FrameWard: Prison Break
Author: Grant FrameWard.
Location: Framework
Time: 1999
I will never forget that day, the day someone told me I could be a good man.
It had been a couple of weeks in a juvenile detention centre in Massachusetts; I had just burnt my family's house to the ground. No, there were not my family… The things they did to me, to my little brother, the abuse, the neglect, the punishments… I will never forgive them.
I thought there was no one home, I swear. I didn't know Christian was there! For the abusive jerk he was to me, to us, he doesn't deserve to die. He is still my brother! After all, he was the product of my parents' abuse. I just wanted them to suffer, to feel what I've felt for all my life. I never knew what love was, never felt the warmth of a mother, never received the guidance of a father, the safety and sense of belonging to a family. So there I was; angry yet confused with tears running down my face as I watch the house burning to the ground; a house of terror and agony. This was supposed to make me feel better… it didn't… It didn't.
I couldn't move… The fire grew hotter and hotter. I could feel its wrath and fury as it devoured the house like a roaring lion devouring its prey. For a moment there, amidst the blazing fire and the black smoke swallowing up the sky above, and for the first time, I could've sworn that I could control the fire's ferocious flames; the more I thought about my past, the angrier it got; its flames blazing through the silent night… A silence that was disrupted by the sirens of police and fire trucks. I couldn't care less what was going to happen. All I ever wanted was to feel safe. And I would rather be anywhere else than to spend one more minute in this house.
I was taken into a juvenile detention centre a couple of miles north. My family pushed for me to be tried as an adult to get maximum sentence for what I did… They got what they wished for.
Couple of weeks in serving a long sentence, sharing my tiny cell with 4 other inmates; the place smelled exactly like I thought it would… a sewer. That's what you get when your cell is actually a bathroom.
As I was lying down in my bunker, not having to worry about getting beat up for once, although a broken rib and a black eye is kind of part of initiation around here, I've never felt safer in my life. I thought to myself:"I could do with few years in here, and with good behaviour and a few credit-earning programs, I could get an early release". I had my whole life planned! After all, I am free of my abusers. As I was planning my life in my head in this cold cell, a guard called for my name: "Grant Ward, you've got a visitor. Make it quick". A visitor? A VISITOR? Who could it be? Everyone I know has abandoned me. Is it Thomas? No, my parents wouldn't allow him. After all, he's just a kid. My sweet little brother. The only thing that is good and pure in my life. Even after all he's been through, he never embraced his anger, never even hurt a fly. He was the faint light in my dark world. I will always look out for him. Always.
The guard put me in handcuffs and led me to the visit room. I had no idea who was there or why. I went through every person I knew in my head but it didn't make sense. As we entered the room, I quickly scanned everyones' faces but I didn't recognise anyone. At that moment, a woman stood up and called for me: "Grant, over here!". I had never seen that woman in my life before. I know that for sure because she had a distinct look and vibe to her. She was wearing a suit and had a black hair with a dyed red streak, something lawyers and professionals wouldn't typically have.
Hand: "Hello, Grant. Please, have a seat. My name is Victoria Hand and I am here to help you."
Me: "I'm sorry, have we met before?"
Hand: "No, Grant. But this might be the last time you ever see me… depending on what you choose, of course"
Me: "Ok… I'm not sure how you can help but I'm listening"
Hand: "I'm giving you a chance, Grant. A chance to have a new life, to start over."
"I don't think you understand, I am sentenced for a long time. There's nothing you can do about it"
Hand: "Well fortunately for you, I am not a lawyer. I'm an agent of SHIELD; Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. I know that probably means nothing to you but SHIELD is willing to offer you a new life. To be a good man."
I interrupted her abruptly shouting! (which didn't please the guards)
Me: "I burnt my family's house to the ground! I almost burnt my brother Christian alive! There's nothing good about me!"
Hand: "Yes, yes you did… *long pause as she stares me in the eyes* tell me Grant, what do you think your little brother Thomas will grow up to be if everyone around him has embraced their darkness."
She gets closer to me
Hand: "You can set an example for Thomas to follow. YOU, can be the light that breaks the circle of darkness that has torn your family apart."
Hand: "Grant, Thomas loves you, he loves you because you always stood up for him"
I shouted… again
Me: "Stood up for him? I was standing BY as I watched Christian throw him in the well and I just stood there. I failed him! I failed my baby brother *tears pouring down my face*"
She calmly replied
Hand: "Grant, you had no other choice we both know Christian forced you to… but now you do! Come with me and you'll be able to protect your brother. You are a good man, Grant. You're no longer a boy. I believe there's so much goodness in your heart and you need to embrace it, if not for you then do it for your brother."
after a few seconds of silence that felt like ages, I collected myself and realised this was my chance to be the person Thomas would want me to be, to help and protect people, to be that person we never had in our lives that protected us. I replied:
Me: "Ok… Ok… but why? Why me?"
Hand: "We have a special plan for you. You will be a great man, Grant! One day, the fate of so many will depend you. I believe in you" She said as she warmly smiled at me. An hour later, I was free! About to embark on a journey towards redemption… towards being the good man Thomas would want me to be.
My name is Grant Ward, and that day I became a trainee at SHIELD.
