Chapter Two

Trapped in this world for so long, Misty seems to have lost herself in what the darkness has to offer. Her only hope in the form of her best friend who cannot seem to break hold of the guilt that threatens to strangle him. Now, she must live this life that she, more than others, had an option to join but now has no choice but to stay.

Misty

Now this is the part I hate. The part where you tell them that they're going to have to reduce themselves to nothing but an object, a possession and that from now on she'll be little less than a pawn in the game of Viridian City. Or Giovanni Town as we like to call it. I tell her about our work and see the tears well in her eyes as she tells me that she doesn't want to do it, that they can't make her. Oh, how wrong she is. I pull her slender frame into mine and give her a quick hug before murmuring that there is nothing she can do.

Out of the corner of my eye I see a man dressed in a tight white tee, an old leather duster jacket and a red cap on his untamed coal hair leaned against the door frame- arms crossed, staring directly at me. Ash. He provides a sympathetic smile. He's been here, where I've stood having to tell some innocent boy that from now on the life they once knew must be forgotten to get through the atrocious ordeal that we don't doubt they'll face.

The two of us begin to contact wordlessly.

She okay?

Hopefully.

Reckon she'll make it?

I don't know.

I hope so.

Me too.

She's quite nice, you think-

He smirked at the heated glare I sent his way. He rolled his eyes and pointed to the family room. I nod, understanding. He leaves to join everyone else where no doubt everyone was tucking into the pizza from last night. I pulled away from the girl.

"If you want some food there's some in the family room, got to be quick though." She doesn't smile but stares obsessively at a dent on the wall, if I remember correctly it was from when Zoey got high and ended up shoving Brock against the wall quite roughly and with these paper thin walls it's a wonder that he didn't go all the way through. I rub to the top of my crossed arm. "I'll be there to if you need me." I figure she'll need some time alone, they usually do. So I exit the room ensuring that I close the door so that the girl would get at least a little privacy. She won't get much more after this. Not with the roommates we have. I chuckle just at the thought.

She seems nice enough. So, hopefully, she should fit right in.

When I come into the room Dawn shifts from her place and sits on the floor (there's not enough room for us all but we somehow make it work), I've long told her she doesn't have to do that but considers it a personal debt she owes me. I don't think anyone owes me. She says it's because I've looked out for her. That always brings tears to my eyes, with Dawn I'd failed and she didn't even realise it. Then again, it's hard not to be enticed by this whole new world you're thrust into, I should know.

Ash nudges me and I'm brought back to the buzz of multiple conversations fighting one another to be heard. I smile at him and nudge him back in the friendly way we always do. My hands are filled with a piece of pizza I'm all too happy to munch down on and for a while I'm content just mulling over May's fate, that is until Ritchie decides to question me.

"Hey Mist," he says, his mouth half filled with pizza but that's nothing new, the boys around here have no clear concept for manners, except for Brock that is. "What's the newbie's chances?"

Everyone stops to look at me and I sigh. It had to come sometime.

"I'm not sure, she's innocent, not been to wild with her life. Guess we'll have to see what happens." It's hard to tell anymore. I mean, when Dawn first came here she was just about as clueless to the world as May is now, she's hardly that anymore. We all thought she'd be out of here quickly, very obviously we were wrong- it's been four years now. Joy, she was once the top of her class at university studying a degree in medicine, the pride of her parents- a world renowned nurse and doctor. Now? She's considered the 'bad apple' completely disowned by the rest of her family. They aren't even the worst cases. I think back to Jenny, May's here. Arrested. Oh, the irony that faced the ex-cop. It was the first arrest in history of anyone employed under Giovanni. Just showed how they're finally cracking down on him. I doubt they'll rid of him completely though. Not in this decade. Or the next.

"She's not one of us then?" I glare at Richie. Sometimes he just didn't know what he was saying could be considered offensive so I use my leg to knock him off balance and right back onto this bottom. Ash intervenes;

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Ritchie shrugs in response not wanting to start an argument.

"You would say that, you're not one of us." The tension rose. This only happened every so often. It was explosive when it did though. I looked over at Zoey who had said it so blatantly and then back at Ash. His hand furled and his muscles tensed. It was going to be a long night.

"And proud of it!" Zoey seemed to take offence at this and threw a piece of pizza that barely missed my best friend.

"What a waste of food!" His voice was whiney as he watched the piece of food slam against the wall with such force that it exploded. When he turned he was pouting and I couldn't help but burst into a giggling fit. Dawn and Ritchie soon joined in and it wasn't long until the whole situation was diffused- thankfully. Zoey still glared at the boy beside of me but no more was spoken on the subject maybe it won't be such a long night after all...

I felt a weight lift off the couch and saw Ash go to pick up one of the crates of beer from the kitchen. In this house, you don't just get something for yourself. Especially when it's alcohol. Whilst in the moment of solace I leaned over to Ritchie to quickly whisper a question I'd been dying to ask all day.

"When's Gary going to get here?" Ritchie's eyes flicked over to Ash, walking towards us at a steady pace.

"Tomorrow." I smiled, nodded and then leaned back into the couch before my hands were filled once again with a cold steel. Immediately my fingers grasped around the cylinder as though my life depended on it. The sounds as the can was opened sent some relief through my body before I chastised myself. I only had to wait till tomorrow.

Dawn's perky voice was what broke me from my mental debate this time.

"You think that May will want one?" She held up a can to show what she was inferring to. I shook my head recalling our earlier conversation; she didn't seem like a big drinker. Dawn sat back down and the usual banter continued as though there was never a shift in Cell Block One.

Brock began tidying us, as per usual no one offered to help but Brock was happy to do it anyway. Iris opened her mouth to speak to all of us after discussing something heatedly with Joy and Dawn.

"Drew's back in town tomorrow." She'd spoken louder than needed as the minute we heard his name we all looked over to the violet haired girl.

"How'd you know?" Ash's voice was on edge and I found myself subconsciously moving closer to him, not that that was possible with the close proximity we were all already in.

"Dawn told me." All eyes looked over to the youngest of us all. She sighed before beginning to speak directly to everyone, her eyes trained on the messy coffee table whilst twiddling her thumbs. The topic always made her shaky and I held a sympathetic glance from her and instead opted to smile encouragingly at her. Dawn seemed to take this as a good sign and began to tell the story.

"I saw Kenny today-"

"-Kenny? How is he?" It was Zoey who had perked up at the name of their old friend, a former prisoner of Cell Block One.

"He's..." She seemed apprehensive to continue. I wondered what it was. He'd escaped. Life couldn't be that bad. Not on the outside. Not away from here. "He's doing okay." Zoey accepted this. I on the other hand didn't. She was lying. That much was obvious to me. I found myself leaning in to listen to what she had to say about Drew, I'd question her later.

"What about Drew, Dawn?"

"Well Kenny said his father's in town, visit to Giovanni. You know that means Drew's coming to. He never misses a chance to do business with Gary." Just at the mention of the brunette I could hear Ash's growl but shrugged it off. I looked at Dawn, to edge her on once again. But it appeared as though she was done.

I leaned back. My head groaned at the thought of Drew's return. The jerk was worse than Gary. Much worse. My eyes fell to Ash who'd been looking at me.

He better stay away this time.

Back off Ash.

It's not happening again.

I know.

I'll kill him.

Ash.

I will.

Stop it.

I swear-

No. You won't. You know what will happen to you. What his father will do.

I don't care.

I looked away not being able to handle his stubbornness, not right now at least. My mind was on something else. Something else that tomorrow would bring.

[A/N:] Only a short chapter, hope you like? Sorry for the wait but like I said this won't be something updated on a daily basis.