Chapter Thirty
S lade
Prison...A friendly foe...
“You’ve been through it today, huh?” My cellmate, Mike said. I continued to look up at the bed above me, not saying a word. He was a nice guy, but he was also a dark skinned man, and in the prison world, you didn’t mix races.
There were whites, blacks and Mexicans. If you tried mixing races, you would get beat up or worse, killed.
I was trying to survive in this place, not be eaten alive.
My thoughts were all over the place after the last fight. A white gang decided they ran the prison and jumped me at the lunch table. I wasn’t prepared for it, and I should’ve been. My life wasn’t a luxury like every man in here thought.
They thought that since I had lived in the palace, I was pampered. They thought I was a pretty boy who won the Princess’s heart, only to break it by murdering the Queen. They all thought I was guilty. They were wrong.
I didn’t betray the Princess, she betrayed me. The fact they played into all the fucking royalty and how they were all saviors, when their very own King was the mafia, was bullshit. I couldn’t wait to get out of this place and show them all how stupid they were for following that monster.
I thought back to the day I found out the truth, they had no idea who the real king was. But soon they would find out.
He sighed, “Not going to talk? Okay, let me talk for you.” There was some rustling around on the top bunk, and next thing I knew, he had thrown a ball of paper down at me.
“What the fuck, man?”
He chuckled, “Stop being a little bitch and open the damn thing.”
We didn’t have a clock in here, so I had no idea what time it was, but it was late enough that the guards had told us all “Lights Out!”
I quietly unraveled the piece of paper and it had some writing on it that said, “I believe you.”
My eyebrows scrunched together. I wasn’t sure what his game was, but I didn’t know if I should believe it. All you hear on the outside is horror stories of how prison is and what you should and shouldn’t do once you’re inside. The biggest thing is that you can’t trust anyone.
“You’re lying through your fucking teeth.” I threw the paper back up to the top bunk. I didn’t know much about him, I rarely talked to anyone in this Hell hole, but I did know that he was one of the friendlier prisoners. He was someone people gravitated towards and if we were on the outside and not around this fucked up race shit, then maybe we would’ve been friends.
In here though, when my life was on the line, there was no making friends. I had to do one thing, and one thing only. Get the fuck out of here.
Not but two minutes later, the ball of paper was thrown back onto my bunk. I was tired; the day was exhausting, and all I wanted to do was sleep. My days consisted of nothing but long, drawn out bullshit, and when someone mouthed off to me, I had trouble keeping my mouth shut. I didn’t take that shit on the outside let alone on the inside. I didn’t care what these fuckers thought they could do to me, I wouldn’t stand down and take it. So about eighty percent of the time I was in the hot box.
“Try again. Read it.”
I grabbed the paper and opened it. This time I was surprised with what was on the inside.
“Don’t believe me? Ask Lewis.”
I sat up quickly and swung my feet over the bed. I peeked out of the cell and noticed a few guards at the end of the line creeping into someone’s cell. Probably doing something crooked for the warden, making sure the prisoners get fucked up and unable to make it home. That’s all there was in this motherfucker of a place — a bunch of crooked ass cops and guards. The whole system was fucked up and when I took over the throne, that was the first thing I was correcting.
I knew for a fact that Lars made sure my life was a living hell in here.
Once I saw the guards occupied, I took advantage and got out of bed. Mike was leaning over the bed grinning at me like he had some secret I didn’t know about. Which, obviously, he did.
“What the fuck are you playing at?”
“Aww, what’s the matter, King? Don’t like someone knowing something you don’t?”
My fists clenched at my sides. I was going to murder this motherfucker in his sleep if he didn’t watch himself. “Tell me what you know now, or I’ll wring your neck.”
His grin got bigger. “Oh, I’ve got a feisty one in here. I like it.”
No longer giving a fuck about being quiet, I went towards the bunk. Something on my face must’ve spooked him because he raised up his hands. “Okay, I’m done. I get it, you’re serious.”
He took a deep breath, “I’m not sure if you’ve noticed the family resemblance, but your pal Lewis, is my dad.”
My brows rose. “He never mentioned having a son.”
“Well, he wouldn’t, would he?”
“What’d you do?”
A mask went on in place of the open expression he had on earlier, and that was my sign that he wasn’t quite ready to share that information. I understood and wouldn’t press. But I did need to know exactly what his plan was.
“Why are you telling me this? Trying to get one over on me?”
He shook his head, “No dude. You need a friend in here. I’ve been here for a while and I’ve learned to keep my head down and stay quiet. That’s how you survive this shit hole. Not getting into fights with anything that moves.”
It wasn’t my fault people were getting into fights with me, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to stand down and let them pummel me into the ground. There was a thing called self defense and I was going to use it.
“So you’re his son, what does that do for me?”
His lips rose into a smile, “Well, I could get a meeting set up with him. He’s wanted nothing more than for me to reach out to him, so I know he will answer the call.”
My lips twitched, “And why would you help me with that?”
“Because I know how corrupt the King is. I lived under his roof with my dad. I’m sure he was the one who murdered the Queen.”
There was some screaming down the hall, and that was a sign the guards were either beating the inmate or fucking him. I was pretty sure the warden got off on watching that shit.
“And because you’re Lewis’ son, you think I should trust you?”
"Yes. If you want to get out of here and get your revenge, then you should trust every word I say.”
I heard footsteps running this way, and I quickly jumped back on the bed and pretended I was asleep. A light shone through the cell, and I heard keys jingling. I already knew they weren’t here for him. The guards and the warden were all on Lars’ payroll, so they were going to do as much damage as they could to me.
Once the cell opened, a guard came rushing in and I was dragged out by my hair. Not a word was said to Mike as they took me out, and I didn’t utter a breath. At this point, I had gotten used to the beatings.
I kicked at the motherfucker who was pulling on my hair and finally got one up on him. I elbowed him in the face and a groan escaped him. I kicked and punched whoever got in my way, until eventually there were too many and they dragged me down, beating me with their hands and batons. They did it right in front of all the cells, making an example of me.
Spitting and shouting profanities at me and calling me every obscene thing they could think of. As my eyes were beaten shut, I came to the conclusion that once I got out of the infirmary, I was taking Mike’s word and taking whatever help he wanted to give.
I was over this place and I was going to kill the motherfucker that put me here. Including his daughter.