Chapter 14: Arrested
Darry had finally gotten to sleep at four in the morning. He had been tossing and turning for the past few hours, disturbed by his thoughts.
Would Lucky end up in jail? What would happen to him there? Would it kill him? Would he get hard and cold, like Dallas?
Thinking of Dallas made him think of Johnny, which made him think of Johnny killing Bob Sheldon, which made him think of the more recent murder, which made him think of Lucky, which made the whole cycle start all over again and gave him a migraine.
He finally managed to doze off, too exhausted to think any more. It seemed to him that his eyes flew open just a few minutes later.
Someone was banging on the door, loud, echoing thuds. Darry sat up straight, still half-asleep, wondering for a second if they were part of a dream.
He leapt up to answer the door when the knocking continued. He started as Lucky whispered from behind him, "Who is it?"
Darry unbolted the door and opened it cautiously. Two hard-faced police officers were standing there. "Roger Stanton?" one of them asked.
"That's me," Lucky said, stepping forward. By now, all the hall lights were on and some students' heads were emerging warily from behind their doors.
"Roger Stanton, you are hereby under arrest for suspected accomplice in the murder of Alfonso Rodriguez and possession of illegal substances," one of the officers said, stepping forward to handcuff Lucky.
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Lucky felt the color draining out of his face. His mouth was suddenly dry and he felt faint. The whole thing suddenly seemed surreal.
He barely felt the cold metal handcuffs closing over his hands. He hardly heard the officer reading him his rights. He did feel humiliated at getting dragged off in front of his friends. He did see the shock on their faces, especially Darry's. He wondered vaguely how A.J. would react.
Lucky was at a loss for words. His mind was buzzing with a million questions, but he daren't open his mouth for fear that all of them would come pouring out at once.
The look of shock was gone from Darry's face. Now he seemed to have pulled himself together and was talking to the officer.
"On what pretense do you make these accusations?" he demanded. The officer looked at Darry emotionlessly, like he had seen it all and didn't care.
"Larry Hughes named Mr. Stanton as one of the guilty persons involved. We're going to have to take him to the station for a while."
"How long is a while?" Darry's voice rose, while one officer led Lucky out wearing his pajamas and sneakers without socks.
"As long as it takes," the officer replied grimly. Lucky caught one last glimpse of Darry, standing helplessly at the doorway, stricken.
And then, somehow, he was being ushered none too gently into the squad car. This must be a dream, Lucky thought irrationally as the sirens wailed and the lights flashed red and blue.
At the station, the officers had him change into the standard orange jumpsuit and led him to a cell. His inmates gave him dirty looks as the officer shoved him in and locked the door behind him.
It was only then did Lucky seem to wake up from his mind haze. This can't be a dream, he thought miserably, glancing around briefly before hastily dropping his gaze. It's a nightmare.
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Darry didn't know how he could function properly. He was in shock. All day he wondered how Lucky was doing.
At lunch, he picked at his sandwich. He wasn't very hungry. Someone flopped down across from him and he looked up to meet A.J.'s inquisitive brown eyes, framed by long lashes.
How come I've never realized how long her lashes are before? Darry thought. All day he had been having the most random thoughts.
Chaplin should get a wig.
Her hair is the exact shade of Coke.
What if Pepsi started liking Sprite instead?
It was driving him insane. "Hey, A.J." Her expression was curious and desperately pleading at the same time.
"Darry, it's not true what they're all saying, is it? That Lucky got dragged off in the middle of the night?"
Darry sighed unhappily. "It was more around just before dawn, but yeah, he got dragged off."
A.J.'s mouth parted slightly. That was it. No explosion of tears, no freaking out, nothing. Just that.
"Oh," she said softly. Darry stared at her. "Are you okay?" he asked, peering concernedly at her.
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A.J. wasn't okay. Lucky couldn't go to jail. He wouldn't survive it. It would surely kill his spirit. It would surely kill him.
She was surprised at her own reaction. Normally she would have been hysterical. But something in her had changed.
Perhaps she was all cried out from the past couple of days. Perhaps she was in shock and would have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder later.
Or perhaps she really had changed. She didn't know what, but it was stirring inside of her. It was so tiny now she could barely feel it, but it was there.
It started here, with realizing that getting hysterical and throwing a temper tantrum, no matter how fun they may be to throw, didn't solve anything.
Oh, bugger, A.J. thought suddenly. It's just like those bloody books we read in English. I'm…oh, whaddya call it? Coming of age. That's it.
Then, again quite out of the blue, the thought, It's about bloody time.
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Second day as prisoner on the Hell Planet, Lucky thought as the alarm went off to wake them up. The warden came striding down the rows, unlocking the cells to lead the inmates to the mess hall for breakfast.
At breakfast, one guy behind Lucky said something to another guy, who started hitting him with his tray. There was blood everywhere.
The warden broke up the fight and a doctor had to be called in. Lucky could barely get his breakfast down after that.
Lucky barely slept that night, although he was exhausted from the work the prisoners were forced to do all day.
It was sheer terror that kept Lucky awake. He was frightened out of his wits. Being here, in this hard, cold place where no one cared or where someone would kill him without a thought, scared the sleep out of him.
Even if he hadn't been afraid, the noises of the other inmates would have kept him up anyway. There was constant shouting, people calling each other names, yelling in pain as someone hit them.
There were the sickening sounds of one man beating another and the sounds of wardens running in to stop the fights and bring in a paramedic for a man beaten nearly to death.
The sounds subsided, but just barely, as everyone eventually fell asleep. Even Lucky managed to fall asleep with his pillow over his ears to muffle the sound of a man screaming in his sleep.
The next day, he woke up to the sound of the alarm and the warden coming around to let them out for breakfast and another day of community service.
Third day as prisoner on the Hell Planet, he thought. He wondered when his trial would be. He hoped it would be soon.
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So? Whaddya think? I realize this is all a bit messed up, seeing as he should just have been arrested and not questioned and then arrested.
If I screwed anything up, please somebody tell me. I would very much like to know. Also if you have any suggestions as to how I should continue this, please let me know.
And I've decided to leave it up to the reviewers to decide. Is Lucky guilty, or not? You make the choice. Majority rules.
