Familiar Face

'First things first' Jim reasoned.

He took one more look at the card in which was written Dimmsdale. Flipping it over, the other end revealed the words D.D. Jim reasoned that the second D stood for Damien, since Damien Junior was the son of the cabby. And that could only mean that the driver's name was Damien.

Jim's mouth curled up into a smile as he was pleased with his self proclaimed intelligence and how he deducded the name Damien Dimmsdale.

Now that that was settled, Jim made his way towards the Immigration Control Building. Merely viewing the building alone, one would know that the walk from where Jim stood, was a very long one.

The main entrance in particular, neglecting the others, was at the middle of what seemed like a horse shoe magnet. Jim, though a very large distance away from it, was at the south pole of the building. There was a lane for cars to pass into the building premises, and a lane for people to move on foot. Also, there were helipads all over the place. Jim had deduced that from the number of flying crafts that were entering the premises of the building. The number of people trooping into the building was magnanimous.

Jim followed the crowd of people moving on the footpath made available, though he was practically paying attention to the directions his phone was giving him.

Finally, he had arrived at the space between both poles of the gigantic palatial building. There were no gates of any sort, but there were several military personnel stationed within the three hundred metre space between both poles of the gigantic building. These military personnel coordinated movement of people and the passage of cars, also handling problems that arose from such a large group of people walking together.

Jim had gotten close the enough to examine the uniform of one personnel and figured out it wasn't an ordinary uniform. It was padded black suit with blast vests and kevlar pads for the hands and legs. Liquid steel also covered certain areas of the body.

"Please, keep moving. Do not stop on the walkway" one of the military suited individual shouted.

'These guys, were not really nice.' Jim thought.

Jim was now within the premises of the Immigration Control Building.

'Just few more steps, and I'll be in.' Jim thought.

Being almost hard-pressed between several people was not a very nice thing. Jim wondered how on earth, all these people were able to fit almost well in this place without tramping on one another, even though they were not that much. However, he imagined that the inside of the building would provide more space, since he had neared the main entrance, and could not see the top of it or eben both poles of the gigantic structure.

Soon enough, he had reached the main entrance. There was a step, which was very long in diameter, that had only four steps. Jim presumed that these steps in particular crossed not only the front of the main entrance, but even to both poles. At the top of the steps, were several tube like pods of human size. These pods were connected to the translucent white material that served as walls of the building. The curved front doors of the pods constantly opened up and closed once a person had gotten in and passed through. Consequently, the delay in the opening and closing of these pods were responsible for the slight cramping outside of the building premises.

Climbing the steps were no trouble at all, but after the steps were pillars made of a strange coiling material that once again crossed the front of the main entrance.

The teenager had finally reached the pods that were connected to the main entrance. Jim heaved a sigh of relief and waited, staring right at the door waiting for something to happen.

"Tab the damn button buffon" a voice shouted out from behind him.

"Ha ha" Jim laughed. Why had it not crossed his mind earlier. He tapped the black circular button attached to the pod in front of him. The result was expected. The curved door slided open and Jim stepped in. He made to wipe sweat up his face , if any. But he noticed there was none.

'The eveningtide and whatever is around this place makes a great atmosphere.' Jim thought.

Another curved door opened in front of him and he was greeted with a chilling atmosphere. His baggage popped out from a small opening at the bottom of the pod where he had placed them before entering.

As expected, the entire place was very active, busy and big. The floors kept radiating white light and as expected of a immigration control centre, they were white. The top of the building was very high and Jim could not figure it out. But a more accurate look would reveal a top floor and another, and so on, all demarcated by glass. Glasses served as walls and doors all over the place. The lights which made the place appear white, radiated from a source that could not be figured out.

Jim took a moment to analyze the entire place. It was one thing he loved to do, observe his surroundings carefully, wherever he was. For now, there were no attendants around, just people who were possible immigrants, seated on multiple conjoined chairs. Others walking around with their luggages and an annoying AI voice constantly repeating - 'Please follow instructions from your digital guide and maintain a healthy and orderly environment.' It sounded feminine though.

There was a wide, about sixteen foot span rock, with a single person in the centre of it.

"How did she get in' Jim wondered.

Since his digital map was indicating that he should stop by, get decided to. On getting closer to the dock, he noticed a sign digitally displayed on the front of the dock. The female attendant also pointed it out before he got any closer. The sign read 'CLOSED'

'Damn' Jim cursed when he saw the sign and others staring at him in a funny way.

'Why did the guide lead me to a closed sign' he wondered.

"All for an expert system.' he muttered staring at the write up on his phone.

"I guess it wasn't a joke when you were all told maintain complete order".

Jim turned back with a start when he heard the voice.

"Oh! It's you" he exclaimed. It was the strange man he assumed was his butler. Even though he had not confirmed the stranger's identity, he guessed it was better to not make enemies out of strangers.

'Was he able to hear my thoughts? Or did he hear what I said? In such a low tone?" Jim questioned himself internally.

"When did you get here?" Jim asked.

""No sooner than you did." the strange man replied.

"That said.." said Jim, "I didn't even get your name"

The strange man chuckled lightly and replied back. "Just call me Akira."

"Okay" Jim replied stressing the syllables to sound like a question.

"And you are..?"

'What' Jim thought. Akira's question only confirmed Jim's doubt about him being his butler. But since he had not carried out anything qualified as being nefarious, he wasn't a bad guy then.

"Jim Alfred" Jim replied.

"Alfredo hmm" Akira stated caressing his chin.

"Alfred" Jim interjected. " But just call me Jim" he suggested.

"That's okay." Akira replied. "Wanna sit?" he questioned pointing to one co joined chair.

"Exactly my thought" Jim replied.

Taking the lead, Akira sat in the chair, while Jim sat by him.

"You're not a butler sent from my parents, are you?" Jim asked.

"Not at all" Akira said.

"That would explain why you occasionally disappear and reappear. Though it would not explain the speed at which you do that. In any case, why are you then with me?"

"A special liking"

"Pftt" Jim scoffed. "Then I'll just shake you off" he said.

"You can't." Akira replied.

Whatever that meant, Jim didn't care.

He had gotten tired of sitting already and decided to walk around.

"Are you coming?" Jim asked.

"I'm right behind you" Akira assured.

Jim shrugged and went on ahead.

He was noticing a lot of things, and one in particular was how a male was asking for the female toilet, attracting deathly stares from the one he was asking and others who heard too, especially females.Jim reasoned that the fellow did that because everything was made of glass.

He was soon getting tired if walking due to the uncomfortability he was experiencing.

The real reason he decided to take a walk was because of the sick feeling he felt in his stomach that was gradually affecting his mouth. He felt it on the plane hours ago and thought it was the uneasiness of the flight, but feeling it now, he understood it was because he felt lonely. Leaving his parents might seem a small thing, but to him, it wasn't. His parents were all in the world to him.

He took out the card given to him by Dimmsdale.

'I'll need this someday to get back to them, if they are still there.' he sighed. 'Please be safe.'

"Hey there kiddo" a voice shouted and a hand wrapped around his shoulder.

Jim was getting sick of hearing voices and he was also surprised at the audacity of this individual who had wrapped his hand around him.

"Hey". He pulled himself from the embrace of this stranger and waited for him to introduce himself.

"Sorry for the startle. I couldn't help it. You seemed to be the sulking one." the stranger said rubbing the back of his head with his hand and smiling sheepishly.

Jim took a look at the person in front of him. He was a male of course, wore a black T-shirt, same as Jim, but he had a jean jacket on it while Jim had a blue dyed leather one.

'Black trousers, sneakers, dark shades and a terrible pompadour haircut.' Jim observed.

"And what if I was sulking?" Jim asked sarcastically.

"I'm sorry." the stranger apologized. "You also look like someone who has no direction. I presume you've had a bad experience with the digital guide and do not want to use it again. Don't worry kiddo.." he said patting Jim on the back, "the feeling is mutual."

"Yeah" that was all Jim could say in reply to this teenager who was talking very fast and slowly and understandably, at the same time. He looked back expecting to see Akira, but couldn't.

'He does appear and disappear often. I guess he surely appear soon' he thought.

"You're that guy asking for the female toilet!" Jim exclaimed stepping away from it a little.

"Hahaha. If seems I'm quite famous." the teenager replied as soon as Jim was done speaking.

"Believe me kid, I'm not pervert. I just wanted to make those guys with cramped faces smile a little."

"Yeah" Jim said again.

"You're staring at me like you've seen a familiar face." the teen stated.

"Now that you've mentioned it.." Jim said, "You do have a familiar face."