3. CONSEQUENCE

Michael POV

I seach up and down the bed for my phone, or even his, I need to call an ambulance.

I ran up and down the room like a mad dog, 

His eyes are open, empty and lifeless. No pulse to comfort me. No breath to lift my spirit.

Who the hell shot him, and what sought of mess have I gotten myself into

As I bask on the thought, One sharp sound jolts me back to reality.

The door bursts Open. "Police! Don't move!"

Everything happens so fast that I'm too confused to even mutter a word.

The angry cob grabbs my hand forcing me to the ground.

What's going on? I yell at the officer "I didn't do anything!"

"Save your explanation" an angry cop barks at me snapping a cold handcuff around my wrist.

I glance at the bed and then try to negotiate with the cop "He was alive a few minutes ago... I...I heard gunshot"

But their activities are calm and calculated. The arrest, the failure to even ask me about the condition of Ethan. Then it hit me.

They already knew what to do! I feel stupid. this is all planned.

This isn't an accident, this is all a set up, just like Ryan said.

The cop push my head forward leading me out of the forbidden apartment, the apartment that marked my doom. 

"Hahahahhahaha" I let out a dry, mad man's laughter!

"This one is mentally deranged! He is nothing the structural engineer" the officer whispered to his subordinate.

In that instant I begin to put the puzzle together, last week Ryan's best friend, the Janitor suddenly went missing, he reached out with a private number, and said he had videos for me.

Now they've taken him out, I am the last headache to be removed. But I wasn't going to let them get rid of me this easy.

"I didn't kill him" I roar as they put me into the vehicle and sped away.

................

Here I am, fighting for my life just like Ryan did.

The courtroom feels suffocating, they aren't listening.

They've already decided my fate

The eyes of the onlookers carries judgement and disgust, everyone terms me as a cold blooded murderer even before judgement is passed.

The prosecution painted a perfect picture, according to him I was a jealous lover: I killed someone in a heated argument. A crime of passion. They had finger prints and DNA. 

Their case is flawless and I am Doomed.

My lawyer tried, but it didn’t matter. The Judge passes the verdict and I am termed "Guilty"

“Do you have any final requests?” the judge asks.

“One,” I sigh. Absolute silence swallows the whole courtroom.

“I want to serve my sentence in Blackridge Prison.”

Murmur erupts in the courtroom. The judge frowns. “That facility is—”

“I know exactly what it is,” I cut in.

Then he nods slowly. “Request noted.”

Black ridge isn't just a prison, it's were Ryan was locked up. 

And this time, I wasn’t going to doubt him again.

Before I enter the Van, I use both hands to steal a pistol from an amature junior staff and hide it in my crouch.

I stood in line waiting to be searched, as guilt and premium shame overwhelms me. 

Shame because now I understood. Ryan isn’t lying. And I had failed him.

I know if they strip me they'll find the gun. I cry aloud, pick the gun with both hands and point it straight to the staff on duty. "Pick a paper and write this down quickly, Don't even try to be a hero cause you'll die painfully".

I stare at the cop, He is just a lucky kid who wanted to serve in his country as a uniform man, he didn't want to be cut in my drama

He picks the Pen and obeys apt. 

"Write down, I'm sorry for even apologising Ryan. Someday in the afterlife we will be together again." I sigh.

I put the gun to my head and thought about it. I am too scared to end my self like this.

Then I put the gun up to my heart and pound it. Too much is in my conscience to be smart about it.

I aim were my heart is pounding and shot it.

I wake up with blood around me.

It's mine, I didn't die, all I hear is the beeping sound of hospital machines.

I touch my chest and all I feel is the pain of a failed suicide.

I Glance out of the window and see a police man snoring lazily on the chair.

I shook the machine a little and a guy walks in. 

"Sir I am the nurse on duty, you are soo lucky to be alive, I will inform the doctor immediately."

"No don't, please I need you to run some errands for me, God sold me another life, he made a prophet. He gave me one more chance so I have to be smart about it"

The Nurse looks at me like an idiot but the conviction in my voice makes him concerned. He feels indepted to me, somehow.

This failed suicide woke something in me, Ideas kept flooding my mind like a storm.

"I'll give you enough money to last you a life time, if you obey all my instructions to the latter."

I gasp in pain as I whisper important instructions to the nurse "First thing first pick up your phone and dial this number..."

...............

The last day, the nurse cut me open, stitching a mapped cloth into my skin, each stitch, painfull and agonising, but I wear a twisted smile on my face.

The nurse came in handy, with his help I've mapped out strategies, even though I still had no solid clue of who was trying to frame me and Ryan. 

I was set to be discharged from the hospital to police custody 

When I received a distress call from blackridge prison

"Hello... He is dead. How did it even happen?"