Yet another week of my stay at Irongate Prison had gone by and, surprisingly, It was not too bad. At least, with Vic here. Since the day we had spent in my room, we were inseparable. Vic stayed by my side most of the time, unless we were forced apart – which was only during the night, but sometimes even then he somehow found his way into my cell. So far, there were no more awkward encounters between us and I was thankful for that.
However, there was one downside to a week of happiness. Danny was back. He had returned from solitary confinement yesterday and stayed away, but shot me cold glares at any chance he got. Danny seemed extremely surprised to see me spending time with Vic. I guessed that no one really expected a wimp like me to be friends with the most badass person here.
Yes, 'friends'. I considered Vic to be my friend. He was more open with me than Ashley had ever been and I felt a lot more safe with him, because no one (except for those two wonderful idiots named Gerard and Frank) communicated with us in any way. They just liked to keep at a safe distance, in fear of probably getting murdered. Even when we came across people from other groups, they avoided us too. Maybe Vic's reputation was so bad that it had spread across the entirety of the prison.
Currently, it was the middle of the night and I was having trouble sleeping again. Usually Vic could keep thoughts of Copeland and Katelynne away, with his presence but, without him here, I could not help but think about them. My eyes were brimmed with salty tears, just imagining them all happy and carefree at home while I was here, rotting away. I felt pathetic.
I wondered if Katelynne's new man was in on everything. Did he know that she faked it? Was he aware of the fact that she was a mentally ill psychopath, who could snap at any moment and ruin his life? If so, then he was obviously just as maniacal as her. If not, then I felt sorry for him.
The only hope I had was the fact that karma was a bitch, who would one day slap Katelynne across the face and scream 'you deserved that!', in the worst way possible.
All of a sudden, the thoughts were gone at the sound of my door softly screeching open. I swiftly dried my eyes, even though whoever this was would not be able to see me anyway as it was extremely dark. Just by the sound of the person's footsteps, I automatically knew who it was.
Vic always liked to tread lightly on his feet.
"Do you ever sleep?" I whispered, sitting up in bed and pushing the covers off.
"Nope," he murmured lowly, moving towards me and gripping my hand in his. He pulled me up and dragged me towards the door.
"Where are we going?" I asked, as we cautiously stepped into the hallway. Guards were always patrolling the building, but there were no footsteps around, meaning that it was safe to move further on.
"I heard that they bought some new stuff for the rec room and I wanted to check it out," he informed in a hushed tone, leading me in the direction of the said location.
"Why now?"
"Because by tomorrow it will probably be broken." He had a point.
We made our way there and easily got inside, as there was no need for a lock on the door. The rec room was where Work Experience and other, generally educative, activities were held. Work Experience was quickly becoming my favourite time of the day, as all it did was give me a free four-hour period to do anything I wanted. Unlike the others, I did not even bother with actually doing anything there as, when I got out, there was no way I would find a job anyway. When he visited last time, a couple of days ago, Justin had informed me that he had no choice but to sell our music store, as people were not keen on buying things anymore because the previous co-owner was in jail. How the news had spread? I did not know, but I felt extremely guilty for it. And even though Justin assured me that it was fine, I knew that it really wasn't.
I had been engrossed in my thoughts, until a gasp from Vic brought me back to reality, as he switched on the light. His face had lit up like a child's on Christmas day and he sprinted past me to the corner of the room where the broken musical equipment had always been. My eyes followed him with curiosity, just to be amazed by the sight before me.
I noticed that the damaged keyboard was gone and, in its place, against the back wall stood an amazing, black piano. All of the keys were polished to perfection, almost blinding me. The beaten acoustic guitar was replaced by a new one, with colourful patterns and engravings on it. The other battered instrument were gone and instead, there was a large double bass leaning on the piano. On a table, next to the equipment, lay a perfect violin; and on its side was a magnificent clarinet. Beside everything stood a full drum set, all the way from the crash cymbal to the snare drum. The sight was truly satisfying.
Vic enthusiastically hopped onto the stool in front of the piano and delicately lay his fingers onto the keys, pressing a couple of them, as if to check if they worked; before he spontaneously broke into song, precisely playing what I recognised as Beethoven's Für Elise. He did not miss a single note and I instantly knew that years of practice had gone into that song, and surely more others as well.
I promenaded forwards, sitting beside him on the piano stool and watching his slim fingers glide against the keys with unimaginable excellence and the skills of a professional. The song sounded angelic and the fact that it was played by Vic made it even better.
When he pressed the final chord I could not help but beam at him, a huge smile plastered on my face.
"You're amazing!" I exclaimed, noticing the hint of a blush creeping onto his cheeks. "Where did you learn to play like that?"
"My dad was really into music, so he taught me to play guitar and piano. I'm not amazing, though. That song isn't even hard to play," he explained modestly.
"Not hard to play? I wouldn't be able to play that even if I had been practicing for three years straight! It really is...wait," I paused, fully taking in what he had just said. "You said you can play the guitar too? Please play something for me."
The male frowned, looking down at the instrument which was propped up against the wall. He looked so unsure of himself and even slightly insecure, although I was certain that he was amazing. With almost trembling hands he picked up the guitar and found a pick lying on the single table. He balanced the instrument on his lap, biting his bottom lip in nervousness. Why was he so anxious? He seemed just fine with playing the piano, so why was a guitar any different?
Those chocolate brown eyes glanced up at me pleadingly and all I could do was stare back in confusion Vic's gaze quickly dropped and he strummed the strings, to check if the guitar was in tune, before he started playing a familiar riff. At first it sounded strange, but I soon recognised it as part of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. It seemed difficult to play on an acoustic, as the song was originally on an electric, but he was managing very well and I was extremely impressed. That is, until he stopped all of a sudden, in the middle of the song; carelessly placed the instrument down; and left the room without a single glance in my direction. Just like that.
***
The next day, I did not see Vic anywhere during breakfast. He would usually collect me from my cell and we would walk to the cafeteria side by side but, today, he did not show up at all. I assumed that it had something to do with his sudden mood change from yesterday, but I still did not know what the cause of that was.
Did I cross some sort of boundary, without even knowing it? No, Vic always crossed my boundaries and didn't care if it made me uncomfortable.
Had he become paranoid and was afraid of getting caught? Unlikely; he would have taken me with him, if he heard anything.
Did he finally get sick of me and leave, just like everyone else does? Probably.
Even though I was alone, no one dared even look my way, as they knew that Vic could show up at any moment in time. However, seeing that I was by myself, Gerard and Frank, who rarely sat with us, decided to join me.
"Where's Vic?" The always-talkative Gee asked, that signature bright smile never leaving his face.
I had always wondered how that dark-haired man could be so cheerful all the time, until I asked Vic about it. He had explained that that about a year ago Gerard was accused of statutory rape multiple times and, because he had apparently done it more than once, his sentence was longer than average (three years instead of one). I wondered how bad it was and Vic informed me that, at the time, Gerard had been 21 and the other person was 17. At first, I still did not know why Gee was so cheerful, until it was revealed that the 17 year old, who Gerard had 'raped', was Frank (who was now 18 and arrested for drugs). I guessed that being in jail with someone you love is better than being in jail alone, and the two of them could finally be together.
"I don't know where he is," I shrugged my shoulders. "Last night, he just ran off somewhere and looked upset."
I prodded my miserable cornflakes with my spoon, not feeling like eating in the slightest.
"That's strange," Gerard mused. "He was never the one to get upset. Actually, he never really showed any kind of emotion."
I found that strange. Around me, Vic was very straight-forward and never failed to express his happiness. Then again, sometimes he had this blank look on his face, but I was too scared to ask about it. Yes, we were friends, but he was still the most dangerous man here and I did not want to lose another ally.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Frank nudge Gerard's side and whisper something into his ear. Frank was never much of a talker and only ever communicated with his boyfriend.
"You should talk to him," Gee contributed, making me frown.
"But he doesn't like talking about this kind of stuff."
"You should still try. Maybe he actually needs someone to talk to, more than anything else."
_____________
A/N
Who's an idiot? I'm an idiot! Why am I an idiot? Because apparently I can never update on time!
Vic can be a strange fucking guy, huh?
I have a week off school now, so I hope that I am able to write a couple of chapters in advance and actually be able to publish them on time.
Also, I hope all of you are enjoying the large amount of Frerard even though this is a Kellic haha.
Thanks for reading!