839

 

Chapter 4- 839

 

“Your I.D … kid … is 839. Now, you can forget your name. You can forget who you are. But you must not forget your I.D.”

 

A parcel wrapped about by a rough piece of cloth was thrown onto the table before Jun Tian.

 

“Sling that over your shoulder. These will be your necessities for your unlimited stay with us here.”

 

 Jun Tian quietly and calmly accept the bundle and slung it over his shoulders.

 

“Follow me. I will show you the way to your cell.”

 

 

Jun Tian was sentenced to life-long imprisonment in one of the highest-rated security military prisons in China.

 

It was a military prison – officially. Yet, most of those who were detained here, were not only serial murderers, but also ‘mentally unsound’. And they all shared one thing in common – they posed a serious threat to national security. That, Jun Tian would learn very soon.

 

He had not been through any sentencing or trial of any sorts. It wasn’t that he was denied a trial in court, but it was just because Jun Tian himself had instantly admitted that he was responsible for the deaths.

 

He knew full well, right from the moment he had began his massacre, the consequences of his actions. And he did not regret them.

 

 

The cells of the military prison were built into the underground bunkers. And as the middle-aged guard clothed in dark green uniform brought Jun Tian deeper into the complex of the building, the sunlight grew dimmer and dimmer with each level down.

 

Finally, the guard stopped by the fifth cell on B6 – the sixth level into the basement of the complex.

 

“Here’s your cell. It’s already unlocked. Put your things inside and then get back out again.”

 

Jun Tian nodded and did what he was told to. When he was out of the cell, the guard proceeded to lock the cell.

 

“Follow me again.”

 

This time, they went even deeper into the basement complex of the military prison.

 

“All newcomers to the prison will have to spend their first few days in solitary confinement. Of course, the length will depend on the severity of their crimes. For you, kid … one week.”

 

Jun Tian nodded once more.

 

“Do you even talk, kid?” The guard scratched at the back of his neck as the duo descended down the stairwells. “You have to be very careful in your stay here. Look, kid, I’m one of the kinder guards so I will try to warn newcomers of what they should expect of this prison.”

 

“It’s not like anything you’ve seen on TV before, kid. I know it’s your first time here. The solitary confinement … no light … twenty four hours for seven days, you will be in a three by three metre cell. You will s**t, eat and sleep in there without any forms of lighting. It sounds okay, but into the second day, you will start to lose track of time and begin to turn hysterical.”

 

Jun Tian merely responded with a shrug of his shoulders.

 

“When you are out – that is, if you even survive, you have to work at the labour sector for at least six hours a day. Your workload won’t be heavy for now, since you are new here. But do look out for the gangs they have here. It’s different from the thugs and punks on the streets. All of them have murdered men before.”

 

Jun Tian continued to follow the guard down the staircases. He was beginning to find him too talkative.

 

“They are three main factions here in the prison. The smallest is led by the nephew of an influential politician. He wasn’t here for any crime. His main mission here is to forge closer ties with the underground world and sort of gather men for his uncle who are willing to take on ‘challenging tasks’. The next faction is the largest one and is led by the an Elder of the Red Snake Triad. The triad was one of the largest in TianJin but after they were wiped out six years ago, the remaining members were imprisoned here. The Chief had died way back then and now the Elder replaces him.”

 

“The last faction, White Flag, has the fewest members, but is the strongest here in prison. Each and every member of their faction are skilled in combat and the weakest can easily put down ten men of the other factions.”

 

“Kid, if you wish to survive in prison, you’ve got to suck up to one of these factions. Well, it’s kind of not my job to be telling you this, but right here in prison, we guards don’t do much. We just keep you in, that’s all. We can’t be on our guards every second of the day and that’s where the killings happen. Since most of the prisoners here are already sentenced to decades of imprisonment, one or two decades more to their sentence doesn’t really matter. And with a hundred men exchanging blows, it’s pretty hard to tell who did the finishing blow and murdered the victim.”

 

“Ah … we are here.”

 

Jun Tian heaved a sigh of relief.

 

The guard unlocked the door to the metal cell and struggled with dragging the huge heavy door open. The door was at least one fifth a metre’s width and was made of steel alloy. Though rusty, it had retained much of its weight and impenetrability. The guard gritted his teeth as he pushed at the door with all strength that he could possibly muster but it did not shift the slightest bit.

 

Jun Tian rolled his eyes.

 

Channeling the flow of chi to his palm, he planted a direct blow to the door – both the door and the guard who was hugging it flew to the right. The guard lost grip of the door’s edges and flew off, smacking right onto the other end of the corridor.

 

It took him a while more before he could finally muster sufficient strength and force himself to get onto his feet.

 

“Man, I didn’t know … I didn’t know. How the hell … you are just seventeen years old … damn …” The guard muttered beneath his breath in short sputters of almost inaudible phrases. “Forget what I’ve said earlier. You wouldn’t have any problems surviving here. Just go join the White Flag and …” The guard looked left and looked to his right … but Jun Tian was no where to be seen.

 

“I’m in the cell already.” Jun Tian yawned as he sat down onto the floor, his entire frame consumed by the total darkness of the cell.

 

“Oh …” The guard licked his lips nervously. “You had me freaked out. You know, if you had escaped the prison … I would be in deep s**t. And whoa – whoa, it’s the first time you have spoken, kid.”

 

“Just shut the door already.”

 

“No problem kid. Just let me know if you can’t bear with it. I’ve got a pocket lighter here to lend you. If you begin to go hysterical and are freaking out from the darkness, use it to bring yourself back to senses. Oh, and call me Uncle Hong.”

 

 

Darkness.

 

Silence.

 

And more darkness.

 

Jun Tian finally realized why the thick door to the cell had been installed – to sound-proof his solitary confinement. Without the senses of sight and hearing, how long could an average human retain his sanity?

 

Jun Tian wanted to love.

 

Really, he wanted to. Was he even a normal human? No – not at all. He was a seventeen year old kid who, before having a blood bath in the hospital, had been rendered vegetative – imprisoned in his own body, totally devoid of his five senses for almost half a year.

 

What was this one week of solitary confinement … to what he had been through already?

 

It was a joke. And a good one at that.

 

Jun Tian sighed as he sat himself into a locus position and began meditating. He had discovered that whilst meditating, he would naturally begin the circulation of chi within his body. And with each completion of a circuit, the chi within him would grow stronger, the magnitude of the trickle increasing to greater heights.

 

Of course, the increase was minimal and extremely small. And if not for his sense of invision, Jun Tian would never have had noticed the slight increase in the strength of his chi.

 

Today is the tenth day after his death … I am all alone …

 

Jun Tian closed his eyes painfully, and the tears that had welled up within his eyes trickled along his cheeks and down his chin. For these ten days, Jun Tian had not the time to be left alone.

 

He would be shoved here and hushered there, completing applications and signing entrance forms to legalize and decide his imprisonment in the military prison.

 

He had not the time to think about his fate, of what he was to do from now on.

 

 

Old monk … from that very moment after the Silver-masked assassin had assaulted me, I’d thought myself dead for sure. But I was alive. And being alive … it was a painful thing … it required more courage, than to die.

 

I was helpless, wise one. I was trapped in darkness without end, in a body without five senses … I had screamed, had cried, had almost gone insane … But I had held on … had persevered, with the single hope that I could exit this torment and seek revenge.

 

And when I restored my senses old monk, I really hadn’t thought you were to be the one to have rescued me, to have nursed me back to health. You revived my dead heart, only to have your death turn it cold once more.

 

I will never love again. Never again, will I, Jun Tian, regard kinship dear to my heart – for I no longer have a heart beating in my chest.

 

Never again, will I cry, for my tears have dried and my wells empty.

 

I will seek out revenge. And I will destroy and annihilate those who obstruct my path. I will be lonely on this path, solitary … The silver-masked assassin, I will have him hunted down and slaughtered.

 

If not for him, I would have not lost my family. If not for him, I would not have met you. And if I had not met you, you would never have had went out to beg for alms, and to perish doing so.

 

It is his fault.

 

He will pay.

 

I know … old monk … that you do not wish of me to avenge you … but is this avenging? No, I think not.

 

Even if it is, I still will walk this path. The world, it is corrupted, tainted, filled with billions of filthy men who have long discarded the Dharma. I will, with my hands, bring them back to the path of Dharma and have them be enlightened by Buddha’s teachings. And I, only I alone shall descend into Naraka and be consumed by the evil within.

 

No. I will end the lives of even those in Naraka, and free them of that realm so that they can be reincarnated into the higher paths. And for the humans who have committed great sin to accumulate too much bad karma … I will slay them – so that no longer can commit sins, so that they will not suffer even more if they were to live.

 

I will be the devil … the demon … Mara … Satan … Mo … Yao Guai … Yokai … I will destroy all evil and be the only one who sins …

 

I will exorcise the seeds of evil from the hearts of all men and take them all into me … I will bear their burdens onto my shoulders …

Author's Note

I've never been jailed before - so the contents of this chapter are merely the purest figments of my imagination.

Also calling for Singaporeans to join my group!

Reviews

[Daniel Gardner]

Great job. You kept it pretty believable for someone who has never been to jail.