The Root
"Hey, where were you?" Punk asked, watching AJ walk into the kitchen where he'd just gotten home from work and was prepping dinner, "I was tempted to bring a pizza home but I found some self-control." He said triumphantly as AJ looked across at him. She wondered if he had subconsciously just blocked it all out.
"I was talking to your old cell mate." AJ said truthfully right away as Punk turned around.
"What?" Punk shook his head.
"Tom." AJ nodded, "He was nice, actually. I was expecting worse." She admitted.
"Wait… hold up." Punk looked at her, puzzled, "Are you serious? W-What… why were you talking to him?" He questioned.
"Because you won't talk to me." AJ shrugged, taking her coat off, "And I'm not having you dodge around this anymore." She said as Punk shook his head, screwing his face up.
"Are you serious?" Punk asked angrily, "You-You went and spoke to him to find out things?" He asked, hurt that she would do that.
"You can save being mad for later." AJ shook her head.
"How the hell did you find him?" Punk questioned, completely shocked and confused.
"Cassie helped me." AJ said as Punk ran his hands over his face and groaned loudly.
"You and those fucking girls." Punk shook his head angrily.
"Yeah… yeah, me and those fucking girls who care about you and are worried about you." AJ said.
"What'd he tell you?" Punk worried with concern, "What'd he say?"
"He told me about some incidents. About Joey, whoever the hell he is." AJ shook her head as Punk gulped, stepping back a little and placing his hands on his hips.
"You couldn't just leave this alone, could you?" Punk shook his head to himself, "You couldn't just respect that… that I don't wanna talk about this?!" He yelled, about to storm out of the kitchen as AJ grabbed his hand and pulled him back.
"Since when do you get scared of telling me things?" AJ asked, holding his hand tightly as he looked down at her, "It's me." She emphasised as he looked at her, "There is nothing you can't talk to me about. Nothing." She made clear, cupping his cheeks as he tried to turn away, "No, look at me." She told him as he looked down at her, "Tom told me some things. Not everything but enough for me to know that you suffered something in there that I might not be able to understand but I can try and I can help you." She said, "I should never have stopped visiting you." She shook her head, tears in her eyes. Of course there was guilt from her part, especially after hearing certain things from Tom.
"No… don't." Punk shook his head, running his hand down her arm as she kept her hands on his cheeks, "This isn't on you." He made clear.
"What'd they do to you in there?" She sighed as Punk looked down at her, "Please just tell me." She whispered.
"What do you already know?" Punk asked her, taking her hands from his cheeks.
"Just… this guy Joey clearly ran the place and you… had issues with him." AJ nodded, "Tom told me about what happened with Jude too." She said as Punk nodded slowly, "Why'd she never tell me?"
"I don't know why she never told you." Punk shook his head, "I thought she would."
"Tom told me about your pictures too." AJ said as Punk nodded, "Why wasn't there any order or discipline?" She shook her head.
"Because, April, it's prison. We're all just caged up like animals. Sometimes the guards caused the most problems." Punk shook his head.
"Tell me about Joey." AJ said, "Tom painted the picture that he was… the brunt of all the problems." AJ said as Punk ran his hands through his hair.
"Yeah, he was." Punk nodded, "He was in for drug related offences I think. He still ran the businesses under the guards nose. And he recruited other prisoners to help him. They were like a clique." He shook his head, "Always beating people up, causing trouble, starting riots." Punk nodded, "So I… I stepped in one day and they were on my back for the eight years I was there." He said as AJ looked at him.
"Did you know him before?" AJ asked as Punk shook his head.
"No." Punk shook his head, looking across at her. He knew now was the time to tell her. He couldn't dodge his way around it, "Your brother was there." He said as AJ looked at him, scrunching her eyebrows and looking at him, unconvinced.
"What?" AJ laughed a little.
"I'm serious" Punk said, "Your brother was in there with me." He nodded as AJ tilted her head, "Not that you even know him that well… but he was there, friends with Joey." He nodded as AJ looked at him.
"Rob?" AJ questioned as Punk nodded. She hadn't heard of or seen her brother since she was a little girl. He was older than her and left home when she was young. She knew that he was just like her parents, involved with no good street gangs, and quite frankly, she was glad not to have known him well. Nevertheless, this was still the last thing she expected to hear.
"Yeah, he was there. I didn't know him but… he knew me. He knew I was married to you so… I guess he kept more tabs on you than you'd think." Punk said.
"Wait a minute…" AJ shook her head with confusion, trying to take it all in, "You were in prison with my brother? Talking to him and seeing him every day?"
"Trust me, we weren't friends." Punk made clear to her as AJ looked at him.
"It never crossed your mind to tell me this, Phil?" AJ asked.
"Come on, don't… don't give me that. My entire prison life was blocked out the second I stepped out those gates. Plus, you barely know the guy-"
"It's still my brother." AJ shook her head in shock, "Why was he in?" She questioned.
"Drugs." Punk nodded, "Not a very good guy." He made clear as AJ looked across at him. She couldn't believe it.
"And he was… he was friends with this guy… Joey?" AJ questioned as Punk nodded.
"Yeah." Punk nodded, "I… April, I don't even know where to start with this." He sighed to himself, placing his hands over his face, "I mean, they made a situation for me that was already bad, even worse." He said, "Joey found out our address. I thought you were in danger so I made Dean come stay here with you for a couple weeks-"
"I remember that." AJ said, "I thought he was just coming to help me with the kids." AJ shook her head.
"They would jump me in the yard, the food hall, doing PI." He said, "And they'd… they'd say shit to get me all hot and then set me up with the guards. I got put in and out of isolation. Longest I was in was for five weeks. Five weeks of sitting in a cell, in the dark, locked in." He said as AJ looked across at him.
"And my… my brother was… joining in?" AJ questioned as Punk nodded.
"Yeah." Punk said, "I could take the beatings. You can heal from bruises and broken bones." He said, "But the mental torture? I-I've never experienced anything like it." He shook his head, "It was like… Rio part two." Punk placed his hand over his forehead as AJ sighed to herself.
"What would my brother get out of hurting you? He-He doesn't know you." AJ shook her head.
"He had the same mentality your dad did. Somehow, despite all they've done to you to hurt you, they still think that they're protecting you. They still think you're immune to all this shit and I'm the bad guy who got you into trouble." Punk shrugged, "I don't know what the fuck it's all about." He said, "I tried talking to him. I tried being civil. But somehow I'm the bad guy in their fucked up fantasy world they all live in." He said.
"Yeah because they want someone else to blame." AJ shook her head.
"You're like this safety blanket for them." Punk nodded, "Something to make them feel good. Yet… they had no problem abandoning you and exposing you to that world. Rob had no problem with Joey threatening you and our kids." He said, "Exactly like your dad… this phony fantasy that he was protecting you, yet, whilst holding a gun at the only people who were really there for you." He shook his head.
"They've always been like that. They would tell me how bad drugs are whilst handing me them." AJ nodded, "What would they say to you?"
"All sorts." Punk shook his head, "Your mind gets weak in there anyway so when people start playing with it, taunting and teasing you… it's scary. You start believing things that aren't true. You start becoming a different person. Like a remodelled version of yourself. You wonder if you're ever feel like what you felt like before you came into prison." He said as AJ looked over at him.
"Why couldn't you just tell me this?" AJ asked, "Tell me that you had issues with some guys, tell me about my brother being in there and giving you trouble?" AJ questioned as he just shook his head, looking down at the ground.
"I just… didn't want to get into it." Punk mumbled as AJ looked at him.
"I get that but…" She sighed, looking over at him, "Babe, I hate to say this but I'm still waiting on you telling me something." She said, "You got this look on your face. All of this is horrific and… I can't imagine what it felt like but… there's something you're not telling me. Something I don't think you're even telling yourself." She looked at him.
"No, that… that was it." Punk nodded to her, "They just gave me hell." He said as AJ looked at him.
"When you left, were they still in prison?" AJ asked him.
"Rob left a year before me." Punk said as AJ nodded.
"And Joey?" AJ looked at him as Punk looked across at her, staying silent, "Phil." AJ said calmly as Punk nodded.
"I uh…. I don't know when he left." Punk shook his head, looking down as AJ watched him.
"Phil." AJ said as he looked at her, "When did Joey leave prison?" She questioned as he looked at her, his eyes glistening as AJ looked at him, her stomach in knots as she sensed herself getting to the root of things.
"I don't know." Punk whispered, turning away from her as AJ looked at him, gulping and clasping her hands over her mouth with concern.
"He didn't make it out of prison, did he?" AJ realised as Punk looked at her, "You killed him?" She questioned as Punk looked across at her in silence.
A/N: Hope you guys are all staying safe during this crazy pandemic! Lots of angst and drama to get you through coming up! Thanks for the reviews and support. There WILL be a fifth story, but this one is far from over.
