Parallel II: A New Ordinance

12-LOCKED AWAY

Once more, I opened my eyes to find myself in a totally new place. Around me were bleak concrete walls coated incompletely by gashes and dents. As I sat up and looked to my left, though, I saw a set of metal bars. I knew exactly where I was. I was in a cage, locked up inside to prevent me from doing anything else that my captors would deem as wrong. In the compound, this was a common practice for many who disobeyed, though the conditions were, surprisingly, not as bad as what I saw surrounding me. I peered through the gaps in the metal bars and saw another cell across from mine. Though it was quite dark, I could make out the fact that two figures were sitting on the floor inside of it.

"Troy? John?" I cried out in a whisper. One of the figures abruptly stood up and came to the bars of the cell, revealing itself as John. "You're alive?" He whispered. I stood up as well and slid between the folds of the cage to answer him. "Yes... where are we, exactly?" The truth was that I knew the answer to this question in some capacity, but I wasn't prepared to simply accept it without being absolutely sure. "We're in a jail right now. Those guys back there knocked you out and took you away, and then they arrested us too." He said, looking all around to make sure nobody else could hear us. "Is that Troy in there with you? And where is the old man?" I replied, trying to get my wits about me. "Yeah, he's in here but is asleep right now... And I'm not quite sure where Harold is, I didn't see him after I got locked in here." This worried me a bit, but at the very least I understood the situation now.

Suddenly, a loud rattling sound echoed throughout the hall outside of our cells and filled it all with an eerie aura. I desperately looked to try and get a glimpse of who or what was making that noise and eventually saw the silhouette of a man walking slowly toward us. As he got closer and closer my heart pounded faster and faster, I had no idea what was in store for all of us. Eventually, he came into clear view and I saw it was a man in a police uniform, batting some kind of club against the bars of each cell he walked past. However, when he got to Troy and John's cell, he stopped and slowed to a halt. Then, all of a sudden, he called out. "You up, darkies?" He said, leading to an immediate response from John. "Yes, sir. My nephew is sleeping but I can-" He tried to speak and sounded very respectful and almost timid whilst doing so, but he was cut off abruptly. "Oh well then... No need for you to do anything, I'll gladly wake him up myself." He grabbed some sort of metal ring from his pocket and, as he moved it around, the chiming of what hung off of it made me realise that he had gotten out his keys.

He unlocked their cell door and stepped inside, which sent John into distress. "Please don't, he was just tired, I can wake him up and-" John tried to reason with him. "SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" He screamed in response, which likely woke Troy up. As I watched from the shadows, he grabbed Troy and lifted him up, then pinned him against the wall of the jail cell and, from the sounds of it, attacked him. Troy screamed out in pain and the policeman responded with a harrowing laugh before attacking him once again. "STOP!" John cried out, but the man refused to listen. John stepped back and rammed into the man as he readied himself for a third go at attacking Troy. He successfully knocked him away from Troy and into one of the walls. Troy fell to the ground in exhaustion and slowly picked himself up while John repeatedly bashed the man's head against the wall. The noise it made was sickening, yet oddly gratifying.

John screamed in rage as he retaliated against him. "LEAVE MY FAMILY ALONE!" He threw the man to the ground and then grabbed something from off his belt. He stood up, above the man who lay there on the ground. The policeman slowly turned himself over and faced John before saying "Why don't you just do it already? Become a murderer like all your other friends you goddamned spo-", suddenly, in the middle of his spewing of hate, a shot rang out that silenced him. John had grabbed the man's gun and brought him down with his very own weapon. The chime of the keys could be heard once more and squaller sounded out throughout the other cells for the first time. After the gunshot rippled throughout the halls of this bleak block of cells, the prisoners kept within finally echoed a sentiment of wonder and worry alike.