'Go on then, hit him!'
Tsvetan was slammed against the wall of his cell, held in place by one of Jan's muscular arms whilst Cheng egged him on. The larger man glared at him with such hate and fury, lips pulled into a snarl with a cigarette hanging from his mouth. Jan slowly drew his arm back, fist balled and aimed straight at Tsvetan's nose.
Cheng, on the other hand, appeared completely calm, standing slightly apart from the other two.
'What are you waiting for?' he asked Jan, 'it could've been one of our siblings he'd killed. Teach the fucker a lesson!'
Jan still didn't move. His frown deepened and a hint of something else graced his features for just a moment, not long enough for Tsvetan to tell what it was though.
'Please,' Tsvetan gasped, 'I didn't…' The hand around his throat tightened and Tsvetan felt his eyes bulge as he gasped for air. He broke into a cough, pain shooting through his bruised torso, where he'd been kicked to the floor and beaten repeatedly.
His first full day in prison had been rather uneventful; after that disastrous first encounter with the other inmates, he'd successfully managed to avoid confrontation and keep out of trouble by staying away from everyone else and keeping his head down. Another lonely night curled up in his bunk, after a round of verbal abuse from Alin, and Tsvetan was beginning to think he might be able to handle a life locked away so long as he just turned the other cheek and stayed out of confrontations. Turns out he could not have been more wrong.
Around twenty minutes ago, the other two had attacked him when he'd been hiding from everyone in his cell, dragging him off his bunk then Cheng held his arms behind his back whilst Jan threw punch after punch into Tsvetan's stomach until the young man was crying for mercy. He wanted them to leave him alone; he wanted someone to burst in and save him, but no one came.
No one here cared about him enough to stop them.
Alin was right; he would always be alone.
Eventually, Cheng let go of him and he fell to his knees, breathing slowly and trying to ignore the pain in his chest. He barely had the strength to breathe in and each time his ribs expanded, pain shot through his body, nearly causing him to throw up, or collapse altogether. The young man stepped over him, slipping past Jan and throwing him a final glare, plimsolls squeaking slightly as he walked across the hard, grey floor.
'Do you think that was enough to teach him?' he asked his friend.
'Hopefully,' Jan didn't even bother acknowledging Tsvetan, instead turning to Cheng, 'we might as well leave him alone for now. I think it's safe to say Tino will want a go too.'
'Yes he might get a bit angry if we don't leave anything for him,' Cheng giggled, almost manically, 'and nobody likes Tino when he's angry.'
'At least he won't get someone bigger to fight for him.' The words were out of Tsvetan's mouth before he could stop them. What the hell was he playing at? Why was he trying to aggravate them further? They were about to leave him alone and now..?
'What was that?' Cheng wheeled around, trying his best to hide his fury.
'Nothing, I just think it's a bit pathetic that you're making Jan beat me up for you. Scared you couldn't take me on your own?' Tsvetan wondered where the hell he was going with this self-destructive bullshit. All he had to do was keep his head down and not retaliate to abuse, and most importantly not start trouble.
Except he hadn't started this. Cheng and Jan had marched into his personal space and attacked him. He had to stand up for himself, didn't he? He'd probably just condemned himself to a living hell, worse than before, but a tiny voice was telling him it would be worth it just to mess with them a bit.
'So, are you giving him anything in return? Does Jan get to do what he likes with you when no one's looking? You two seem pretty close, for friends…'
Cheng ignored that last remark, deciding to calmly wipe his glasses with his sleeve instead. 'I really don't think you're in any place to judge me for a little thing like attacking someone weaker, Borisov, after all, are you not in here for killing a small child who couldn't fight back? And for no reason too! At least here we're all adults, and it's safe to say you fucking deserve it.'
Tsvetan bit his lip, looking away; 'I didn't kill her.' He should've known they'd bring it up; how could he have forgotten?
'Sure you didn't,' Cheng turned to Jan, 'what do you say? I'm sure Tino will understand if we taught him another lesson.'
Jan nodded and grabbed Tsvetan by the throat.
So here he was, begging Jan to put him down and not hurt him anymore, struggling to wriggle free of his grasp and escape. He'd had enough of being beaten and trodden on for today and wanted to crawl into his bed, hide and pray tomorrow was kinder.
'Why do you keep saying that?' Cheng took a step closer, 'no one believes you.'
'Doesn't matter,' Tsvetan clawed at Jan's arm, 'it's still true!'
Cheng snorted.
'And what about you two?' Tsvetan glanced between Cheng and Jan, 'we're all in here for something. Don't act like you're a pair of fucking saints.'
'There's a big difference between a bit of burglary and taking a child's life away!' Cheng spat.
'I didn't do it!' Tsvetan gasped.
'Oh you're getting on my nerves!' Cheng ran a hand through his hair.
'Shall I shut him up?' Jan gave a small, fake smile.
'Go for it.'
…
Alin had just finished his catering lesson for the day and was heading back to his cell to read quietly for the rest of the evening. He liked catering, and wouldn't mind getting a job in that industry when he was released, which, thankfully, was pretty soon. The prison was helping him look for a job too, so he'd be less likely to reoffend and wind up back here. It was true though; the only reason he'd started selling illegal DVDs was because he couldn't find a proper job. Still, things were looking up for him and the young man couldn't wait for his fresh start to begin.
Hopefully his worm of a cellmate would he hiding somewhere else, and not be there to annoy him with his constant whining and desperate attempts to prove his innocence. Who did he think he was kidding? And if he really hated it here, then why commit the crime in the first place? Alin couldn't stop himself from wondering what had made Tsvetan do it. How sick and twisted did you have to be to enjoy stabbing an innocent child, causing all that agony, then watching the life leave her? Or had little Charlotte stumbled upon something she hadn't meant to and been silenced for it? No, that didn't make sense. The reports had said she'd been dragged from her own garden. If only that bastard would just admit he'd done it and just say why.
Alin slipped into his cell, making a beeline for his bunk when he heard a sniffle. Glancing down at the bottom bunk in disgust, he saw Tsvetan lying on his stomach, face buried in his hands as he sobbed noisily, apparently not caring who heard.
'Don't you think you're being a bit dramatic?' he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Tsvetan jumped slightly, lifting his head and staring at Alin with a miserable expression. His cellmate flinched away; he had to admit those were some pretty nasty bruises covering the guy's face and neck. One of Tsvetan's eyes was half-closed and bordered by a purple gash whilst a steady trickle of blood, emerging from his nose, slowly covered the lower half of his face. Alin could see more marks peeking out from under the collar of his prison uniform and guessed the guy was covered in them.
'Cheng and Jan,' Tsvetan explained, 'well, Jan really.'
'At least Tino didn't get you,' Alin wandered over to the sink to wash his face, telling himself that Tsvetan deserved what had happened to him.
'People mention him a lot,' Tsvetan commented, 'is he particularly bloodthirsty or violent?'
Alin paused for a moment. 'In a way. Look, I'll tell you this for nothing: don't mess with Tino Väinämöinen for two reasons. Firstly, he's a parent. The guy has two little boys, five and nine, so when he looks at you, just bear in mind that the thing crossing his mind is that dead girl and how she could have easily been one of his own kids.'
'But I never-'
'Secondly,' Alin shot him a harsh glare, 'though I admit I haven't really talked to many inmates, aside from the few guys I hang around with, Tino's the only person I know, apart from you, that's in here for killing someone.'
Tsvetan paled, gulping and pulling himself up into a sitting position. He knew that, sooner or later, he'd meet someone in here who'd actually committed murder, but he never thought for a moment that's they'd have a reason to actively single him out and attack him.
'He… murdered someone?'
'I believe the charge was 'voluntary manslaughter',' Alin wiped his face with a towel.
'But he looks like a kid!'
'Well why don't you go and kill him if he upsets you, seeing as that's what you like to do!'
Tsvetan flinched; 'so what happened?'
'A little incident a few years ago,' Alin paused, debating on whether or not to continue before deciding he might as well. 'Tino had recently married his long time partner, Berwald and they adopted the two kiddies and everything seemed perfect. Then one evening, an old ex of Berwald's, Ivan something or another, decided to visit and say congratulations, and Tino was the only one in the house. Everything started out all reasonable and civil but it kinda went downhill very quickly. Tino was a bit sketchy with the details; all I know is that one minute they were talking about Tino's wedding over a bottle of Finlandia the next they were on the floor throwing punches.'
'How awful,' Tsvetan covered his mouth with hand, staring at Alin in shock.
'Yeah, apparently he was absolutely terrified or something, because Ivan was about twice the size of him and had the upper hand. So long story short, he tried to strangle the guy with his own scarf but it was taking too long so he wriggled free, ran over to the cupboard where he kept his gun and shot him,' Alin tapped his forehead, 'right between the eyes. Berwald came home and found him on the floor crying because of what he'd done and covered in Ivan's blood; they had no choice but to phone the police. Tino's been in here ever since.'
'And you're okay being around him?' asked Tsvetan.
'Tino's sorry for what he's done,' Alin spat, puffing out his chest, 'he admits that what he did was wrong and is atoning for it, which is more than what I can say for you.'
'I don't know how many times I have to tell you this: I'm innocent!' Tsvetan let out a growl, standing up tall in an attempt to intimidate Alin, but his injuries sent him doubling over in pain, 'if I did kill that kid, then I'd admit it! I would apologise and own up for my actions, but the truth is that I've never committed murder, or manslaughter, in my entire life! I have younger siblings and care for them deeply and the idea of someone killing them in cold blood would crush me! Why would I take someone's life away for no reason?'
There was a pause before Alin spoke again, 'look, Borisov, I want to believe you and all, but the fact of the matter is: there's no evidence to say you didn't do it. I saw it on the news! You were the only one around and were found holding the goddamn body!'
'I only found her like that, I swear!' Tsvetan was losing confidence fast; the whole day was becoming too much for him emotionally and he didn't have the strength to argue back any more.
'Pah,' Alin glared at him and Tsvetan shrank back. Alin caught sight of a particularly nasty mark across his neck and winced; had Jan tried to strangle him earlier? The young man sighed and cursed his own weakness.
'Fine,' he muttered, 'I'll believe you, but for today only! Tomorrow we'll go back to normal but until then I won't say a word against you.'
'Really?' Tsvetan looked like Christmas had come early for him, 'thank you so much!'
'It's only for an afternoon,' Alin wrinkled his nose, 'after that you're on your own.'
'I understand,' Tsvetan's smile didn't fall, though Alin could see the disappointment in his eyes.
'Well… I could at least give you a tour of the place. I'm sure you got one when you first came here but it would be better hearing about the prison from someone who's actually lived here for a while and all,' he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
'I'd like that, thank you.'
'But don't go acting too friendly with me in front of everyone, okay?' Alin growled, 'no holding hands or any other shit like that. I have a reputation to uphold!'
Tsvetan began to shake his head before quickly correcting himself.
'Fine, now let's go,' he marched out of their cell, not bothering to wait for the other man.
…
Hello there! Not much to say, except please say what you think so far!
