"When you look in a mirror, do you see the otherside?
Do you see yourself? Or someone else?
Do you see the guilt and shame, the lies and secrets that remain?
That hide in the mind; never dare to share with the world?
To see the man in the mirror, tied and wrapped, thrown in a coffin closed and nailed
Chained all around, and padlocks placed so the man can never be bailed
Thus buried in the ground, and set fire to the grave.
When I look in a mirror do I see the otherside?
Yes! Yes! I see me. Torn and cracked, broken and tossed aside
I killed myself! Oh I have killed him! I am no longer the man in the mirror, not even by the name
In my deluded self I scream murder, murder! And break the mirror, the terror is over but I still stay unnamed, anonymous, and unidentified. I will be for the rest of life
I shall never look into a mirror again, for the otherside is truthful, and will show no end…"
"I see my peoples' dreams die, I see them live lies
And the days I see the same scene wasted…"
"The soul is the tank, the mind is the lighter, the body is the casing
and those drugs are the fluid..."
"The nights are the worst they make you see demons in the dark…"
"The mornings are the worst the people that look, and shake their heads and play god with you
while you beg for mercy on sore knees, and shout for pleas that will not be heard…"
"They are not gods, they are just people…"
"If they aren't gods then they're the real demons! They look at you and believe that you deserved the pain, and the suffering of not having a home, not having a life, not having a family, not having ANYTHING! At all…"
"Now that's just not right, you can't blame the average person..."
"…tears that never end
the hours that you can't demand
this life is no longer by me
they're all pulled by some strings
puppets that never last
torn and broken once again, the stitches hurt more than they mend
and the days go by and I'm wishing that I live again before I hit the end…"
"Can the only thing that kid do is sing?..."
"I think it's lovely…"
"It's depressing…."
"Yo Damien!..."
"Hey, what about that kid over there? He's been sleeping through anotha meeting!..."
"Jethro!...Jethro!...can someone wake him up?..."
"Here I'll help…"
"…they're fitting three people coffins
Cause the cemeteries are running outta room
No one bothers to bury, no bother to prey…"
"You know, have you eva looked into the sky and see a much betta place than were you are now, where you can watch your family, and see them grow…?"
"Henry stop talkin' like that, ya scarin' me…"
"Going to pull the chair, out of this kids arse, the fall will wake him up…"
"That's a little harsh mate…"
"Got a betta idea?..."
"Well we can…."
"I see this way to be much more efficient…"
"1…"
"…and when I look in the moon…"
"2…"
"…all I see that is something soon…"
"3!..."
"…that I'll be me again, and then run away off to a distant land."
THUNK!
"He's not getting up mate…"
"Good on ya, you killed him…"
"I did not!..."
"Probably just blacked out…"
"Oh, no wait, he's opening his eyes!..."
Jethro looked up to see a bunch of faces staring down at him, he remember these faces as his group members for a progress thing in rehab, he's head is killing him.
"Oi, mate this is supposed to be a group meetin'" said Derek
"Yeah, a twelve step progress, only thing is, your still on step numba two." Said Hallie
"Come on let's get em up." Zeke said while handing Jethro his hand, he grabbed it and got on his feet.
"So, what did I miss?" Jethro asked, rubbing the back of his head.
"Same old stuff, Damien singin', Billy complain' and blamin' the people, Henry talkin' weird things again, you sleepin' through anotha meetin" answered Mack.
"Yeah okay" Jethro said, it's been two months after Shannon's death, the police found him at home, high on the lean, they arrested him for possession of illegal narcotics, and sent him to a drug rehabilitation, he was glad at first cause he thought it might help him quit on the cough syrup, but so far he's hated every bit of it. Jethro picked up the chair and propped it up, and sat down on it, everyone returned to their seats.
"Alright, now that we're settled let's talk about some of the struggles we faced, and how coped with them." Ellis said, he was one of the consolers, "anybody would like share?". Camille raised her hand, Ellis nodded at her.
"Well, what I've done is…" but she was cut short, when a nurse opened the door, and entered the room.
"Is there a Jethro Mundy here?" asked the nurse, Ellis pointed to Jethro, "You have visita right now,would you like to finish your meeting Mr. Mundy or…"
"Nah, I'm good, I'll go." Jethro responded quickly, he got up walked out of the circle of chairs.
"Lucky…" Derek mumbled to Jethro, he just slapped him on the shoulder.
"See you next meetin' Jethro, and next time, try to stay focus in the discussions please?" Ellis called to him, Jethro waved in response, he walked out of the room with the nurse and went to visiting quarters, there were multiple tables and chairs, and windows on the left wall.
"The man there in black suit, and dark grey fur ova there would like to see you, Mr. Mundy." The nurse pointed to a table on the far left of the room, Jethro looked to see who it was.
Ahhhh hell…. Jethro saw that the cat over there was Mick, but he went over there to talk to him anyways. He went up the table and pulled a chair out and slouched in it
"What do ya want?" Jethro said bluntly, Mick sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"Ya still same as eva Jethro"
"Thanks"
"That wasn't a compliment, mate."
"No, really Mick why are ya here to talking to me? Shouldn't ya be "leading" the AWP?"
"I would be, but Cabele has made a…remarkable recovery, so now he's back in charge." This news perked up Jethro.
"Really?" he said in disbelief.
"Yeah, he did, but he's real snake tongue bastard." This angered Jethro, he sat up straight.
"What the hell did ya call him?"
"A snake tongue bastard ya heard me" Jethro wanted to punch Mick, but he restrained himself from doing so.
"Now why the hell makes you say that?" Jethro said through clenched teeth.
"Because he set us up! Hell he set everyone up!"
"How?", Mick sighed.
"Look, this is gunna hurt me more than its gunna hurt you, mate. Cause I know Cabele close to ya, he's help ya and family greatly eva since Neil, ya fatha, got gunned down by the cops." Jethro looked at Mick with astonishment, he's never been this nice him before, since both of them hate each other's guts, "now Cabele been plannin' this out for a while back, the AWP as ya know, has seen betta days. Now he planned to get rid of the AWP and as well as key members of the group, so first he PRETENED to be ill, that why he can't be accused of anythin', then he promotes me to sub for him as the leader, which I agreed to."
"This sounds like a load of bull, Mick." Jethro interrupted him.
"For god's sake mate, at least LISTEN!" Mick sounded irritated, so Jethro let him continue, "now, I've always wanted to be a great leader like he was, he inspired me, ya know, I looked up to him. So I accepted the job and lead the group with pride. It wasn't until a couple weeks after I started runnin' the gig when Cabele wanted me to deliver a letta to Abe Ruckinbel, aka the leada of the NAAC. At first I rejected the idea of goin' there, but eventually Cabele convinced me. When I asked him what was in the letta, he told me it was peace offerin' for him, I nearly exploded. To make amends with the enemy? I objected the idea, but once again Cabele convinced me, howeva I found out later the letta was actually an agreement to let him have a high post in NAAC if he agreed to diminish the AWP. Anyways it was afta that when the contractas where paying my men with drugs, I didn't know this kinda shit was goin' on durin' that time, but when nearly everyone was doin' some kind of drug, I didn't know how to stop them. So I went to cabele for advice, he told me a good leada keeps his cool, and acts normal in dire situations. He told me scout out for the contractas who are payin' the members in narcotics, so I followed his advice and kept to my usual cool headed self."
"Ya mean bein' a cocky prick?"
"I prefer the term confident…" Mick said, giving an evil stare, "anyways, I must admit, it felt kinda amusin' see ya doped up and stuff like that, but that was before, ya know, when I hated ya. But movin' on, Cabele apparently went on to contact ya best friend Marshal, he told him if he can kill you and ya sista, he'll pay him greatly. It was pretty smart to ask ya best mate, I mean who's goin' doubt their best and closest friend? So he was perfect for the job, but as we know, he succeeded partially…" Mick stopped to look at Jethro's reaction, he was just staring down at the table, absorbing the information he's told.
"Hey, Mick…" he finally said.
"Yeah?"
"What happened to Marshal anyways?"
"Well as soon as I heard the news that Shannon was killed and Marshal was the one responsible, me and my close mates went out to hunt him down, we caught the bastard tryin' to leave the country. We all were about shoot him, until he told us that he would tell us valuable information if we let him live. So the lil' squeala told us everythin' I'm tellin' ya now, afta that we shot him anyways." Mick started to chuckle, but then immediately cleared his throat and went to being serious again, "anyways that's all I got tell ya, for now at least." Jethro looked up at Mick, with a meak smile.
"Ya know, Mick, I neva thought I'll say this to ya, but you're a good bloke" Mick, just nodded at him.There was silence for a couple minutes, both feeling slightly awkward now being friends.
"So, how long are ya being cooped in here?" Mick said, to finally break the silence.
"They told me I'll be here for at least a year and a half." Jethro said.
"Wow, that's a long time." Mick turned to his right to look out the window, it was a bright sunny day, "I bet the people here don't tell ya about what goin' on, on the outside world they do?"
"Nope, not really. How is it out there anyways?"
"There's a lot of fightin' goin' on between NAAC, and the Four Aces. Not only that, but Cabele been talkin' about havin' the AWP joinin' the fight , which is bonkas, we don't got the man powa or even the state of mind to fight a war like that. But that's just probably a way to speed up his plans." Mick said cracking his neck.
"Does he know that I'm in rehab?" Jethro asked, Mick looked at him with a puzzled look on his face.
"No…why?"
"I'm just wonderin' that's all" Mick gave him a suspicious look, he was about to say something when the nurse came into the room.
"Visting time is ova gentlemen" she called. Mick and Jethro got up from their chairs.
"Look mate, I'll be honest with ya, by the time you get outta here, I'll probably be dead, there some major shit goin' on outside of this ward, people are gettin' killed left and right, I'll probably be one of them soon enough. I just want to say before I go that's been nice knowin' ya." Mick held out his hand, and Jethro shook it.
"Same here, mate." Mick gave him a slap on his shoulder, and walked out of the room. Jethro stood there for a while looking at the glass windows.
"Mr. Mundy, visiting time is ova, please come with me to dorms." Jethro slowly walked by the nurse, continuing to look at the glass windows.
"Did you have a good chat Mr. Mundy?" asked the nurse.
"Yeah, I did." Jethro said, still looking at the windows, the nurse lead him to the dorms.
That night, Jethro got up from his bed, and carefully got dressed, and walked out of the dorms, he quietly sneaked through the hallways, and into the visiting room, there he looked at the glass windows. He picked up a chair and walked over to the windows, he tapped the glass with the leg of the chair. Then he moved back and threw it hard as he can through the window, the glass shattered and sparkled like water in the moon light, he crawled through and ran as fast he can, lights were being turned on and sounds of shouting can be heard, but Jethro just kept on running.
Ya did me a favor Mick by, tellin me all the info and getting' rid of bastard I called a friend, now I'll do you favor, and get rid of that bastard we called we called our "leader".