Conviction

Old school work - unedited.

The night covered the street like a shadow; cowering over it to protect it from life. Darkness it the ultimate cover. A place of time where anything can be done while the others are lost in their dreams silently lost. Many things can be done then particularly when our job involves blood.

The sound of gunshot rattled through the air as the bullet was fired from the murder weapon. Women screamed a blood-curdling scream as the pool of blood swam to their shoes as the killers fled into the street followed by spectators of the audience who witnessed.

There were two of them. Two killers. One quite tall with short blonde hair, the second not as tall but with semi long hair both carrying guns, both the reason people were dying. The tallest one turned around and shot a family member of the previous victim as he ran towards him. He ran to his death. The dark hair one stopped sprinting and turned around with his ears ringing from the gunshot and saw a second dead lying upon the floor.

‘That’s enough!’ he shouted as the second went to aim for the dying victim again but he shot again and again at the man on the floor another twice ‘Tom c’mon!’ the other looked sideways at him and aimed his gun at his co-murderer ‘What the hell do you think your doing!?”

‘Jack man you gotta go…you’re getting in the way’ he squeezed the trigger aiming at his head, the gun shot was heard and the crowd was silent as they both stood watching and finally Tom fell to the floor with a  bullet in his brain, Jack had got there first.

His gun was still pointing at the target and he dropped the gun quickly and ran away into the night quickly escaping and as he rested in a dark alley way police cars with their sirens blaring loudly shot past him and he panted hard and ran down the alley covered by the shadow of the night.

Jack was only young. A seventeen year old boy who made friends with the wrong people and now he was the only murderer left to convict for the crimes. His hair was black but his eyes were blue and he was panting heavily almost collapsing with no energy and he slid down the wall and sat on the cold concrete and watched his breath steam from his mouth as the cold air met with his warm pant, he was thinking trying to get together a motive, he knew his father would murder him if he found out what he had done.

The police officers were walking closer and Jack stood up quickly and looked around him for another way out as he was at a dead end and above him was the ladder to climb up to the apartments above but it first step was two feet above him, he jumped and hung on tightly to the metal step and using all his strength he pulled himself up to the second and did the same for the next four until he could stand on the bottom step and then the jumped up to the next floor while stepping quickly but as he reached the roof of the building a police helicopter shone it’s bright capturing light at him and he ran quickly and jumped off the building roof onto the roof of another which was below it and he slid down the side of the roof and ran down the alley where a police officer stood waiting for him, he stopped suddenly and ran the other way where another was standing there with his strong arms crossed and he smirked at Jack as he was trapped.

‘What’s the rush mate?’ asked the police officer.

‘No rush’ he said coolly.

‘Why are you running then?’ asked the other one.

‘Exercise’ replied Jack panting as they both closed in on him.

‘At quarter to two in the night?’ asked the biggest man.

‘It’s cooler at night sir…don’t sweat so much.’

‘Heard anything going on down the street?’ asked the one in front of him taking out a notebook.

‘No…why what’s happened?’

‘I think you know what happened lad I think you caused it’ he shone his torch in his eyes.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘I think you do boy,’ Jack swallowed hard looking at both of them he took a brave breath and then punched the officer in front of him and started to sprint away and the other officer was chasing after him. He skidded around the corner and ran around the fountain in the middle of the street and ran through London like no tomorrow and finally an officer tackled him to the floor and handcuffed him as he struggled.

‘You have the right to remain silent…anything you do or not say will be documented and used as evidence in court’ recited the man handcuffing him he stood up with Jack and then escorted him to the police car that pulled up and he pushed Jack in and then got in himself to take him to the police station.

‘You’re in a lot of trouble lad,’ said the driver.

‘Your future will be decided in court mate so we’ll get to know each other a bit better through out the years’ laughed the driver Jack scowled at them and then rested his head on the cold window and swallowed hard. He knew he was going to jail.

The car stopped after twenty minutes and Jack was pulled out into the cold air and was pushed violently into the station and was thrown into a cell with only the moonlight at source to see and he sat quietly on the bed sighing helplessly, he was afraid of what was going to happen to him and then the cell door swung open and a police officer escorted him to a room with a large mirror and a smartly dressed man entered the room and Jack watched as he sat to the left of him and he offered him a cigarette and Jack just shook his head gently and the other man lit his cigarette and looked at him.

‘What’s your name son?’

‘Jack…what’s yours?’

‘Detective Burrows head of crime and punishment…you’re in a lot of trouble Jack,’

‘I haven’t done anything,’

‘I’m sure you haven’t but you are the main suspect for the murder of David Haywood, Michael Owenson and Tom Grain.’

‘Never heard of them’ replied Jack, he only killed Tom nobody else and he wasn’t going to say so either.

‘I think you killed them though…how old are you?’

‘Seventeen...you?’ 

‘Thirty six and I am worried that you will be found guilty in a court of law.’

‘But I haven’t done anything’ said Jack angrily

‘So why were you outside at this time of night?’

‘I was exercising.’

‘Exercising?’ Jack nodded ‘Do you have a girlfriend?’

‘No…why?’

‘Just wondering…I do.’

‘Congratulations.’

‘Why do you think you’re being convicted here?’

‘Because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time’ replied Jack.

‘Three people were shot from a silencer,’ he held the gun in the see through bag which was evidence later on and it was Jacks gun so he knew his fingerprints were on there.

‘No other weapon?’ asked Jack as he knew Tom had a gun as well

‘No just one…yours.’

‘It’s not mine’ protested Jack

‘We’re running some tests on the scene and also on this evidence…you could go to jail for a very long time if the evidence is against you.’

‘How long?’

‘Committing one murder is three years you are convicted for three and for assaulting officer Hughes.’

‘I didn’t kill anyone’ growled Jack ‘can I call my father?’

‘Yes’ detective burrows signalled for a police man to come and take Jack to the phone for his phone call and he was pushed against the phone on the wall and then he picked up the phone and dialled his home phone number and waited for his father to answer.

‘Hello?’ asked Jack’s father tiredly.

‘Dad it’s me Jack I’m trouble I’m at the police station they’ve arrested me for murdering three people I need you to come down here.’

‘Son it’s three in the morning stop messing around.’

‘I’m not messing around dad I’m serious.’

‘Look son I’ll come down tomorrow morning and sort everything out, it’s obviously a mistake, I can’t get out of there they will keep you for twenty four hours for questioning…I’ll see you tomorrow,’ the line went dead and Jack sighed and hung the phone back up and was placed back into his cell for the night and his handcuffs were let off and he lay on his bed and closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep and was woken up suddenly the next morning by having an officer bang loudly on his door and he saw the eyes of the officer who tackled him last night through a slot in the door and a tray of food was past through another slot at the bottom of the door.

Jack watched as the officer walked away and Jack scrambled to the tray of food on the tray and drank the bottle of water he was given and took a bite out of the apple he was given and he sat on the floor quietly. He was also given a yogurt and a sandwich but Jack just wanted something small to eat something that he could take with him for questioning which he was right about. He was taken to the same room he was taken into yesterday and his father accompanied him and Jack sat in front of the officer still eating while detective burrows explain the situation.

‘Jack what have you done?’

‘I haven’t done anything’ said Jack violently biting his apple.

‘We ran tests all night and we found your prints on the gun and the bullets from this gun were in the bodies of the victims and also many spectators said they saw you shoot them.’

‘I didn’t do it!’ shouted Jack.

‘Well that is not what the evidence says and you shall be in court in three hours with your lawyer…’ Jack’s father nodded at the detective and Jack sighed helplessly ‘the maximum sentence they can carry is twenty years on behalf of your age.’

‘Well I hope you learned your lesson Jack there is no way I am bailing you out of this.’  

‘Yeah like you’d ever care’ said Jack standing up and walking out himself with his officer following.

Jack was very bored for the next three hours. He counted the bricks on the wall thirteen times and then he just focused his eyes on a crack that was on the wall opposite and then he fell asleep for a while and was still half asleep while sitting in front of the judge.

‘Mrs Collins I assure you that this young mans fingerprints were identified on the murder weapon also he assaulted a police officer and also three women a few years younger than him told the police anonymously that you had kidnapped them and raped them’ there was up roar in the court, people shouting in disbelief but Jack just sat there he knew he was done for he didn’t even bother to try and explain that lie, the rapes were done by Tom is best friend, he’d often ring him up in the middle of the night boasting of him getting with some girl. Jack couldn’t even talk to a girl let alone sleep with one with her permission never mind about attacking them and forcing them, he’d only done it once before but he was drunk at the time.

‘And you are here by found guilty by the jury and your sentence is the maximum of twenty years…take him’ Jack was handcuffed again and taken behind the courtroom where he was shoved into a room with other convicts all dressed in a horrible bright orange suits with their names and conviction number printed on them. They all looked up at him everyone in there looked rough except for one girl who wasn’t bothered about anything and he sat uncomfortably on his own while a officer threw the same orange suit at him but he couldn’t put it on until his hands were free.

 

~*~

The next two weeks were a burr. A horrible, strange burr. Jack was very confused. He was taken to a real prison full of guilty convicts, he sat by himself during the lunch hour and everyone was horrible to him. The men and the women were kept separately for obvious reasons; you can’t let both sexes mix while convicted rapists were being kept there.

On the back of the convicts were a number of stars, Jack had four stars that means he was violent based on his conviction even though he was wrongly convicted.

From what he could see he was the youngest in there out of the men but some of the girls were quite young and started to take a liking to him from their half of the prison; but he just ignored them as he knew most of them were prostitutes.

The weeks started to pass by in the prison in London, Jack became accustomed to sitting by himself and just sitting quietly in his cell reading sometimes one of the girls would start singing and put on some entertainment for the rest of the convicts without breaking the glass with her screeching. Those longs hot nights were the worst though. You could never get comfortable on the thin mattresses but Jack couldn’t sleep most nights as he thought about the night that got him where he was right now. One thing did stick in his mind though. It was the extra conviction of rape. He couldn’t understand why they thought it was Jack who did it and not Tom, why would he hurt them? He’d never hurt a fly normally. He only killed Tom in self defence as he was about to shoot him as well but Jack knew it would be a long time before he was able to take a walk without having a rifle pointed at him from a distance or be able to see a few friends without being handcuffed.

Jack suddenly jumped as a guard hit the bars of his cell door with a baton and he sat up and looked at the guard and he opened his cell door and held his arm and escorted him to the office to see the general and he was pushed into the seat in front of the general and he excused the guard so it was just the two of them in there quietly.

‘Jack, Jack , Jack…been a bad boy haven’t we.’

‘I haven’t done anything,’ sulked Jack.

‘Well that is not what the jury thought and besides the evidence and witnesses was undeniable.’

‘I didn’t touch anyone…particularly not the girls.’

‘Well why would they lie about that then?’

‘Because their just trying to get me into even more trouble…it was Tom who was doing it to them and besides they were asking him for it’ growled Jack viciously.

‘Why were they asking for it?’

‘Because their slappers’ said Jack.

‘Enough…anyway you are being moved…to a place in Ireland called Icelake prison.’

‘Why?’

‘Because more serious convicts like you need to be keep under tight surveillance and we just don’t have enough guards to keep you out of trouble.’

‘But I’m not violent…and probably never will be!’

‘Of course not but you shall be shipped along with some other criminals to this other prison…but first you have to serve the three month sentence here for assaulting officer Hughes’ Jack sighed and then the general signalled for the guard to take him away and he was thrown back into his cell and the guard locked him in and walked away.

‘Don’t beat yourself up about it they’ll always treat ya' the same’ said the boy who was in the cell next to him.

‘Thanks’ moaned Jack not really wanting to speak to anyone, he was really annoyed that he was thrown into jail when he was innocent. It just wasn’t fair and Jack was determined to make sure his sentence wouldn’t last until he was thirty seven without even having a chance at a real life.

Author's Note

Unedited old school work - I thought I might as well chuck it on here! :]

Reviews

[Notthatkindof doc]

Interesting read. The story becomes disjointed in a sense, which of course is always either accidental or intentional on the part of the author. If it's intentional, then I assume that Jack and Tom are one, and Jack simply doesn't realize that he is part of a split personality. Now that is good writing. If its accidental, then of course the story needs to be tighter as that the evidence trail is disjointed from the apparent chain of events.

Good story, keep writing.