if in a dream. Dylan was shaking. He stood up, not knowing what to do next.
Was Tyler Hall dead? Should Dylan push the panic button? Paramedics would arrive in less than three minutes and resuscitate him. The murder attempt would mean Dylan would be exiled to New Hope. He already imagined how he’d have to live there—thinking about survival every day. Since there were no laws in that city, anything was possible. He could be attacked on the streets, or perhaps he himself might become an attacker. He could be held between gangs of criminals. All these things occurred to him in an instant.
Then, Tyler Hall began to move. Dylan felt relief without knowing why. He would explain to Tyler Hall that the thought of giving Lydia to him made him lose his mind. He’ll understand he asked for too much. Dylan would give him everything else. Absolutely everything. Tyler Hall stood up and, seeing Dylan holding the bottleneck, realized what happened.
“What have you done, mother fu—?”
“I’ll give you everything I have, except for…”
Tyler threw himself at Dylan and grabbed him by the throat. They both collapsed. With self-preservation kicking in, Dylan unconsciously raised his hand with the bottleneck and hit across Tyler Hall’s throat, which stood no chance. He was lying lifeless in just a few minutes. The living room was a pool of blood. Dylan’s destiny had been decided. It was over for him.
Now what? Should he kill himself? Everything that had just happened was too much for him to handle. He never imagined he’d see the blood of a man spurting from his throat. That a man would die beside him. On top of that, he knew that man, and only hours ago he’d called him “friend.”
Dylan pressed the panic button; doing so had been nothing but a reflex. He didn’t realize that he’d done it. He probably stopped thinking and his brain did precisely what it was programmed to do when seized with panic.
Chapter 2
When Dylan heard the buzzers, he got an idea. He would hit his head with what was left from the bottle. If it had the same effect on him as it did earlier on Tyler Hall, he’d just black out. He could then say they had a fight, and because he was hit, he could not remember a thing. If he managed to hit himself hard enough, maybe he would be so lucky to not remember anything at all.
There could be a hypothesis that a third man may have killed Tyler Hall and left Dylan unconscious. A vile stranger had followed them and came to rob them, and during the robbery had killed Tyler Hall and tried to kill Dylan.
But Dylan wasn’t fast enough. The door opened and a policeman came in. The camera attached to his uniform indicated that the plan he thought up a few seconds earlier came to grief. As soon as the panic button was pressed, the police were able to open the electronic lock of the door without a search warrant. Although the police took statements and asked questions, no paperwork was required since all images the policemen recorded were used as evidence for any impending trial.
“What happened here?”
It was the standard question that the police would ask upon their arrival at a suspicious scene. Once the police officer saw the other person lying in a bloodbath, he understood everything in no time. He drew his gun and pointed it at Dylan.
“Hands up!”
Dylan did as told. There was nothing else he could do. The paramedics arrived and were trying to resuscitate Tyler Hall. Unfortunately, he had lost too much blood.
Lydia entered the room. The second police officer pointed his gun at her. When she took in the scene, she instantly realized what had happened. Overwhelmed by emotion, she passed out. She hit her head when she fell, but she regained her consciousness quite quickly.
The police officer informed Dylan he was the main suspect in the murder of Tyler Hall. He explained what his rights were and took him to the police station. Dylan could tell his side only in the presence of a lawyer. He had been assigned one in his twenties who had just been awakened from his sleep. The lawyer silently listened to Dylan’s story, his mind still on the dream that hadn’t finished before he woke up. Eventually, he spoke to him:
“Buddy, it’s my duty to set the record straight. You stand no chance to remain at home. Many have been sentenced to New Hope for things that are far less serious than this. The most important thing is for you to survive there. With time, if everything goes well, you can ask the court to re-examine your situation. In the best-case scenario, you will be allowed to return here and reintegrate into society. But some time must pass before that happens.”
“How much?”
“Pff…that’s hard to say…it may take years, decades even. Then again, you might never come back. You will have several evaluation sessions. For each session you will be assigned tasks you have to complete. If you successfully manage to complete the tasks, you can still hope. If you fail to complete some of the tasks, well… there would still be other evaluation sessions… but the chance to regain your freedom would drastically decrease in direct proportion to the number of unaccomplished tasks.
“Certain tasks must be accomplished in order for you to be considered fully rehabilitated. One of them is the CONFRONTATION. I’m sure you heard of it. All media channels show various reports about the confrontation. However, since I’m your lawyer, I have to explain to you what it’s all about. During the trial, anyone who knew the victim has the right to demand satisfaction. However, the right to ask for satisfaction is not only limited by the duration of the trial; it lasts for three years. To be more precise, during this period of three years, anyone who’s entitled can approach the court and make a claim to demand satisfaction. It might be the victim’s son, brother, or uncle—it doesn’t matter who it is—who wants to demand satisfaction.
“You’ll have two choices. You either agree to the CONFRONTATION or you refuse it. If you agree to it, you’ll come eye to eye with the person who wishes to confront you. You won’t have a stun gun on you or any other weapon. Moreover, you’ll be tied to a chair, and guards will make sure you cannot escape, or that even if you manage to untie yourself, that you don’t get far.
“However, those who confront you are allowed to carry any type of guns they want. You are basically at their mercy. If they want to kill you, they can. If they want to mutilate you, they can. They can do whatever they want to you: cut off one of your hands, rack you, blind you. Si
nce this happens in New Hope, whatever they decide to do, they aren’t held accountable. It is considered that no material compensation can account for the loss of a loved one. Only those who experienced such a loss can decide what the rightful and proportional punishment is to the trauma their loved one underwent. Not everyone, however, has this right—only up to third-degree relatives—the victim’s lover, in addition to very close friends, has this right.
“This is what you should thoroughly consider now. If a year passes, and you don’t accept the confrontation, it will be considered denied. In the absence of the confrontation, you have no chance to be released from New Hope. On the other hand, even if you refuse this confrontation, this won’t prevent those who are entitled to come to New Hope to look for you and try to kill you. But you’ll have a Taser and will be able to fight back. As you are well aware, New Hope doesn’t have any laws. If you kill someone, nothing will happen to you. Nothing other than what you will already be enduring.”
“If I understand correctly,” said Dylan, “if I agree to the confrontation, I will probably get killed without the chance to fight back, and if I don’t, someone in Tyler Hall’s family or a friend of his will look for me, chase me down, and kill me in any event. That is, unless I’m fast enough to kill them first.”
“You can say that. However, it needn’t come to murder. You can beg them to forgive you. Many people are religious. Some could melt with pity if you plead with them ‘…as we forgive those who trespass against us.’ We can set up meetings. You’ll be able to find out, to some extent, if they want you dead. Of course, you’ll have no guarantee on this. On the other hand, you have to understand that you killed a man.
“It was a mistake, almost an accident.”
“Well, we can’t take that path. Your best chance is if you confess to everything the way it happened. Meanwhile, I will contact the victim’s family and try to find out what kind of people are they and who among them, if anyone, may want revenge. You will also have a psychiatric assessment. We’ll try to plead for a temporary loss of judgment, but it's unlikely that it will work.”
The lawyer was rattling away. Dylan felt the need to pour himself a mug of water. After he finished his water, he sat down, trying to gather up the threads of his thoughts.
“I always assumed it would be horrible to go to New Hope. I simply never understood why some people went there willingly. And look at me now; I will probably have to spend the rest of my life there.”
“Yeah… society is trying to protect itself from the individuals who have proven they can make mistakes. The penalty for the one who is guilty has become less important than the benefit for the rest of society so that these types of crimes won’t happen again.”
The lawyer paused, thinking that the discussion started to shift to a philosophy his client was not in the position to accept.
“You'll have plenty of time to get used to the idea. What’s more, you will be counseled by competent people. You will train. You won’t be entirely abandoned. But let’s go back to our case. How well did you know Tyler Hall?”
“We were good friends.”
“Did you have other mutual friends?”
“Yeah… a few, not many.”
“You’ll have to tell me their names. Was Tyler Hall married? Did he have a girlfriend?”
“He wasn’t married, and he didn’t exactly have a stable relationship. He had many lovers… at the same time, even. Of course, he arranged it so none of them knew of the others’ existences.”
“What do you know about his parents?”
“Not much. We met a few times. He was an only child. In fact, his parents were supporting him financially. He wouldn’t have been able to manage without them for sure. They wrapped him in cotton wool, if I may say so, since he was their only child.”
“Hmm… that’s bad. Usually, parents with an only child find it very hard to accept a death. There’s a high probability that one of them might want to confront you. I will talk to them.”
The lawyer took out his notebook and browsed through it. He seemed to be deep in thought for a moment. After a while, he continued:
“I forgot to tell you something very important. Murder is considered a very serious crime. All your fortune will be forfeited, everything you own, including your life savings. Part of it will be taken by the state as ‘costs’ and ‘support/training’ expenses until you’re admitted to New Hope. The rest, if any, will be shared among the victim’s heirs.”
“I don’t have much,” said Dylan. “I have been living in a rented house and driving a six-year-old car, which is now probably worth less than $5,000. I have almost $25,000 in my account. I was saving money to buy a house.”
“Any other personal things—jewelry, art objects, computer—anything?”
“Those count, too?”
“Yes, they will forfeit everything you have, clothes included, and they will sell it at market price.”
“Never! I have a lot of important folders on my computer, recordings of myself when I was a child! My entire life is stored there.”
“In this case, you must ask someone you know to bid on your assets. There usually are no problems with this, and you can recover your computer at a reasonable price. Speaking of which, how did you get along with your girlfriend?”
The course of discussion had shifted too abruptly. Dylan reached to the depths of his soul where a great pain pierced his heart. He glared at the lawyer.
“I did what I did for her. Or better said, I did what I did because I love her. I couldn’t conceive the thought that she could possibly be with anyone else. Yes, I love her. I truly love her. But what difference does that make now?”
The lawyer kept silent for a moment while he waited for Dylan to calm down a bit.
“What about her? Does she love you?”
“Yes, I’m sure she does.”
“Why haven’t you gotten married?”
“I don’t know… we were probably going to… we thought we should first make careers for ourselves.”
“Well, there have been instances where a husband or wife would follow his or her spouse into New Hope. It’s their right to do so. In addition, she would not be subject to complete any of the tasks. You’d come through better together. You would thus increase your chances of survival.”
“No. How could I ever ask her to do that? It would mean I’d condemn her as well. My life ends here, but hers should go on. She’s young. She’s beautiful. She’s very beautiful. She must move on.”
“Okay. You can figure that out later on. In fact, she’ll be able to visit you during the trial, but it’s a bit expensive: $300 a day.. I strongly suggest she came to stay with you during the trial. You’ll have time to discuss and plan your future. I have to go now, but I’ll come back tomorrow and we’ll talk more.”
Dylan didn’t like it. He wanted his lawyer to stay longer and explain everything in detail.
“Wait. What do you think the sentence will be? What are my chances?”
“If we are unsuccessful in proving that you suffered a temporary loss of judgment, which is very unlikely given that you are not under any psychiatric treatment, you'll be sentenced to New Hope.”
A long and hard night followed for Dylan. He had considered committing suicide more than once during the night. How had his life come to this? Everyone considered him to be a balanced person, and truth be told, he was. That one moment of aberration destroyed everything. The life he had lived up until now was over. It would be followed by another life, a life of a very different sort and with distinct problems and resolutions.
When the psychiatrist arrived in the evening, he found Dylan in a half-conscious state. The doctor gave him a pill and left. Dylan was too tired to be examined. The pill did its job, and he fell asleep. The next morning, the same doctor woke him up. Dylan underwent an EEG and MRI scanning. He then answered a few routine questions. He didn’t even realize that the scans and the questions were all that the psychiatric examinati
on entailed. The conclusion was obvious: he was in his right mind when he had done the deed. He had to account for it.
Lydia was waiting for him when he returned to his cell. They hugged and burst into tears.
“Why did you do that, my love? How could such a tragedy happen?” she kept repeating. He couldn’t hear her because he kept hugging her. Moments earlier, he thought he’d never see her again. He didn’t think she’d want to see him. But she was here. And she smelled the same. She had that unique smell he knew so well. After a while, he finally let her go and they both sat down on the bed.
“I couldn’t, Lydia. I just couldn’t bear the thought that you would belong to another, if only for a night, and that I made that happen. But now it’s over. You must move on with your life. Find someone else. I’m sorry, but I’m a loser. Even worse, I’m a murderer.”
“Please, don’t say that, my love. You’re hurting me even more. I talked to your lawyer, and he arranged for us to be together for the next three days—so that you can calm down a bit, and so I can calm down a bit. Don’t you understand? I cannot live without you. I have to be with you, no matter what. You’ll tell me what happened when you are ready.”
“But it costs such a great deal… you’ll need money…”
“Please… I want to do this… for us. For the family we could have been. It was suggested to me that on our first day together we should talk about something else. Let’s enjoy the fact that we’re together. Let’s just do it.”
Dylan didn’t resist her anymore. In a way, it all made sense. After all, they had no idea if they would ever be together again. They spent the following days reminiscing about the beautiful things in their shared life. They even talked about their childhood, relatives, and experiences at school. He told her all about that night. How he had a run of bad luck and lost everything and about Tyler Hall’s offer to win everything back if she herself was at stake.
His defender, although young, did his job very well. He came back with news on the third day.
The Free City Page 2
