CHAPTER 2

"WAAAAAAKE UP! RISE AND SHINE! UP, UP, UP, DELINQUENTS!"

The booming voice of the morning juvenile detention guard echoed around the walls of the Southeast Florida Juvenile Detention Center, accompanying the sharp rattling of a baton against iron cell bars, shattering the ears of anyone unfortunate enough to hear it. And that happened to be a lot of people: not 1 of the entire 50 person population of Cell block 1 was provided mercy from the dreaded morning wakeup call.

Theodore Martin, or "Theo" as he adamantly insisted on being called, groaned audibly as he listened to the guard's voice slowly drawing nearer and nearer, placing his pillow over his head and pressing it roughly against his ears in a failed effort to drown out the noise. 8 months, nearly 250 days, and the 18 year old hadn't gotten used to the rough conditions of the Juvie in the slightest. He hadn't gotten used to the ruthless, merciless guards, who never failed to degrade him any time he so much as looked at them. He hadn't gotten used to the cinder block walls, every inch of which were stained with a combination of piss, neglect and despair. And he certainly hadn't gotten used to the other 49 inmates in his cell block, most of whom wanted to beat the daylights out of him for no other reason but the dire need for some form of entertainment. None of that mattered though, for today was the day that he was finally released.

For most of the inmates, this would've been the happiest day of their lives. Or at least the happiest day of their recent memory. Not for Theo. He had been dreading this day from the moment he entered the facility in Early January for one reason: he didn't deserve to be released. He deserved every iota of pain and suffering he felt within these walls. The regular feelings of immense boredom, humiliation, terror and loneliness were all warranted, because this was what prison was all about, right? Punishing the bad guys? And in Theo's mind, there was no worse person in this world than him. Especially after what he had done…

There it was. As if on cue, the familiar block of anguish and regret slammed down onto the teenager's chest, crushing him with an invisible weight, stealing all of the breath from his throat, rendering him speechless and immobile. Theo was more scarred than any other teenager his age, definitely more than any human deserved to be, despite being only 18 years of age. It took every ounce of effort he had to even just get out of bed every morning, with the boy wanting nothing more than to be allowed to lay there and wallow in his immense misery.

Unfortunately, Theo would not get that luxury. Ooh… luxury, that wasn't a word he had heard since his arrival in the youth prison, he remarked to himself. Sure enough, a few moments later, the rattling of a baton and the shouting of the guard reached its crescendo and promptly stopped as the man halted in front of Theo's cell.

It was the faint knocking of keys against a lock and the loud clearing of a throat that finally drew Theo to rise from his bed, standing up and facing the guard, iron cell bars still caging him in like he was an animal on display at the zoo. The way the guard was smirking at him, almost amused by his misery, certainly helped bring realism to that simile.

"Wow. Looks like Sleeping Beauty finally decided to rise." The guard commented, as Theo rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, the young amber orbs scowling daggers at the guard opposite him. "You look unhappy. Don't tell me that you're actually going to miss me."

Miss what exactly, Theo thought to himself? Miss the way the guard never failed to treat him like an animal? Miss the multiple beatdowns the guard had given him when Theo had done nothing more than follow the rules and stand up for himself? Miss the way the guard had not batted an eye before throwing him into solitary confinement, just to see whether he'd last a whole month before insanity kicked in? Yes. He'd miss all of it. For the guard was one of the only people in the entire world who was truly treating him the way he deserved to be treated.

Theo didn't say a word to the man, allowing him to unlock and open the cell door without any trouble, before scurrying around the small, filthy cell to pack up his things prior to his departure that day. There wasn't much to pack. The only possession he had been allowed to bring into the prison, the only possession that hadn't been confiscated and later sold by the corrupt guards, was a singular photograph. Theo had vividly remembered sticking it to the wall upon his arrival all those months ago, hanging it directly at eye level, adamant that it should be the first thing he looked at after waking up, and the last thing he looked at before the nightmares took over in the late evening.

It took a few minutes just to remove the photograph from the wall, as the boy insisted on making sure not a single inch of it was scratched or ripped upon taking it down. When he had finally done so, Theo found himself staring at a drop-dead stunning brunette, who was smiling back at him. Even just seeing the photo, Theo felt his guilt and sorrow increase a hundredfold, closing his eyes as he fought back a fierce storm of emotion from erupting inside him.

"I miss you." Theo whispered quietly, feeling nothing but pure agony, before tucking the photo into the front pocket of his orange overalls, right above his heart. He then proceeded to follow the guard out of the cell, and out of the cell block for the final time…

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The next instruction, which came directly from the prison warden himself, was for Theo to shower before his release. He needed to look presentable for when he was picked up, or at least wash the juvie's lingering stench of hopelessness and anguish off him. He didn't need to worry about that - nobody in the world was going to be there to pick him up - but he complied with the instructions and showered anyways. After he was done, Theo stood bare-chested, a towel wrapped around his waist, in front of the juvie bathroom's mirror.

To an outsider, Theo was actually an incredibly good-looking guy. 6'4 in height and 220 pounds of pure muscle, Theo was built like a tank. In addition, Lebanese on his mother's side and American on his father's, Theo had also inherited a dark, luscious mane and amber eyes. "Hot" or "sexy" weren't the most accurate words to use to describe him though. He was both of those things, but that wasn't all he was. He looked regal. Majestic.

That's not what Theo saw when he looked himself in the mirror though. Putting aside the bloodshot eyes, the flaming-red nose and the tear-stained cheeks, Theo couldn't help but scowl what was staring back at him. All he saw was a monster. His core was rotting like a shriveled apple and from it, black sludge pumped through his veins. As he stared, horrified, at the creature opposite him, he remembered what had happened. It was his fault. All his fault.

As Theo stood before the mirror, one more thing caught his eye: the tattoo that rested on his chest, right above his heart. It was one word, just 6 letters, but a word that meant more to him than anything in the word. The word was Marley, and it was surrounded by white roses…

8 months ago...

"Marley because it's your first name. And roses because it's your last name. Get it?"

"Yes, Theodore, I do get it." Marley giggled as she rested her head on his bare chest, the couple lying in bed as Marley inspected the new tattoo on her significant other. "I just can't believe you actually got a tattoo!"

"I can't believe you still call me Theodore. You know how much I hate that name." Theo grumbled. "So… do you like it?"

"I love it." Marley murmured, her fingers delicately tracing the design. Theo's chest immediately erupted in goosebumps as it was brushed by the white gold ring on Marley's left hand. But he couldn't shiver. It was impossible to be cold when he was wrapped in the arms of the person he loved most in the world. With her, Theo felt like for once, the entire world wasn't out to get him and he could just… be.

"Besides, this tattoo isn't the craziest thing we've done this week, is it?" Theo remarked. Marley's eyes briefly flickered downwards to the glittering band on her left hand, and Theo also looked down at his own, their hearts warming as they reminisced the week before, when they had made the biggest decision of their entire lives, despite being merely the tender age of 18.

"Wow. It still feels surreal." Marley whispered, and Theo silently echoed that statement. Surreal didn't even begin to describe the way it felt when he looked at the wedding bands wrapped around their intertwined fingers. "Any regrets?"

"Nope. Best Christmas present ever." It took Theo less than a second to respond, looking his new wife right in her gorgeous, piercing emerald eyes. "If I knew earlier that this was what you wanted, I would've married you the day we first met."

"Yeah, uh… sweetheart, I don't think it would've been legal if we had gotten married as 13 year olds." Marley joked. "Besides, wasn't it more romantic that I asked you?"

"I don't know. Between the crying, sweating and nearly passing out, I don't even remember what your reaction was." Theo joked back, Marley chuckled as she nuzzled her head in his shoulder, the couple laying there for an eternity, perfectly content in the silence, listening to each other's steady heartbeat.

Theo's life had been far from easy. There had been many times that he had been sorely tempted to give up, to stop fighting. But now, resting beside the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, he thanked the God he didn't even believe in that he hadn't. It had all been worth it, more so than he could've imagined in his wildest dreams. The final destination had been more than worth every second of the hellish journey it had been to get there, despite all of the lingering ghosts that remained entrenched in his memory like poison.

It was at that moment, as Theo's mind began to drift to a darker place, that Marley broke the silence. She could somehow sense exactly what he was thinking about without him saying a word, and knew exactly what to say to distract him.

"So I promised my mom we'd stop by the house before we go to the party tonight. We should probably get going soon." Marley said quietly, beginning to stir from her place on the bed, trying to stand up but Theo pulling her back down immediately.

"Come on. Can't we just blow off the party and stay here for tonight?" Theo groaned. Marley raised an eyebrow as she laughed at him.

"You're telling me that you want to spend New Year's Eve at your own house, lying in bed with me?" Marley asked. Theo shrugged.

"Can't think of a better plan than that, to be honest." Theo replied, smirking suggestively at his wife. Marley rolled her eyes.

"Here, how about this? We go to the party for a few hours…"

"Half an hour." Theo interjected.

"One hour." Marley counter-offered.

"15 minutes." Theo replied. Marley couldn't help but laugh at this.

"How is that negotiation? You just went lower than your previous offer!" She exclaimed. Theo chuckled.

"You should've said yes to the first offer I guess." Theo commented. Marley rolled her eyes, before leaning forward and gently peppering his face and neck with kisses, murmuring to him as she did so.

"Here's how it's going to happen. We're going to go to the party for a few hours. Then, right afterwards, we can come back here and you can do whatever you want to me for the rest of the night. Deal?"

"Damn it, that's tempting." Theo grumbled as his wife continued to kiss him. "This doesn't seem like fair negotiating either."

"Do we have a deal?" Marley asked. Theo sighed.

"Fine. We have a deal." He replied. Marley beamed at him, before slowly rolling off the bed and rising to her feet, looking for her discarded clothes on the bedroom floor.

"Wow, you really are a drama queen, huh? Having to be persuaded to go to your own celebratory party…" Marley joked as she picked up her crumpled blouse and put it on.

"It's not my party. It's for the whole football team." Theo responded. Marley chuckled.

"Yeah, you mean the team you completely carried on your back the entire season?" Marley shot back. Theo looked down and blushed furiously at the compliment, but failed to hide the small smile that graced his face.

"I didn't…"

Marley, standing face to face with her husband, held him by the shoulders and wrapped her arms around his neck, his arms instinctively looping around her waist.

"You did, Theo. And I know you'll never admit it, but that team probably wouldn't have won a single game without you, let alone the Florida State championship. It's not cocky to enjoy the celebrations a bit. You did something incredible."

Theo couldn't help but smile a little wider at this praise. Receiving such loving compliments like these was something still slightly alien to him, even after almost 4 years of dating Marley. It wasn't something he had experienced for the 13 years beforehand anyways.

"I was pretty good, wasn't I?" Theo blushed as he remarked. Marley chuckled and kissed him on the nose.

"You look like Rudolph when you blush, you know that?" She commented. "And pretty good? Pretty good doesn't get you a full ride to Notre Dame. Now, you need to put some clothes on. The sooner we get to the party, the sooner we can leave."

That certainly got Theo moving. Within a minute, the pair were fully dressed and they left for Marley's house, where they'd be stopping briefly before heading to the party…

"HURRY THE FUCK UP IN THERE!"

Theo was dragged out of the flashback by the sound of the guard's impatient voice outside, a stab of pain ripping through his entire body as he did so. If only. If only he had pushed harder and insisted they stay home from the party that night, everything would've been different. He wouldn't be here in this prison, and she… well, she would still be here.

The instantaneous flash of agony subsided, but even after it did, Theo could still feel a finger on his left hand prickling in pain. He looked down at his finger, which now was no longer adorned with any jewelry, but still bore scars from where the ring had been forcefully cut off from his hand by the paramedics. But even without a ring, Theo still felt tethered to her, which made the accident more painful than he could possibly have imagined. Even 8 months later, it was still as painful as the first day, and nothing seemed like it could ever take that pain away. Nothing…