Chapter 6

"Can I ask you a question, Mason?" I began when I finally began to see him stir from the deep slumber he was in.

He jumped up when I spoke, clearly not expecting to see me standing beside his bed, dressed in a suit with a half lit joint in between my lips. He furrowed his eyebrows, and his red eyes were confused as he nodded his head slowly. 

"What's that song you're always humming?" I asked him, my curiosity getting the better of me. 

He always hummed a certain tune, and sang terribly when he did. It irritated me but whenever he did this, he seemed so immersed in what he was doing that I revelled in the silence of him not speaking to me. I noticed that he did that whenever I ignored him or whenever he'd just gotten back from his showers where he seemed most vulnerable. 

I didn't know if it was his coping mechanism or what, but now, now I had to ask. 

"What?" He asked me, confused and his voice hoarse from sleep. 

"You're always humming and singing this song, I've never heard it before," I explained and finally, understanding flashed across his features as he looked away from my eyes and then down at my clothing, confused again. 

"Oh, that," he said softly as he sat up on the weak mattress and ran his hand through his hair. 

He yawned and his breath reeked but we were in prison, and this place didn't exactly care about giving us mouth wash and toothpaste. Sure there were toothbrushes but the fact that there was no toothpaste caused our mouths to emit odours very quickly in the day.

"Why do you want to know?" He asked me after some time, his tone soft as he looked down at his hands. 

I was silent, "I hope I'm not overstepping a boundary," I said, ignoring his question. 

"Uhm," he cleared his throat, "it's a song my mum used to sing to me," he said as he looked up at me and gave me a tight lipped smile, "and I sang it to my daughter." 

"Wow," I replied as I took the joint out of my lips and let out a breath, "you have a daughter?" 

He nodded, "yeah, I do." 

I sat down beside him on his bed as I reached out and handed him my joint, which he looked at before meeting my eyes and accepting it. He put it to his lips as he took a long deep pull and then coughed. 

"Tell me about her," I said as I placed both of my arms on my legs and leaned forward. Looking down at the shoes my brother had bought for me, the brown shiny leather shoes, custom made, just for me. 

"Well...her name's Nicki and, she's honestly the best thing that has ever happened to me. She's...she's so perfect," he said softly, with affection in his voice, "man, I'm talking about the most beautiful girl in the world..." 

He chuckled humourlessly, "she adores me, she loves me, and she, she doesn't see the monster I truly am. I would stop the world for her, VII, I really would do anything for my little angel. I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday, being in that hospital room, as I held her in my arms and she was crying. She was so tiny and I could carry her with a single hand."

"You think you know love, until you get a child, now that, that's love." 

I nodded as I listened to him, "that's...she sounds amazing. How old is she?" 

"Four years old," he said, anger seeping into his voice, "I've been in here for three years," he said bitterly, "Carter took me away from my child. Carter took me away from the love of my life, do you know how that shit hurts? I've spoken to her only three times since I've been in here, and it was all through a video call. The pain of not being able to touch her, to hold her, to tell her how sorry I am, to have her smile and hug me, and tell me she loves me and call me daddy. That pain, VII, that pain is unlike anything. I prefer being stabbed than that pain of just watching her through a small square screen, a blurry image of her as she just sits there silent...I hate it," he said finally, and I heard him being to cry. 

I rubbed the back of my neck, at his burst of emotion and then reached out as I placed a hand comfortingly on his shoulder and tapped him, as a way to help him. 

~~~

The door banged open, causing an echo throughout the room, "what the hell have you done?" I heard a voice snap with anger and I held my breath as I continued with my sit ups. 

"All of my guards are dead! All of the cells were opened and the prisoners are going to revolt! What have you done?" Carter yelled as he kicked me in the back and I hissed. 

My back felt raw from all of the beatings and him kicking it with his big heavy boots caused immense pain throughout my body. 

"Do you know what you have done?" Carter yelled as two of his guards came and gripped me by my arms and hoisted me up, so I faced him. 

This felt a lot like the first time when I had faced the man and I smirked at that. He glared at me, his face red from pure rage as he snarled and breathed through his nostrils loudly. Like a bull. 

"Answer me when I speak to you!" He exclaimed as he punched me and my head simply turned a little. 

I've gotten much worse blows than this man's stupid weak old hands. I looked back at him, keeping my breathing laboured, "if you ever touch me again," I paused, "I will kill you." 

"You'll kill me?" He asked, a smile of amusement on his face, "you'll kill me?" He laughed as he asked this and I nodded. 

He laughed even more, "not if I fucking do it first," he said as he pulled out a gun and held it to my head. Now it was my turn to laugh as I shook my head at his bravery. This man clearly didn't hear the stories about all those who'd ever pointed a gun at me, but then again, nobody present in that room ever lived to tell the tale and advise others against it. 

"Laugh all you want, you bastard. I know I'll be the one laughing when I hand you over to the goddamn government, and you disappear for no one to ever find you again," he said and I laughed again. 

"You think the government doesn't know who I am? You think I've never met the president? Oh, Carter, you've really insulted me," I said as I looked at the gun he pointed at me. He held a Glock 19 9 mm semi-automatic pistol to my head. 

"If you think that you can ever escape this place, you've got another thing coming," Carter said as he began to press his finger on the trigger and I looked at him dead in the eye. 

"You can never stop me, Carter, you know I can walk out of this place whenever I want," I said to him, a smirk on my face. 

"So you say you can leave at any time you want, you say I can't stop you, then why the hell are you here?" He asked me. He tried to make it seem like he had control over this situation but to me he was an amateur. He didn't know who he was dealing with, once again he thought he had me, but he didn't. He never did. He would pay the price for thinking that he could ever capture me. 

I didn't reply, I just tried to break out of the hold of the two guards but they were fighting me and forcing me to stay still. 

I heard Carter begin to laugh, "my, my, I guess Kitty has done it once again," he said as he lowered his gun and walked up to me, smirking and smug.

He didn't say anything and neither did I as we both sized each other up. His beady eyes looking into mine with bravery and anger, he showed his emotions just like the amateur that he was. I wanted to savour this moment, when he looked into my eyes, and then put it in my memory for the final time we have a stare off and I'll be the last person he sees before he dies. 

"Well," he began after some time, taking out a handkerchief as he blew his nose and I pulled my head back away from him. The last thing I wanted was to catch anything from this old man, "Kitty, is my girl, and you don't want to ever come after what's mine, you hear me, prisoner?" 

I raised an eyebrow, I wanted to push him over the limit, I wanted to make him mad, wanted to make him feel that he really didn't have things under control so I chuckled, "really? I really think Kitty prefers me over you, after all I wouldn't pass out after a single round, much probably like you do." 

I cried out when he hit me with the butt of his gun on the side of my face, close to my eye, and I shut my eyes tight as he kicked me in the balls and I bent over, trying to catch my breath. 

He bent down to the level I was on and I grit my teeth as his guards forced me to open my eyes and face Carter. His eyes went over my face, "by the time you leave this place and manage to escape, again I'll have scarred you so bad. You won't know the difference from your ass and your dick." 

He glared at me and I just chuckled and seen his jaw tick, "go shower," he said to me, "you reek of a bad attitude." 

~~~