Happy New Year everyone! It's my birthday today: so happy birthday to me!
...
Written using Freewrite Writing Prompt from the amazing 
...
"You did not follow the Rules!" he said, slamming the book down on the table in front of me.
The blue leather bound book made quite a sound as it hit the wooden desk and I jumped, despite myself.
The book, "How to be a good citizen" was familiar to everyone, of course.
I, like every one of my generation, had been given the book in a ceremony when we turned eleven. The following three years were spent learning the rules before the Citizen Test. That day was something all children looked forward to, and dreaded in equal measure. To pass meant you were granted full Citizenship - all the benefits that went with it as well as the duties and responsibilities.
If you failed, however, you were marched through the street to the City Gates and flung outside.
I lost three of my classmates that way.
"Explain yourself!" the Judge shouted.
I took a deep breath and began to explain my actions.
...