Chapter 1

But think twice, that's my only advice.

......

Shit! 

That was the umpteenth time I fell on the metal floor of the vehicle. Both hands and feet shackled, connected by heavy chains to my waist, my movements were limited to almost like a vegetable. I glared at the cop beside me that was supposed to act as my support. He was an asshole for not restraining me to the seat in the first place; let me fall on my face. Fuck him. Fuck all of them.

If only I could get my hands to them, they would pay for how they were treating me.

"Fuck you," I said, my voice steady and calm, no indication of any fear that I should be feeling. I was heading to a place that would end up my established future if I got any. I was sure as hell it was all muddled up, unrecognizable. 

"You want me to treat you human? You should have thought about that before killing those innocent people!" The cop's voice grew angry-- picking me up from my collar. He raised me back to a sitting position. "You stopped being human the day you killed those innocent people," he added furthermore, whispering really close to my ear.

He could not have known how those words sliced through my heart-- how it meant to me-- that it only brought me a foot closer to the surface of hell, for I too stopped considering myself human. At times, I even wondered if I still got my soul or if I lost it a long time ago.

Laughter erupted with the other four cops with me. I ignored them and the cop's comments, I focused my face at the front, concentrating my hardest to avoid gravity once more. So, I cussed mentally when the vehicle halted abruptly and for the love of god, I slumped down the hardest. I groaned loudly feeling the bruises that then adorned my body, underneath the orange suit.

Rustles came and the vehicle started again for a brief drive before the engine was finally cut off. We had reached our destination, for all who knew I might have been sent to the Caymans. Away from all the civilizations.

"You're loving the floor way too much, sorry but we need to go." The asshole of a cop pulled me up. His voice was oozing with sarcasm, laughter should have come next if not for the opening of the vehicle. The cop's face turned stoically serious meeting his comrade.

"Enough of that man," the other cops said, as each one of them turned to slap their comrade on the back.

"We need him down now," said the cop who opened the vehicle. The one who got me under the grip only nodded his head and made a gesture with his hand to dismiss the others. I was hauled, ever so gently down the vehicle to a narrow hall.

Cameras of different sizes were following my every movement. I felt scrutinized to my last pore but I could not cringe and hideaway behind the prying eyes. It would only be useless and futile. I was shoved in a white room after I was freed off the shackles in the same manner the cop was giving me the entire travel time. The room reminded me of a place I long tried to bury at the very back of my head. I so much as flinched when the fucking familiarity stroke me, I even froze at my spot and jumped like an overly scared cat when the door in my vanguard opened and shut simultaneously.

That gave way to two men-- a suited guy and yet another cop.

"I'll take it from here, Francis. Thank you." One of the two men-- the one in the suit-- addressed my loving escort, consequently, the door at my back slumped shut. "Mr. Oliver, what happened to your face?" I snorted, dismissing him. "Okay, you know the drill?" I nodded my head. I raised my hands sidewards as the cop went over me for a sweep check. The metal detector started beeping, finding some invisible metal inside me.

Soon then the checking was over, I was led to another hallway from the door the men entered. Cops were stationed at the back of the door. I flinched at the sight Memories were fighting to surface out and I stomped them to get back wherever they came from, hiding them for the time being. Nausea rambled in my stomach but I made an effort of dismissing it. I needed to be strong and that I became.

"Come in, Mr. Oliver? Thank you...Mark." The suited man opened the door and gestured for me to enter first. I walked in, pulled the white plastic chair, and sat down in front of the small wooden table.

"People listening? I asked, looking over the mirror on the walls that surrounded us. I was no fool, not anymore.

"I think so Mr. Oliver," he answered with a cheapish smile.

"Declan. Call me Declan." I stomped my hands on the table, crossing them in the process, getting at home.

"Okay, Declan. Do you know where you are? You're turning nineteen in two months and you are being treated as an adult. You are an adult." He questioned me as if I was a toddler not able to comprehend things, simple as the fact that I was persecuted as a criminal.

"Yeah dude, I'm being put in maximum security, right? That I would be lying next to murderers, serial killers, state felonies, heinous crime syndicates to real life MONSTERS? I know dude. I know. Don't treat me like a child. Am no child. Every cop that I met since my arrest yesterday was calling me a MONSTER myself and maybe I am one. A monster." I made eye contact with whoever it was behind the glasses, then down to the green eyes of the man sitting in front of me, "Are you here to change my mind? This won't change anything. I won't talk and for the last time, I acted alone. ALONE." I said it emphasizing the last word, we had been over with the matter for a hundred times, more than my mind could handle, given my condition.

"Okay...but, I will still visit you over time. You are a very smart kid. You should have used your brain instead of your ass. Think about your future kid." He stated it merely as a fact, tapping his fingers rhythmically on the table-- somehow irritating the fuck out of me.

"You see Mister...?"

"Harrison."

"Mr. Harrison, the only reality in life is present to where you are standing now, the now. Not the past of stock up memories nor the future you are referring to with all the what-ifs, the uncertainties. The future doesn't hold any sense, it's only a guessing game." I smiled putting both my hands down to my lap, calming my legs.

"Okay...I will be going now Declan. An officer would be here to assist you to your cell." Mr. Harrison said standing up, going to my side. He then bent down inching his face closer to my ears, whispering, " I hope that you are having the time of your life. But think twice, that's my only advice. To all honesty this is insane, I've read your files...and...and be careful here. Keep your eyes open, they are all watching." He tapped my shoulder lightly before he got out, leaving me alone to pend for myself.

I sighed deeply. Not long after Harrison's departure, the door opened up to yet another officer.