Anyway, I decided to go back to an earlier chapter since I haven't moved very far since my last post. This is chapter 4 where the three main POVs begin to intertwine in alternating scenes. If anyone has any comments about this style, let me know.
Here are the previous chapters:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
(Rotting in jail)
On his
second day in jail, John paced about the cramped cell, wondering what excuse he
would tell Kocho-sensei when he
returned to work.
The
thought of work sent his mind racing about the possibility that he may never
return to his normal life again. His mind jumbled, and Ami’s attempts to kiss
the side of his head came to the forefront. He remembered how close she had
come to actually kissing him, and her arousing, minty breath.
John
shook off his desires and focused. It’s
not like she can get me out of here now.
“Would you want her to?” the gravelly
voice in the back of his head asked.
Despite
the fact that it had been talking to him for two days now, John still shivered
upon hearing it. He had clearly snapped under the pressure … just like his
cellphone. Of course, I would. Why would
you even ask that?
“Because of how she acted when you mentioned
Hyuga. She knows something.”
No she doesn’t.
“Then why did she run out like that?
Trembling?”
John
scratched his chin, not wanting to admit the voice was right. She was probably just excited to have a lead
and will work hard to free me.
“You can keep telling yourself that … .”
Just shut up. There is no way that my
friends could have known about Hyuga or stopped me from getting involved in
this mess.
“Unless they knew you were a Chef and never
warned you.”
They wouldn’t do that.
“How do you know?”
I just do. I trust them.
“They why don’t you just —”
With a
rattling clang, the cell door crashed open.
John
shook himself from his thoughts and looked up.
Taisei
stood there and motioned for John, to follow him.
After
pushing the dark voice back into the recesses of his mind — turning it into a
low murmur — John walked out of the cell and into one of the interrogation
rooms. He sat across the table from Taisei. “So?”
Taisei
coughed into his fist and wouldn’t meet John’s gaze. “Well —” He licked his
lips. “— I’m not going to lie.”
John
swallowed.
“They
have you on tape,” Taisei said, “appearing as if you are scouting the
securities firm to rob it.”
That’s because I was. “Does it look that
condemning?”
Before
interlacing his fingers, Taisei nodded. “Yes … and the prosecution will try to
use it to beat a confession out of you.”
“What
about the help that Ami and Keisuke said their company would provide?”
Taisei
shook his head.
“Fuck.”
John felt himself resenting the world itself for taking away his peaceful life.
He killed the feeling, though the dark voice seemed to pulse with strength
afterwards. His life … was over.
###
Ami
clenched her fists while she stood in Moe’s office. “Why?”
Moe
shuffled the paperwork on her desk before looking between Ami and Keisuke.
“Because he is not our problem anymore.”
Growling,
Ami stomped forward and slammed her fists against Moe’s desk. “Not our problem?
Not our problem? He is a Chef! What do you mean; he is not our problem
anymore?”
“Exactly
as it sounds.” Moe locked eyes with Ami. “Now … are you going to whine all day
or are you going to do as I have told you to do?”
“Please
… .”
Moe
narrowed her eyes.
Tears
rolled down Ami’s cheeks. “Could you not just —”
While
tapping his foot, Keisuke placed a hand on Ami’s shoulder. “Ami’s right, Moe.
John is a Chef. We —”
After
groaning, Moe squeezed the bridge of her nose. “Not you too.”
Keisuke
smirked. He was clearly ogling her with his eyes. “Just hear me out.”
“Okay
… .”
“As
the organization that represents Chefs in Japan and with the Japanese
government, we have an obligation to help John.”
Moe
arched an eyebrow. “Oh really?”
“I
mean, we should at least give him
legal help.”
Ami
growled.
With
his finger, Keisuke shushed Ami. “I’m not suggesting that we break him out of
jail, but I do believe that we should send him a lawyer.”
The
bounce returned to Ami’s step, and she found herself bobbing her head. “That’s
right.”
“What
good would it do?” Moe stood and turned away from them, facing towards the
large window in her office. “The evidence is overwhelmingly against him.”
Ami
licked her lips. “If we can catch Hyuga —”
With
her hands on her hips, Moe spun back around. “Then, I will have our legal team
create a case … though, I will not turn over Hyuga even if it could save John.”
“What?”
Heat flushed Ami’s face. “Why? He’s a criminal! The police should deal with him, and John should be free!”
“Enough!”
Moe stomped her foot. “I will not take any more of your lip!”
“Fuck
you! You ungrateful bitch! For everything that we have d—”
Keisuke
jerked Ami backwards by her shoulders and pulled her towards the door.
“Let
me go!” Ami shrugged free. For my love.
“I am going to teach this old hag the meaning of respect!”
“No.”
After taking Ami by the wrist, Keisuke marched out of Moe’s office. “We will
find Hyuga.”
Ami
kicked the door closed and screamed. Her muscles drew taught, and her skin
flushed with rage. When I sit in her
seat, she will regret ever crossing me. She trembled and stomped her feet,
waiting for Keisuke to release her. If Moe decided not to help, then Ami would
break John out of jail and take him away so that they could live a happy and
peaceful life together.
###
After
swallowing, John ground his foot into the cold, courtroom floor. There has to be a way out of this.
“You know there’s not,” the dark voice
said.
John
looked up at the judge. “So … what are my options?”
The overweight
judge in faded black robes glanced from the dorky-looking prosecutor to the
flat-screen TV where the security camera footage looped. “Besides your
accomplice — what did you say his name was? — Hyuga the evidence against you
seems to be beyond overwhelming.” He nodded towards the prosecutor who wore
horn-rimmed glasses.
With
his chest heaving, John gasped. The world began to close in around him. Why was
this happening?
The
short prosecutor stepped forward and opened his arms as if to hug the air.
“Without having any information that will lead us to Hyuga, Mr John has one of two choices.” The dorky bastard glanced
back at John and smirked. “He can either fight this, lose and go to jail for a
long, long time. I am recommending
sixty years for the amount of gold stolen.”
John’s
heart thumped and fell into his stomach. With his eyes watering, he covered his
mouth. Impossible … .
The
dark voice laughed.
With
tears blurring his vision, John gritted his teeth. Shut up!
The
prosecutor’s smirk turned into an open-mouthed chuckle. “Or … . Well … his other option is to
confess, plead guilty, tell us where the gold is and only spend twenty years in
jail.”
Snot
blocked John’s nose while the tears rolled into his mouth. The salty taste of
grief reminded him of Taisei’s resignation. Ami
promised to help … .
“But Taisei said she couldn’t.” The dark
voice made a smacking noise.
So … all I can do is confess?
“Of course not. Fight it! Eat some potatoes
and slip out of the courtroom as they find it hard to follow you. Remember what
that bastard Hyuga taught us.”
The
mention of Hyuga set John off. He screamed. “Fuck you little man! I will fight
this! I will be free.”
The
judge pounded his gavel. “What do you think you are doing, foreigner?”
“I
don’t know. How about you, bigot?”
Snarling,
the judge’s face turned maroon. “Get this fool out of my courtroom!”
“Ha!”
John pushed the first, fat police
officer to approach him. “Don’t touch me, racist pigs!” He struggled and fought
until something solid struck him in the back of the head.
Everything
went black.
###
Keisuke
waggled his finger at Ami. “Calm down.” You
monster.
Ami
stomped as she paced across the reception office. Haru, Moe’s secretary,
watched Ami with a smile on her face. The lemony-scented air-freshener gave
each breath a sour taste.
After
scrubbing his tongue across his teeth, Keisuke — against his better judgment —
stepped in front of Ami. “We’ll find a way to get John out.”
Hesitantly,
Ami nodded.
Haru
slid across the carpet and poked Keisuke in the chest. “Did you just say John? As in the really cute foreign guy with the big —”
Ami
screamed like the feral monster she was. “If you ever touch John again —”
“What’s
it to you?” Haru slapped Ami’s hand away. “He doesn’t belong to you … and if my
memory serves me right, he’s single.”
“He’s
mine!”
“Oh?”
“Keep
your filthy, rapist hands off of him.”
Haru
rolled her eyes and turned towards Keisuke. “So, what can I do to help him?”
When
he heard the tone in her voice, Keisuke blinked. “Can you get me a warrant?” She actually sounds concerned about John.
“Give
me a moment.” Haru returned to her desk and began typing something on her
computer.
Ami
hissed. “You are not going to accept her help, are you?”
“For
John, I’ll accept any help I can get.” Keisuke nodded towards the door. “If you
truly want to see him free, you would too.”
Through
gritted teeth, Ami hissed again. “I … guess you are right.”
She is still pissed that someone else got to
sleep with John while she didn’t even think about doing something like that.
Keisuke tried not to smirk. “Go wait in my car. Calm yourself down before we
have to deal with the securities firm.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll
head down as soon as I get the —”
“I
have it!” Haru skipped from around the desk and handed the warrant to Keisuke.
“I hope this is enough my sweet,
sweet John.”
Ami
bared her teeth and clenched her fists.
Not good.
“If
you see him before I have a chance to visit
him in jail, tell him that I send my lov—”
After
charging forward, Ami swung.
Haru
ducked under the wild swing and
laughed. “You know he will choose me over you any day.”
“Shut
your face!” Ami cocked her fist back and planted her feet.
“Besides
my body —” Haru squeezed her oversized
breasts together. “— being sexier than yours and my face much cuter, I
am his intellectual match. And when we
fuck? Fire. … While you —”
Ami
sprang towards Haru.
Keisuke
grabbed Ami by the waist and stopped her in her tracks.
“—
are,” Haru said in a sultry voice, “a tactless gorilla.”
Ami
thrashed about. She yelled at Haru while flailing on Keisuke’s arms.
“Thanks
for the warrant.” Keisuke dragged Ami out of the room, ignoring he calls for
blood.
###
John
sprang to his feet, disoriented. His head swam, spinning about. Where am I?
Something
gray blurred around him. A cacophony of grunts followed by a smack, smack,
smack sound. The acrid stink of piss and shit could be tasted in the air.
After
swallowing, John threw-up all over his feet.
The
dark voice — or Darkness as John had named it — laughed. “I guess we have returned to our holding cell.”
I see … . John wiped his mouth. Despite
that, the slimy, acid-like residue pulled at his stomach. It twisted into
knots, and he vomited again.
“What’s
wrong with the poor, baby foreigner?” a deep voice asked from somewhere nearby.
“Fuck
you!” While his chest heaved, John gritted his teeth. He rubbed at his eyes, to clear his vision, but ended up
getting stomach-acid in them. He screamed.
Something
slammed into his side, and a pop echoed throughout the cell.
John
fell to his knees.
Splat.
The warm vomit soaked into his pants.
When
something else crashed into his back, John found himself rolling in his own
puke. I’m going to kill every one of
them.
“That’s the spirit,” Darkness said.
John
growled and pushed himself up to his feet. With one swift motion, he threw his
shirt off and grabbed the man closest to him. “I’m going to teach you some
respect.” He kicked out to the side.
Snap!
The bone crunching sound preceded a high-pitched scream.
After
ripping the man’s shirt off, John cleaned his eyes and blinked until he could
see clearly again. “First —” He glared at the writhing man on the ground. “—
you … .”
The
man yelped.
John
stomped the back of his head, bouncing his head off of the hard, concrete floor
like a nearly flat basketball.
The
man’s body went limp.
The
other prisoners in the cell gasped, each taking a step backwards.
John
charged forward. At the last moment, he spun to the left and punched the
hawk-nosed prisoner in his mouth. John howled through clenched teeth. His
muscles trembled.
In a
flash, the tension flowed from his body in a flurry of fists.
“This is wonderful!” Darkness squealed
in glee.
Blood
filled the air and covered the floor beneath the slumping, hawk-nosed prisoner.
John
growled turning to look at the other prisoners.
There
were five left in this community cell. They all cowered in the far corner.
With
his blood reaching a boiling point, John made a running leap into the pile of
prisoners. He crashed feet first into one, sending his face smashing against
the prison bars.
“Yes! More! More! More!” Darkness grew,
extending out like a net as if wrapping its hands
around John’s mind. “Rend! Rip! Destroy!
Kill! Prepare yourself for the revenge we’ll get one day!”
John
caught the two closest prisoners in the throat, and they fell to the floor
gasping for air.
Clinking
noises turned John to see the prison door opening. Four officers filed into the
cell, led by the bigot.
While
his teeth chattered in anticipation, John jerked one of the gasping men to his
feet by his hair. “Look.” He nodded to the police officers. “Your saviors have
arrived … moments too late.” With his free hand, he grabbed the man’s chin and
began to twist his neck.
Darkness
cackled. “This is … the best!”
The
police officers charged forward.
Without
hesitation, John dropped the prisoner and slid to the side. He ducked and
grabbed the bigot’s left ankle. “I’ve been waiting a long time to do this.”
“What?”
The bigot’s eyes bulged when his feet left the ground.
John
lifted the bigot and slammed his own foot into his own face.
A
resonating snap sent a tingle of joy down John’s spine.
The
bigot screamed.
After
twisting the leg so that it snapped in several more places, John stomped on the
bigot’s chest. He lifted his foot. “Now it’s time —”
A jolt
of energy shot through John’s body.
His
teeth clenched shut. The hair on his arms and the back of his neck stood on
end. Twitching, he fell face first and wished that he had blacked out. The
muscle jerking agony jumbled his thoughts, silencing Darkness.
The
remaining police officers lifted John up and dragged him from the cell.
John
groaned. Or at least he thought he did.
Next: BURNING Chapter 18
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