I felt nervous as I walked toward Stephan Rolenz’s office, knowing that this man wasn’t one to cross. All I needed was to convince Stephan to answer a few questions, but it wasn’t that simple. These questions could expose my mission.
Glass walls, ceiling, and floor, gave the impression that one was walking on air. The hallway was one of many in Glass City, stretching between Rolenz Academy and the Laboratory of Dr. Silinstra. The view from the hallway was spectacular. Glass City stretched for miles around Central Center. Central Center was made up of six huge glass skyscrapers, connected by hundreds of glass hallways.
Turning a corner in the hall, I stepped into the Academy building. Looking down the hall in which I now stood, I saw a door with Stephan Rolenz: Head of Administration written across it in gold lettering. This was it. Knocking on the door, I listened to the first human voice I had heard in months,
“Come in” Turning the brass knob, I stepped into a wood box. The office had wooden walls, wooden floors, wooden chairs, a wooden desk and tables, a wooden ceiling; even the ceiling fan was wooden. There was a wood based lamp on each of the two tables at the back of the office, and the entire back wall was a huge, glass window with a view even better than that from the hallway. Glass City glowed like a multicolored flame, flickering on and off as people awoke, and went to sleep. Night and Day no longer affected people, everyone had their own schedule, and never did two people have the same schedules unless they were part of the same close family. I could clearly see a woman tucking her son into bed in an apartment two buildings over; while in the apartment above a man stretched as he awoke.
Turning back to the office, I glanced at the desk, which was barely visible under piles of paperwork, jumbles of pens (all wooden) and folders labeled in neat, flowing handwriting. Stephan Rolenz sat in the wooden chair, staring intently with his black-brown eyes at a sheet of paper that read Privacy Policy across the top, no doubt taking in every iota of information before he signed.
He wore a painfully bright red suit, with a matching tall top hat. Brown hair cut in a severely perfect way, curving over his ears and tracing along the base of his skull, and a pin straight mustache spread across his upper lip. He didn’t even glance up as I stepped in, instead reaching for a wooden pen and curving his hand across the paper in a signature. He made a little curl at the end, and I doubted even the best forger would be able to copy it.
Stephan brushed the paper aside and looked up, his intent stare made me want to hide in a corner. I straightened a little hoping to seem more professional.
“I don’t believe I have seen you before. Are you interested in joining the Academy? If so, I must ask that you come back Monday, 8:30 AM perhaps? Saturdays are terribly busy days for me.” Stephan gestured to the door,
“Mr. Rolenz, I am here to ask you a few questions, my parents were students here, and they dropped out… they disappeared recently and…” Stephan raised his eyebrows, but pulled open a desk drawer,
“Names?” I was silent for a moment, then spoke.”
“Tali Freeman and Rory Johnson.” Stephan pulled out a single file, and place it on his desk, he flipped it open, then his eyes grew wide for a moment before he shut the file, and looked up at her
“Your Alaina Johnson aren’t you?” he said in an accusatory voice, I nodded, not daring to speak.
Stephan removed his bright red top hat with a sweeping motion, and brought it down to his desk, weaving his fingers together on the front of the brim. He leaned forward, staring me down with his menacing black-brown eyes. His pin straight mustache quivered as he spoke quietly, but with anger lacing through the words,
“Get out.” I didn’t need telling twice. Grasping the file from the cluttered desk, I ran for it, ignoring Stephan’s yells as I whipped around the corner, holding the file tight in my fingers, hoping nothing important fell out. I flew down the stairs at the end of the hall, only to find myself at a dead end, stopping short, I turned to see and empty hallway behind me.
I heard voices shouting behind me, and two men came running around the corner. I closed my eyes and prepared for the worst.