Prologue II

Four years ago...

 

 

 

 

Dark can give you monsters and friends, you just have to be awake to fight one and find the other.

 

 

 

Cole

 

 

Every day seemed the same and yet each day was different behind these walls. As each day brings out a new kind of agony, and a part of my soul chips away in these dark gritty walls. My father probably thought that it would be best to send me in a solitude cage to carry out my two years sentence. I knew he had his reasons. He wanted to protect his only son from other unsavoury criminals and the other reason was he couldn’t let the people know where and why his son was. 

 

But I didn’t care about the why. I would do it all over again. I would kill my uncle again and again if he managed to resurface from the hell I sent him to, only this time I would make it more painful. I closed my eyes as I sat down against the wall, breathing heavily, feeling the loss and the ache that never goes away. 

 

There was nothing much to do in these closed walls except to go insane, and not to become the victim of that particular disease I count and I exercise. Today was one of those days where I was most restless and I didn’t know what to do.

 

As if called out by my musings I heard the loud clang of the aluminium door and that was above the stairs. This was the underground where every week a number of men come down to meet their maker. Being here for two years, I knew the number of men that had been hung, electrocuted and poisoned. 

 

 

I didn’t pay it any attention even when I knew it couldn’t be the time of another execution when one happened not two days ago. But as the footsteps grew closer and louder, I was forced to sit upright. Because no one comes here to meet me. I knew the conditions for me to be locked away here with the minimum sentence that I could get, which left the only option of someone was bringing me food and that too won’t be possible as I already had my dinner.

 

My muscles bunched and flexed as I waited, sitting still and not breathing. I heard the shuffle of footsteps as they came outside my door. Unfortunately this underground wasn’t meant for criminals, it was for all the illegal goods that were under government custody which meant I couldn’t see through the bars who was on the other side. All I had to stare at was another steeled door.

 

And to my fucking surprise when the door opened, I found a buff uniformed soldier, a man in a suit and a boy. As he stepped in and the overhead light fell on his features, I realized that he didn't look like a criminal, for that matter who would've thought I'd end up in these walls. He also looked quite my age with similar build, just a little on the lean side as I had been doing nothing but building up my muscles for two years. 

 

“Maddox—”

 

“Get out, Harry. Tell my father that I’m fine.” With that Maddox walked across the small room and unceremoniously dropped down on the single bed.

 

The uniformed man closed the door with a bang and locked it from outside.

 

There was a moment of silence before Maddox said, “I don’t care who the fuck you are and I would suggest that you don’t even try to talk to me.”

 

His cold words had my brows arching up in the shadows where I was still sitting. I said, “Don’t worry, I don’t need brats like you to take under my wings.”

 

I could feel the cold anger emitting from him because of my words. A beat passed as he muttered, “I already have three brothers, arsehole.”

 

“But they are not here.”

 

“Are you provoking me into a fight?” He asked conversationally. “If that is so, let me tell you I’m here because I almost killed someone. Believe me I won’t think twice before killing you.”

 

I chuckled. My rough laugh echoed around us. “You are one cocky bastard. I have been here in these walls for two years and guess what I did for those twenty four months, day and night.”

 

There was a shift and then he stood up. I heard his footsteps as he came to stand before me. He said, “Fine. Then let’s do it. Either kill me or I’ll end you.” A pause, “If you kill me, my family would fuck you up. And if I stayed alive I’m gonna fuck up someone else’s life.”

 

The way he said those last words had me questioning, “Someone? Not me?”

 

“Oh no, you’d be dead. I’m going to fuck up the bitch because of whom I’m here.” He kicked my leg. “So what’s it gonna be?” 

 

I shook my head in the dark. I knew two things. One, the fucker was over his head. Two, he was hotheaded and wanted to sweat it out. Fucking arsehole didn't know that I invented the term hotheaded. I grabbed his ankle and twisted, taking him by surprise as I flipped him down and then pressed my elbow at the middle of his spine. One jerk of my elbow and he would be paralysed. “You were saying something?”

 

He laughed. “Yes.” He knocked me with his elbow and before I knew it a cold, sharp metal was pressed against my ribs. “Your last wish?” He questioned, sounding amused.

 

“How the hell do you have that?” I was genuinely interested.

 

He sighed and then pushed me away. He flipped the knife close and slipped it in his pocket. “A token from my brother. He doesn’t want his little brother to be someone’s bitch.” And then he said, "Not that I'll be here for long, they didn't have an empty room to lock me in."

 

It was long minutes of silence before he asked, “What are you here for?”

 

“We are not sharing secrets.” I gritted out.

 

He said, "I told you why I was here.” A few moments passed before he prompted, “Well?”

 

“I almost didn't kill someone. I killed someone. And if you must know, it was my own uncle.” 

 

I wasn’t ready for his next question. No one asked about it before. “Did he deserve it?”

 

I felt my fucking throat tightening as I answered, “More than that. He deserved a slow tortured death and he deserved to burn in hell for what he did.”

 

“I am sure he is.”

 

 

 

 

@Gupta