As I finally snapped out of the utter shock of the strange situation, Vic was already halfway across the courtyard. I scrambled to my feet and chased after him, frantically calling his name. I was sure that he would do something which he would regret soon and I did not want Vic to be in trouble. Yes, he already had a life sentence, but they could take away his privileges or lock him up in solitary confinement and I hated the idea of being alone.
Also, I did not want him to get hurt in any way. This guy was about a foot taller than him and, although he was quite skinny, he looked like he could pick me up with one hand.
Vic was running , just like me, and I had no chance whatsoever of catching up to him, as he was a lot fitter than me. I looked up at the man, whose eyes were still glued to Vic's, and he looked careless as ever. Did he not know who Vic was or what he could do? Well, technically even I did not know that but I had a good idea of what to expect.
Sprinting through he huddles of people who fearfully stepped out of his way, like a bullet through a flock of doves, Vic's body collided with the other man's sending them both to the floor. The taller of the two seemed breathless and almost surprised, as if he had not expected such a thing. And neither did I. Vic obviously had some muscle on those attrac-...I mean, strong arms of his, but I had certainly underestimated his abilities
Vic proceeded to straddle the man and relentlessly throw bitter punches across his body as if it required no effort at all. The way he raised his fist and lowered it with such force felt so wrong to me. I had never seen this violent side of my friend and I honestly did not enjoy it in the slightest. But, after all, there had to be a reason for why everyone was so scared of him.
"Please stop," I cried out, completely ignoring the forming crowd around the scene. My words, however, seemed to only fuel Vic's malevolence, as he punched with more power. Before another second had passed, a couple of officers were pulling a kicking and screaming Vic off of the other male who would surely be left quite sore. It was nothing compared to what Danny had done to me, but I knew that it was still bad.
This made me think that maybe, after that incident, the police were more cautious about things like fights and that was why they were here so quickly. Did they finally start using the fucking cameras? It was slightly unfair for me though, as I had to deal with the situation myself and the only person who came to help was another prisoner.
"I will kill you!" Vic yelled at the top of his lungs, struggling against the two officers, and giving the tall, battered male the most bloodcurdling glare in the world. And, even though it was not directed at me, it still made me want to cower away into a corner.
"You ruined my fucking life," he roared once again but, before any other words could have been exchanged, he was forced into the building.
I had not realised that I had been holding my breath the entire time, until my head started throbbing from the alarming lack of oxygen and my vision started going blurry. No, no, no, no, no! Why would Vic ever do something so stupid and reckless? Now he would be punished severely and I was terrified for him. Maybe if he had not hurt the man too bad, then the punishment would not be too severe for him.
I rushed over to the tattooed male, who was now sitting up and breathing heavily with his hands clutching his stomach. I kneeled down next to him, desperate to see if he was alright. Not because I cared about him – as egotistical as that might sound - I just did not want Vic to be in trouble.
"Are you okay?" I questioned frantically. I had to know.
"I've been better," he snapped, sending me a cold glare and making me flinch away.
"I am so sorry about Vic. He never acts this way, he's usually really calm and quiet. I don't know what's gotten into him; I'm sure he didn't mean it when he said he would kill you. He was probably just joking. Oh my god, I am really sorry! Please don't-"
"Dude, chill. I'm fine. A bruise never killed anyone," the man cut me off, with a chuckle. He was laughing? Laughing? He just got beaten up by someone and he's fucking laughing about it? "So, you know Vic?"
"Yeah, we're friends," I answered.
"Friends, huh?" He smirked coldly and I had no idea why. Maybe this man had a bad experience with Vic in the past... That would explain why he was so infuriated.
"And you know Vic?"
"Yeah, I guess you could say that..." He trailed off, obviously not wanting to expand on the topic, so I decided to change it.
"I'm Kellin," I introduced myself, sticking out my hand.
"Mike," he shook it without hesitation.
Another officer exited the building and came towards us, helping Mike off the ground and taking him to – what I suspected was – the infirmary. And I was alone again. Only for a couple of seconds though, as Gerard and Frank made their way towards me and sat on the ground too. They only seemed to appear in the most intense situations or when I really needed them, which came in quite handy.
"Are you okay?" Gerard asked, comfortingly placing a hand on my lower back and rubbing it soothingly, meanwhile his other hand was moulded into Frank's like a perfect jigsaw puzzle.
"No," I shook my head, giving a sincere answer for once. "What if something happens to Vic? I really don't want him to be in trouble! They could force him to stay in his room all day or move him to a more secure prison. I don't want him to leave!" Unintentionally I started shaking: something that happened when I hysterically panicked .
"Did any of that happen to Danny, after he hurt you?"
Damn it, why did Gee always have these good points? It did calm me down slightly though. However, Danny had still been put into solitary confinement for a while, meaning that I would be without Vic for a about a week and the thought scared me. If he was gone, I would not have his protection anymore and only god knows what people might do to me. I could tell that mostly everyone here hated me, but I had no idea why. Maybe it was because I had befriended Vic, the most intimidating man here, whereas they could not do so.
***
Stiffly, I leaned against the back wall of the Work Experience room. I was not sure if I liked the room or not. It was very spacious but the huge amounts of large, testosterone-filled, killing machines around me was quite unsettling. Silently I observed them, but my gaze was mainly locked on the door to the room and that was the only reason I was here.
I was hoping for two people to enter the room: Vic or Mike. Preferably both, and separately as I did not want another situation like earlier.
I wanted Vic to step through that door so that I could know if he was okay or not, although I was not very hopeful as word had spread that he received a week of solitary confinement for what he did. I hated that and tried staying close of Gerard and Frank, but they went off somewhere together just like they usually did. They weren't around very much; only for breakfast and dinner, rarely any other times.
Mike was someone I had to speak to. He was obviously fine after the fight, as Vic got no more than 30 seconds before he was pulled off, but I wanted to know more about their relationship. It did not take a genius to figure out that they were somehow related, mainly because they had nearly identical eyes and skin tone. They were probably brothers or cousins.
As I was lost on thought, still staring directly at the door, I felt an arm carelessly sling over my shoulder.
"Hey, Kellin. How are you doing?" A husky voice, with an evident British accent asked. I sighed and looked up, to see the unshaved, smirking face of Danny. He had not said a single word to me since Vic stood up for me, during that fight but, now that Vic was gone for a while, he probably wanted to make the most of it and I was certain that he would want to finish what he started. And I accepted that.
"What do you want?" I grumbled, trying to shake his arm off, and failing miserably. I did not enjoy being around him in the slightest, as his simple presence made me want to run.
"You've been hanging around Fuentes a lot," he stated curiously and I had no idea where this conversation could possibly be going.
"And?"
"Aren't you scared of him? In the end, he'll end up hurting you really bad."
"You don't know him," I snapped venomously. "Vic is my friend, he said he would never hurt me, no matter what."
"I'm sure he said that to his last friend and look what happened there..." Danny murmured, rolling his eyes.
"What?" My eyebrows knitted together, puzzled. Suddenly the man's gaze shone with surprise and...understanding?
"You don't know?" He quizzed.
"Don't know what?"
"What Vic did."
"What do you mean? Vic didn't do anything," I defended my friend.
"I mean, why he's here. Why he's in jail," he explained. "You really don't know, do you?"
"Uh, no..." I trailed off and looked to the ground.
Did I really want to know? Vic had a life sentence, so what he did must have been horrific. And I did not want to be scared of him. Vic was pretty much the only person here who would stand up for me, no matter what, and I did not want to think any less of him. But, in all honesty, I was extremely curious.
"What did he do?" I asked. Time for the truth.
"Three years ago," Danny informed me, keeping his voice down as if saying this was against the law, "something in Vic snapped. He went absolutely insane, for no reason. He kidnapped his best friend, his girlfriend, and his brother and locked them up in his own basement. First he started with his friend and shot him in the stomach. No one knows how he got the gun, but he did. Vic thought that the friend would die quickly from the one gunshot, but he didn't so he unloaded into the guy's head and massacred him completely."
A chill went down my spine, as I listened intently to what could only be compared to a gruesome horror story.
"Then, he moved onto his girlfriend," Danny carried on. "He had no more bullets, so he had to use a knife instead. He stabbed her in the stomach, in the chest, in the back. Even in the face! Right through the eye..."
I had to breathe more heavily to stop myself from vomiting, only from the images which were plaguing my mind.
"Vic finally slaughtered her. He slit her throat even though, by then, she was already dead from blood loss. Finally, he got to his brother. Still, he stayed with the knife. I think that he did not really have the energy to go so bad on him, so he slit the brother's wrists and watched him bleed out slowly and painfully."
I gulped, trying to keep my hands from shaking, but it felt impossible with how horrified and disgusted I was.
"Then, when everyone was dead, I guess he finally came to his senses and realised what he did. He either felt really guilty, or was just so scared of the consequences, that he tied up a rope and hung himself."
"But... But, V-Vic is..." I could not find my words.
"He's still alive, because the neighbours heard the gunshots and called the police, so they managed to get there before he died. He pleaded guilty, and that was the end of it. No one else survived and he got a life sentence. Oli, Austin and I managed to sneak into M's office and find Vic's file. We saw photos of what it was like in the basement and Austin actually nearly threw up. It was a real bloodbath..."
Danny finished the murderous story and I could not bear to look at him, or anyone for that matter. So I was left to do what I did best: run from my problems. I sprinted out of the Work Experience room and, as I was speedily making my way down the hallway, I felt my body clumsily collide with someone else's.
"Whoa, Kellin, are you okay?" Came the familiar voice of Mike. "Why are you crying?"