Thomas was brought back to his cell, the interrogation went fast, barely any questions and just some rough handling. In a way this was strange but also normal,his arrest was not normal.You can say he was jumped by the police officer. He sighed and he sat down on the bench.
Back to square one or is it zero ?
His head was in his hands, holding it in place as he stared at the wall. He had no idea what he was supposed to do, he knew about La Seine and what it implied but he didn't know why Le Plain gave him a motel room. Maybe he didn't want him to file a complaint about his treatment or just get rid of him. From his memory of France, the equivalent of this world country, the police don't help that much. It was strange. His musing was interrupted by the sound of banging against the iron bar cells..
"Hey ! Stop daydreaming ! We still have papers to fill and information to give !" shouted a policeman, "Now stand up and get your ass here ! "
Thomas moved toward the policeman, who was holding a clipboard with a small stack of papers and brochures.
"First name, last name, age and place of birth. If you can't provide a family name, we will give you one from the register. If you can't provide an age, we will have to do some tests. If you can't provide a place of birth, we will decide on one based on where you lived. Understood ?"
"Yes…"
Thomas Poirro said out loud each information. He made sure that his birthday matched the current year, 16 July of 2182. He had to make some quick math in his head since back in the original world it was 2025 and the "Fracture" happened in 2026 in this world, 150 years ago.
The "Fracture" was a cataclysm which shattered the world. Many countries have fallen and some rose back. Gate, monsters and new species started to appear a bit after. Some species were refugees like the dwarves, others were totally displaced with their entire country like the elves. The first 50 years were a mess for this world. Many wars nearly broke out but a semblance of peace was achieved. 3 major power rose after the "Fracture". The Union, which has 'control' over what was once called Europe.The "Coalition" who is the remain power of Japan, China and Korea gathered under a single flag. The "United State of New America" is simply the remaining power of the United States and the American continent. The entire world was heavily, 50% of the world doesn't belong to Humanity anymore but to monsters and gates. The remaining is divided between Humanity ( further divided between the 3 mains powers and the lesser one) and the others species who arrived.
Thomas internally groaned at his own thoughts. He felt like this whole "Fracture" plot was already a mess. Trying to create a new geopolitical environment was not easy. Making it cliche was but making it coherent wasn't, maybe it is way better in "reality" than the thing he wrote. He barely glossed over them in his work.
The Police officer left quickly after informing him that he would need to stay for the night before they sent him away. Something about getting temporary identification papers or something. Thomas was a bit ashamed that he missed the information he was given. In a certain way, he wanted to crawl into a hole and die in it. He felt like he was going to feel like this for a long time. Before leaving, the police officer left the brochures between the bars of the cell, looking ready to fall down.
He took the bundles and started browsing them. He read the titles, went to the next one and once he read the title of each of them, he started sorting them. He threw on the left side of the bench the one who was about education, on the left the one about work and on the floor the propaganda. He counted around 21 brochures, 10 of them were about Academy's from the less popular to the most prestigious one, 6 were about different places looking for work such as WcDonald ( He wanted to cry for creating this one) and other agencies specialised in short work contracts. The remaining one was pure propaganda about the greatness of the "Union" and why you should join the Army, he didn't bother reading them and just ignored them.
The brochures about the academy did give him more information why Le Plain gave him a room. The program to integrate society seems odd since he never wrote such things.
Maybe it is a good thing. This is the Real World.
Thomas frowned at that thought. He doesn't know why he thought that and chose to ignore it for the moment.
The other brochures were also useful but it didn't tell him where his motel room was or how far he would need to go in order to work. His eyes strayed to the WcDonald one. He frowned at it for a minute before remembering that that he saw multiple WcDonald on the road to the station. It also comes with a lot of benefits for him. Minimal wage pay and "free" food at lunch, if he is lucky, which he doubts, the work environment will not be toxic. He gathered all the brochures and threw them on the ground and laid down on the bench with his arm over his eyes.
He tried to empty his mind and to put it away for tomorrow. He was too tired to think about such things without getting anxious or dying from embarrassment. He tried to let his mind wander, thinking of possible scenarios that could happen to him, daydreaming about small stories or possible ones to write. Sometimes his mind went back to the plot of this story, the characters he made and his choices. They were stray thoughts who kept coming back like flies or mosquitos during a hot humid day of summer.
He was tired, very tired. This entire situation is surreal. It was like a Nightmare, a Dream without end. He wanted everything to End and to be back in his home alongside his cat. To call his family on his phone and talk about random things they did or will do.
His eyes started to grow heavy and moist. The silence of his cell felt like a small and quiet orchestra of all kinds of noise.
Maybe it was his mind playing him a trick but he couldn't place a word to explain or qualify the sounds but they had a very soothing effect on his mind. His eyes grow heavy. In his remaining blurry vision, the walls of the cell stretched and twisted in strange form and shape. Bending and blending at the same time. Stretching and shrinking in a strange disharmonious manner. In a way and fascinating way, his mind found them very soothing.The Silence of his cell reached its crescendo and with it, his mind drifted to sleep.
Even when he was in a deep slumber, the Silence continued to play its orchestra and the walls of the cell continued to paint its patterns. Like a living lullaby luring a restless child to sleep.