Based on the song "Savin' Me" by Nickelback. The italics are the song, flashbacks, and Zack's thoughts. It is set 6 years after the show, when Zack is around 23.
Disclaimer: I don't own the suite life, i don't own savin' me. I own NOTHING...except the prison guard...and maybe a future character.
Prison gates won't open up for me
On these hands and knees I'm crawlin'
Oh, I reach for you
"You get one phone call. Go ahead, here's the phone."
The stout guard handed me a cordless phone with the paint chipping off. I stared at it's faded numbers for a second, wondering who I would call. There was no one in my life…there hadn't been since I ran away. I couldn't call the rest of the gang…they would just laugh at me. Say I was weak. I was…I had been caught. This time I was going to pay for what I had done. And there was no one to take my hand and pull me out of the hole I had jumped into. But it was my own fault. I had jumped in headfirst.
You would probably say that I could still call Mom. Even if I had been gone so long, that she would be there for me. She was my mother, and no matter what I did, she would care for me. Well there's one problem with that. Mom is dead. I found that out 4 years after I left. I had practically crawled into the Tipton hotel looking for her. I had had enough of the street life by then. I had walked through those doors, and I'm sure I was a horrible sight. The prodigal son returned.
Flashback A blonde figure that looked around 20 or 21 staggered through the revolving doors of the Tipton and towards the front desk. Me. His long dirty hair was matted and pasted around his bare shoulders with sweat and blood. He was skinny…deathly skinny…to where you could see his bones sticking out of the thin layer of heavily tanned skin. Dirt and blood coated his body in patches around his chest, face, arms, and legs. He wore nothing but an old threadbare pair of shorts and piece of yellow cloth tied around his waist like a belt."Cody?" said the man standing at the front desk.
"I'm not Cody." The man said in a weak voice. "It's Zack…and I want my Mom. I want to go home, and tell her I'm sorry. Tell her I'm through with this life."
"Zack? Oh my God, we thought you were dead!"
"Where's my mom?" he said again. He was on a mission.
"Zack…Carey died last year. It was in a freak accident…and Cody was sent to live with Mr. Martin. He's in college now." The manager said, solemnly bowing his head in respect. The blonde man stood in silence. His mother was dead? She couldn't be dead! She was supposed to be there! She couldn't be dead! He stared into the eyes of the hotel manager and slammed a fist on the table. Anger burned through Zack's eyes at the man who had given him the horrible news. A voice inside of him had to remind him that it wasn't the manager that had killed his mother. He had only told him about it.
"I can give you Cody's cell number if you like."
"Hit me." Zack finally answered coldly. Mr. Moseby handed Zack a scrap of paper and a sharpie. Zack threw the paper to the ground and took the cloth he used as a belt from his waist. Mr. Moseby stared for a second, then gave him the number. Zack wrote it on the belt, and then wrapped it around his waist again. With that, he walked out the door, without another word to the hotel manager.
End of FlashbackI took the cloth from my waist that had been tied there since that day. The sharpie had faded and ran from the rain that I had no shelter from, but I could make out all ten digits in my scrawny handwriting. Cody. I would call Cody.
Well I'm terrified of these four walls
These iron bars can't hold my soul in
All I need is you
Come please I'm callin'
A voice whispered in my ear;
well wasn't Cody the one who always said you would end up in prision? He knew it, and never offered to help you.
But he did try to help me. I wouldn't listen.
Cody didn't care about you. He is probably so caught up in college life that he couldn't care less about you. You would just be a burden to him and his perfect life.
No. Cody still cares about me. He's my brother. He has to. He loves me…he has too.
Cody hates you
No!
This call will be a waste of your time. There is nobody there for you. Nobody cares about you Zack.
That's not true. Cody cares. I know he does. I need Cody. He can help me. He's the only one that can.
I dialed the numbers on the phone and listened to the ringing in it. I felt nervous. What if that voice had been right? What if Cody would just laugh at me? Tell me he knew I would end up like this, and rub his successful life in my face? But I would have to try. There was no one else.
And oh I scream for you
Hurry I'm fallin', I'm fallin'
"Hello?" a familiar voice said.
"Cody. It's me. Zack. I need your help."
"Zack? I thought you were dead! Oh my God! Zack, I've missed you." I could hear his voice breaking. He was going to cry. I could feel myself wanting to cry to.
"Cody…I'm in prison. Don't ask, just help me. I need you Cody. I need you to help me. I'm sorry ok. I'm sorry for everything I ever did to you, and to anyone else. And I'm sick of this life. I don't want to live like this. I need your help."
Show me what it's like
To be the last one standing
And teach me wrong from right
And I'll show you what I can be
"Zack; I always knew you…what prison are you at?" I felt relief sweep over my body. My brother still cared about me. He was going to help me.
Say it for me
Say it to me
And I'll leave this life behind me
Say it if it's worth saving me
I hung up the phone and handed it silently to the guard. Cody had promised to come and help me. He hadn't said how, or when, just that he would. The guard pointed me to my cell. I hesitated for a moment, but he locked the handcuffs of my swollen wrists. I sighed, and headed for my cell reluctantly. I was trapped here. Trapped behind theses rusty bars, and there was no way for me to get out. At least not without Cody's help.
The mattress in my cell screeched and sunk to the ground from my weight as I sat on it. I stared around the room. The stone walls of my cell were ridden with dirt and grime. There was a terrible scent in the room drifting around, like the scent of un-bathed human bodies. And there were bars. Huge, fat, rusty looking bars, made from some type of metal. I could hear moaning from the cells around me. Moaning and screaming. At least I was alone in my cell; there was no real criminal to hurt me.
I lie down on my bed and shut my eyes, letting memories of my life more then 6 years ago flush over my mind. Back when I had been a different person. I had been Zack then, the annoying slacker. The one that no one cared about more then to scream at. To tell he was good for nothing, and would never amount to be anything. That's why I ran away. But now, I wish I hadn't. Maybe if I had stayed, Mom wouldn't have died. Maybe I would have went to college, and straightened up my life. But I had run away, and I was sitting in prison right now. Just like Cody had always said. And now I'm here, with crime written over my life with permanent marker, like the numbers on my belt.
Heaven's gates won't open up for me
With these broken wings I'm fallin'
And all I see is you
I layed there for hours. It seemed like years. Just sitting there, doing nothing. Having nothing. Speaking to no one. Sure, I was used to having no one to talk to, but on the streets there had always been something to do. You were always digging in the garbage cans for food, or waiting for someone to drop their money or purse near your home so could afford a bar of soap, or a bottled water, or a blanket to sleep with. In here, there was nothing. After a while, I shut my eyes. There was nothing better to do then sleep. So I did. I let my eyes shut out all of my thoughts of regret, and guilt. I let them shut out my pain, and my memories of my former life. But I left one memory in there to haunt my dreams…my peace. One memory I couldn't let go of. The memory of my twin. Cody.
These city walls ain't got no love for me
I'm on the ledge of the eighteenth story
And oh I scream for you
Was he really coming? Did he really care? What could he do to help me? And would I like the changes he offered me? These were the only thoughts bombarding in my sub-concious mind.
Come please I'm callin'
And all I need from you
Hurry I'm fallin', I'm fallin'
"Martin?" There was the sound of a key being inserted into a lock and turned. I opened my eyelids and stared at the prison guard with bloodshot eyes. "You have a visitor Martin. Get out here." I smiled to myself. Cody did care. He would help me.
All I need is you
Come please I'm callin'
And oh, I scream for you
Hurry I'm fallin', I'm fallin', I'm fallin'
I followed the guard out, fiddling with my handcuffs. We reached the visiting room, and a familiar voice smirked.
"So it finally happened?" I had never been so happy to hear an insult in my life. Because it was an insult coming from my brother.
"Cody…I need you." I finally said, allowing him to see my face. "I really need you now."
Hurry I'm fallin'