Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke.
"Mmnn… Eva, stop…"
"Who the hell's Eva?"
"...!..."
Alan shot up from his bed to see No.15 sitting in a wheely chair right next to him. His body instinctively had chills go up his spine as a cold sweat formed on the back of his neck. 'Son of bitch…! Thank god I didn't take off any of my compressions otherwise I'd be fucking screwed!'
"The hell're you doing here?" Alan demanded to know, his tone being rather hostile.
"Did I scare you? Ooh, what an angry tone you're using!" Jyugo teased, trying to aggravate him. It was slightly working.
"Don't dodge the question!" Alan yelled, holding a fist up at him.
"I got bored." Jyugo replied innocently with a shrug. "Plus, Rock snores, Uno grinds his teeth, and Nico sleep giggles—how do you expect me to fall asleep? Plus, this is the most quietest place in the building, but I had no idea you were residing in here."
"So your brilliant idea was to poke me...?" Alan questioned as his eye twitched.
"Hajime's not here, Seitarou went home, and Yamoto is doing his training." Jyugo said holding up three fingers. "So, yeah, you're basically my only entertainment right now."
'This guy…!' Alan could feel his anger slowly rising. But, he countered it by sighing out, trying to calm down. 'No, no… Leave him. He's not worth the trouble of beating. Plus, I'm sure Hajime wouldn't take his office being in shambles so lightly…'
"...If you're so bored then why don't you do something else?" Alan questioned him. "Read, watch TV, draw—do something other than break out of your cell. If you keep escaping like that then eventually Hajime will have to take high measures and place you in a place that you can't escape from."
"Oh really? What's that?" Jyugo asked, clearly not believing Alan's words.
"They have a place in these buildings that they usually put mentally ill prisoners in." Alan stated, trying to show that this wasn't a joke. "Basically it's like a hatchet—kinda like a garbage shoot. They slide you into this room with no doors, no windows, and no locks. Climbing back up the shoot is impossible since they have this slick coating on it that makes you slide down. One wall is made of bulletproof glass while the other walls, including ceiling and floor, are made of white cushions. It's like a mental institution. The glass wall allows people like doctors to watch you and examine your behavior. No matter what you do towards those people on the other side of the glass, they'll do nothing but act as if you weren't even there. It's a living hell…"
"Wait, they seriously have that…?" Jyugo muttered, clearly surprised by the information.
"Remember that story I talked about a few days ago?" Alan asked and watched Jyugo nod. "...How else do you think that guy went mental and killed himself?"
"S-seriously…?" Jyugo's eyes went wide in shock.
"Yep. It's pretty fucked up…" Alan muttered as a dark expression came onto his face. "I know personally how much of a hell it is because I got put in there… They said that if I can't cooperate, they'll keep me in that room for the rest of my sentence. I just scoffed and laughed… They threw me down and I could only last a week… I eventually agreed to their terms and got placed officially into Building 5…"
"Sounds harsh." Jyugo muttered.
"Yeah, well…" Alan shrugged and sighed again, trying to stop any dark thoughts in his head. "...I was a little shit back then, so I deserved it. But I'm not telling you that to pity me. I'm telling you this because I don't want anybody else going through the shit I've been through. I'm warning you; behave or Hajime might just take that risk in throwing you in there if you continue to misbehave!"
"Yeah… I'm not gonna do that." Jyugo said smiling, looking rather smug. "Hajime's a brute, but he isn't that heartless. Plus, he's dealt with me so far. The only person who would do that would probably be the Warden, right? If I get thrown in, then I get thrown it. It's my fault for breaking out anyways so it would make sense if I get punished for it."
Alan stared at him for a moment before sighing again. He ran a hand through his hair since it was down, realizing just how much Jyugo doesn't understand these things. "You really don't know anything, huh?..."
"You sound like Hajime." Jyugo commented and began spinning in the chair.
"That's because Hajime understands what this job means more than you do." Alan stated, causing Jyugo to stop and listen to him. "Do you understand what our job is? What we do and why we have to do it…?"
"You're guards, right? So you guard the inmates and make sure we don't escape." Jyugo said as if it was obvious.
"It's more than that, you know…" Alan said and rested his chin in his palm. "Yes, we do guard the cells and make sure inmates behave themselves. But it's more complicated than that… The reason anybody is put into jail is because they broke society's law. But breaking the law you are punished by being placed into jails and living in it until your sentence has ended. Through that time of being in jail, it's up to us guards to sort of… rehabilitate you guys…"
"Rehabilitate…?" Jyugo questioned, clearly not understanding.
"You might have broken the law, but you're still a human being." Alan continued, hopefully trying to get him to understand. "From what I experienced for myself, a lot of jails in America would sometimes have these type of groups. They would gather the inmates and hold this type of event. Sometimes they have past inmates who had rehabilitated properly back into society to talk. Sometimes it's a comedian. Heck, they even bring in animals sometimes."
"Why would they do that?" Jyugo asked.
"To make us care…" Alan said softly, causing Jyugo to stare. "There's a lot of things in life. But, sometimes people will act out through severe circumstances and break society's laws. Jyugo… you're only 16 and in the world's highest security prison. You shouldn't be in a place like this. You should be in a nice home, with a nice family, goofing off with friends, and playing games. That goes for you and your fellow inmates in cell 13. There's only so much time we have in life, but you're here, wasting it in a pathetic jail cell…"
"Where are you going with this?" Jyugo spoke up, looking almost defensive.
"I'm saying you should go through your sentence and get the hell out of here." Alan stated bluntly. "Behave, find your way into society. As a guard, it is my job to not only make sure you inmates behave and get ready to be released back into society, but it's also my job to care for you guys."
"Care for us…?" Jyugo's eyebrows furrowed together and upwards, clearly confused.
"Prison guards make sure the inmates behave, but that they are also protected…" Alan continued to hopefully clarify for him. "You and your friends in cell 13 all have misdemeanors, but because you continue to escape jails your sentences have been lengthen. Either way, you guys didn't do something extreme, unlike some of these other inmates. Nanba Prison has all types of fuckers around. Rapist, murders, the mentally illed—this place might as well have them all. Even if those guys are placed into special confinement away from other inmates, they'll try attacking anybody they can get their hands on. That means it's up to the guards to stop that from happening and try and protect people like you."
"But… why?" Jyugo asked. "We've all done bad shit. All prisoners might as well be scum, right? So why would you risk yourselves for something like that?"
"Just because you misbehaved in our society doesn't mean you're not a living being…" Alan answered. He smiled at Jyugo, seeing that he caught him off guard. "You're a human being. You have feelings, you have a high intelligence, you have your own likes and talents. You might have lost some rights from doing the shit you've done to get into prison, but you still have the right to be a human being. The reason I came back here—the very reason for why I willingly talk to everyone I can talk to and know them—is because I care. I want to protect. I want to help you guys get through this harsh rehabilitation and I want to keep you all safe… That's why I became a prison guard at Nanba Prison."
Jyugo stared at Alan with his mouth agap. Alan just held his gaze, a smirk tugging his own lips, as he knew what he said had resonated with him somehow. Or, at least impressed him in some way. Jyugo recollected himself and pointed at Alan.
"Dude, it's like, 3 in the morning and you were able to give a lecture like that?" Jyugo said in a very blunt tone. "Man you're weird…"
Hajime would've punched Jyugo if he had said that to him. But Alan wasn't Hajime. Instead Alan huffed in amusement, only to end up laughing softly. Jyugo expected to get hit, not a chuckle.
"Haha, yeah, I guess I am weird." Alan smiled at him. "I just know a lot more than others is all… I weird as I am, I always enjoy deep conversations. It's just how I am…"
"You… You aren't mad?" Jyugo asked, ready for a punch to the head.
"Why should I be mad when what you said is true?" Alan countered, effectively silencing him. Alan's smile faded as he looked at his crossed legs. "I'm just a freak of nature. But it's how I was bored—I'm not responsible for it. I'm only responsible for the actions that I take and for what I do with myself. But, a lot of people tend to forget that…"
"...What do you mean by that?" Jyugo asked.
"...You honestly don't know my situation, huh?" Alan asked him, watching as he shook his head. "Ever heard of the disease, HSAN?"
"Nope." Jyugo shook his head.
"HSAN stands for Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathy." Alan stated, trying to explain it as carefully as possible. "It's a condition that inhibits sensory. In other words, HSAN stops me from physically feeling anything. Whether I am kept in the cold or even in flaming fire, I can't feel anything. I won't be able to tell you whether I'm hot or cold because I can't feel it. Basically the only way I can feel something through my hands or anywhere is probably if I was harmed severely."
"So you really can't feel anything?" Jyugo asked, looking intrigued, as his eyes landed on Alan's arms. "Is… is that why you have so many scars…?"
Alan followed his gaze to his arms. When Alan went to bed he just took a few of his uniform off. He didn't take his pants or shirt off because he had collapsed right on the bed and fell asleep. In other words, he ran out of batteries again. His sleeves were rolled up, showing the intense sight of his hands and arms. His hands were covered in scars. The same went for his arms, but the scars were more or less spaced out the more higher they went.
"Oh, these…" Alan muttered as his face was stoic again. "Growing up with HSAN was… hard, to say the least. Kids didn't enjoy being around me because I couldn't quite control my own strength. My family did whatever they could to teach me how to control my own body so that society might be able to accept me. But, it was hard… The more I grew, the more I wanted to feel something. Why was touch so special? What was so comforting from it? I didn't know… I couldn't know… Eventually, I got into such a dark place when I was a teen that I began harming myself. Harshly…"
Alan lifted his hands up, turning them and show Jyugo how bad they actually were. "Almost all of these scars have stories. Most I inflicted on myself, others were gained by accident, while some I gained from trying to protect others."
"You were that desperate…?" Jyugo asked, his eyes widen in shock.
"Yeah, I was…" Alan nodded before putting his hands down. "HSAN isn't widely known, but it's heavily severe… I can't feel anything, so I got injured often. To this day I still get strange injuries without realizing it. Growing up without the sensation to feel is a living hell…"
Alan's hands tightened into fist as he stared at the ground with a hollow stare. "...Feelings were… impossible for me to recognize. You know how when you're sad, your throat feels all tight and clogged, and your eyes burn and feel itchy? For me, it's numbed down heavily. The most I could probably sense are the itchy eyes, and maybe my throat is tighten partially. I just… can't feel anything… My behavior came off as disturbing and harsh to others. So, to make life easier for myself and family, I began to observe people. That's when I began to act as a 'normal' human being."
"That's so fucked up…" Alan heard Jyugo whisper softly.
"Well, that's just how it is for me…" Alan said and shrugged nonchalantly. "But, now that I'm an adult and making a living for myself, life's been better for me. I understand my hints of emotions I get, and I know how to feel without feeling. Yeah, sometimes there'll be moments where my HSAN is in the way, but I'm making it by fairly well. I'm just grateful for the fact that not my entire body is unable to sense touch."
"What do you mean?" Jyugo asked and tilted his head slightly.
"Not all of my senses are gone thankfully." Alan said and began counting the sensations on his fingers. "I can see, hear, and taste fairly well compared to an average human—maybe even more. But I can't smell to well and touch is a nogo. Basically, my I can only feel with my tongue. It's the most sensations that I have."
"That's gotta be frustrating." Jyugo commented, causing Alan to nod.
"Sometimes." Alan said. "I got into a lot of trouble because I tried to feel with my tongue when I was a child. Since I could only feel with my tongue, I tended to lick or kiss a lot of things. My family understood that it was the only thing I had to feel with, so they didn't necessarily stopped me unless it was in public or to something dangerous. Now that I think about it, the whole kissing thing I did was more of a greeting if anything. To put it simply… Licking and kissing for me was like a head pat or handshake if that makes any sense…"
Jyugo felt his eye twitched when he learned that information. 'So that day when he kissed me meant nothing. He only did it as a sense of touch…'
"But, like usual, society found my behavior to be… inappropriate." Alan sighed softly as he recalled multiple events. "I was three when I met another kid on the local playground. I ended up kissing the kid, and it just so happened to be a girl. The parents go so mad, yelling and cursing at my parents to 'control me,' or to 'teach some manners.' I got real mad, angry that someone was insulting my family. But, my dad just apologized, taking every hit they threw, and took me away from the place and we went home. That's when he began to try and teach me to stop doing that since he knew that it could get me into some serious trouble… But, as you know, habits die hard."
"Yeah, I know…" Jyugo grumbled in a slightly irritated tone.
"Yeah… Sorry about that." Alan smirked at him. "Like I said, I don't mean anything behind it. Plus, you were being quite stubborn that day. I had to kick you out somehow."
"Kissing someone isn't a way to kick them out of a place!" Jyugo yelled.
"Now you sound like Hajime!" Alan laughed in amusement, causing Jyugo to stiffen.
"Don't compare me to him!" Jyugo said looking almost insulted.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, Hajime pounded me a good number of times." Alan said and subconsciously rubbed his head. "He made sure to be extra hard, too. He actually managed to made me dizzy to say the least."
"Yeah, well, I'm still pissed about that…" Jyugo grumbled, looking off to the side.
"Would another kiss make you feel better?" Alan teased and made kissy noises at him as a joke.
"HELL NO!" Jyugo screeched, causing Alan to laugh in response.
"I kid, I kid." Alan said and waved his hand at him. "I know the errors of my ways. Plus, with Hajime being my superior, I'm positive he's gonna be the guy to knock me the fuck out without help of medication."
"...Now that I think about it," Jyugo began thinking aloud, "that HSAN thing actually explains a lot… How you could get up onto your feet so quickly after getting punched by Rock. How you could attack us and not seeming fazed at all by it. You literally couldn't feel any of that…"
"Now you're getting it." Alan crossed his arms cover his chest. "When I said I couldn't feel that punch, I literally couldn't feel it. Not only can I not feel anything, but I'm abnormally strong… It's a blessing, yet a curse. I can last through a fight longer than a normal human being, but the after affect of it might be devastating to my body. It's pretty bad, to be honest. I almost died plenty of times…"
"You're dieseled as fuck, dude." Jyugo said bluntly.
"I get that a lot, too." Alan said and chuckled.
"You really are easy to chat with… It's freaky…" Jyugo said as he realized how long they've been talking.
"Maybe… But the same can be said to you." Alan said, catching him off guard. "When you're comfortable, or at least not on guard, you listen fairly well to the person who is talking. You listen, which makes it easy to bond with you. Plus, you also woke me up at 3 in the goddamn morning, so I blame you."
"Gee, thanks, way to make a guy feel special." Jyugo replied sarcastically.
Alan snickered in response, clearly enjoying this talk. Even though Jyugo had a grudge against him, he had to admit, he was now starting to actually enjoy this guy's presence. But of course he would never admit that out loud… Jyugo stared at him for a moment and stared at his face. He has seen some feminine men before, and he felt like Alan was taking a new place on his list.
Alan's hair was down since he had been sleeping. His hair was a wavy light brown that curled at the end. To describe it, Alan had straight bangs and short strands of hair that stopped just below his jaw. Jyugo assumed his hair was long considering out he could see the tightness of the back of his head, but he never realized his hair was that long. His longer hair went past his shoulders while a few strands fell over his shoulders. He really did look like a woman.
"So, anything else you want to pry in?" Alan asked Jyugo, now resting his chin back in his palm.
"Nah," Jyugo put his hands behind his head and looked away from him. "It would be boring to learn more about you because you're so openingly honest."
"Touche..." Alan replied and began to stare at Jyugo.
The teen just spun in the chair, but the silence that quickly filled the room was beginning to become insufferable. Plus, with Alan staring holes into his side, it just made it even more uncomfortable. Jyugo stopped spinning and slightly glared at him.
"Okay, your stare is really distracting." Jyugo stated bluntly. "What, something on my face? You're staring as if I'm a circus animal."
"Your eyes…" Alan mumbled softly as he kept eye contact. "They're so weird… No matter what they keep changing. I know that happens with different people, especially with hazel eyes, but I've never seen something as strange as yours… It's distracting…"
"You're distracting." Jyugo said and spun in the chair one more time.
"Oh, how you wound me." Alan jokingly said, still watching Jyugo's eyes. "...As weird as this sounds, your eyes are really pretty…"
"What are you, a woman?" Jyugo said and stopped spinning. "Seriously, some of the stuff you say is weird, dude."
'For your information, yes I am.' Alan stated in his head. "Why do I have the feeling that you have no right to say that…?"
"...Eh." Jyugo turned the chair so his back was towards him. "...Touche."
Alan tilted his head to the side in curiosity. What he said clearly struck some sort of cord with Jyugo. Alan wondered what it was. What made him turn his back towards Alan? Did what he said hurt him? What's in his past that made his demeanor change so quickly? Was there a way for Alan to help him…? Just as Alan began questioning this, rapid footsteps could be heard. Soon enough the door busted open to reveal a very angry Hajime, who immediately spotted Jyugo.
"THE HELL ARE YOU DOING OUT OF YOUR CELL?!" Hajime shouted at him.
"Talking to your newbie." Jyugo replied flatly.
"WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU PUT HIM BACK?!" Hajime yelled at Alan.
"Because I didn't see a mean to because he wasn't causing trouble…" Alan replied softly.
WIthin seconds Hajime punched both of them in the head. Both of them held their heads as bumps popped up. Hajime, still seething in anger, grabbed Jyugo by the back of his collar and began dragged him out of the room.
"STAY IN YOUR GODDAMN CELL!" Hajime yelled at him.
As Jyugo was being dragged away, he waved at Alan before being whisked off.
Alan just sat there, trying to understand what just happened in a matter of seconds. 'That was… Unexpected… Especially at 3 in the mornings…'
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