The Registration

THE REGISTRATION

MADISON LAWSON

CONTENTS

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

Day 13

Day 14

Acknowledgments

About the Author

CamCat Publishing, LLC

Brentwood, Tennessee 37027

camcatpublishing.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

© 2022 by Madison Lawson

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address CamCat Publishing, 101 Creekside Crossing Suite 280, Brentwood, TN 37027.

Hardcover ISBN 9780744307023

Paperback ISBN 9780744307030

Large-Print Paperback ISBN 9780744307047

eBook ISBN 9780744307061

Audiobook ISBN 9780744307092

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022936321

Cover and book design by Maryann Appel

5 3 1 2 4

For my dad, a miracle, superman, and proof that good men and fantastic fathers exist. I’ll love you forever and I’ll miss you always. Thank you.

DAY 1

Lynell feels the sun cutting into her skin, a harsh reminder of her own mortality. She rolls forward onto her toes and holds her hand up against the sun. The motion puts an old scar on her forearm in her direct line of sight. Her stomach clenches and she steps back into the shade.

Dallas is busier today than on a usual Thursday. The first Thursday of the quarter, April 4th, brings promises of vengeance, clarity, relief, justice, and love.

It’s Registration Day.

Lynell rests against the wall of the building and leans her head back. She flattens her palms against the hot stones, listening to the city’s symphony. Hundreds of feet pound the pavement, and the streets are congested with honking cars and people on the phone.

Across the street, an old man walks out of the large glass door Lynell has been staring at for two hours. He folds a piece of paper and slides it into his back pocket. She wonders whom he just Registered. The odds suggest a wife or loved one in chronic pain, as mercy is the most common reason for using the Registration. But perhaps this man seeks justice. Lynell’s high school history teacher used his Registration on a man who assaulted his daughter and got away with it. No jail time or community service.

But with the Registration, he found justice anyway.

A gunshot brutally pulls her out of her rumination. A young girl screams, and a few older kids jump or duck. Lynell, like most of the adults walking the streets, only flinches at the sound. While public Registrations aren’t common, the first day is always the most violent.

She looks up to see a middle-aged man lying in a pool of his own blood and a woman, the same age, standing over him holding a small, smoking gun. Instantly, a pair of Elysian Regulators rush to her side. Lynell can’t hear what they’re saying, but after the woman holds up a piece of paper and the officers dig in the man’s coat, they nod. A lengthy phone call later, the Regulators leave. If the Registration had been completed anywhere else, officers probably would have arrived first. But since she’s right outside a Registration office, there are plenty of Regulators around to check the legitimacy of the completed Registration.