Twenty

Josh settled into a daily routine. Get woken up at half past seven. Get dressed. Clean teeth. Wait for cell to be unlocked. Go down to breakfast. Eat some porridge and try not to just throw it back at the wardens. Go back to cell. Run round garden for thirty minutes at nine. Attend tutoring from nine thirty to eleven. Go back to cell. Start on homework. Go to lunch. Avoid a fight with at least one other young offender who thought he was scum for hurting his sister. Go to the local garden for two hours and plant whatever the community asked him to do. Return to the YOI and go back to his cell. Attend a group session with some other inmates at four. Punch at least one of them when they call his sister names after having seen her the day she'd visited. Go back to cell. Finish off homework. Wait and see if he had any visitors at visiting hour. He usually didn't. Go and have tea at half six then do the washing up as part of the duty rota. Go back to cell. Stare at stars, thinking about what Jessie would have been doing. Go to sleep.

It was a pretty dull routine but after a week and a day of it, he'd got used to it and it felt almost normal. He'd been proud of himself though as he hadn't punched anyone today. He supposed it was because he was wondering how Jessie had got on at counselling. He could almost laugh at the situation. Jessie was depressed and Josh was just getting violent and full of hatred. He hated himself for that. 'maybe I need to attend some anger management classes' he thought to himself. He shrugged that idea off. His cell door opened. A young boy was led in by one of the wardens. All the cells at YOI had bunk beds but Josh had a room to himself at the current moment. "Josh meet your new roommate," Lucy the warden told him. Josh slipped off his top bunk bed and landed on the floor softly. "This is Daniel." Daniel looked more nervous than Josh had when he'd first arrived. Josh supposed that was due to the fact that Josh was about a foot taller than him and he was entering someone else's room.

"hi Daniel," Josh said offering his hand to the nervous boy. Daniel took it and shook it. Lucy smiled at them both and left them to it. The moment she was gone Daniel's stance changed. He brought himself up to his full height, still a head shorter than Josh, and puffed out his chest. His face contorted into a grimace.

"Hello Josh!" Daniel said through gritted teeth. "I'm Daniel and I'm going to be your worst nightmare," he said. Josh gulped. Typically Josh had fallen for actions rather than assessing the situation carefully. Daniel clearly wasn't friendly. "I'm fourteen so I'm a year younger than you but unlike you I'm muscled, not puny, and I meant what I'm in prison for."

Josh smiled as he took a step back. "And what's that? Theft?" Josh asked trying to lighten the mood.

Daniel glared. "No you idiot! Murder," he said. That one word was the one word Josh had not wanted to hear. Josh smiled and climbed back onto his bed. He was sharing a cell with a murderer and there was nothing he could do. Josh heard Daniel sit on the bed below him. What was Josh going to do now. He heard movement below him and Daniel was stood at the side of the bed looking at Josh holding up the only picture in the room. "Who's the pretty girl?" he asked smoothly.

Josh's stomach turned at the way he asked the question. "she's my sister and that was taken before she got injured," Josh told him.

Daniel looked at the picture carefully. "she's stunning. I'm sure you wouldn't want anything to happen to her, would you?" he asked silkily. Josh started feeling sick. "I have contacts you see. I know your name, so I can find out her name and if you... irritate me, I can send someone after her and ruin that pretty little face of hers," he threatened. Josh was really starting to feel sick at this point.

"You clearly don't know why I'm in here then," Josh said hoping he wouldn't throw up on Daniel. "her 'pretty little face' is already ruined by a long scar down the length of it. Caused by a knife. That I was holding. I'm in here for GBH," Josh said, deciding to not mention the under duress part to appear more threatening. "which is only one step away from murder really," Josh said as he leapt of his bed and ran over to the toilet to throw up. Josh started being sick and he felt more than saw Daniel turn away in disgust and go to the door.

"Anyone want to help? Josh is being sick," he called through the hatch. The door unlocked and the night warden came in. Once they were sure Josh had stopped being sick they took him out of his cell and placed him in a different room so they could ask him some questions.

"What happened?" the first warden asked.

"He was threatening to have Jessie hurt. I've already hurt her enough and it made me feel ill to think of him hurting her. I can't stand him, I can't stay in the same room with him," Josh told them.

The second warden yawned. "they all say that and then they become best friends. Give it time Josh, you've only just met him for goodness sake. Give him a chance you don't know him," he said.

"I know him well enough already to know that if you leave me alone with him one of us will not survive the night," Josh mumbled as he was led back to his cell. Daniel was lying asleep on his bed so Josh clambered up the bunk bed and onto his bed. There on his bed was the photo. The glass all cracked.

A/N: So what do you think of Daniel? I'm not really good at writing for menacing or threatening characters hence the reason why Josh and Jessie are both lovely. I thought I might add a new dimension to the story and create some conflict. Indigo :)