Chapter II: Creeping Darkness

Chapter II: Creeping Darkness
Leon
Leon is in the yard one day, when he sees a new inmate that he feels like he recognizes, but can’t be sure. “No way.” He says to himself as he approaches the inmate, hobbling with a limp due to being shanked randomly and repeatedly over the years by Don, eventually causing permanent damage. He taps the inmate on the shoulder, and he turns around. “Dad?”
“Yeah, unfortunately.”
“What the f**k are you in here for?”
“I’m doing a life sentence for murder.”
“What? No way! Who’d you kill?” His dad has tears in his eyes.
“Your mother.”
“WHAT?” Leon breaks down and starts crying. “How could you? I thought she was the antidote! She was the only one who could ever stop you!”
“We got into a fight about how you and your brother turned out, and she blamed me, said I was too hard on you guys because I couldn’t control myself from beating you when I was angry at you guys. Once you guys were out of the house, I was so heavily medicated that I never freaked out again. It’s my fault, really. Instead of getting my prescriptions refilled, I figured pot would be able to replace them. It wasn’t enough, and I fell down the same road as your brother, only I kept it better hidden.”
“I can’t imagine you as a drug addict.”
“Where do you guys think you get it from? I spent most of the eighties blown off my a*s, your mother saved me.”
“So what happened when you killed her?”
“Well, we were arguing, and I blacked out, and according to Rayne, I choked her out and broke her neck.” He starts crying. “Your sister to the cast iron pan and beat me unconscious, and probably a few whacks after that, I was in a coma for about a month.”
“But you guys were a couple, you can’t tell me you never fought!”
“We did once before in ‘87, shortly after we were married. Your mother was pregnant with Sydd, and we were fighting because of something stupid, I’m not even sure, it was so long ago. Anyway, I blacked out, and started choking her. She grabbed a knife and stabbed me with it, and that woke me up. We vowed from that day to never fight again, and if we had a problem, we’d talk it out with a therapist so I wouldn’t freak out. This last time though, being unmedicated, and I started the argument. I should have just listened to her, she told me to calm down. She hugged me, and told me to calm down like she always does, but I was so damn mad at her that I just-” He’s bawling at this point, barely able to keep his words comprehensive. “I blacked out and I- and I-” He’s on the ground, sobbing hysterically.
“Dad, this place is full of prisoners, maybe this isn’t the right place to look like a p***y.”
“I CAN’T F*****G HELP IT! I BELONG IN HERE!”
“Dad-”
“I even rejected the insanity plea because I truly believe I deserve this!”
“Jesus, dad.”
“I should probably just kill myself, that’s what I deserve more!”
“Don’t say that, unless you want guards watching you 24/7.”
“You’re right, I don’t want them to overhear me, they’ll try to stop me.”
“I’ll tell them, then.”
“Don’t you f*****g dare.” Don approaches them.
“’ey, what’s all the hubbub?” Don asks.
“Family business, please, just leave us alone.
“’ey, I know you! I sold you s**t in the 80’s right?”
“Oh great, you’re here too.” Sydd sr. says to Don.
“Leon, you know this guy- wait, he looks like your brother, is this your pops?”
“Yeah, now can you please leave us alone?” Leon asks.
“Yuh know, I got your other son pushing to keep this one alive?”
“Yeah, I do actually. Sydd told me himself.” Sydd sr. Says.
“Oh, this is great, now I got two of youse, now both yer lives are in his hands!”
“No, don’t get my dad involved, please.” Leon says.
“Too late, my mind’s made up.”
“F**k.”
“Speakin’ of yer brother, he just beeped me. Hold on, I’ll be right back.” He leaves.
“So I hope you intend to do your sentence, dad.” Leon says.
“Why should I continue to live when the love of my life is gone?” Sydd sr. says.
“Because suffering is a better punishment than death, don’t you think?”
“No. Here I am, breathing oxygen, eating, sleeping, showering, and shitting on the taxpayers’ dime, when I deserve to be dead.”
“Don’t you dare f*****g do it! Sydd didn’t kill himself when he killed his girlfriend!”
“Not without trying!”
“But he got past it. It’s still fresh for you, well, us. God... HOW COULD YOU?”
“EXACTLY! I DESERVE NOTHING LESS THAN DEATH!”
“F**k, this is a lot to process.”
“How do you think I feel?”
“I caused Charlotte to kill herself without even meaning to, I think I know how you feel!”
“But you didn’t actually use the knife that killed her.”
“The jury sure didn’t see it that way, as far as they were concerned, it’s still my fault, otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”
“Still, I don’t see how it’s the same.”
“See, that’s the problem with you, you’re so damn stubborn.”
“Again, where do you think you get it from?”
“This whole thing is fucked up. Our family is broken and it will never be the same again, and it’s all your fault.”
“Don’t you think I don’t know that?”
“And nobody told me. Sydd didn’t tell me-”
“I’m not sure Sydd knows.”
“Well Rayne or Lance could have let me know.”
“They don’t want anything to do with you or your brother. They think you’re bad people.”
“Obviously we are, this is like a second home to us.”
“Between this and the time I did in the eighties, you’re right about that, though you’ve spent less time in jail than any of us, this is your first time in here.”
“Exactly, you said ‘first’. It’s just a matter of time before I f**k up again, and Don’s got it in for me because of the undercover thing.”
“I noticed the limp, what happened?”
“Don got a good shank in a couple of years ago. He randomly stabs me when he feels like it, it’s his way of making me suffer. Plus, he’s got Sydd running for him, you know that. He owns us now.”
“I can feel my ears burnin’” Don says as he approaches them.
“Can you stop shanking my son?” Sydd sr. says to Don.
“How about no? How long you got?”
“Life.”
“Good, we’ll be friends for the rest of our lives, then.” Don says, as he shanks Sydd sr.
“What the f**k?”
“Just cause the law says I have to serve my sentence doesn’t mean I can’t still do what I want. I own everything, including the warden and the guards. Money talks, and I can talk until long after I’m dead.” Leon runs and gets a guard who takes Sydd sr. to the infirmary. “Did you really get daddy to get me off your a*s?”
“No, that was all him, I swear.” Leon says.
“I don’t believe you.” Don says as he shanks Leon.
“Ow! What the f**k?”
“It’s fun being king. ‘Ey, yo, we got another one here!” Don calls to another guard. The guard sees the shank in Don’s hand and takes it.
“You’re really making our job difficult.” The guard says.
“Just keepin’ it interesting.” Don says.
“That’s true, at least it’s not boring.” the guard laughs. He takes Leon to the infirmary.
“Did he seriously get you too?” his father asks.
“Yeah, he thought I told you to stop it.” Leon answers.
“But I didn’t!”
“That’s what I told him, but he didn’t believe me.”
“S**t, I’m sorry, son.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“At least you don’t have to do this alone anymore.”
“I’ve made it this far without you.”
“That’s true, maybe you don’t need me after all.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“No, I got it. Message received.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“I’m more in the way than I am helping you.”
“There you playing the victim, why can’t you ever just accept the situation and move on?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’s been shanking me for years, it’s not all of a sudden about you.”
“But-”
“Even if you weren’t here, he’d still randomly shank me, it’s what he does. Once I’m out of here, I don’t have to deal with it anymore. Come to think about it, he’ll probably just move on to you.”
“And I deserve it, and now that he knows I’m Sydd’s father, he’s going to employ Sydd for protection until I die. Sydd only had until you got out to work for him, and I made it worse.”
“Look, you know how Sydd is, he would have probably fallen into his old ways anyway. Probably why I haven’t seen him in almost four years.”
“Well if he’s dealing, he’s most definitely doing, I know I would.”
“Why were you so on Sydd about being a junkie if you were one once yourself?”
“Because I hated that my kid was starting to go down the same road I did. I saw what I hated about myself in him, and it made me hate him. I thought if I was hard on him, it would wake him up, obviously it didn’t.”
“C’mon, it’s lunch time, let’s get something to eat.” The two leave the infirmary and head to the cafeteria.
“How you holdin’ up?” Don asks them as the walk in, he laughs as he says it.
“It sucks he’s in here for life, and that he owns everyone. He can’t be stopped.” Leon says.
“That’s the world we live in son, the rich can get away with anything they want, and the rest of us have to suffer.” his father says.
“It’s just not fair.”
“Yeah well, the world isn’t fair. I’ve been telling you that since you were little.”
“Yeah, I’ve uh, experienced nothing but that it seems.”
“I know what you mean, it’s like life handed us the short end of the stick, and it just keeps getting shorter as life goes on, and now we’re drowning.”
“Yup.” The next morning, Leon wakes up to the sound of banging on his bars. “Huh?”
“You need to come with us.” A guard says.
“I’m not gonna get shanked again, am I?”
“No, it’s regarding your father.”
“What about him?”
“He’s dead.”
“What? That’s impossible, I just talked to him yesterday, I thought his cellmate was a non violent offender?”
“Just come with us.” They let him out and he follows them to his father’s cell where he’s lying on his mattress.
“What happened?”
“He hung himself in his cell last night. He waited until his cell mate was asleep, then used his sheet. They couldn’t revive him in time, CPR was a failure.”
“Did they even try, or did Don pay them not to?”
“We don’t know, we’re sorry.”
“Did he at least leave a note or something?”
“Yeah, all it says is: ‘Now you and your brother are debt free.’”
“He did it so Sydd wouldn’t be indebted to Don for life.”
“We’re sorry, we know you just reconnected yesterday. You can say goodbye if you want. Leon approaches his father’s corpse.
“You son of a b***h!” He punches him in the stomach. “I told you that you didn’t have to do that!”
“Alright, come on.” They take Leon down for breakfast in the cafeteria. Leon spots Don and approaches him.
“You son of a f*****g piece of s**t, it’s because of you my father killed himself!”
“How is it my fault?” Don asks.
“Because he was in here for life, that meant you had Sydd for life! He killed himself to spare Sydd from that!”
“Well, I guess I’m going to have to find a new way to make sure I keep your brother on my payroll.” He punches Leon in the face, and Leon lunges after him, punching him back. The two start brawling until the guards pull them apart. “I’ll make sure you ain’t never gettin’ outta here!”
“F**k you!” Leon yells as he’s getting dragged away.
“Have fun, kid!” Don yells back. Leon is taken to see the warden.
“Look, I know you just lost your father, but that’s no reason to be attacking other inmates.” the warden tells Leon.
“He started it! And if you weren’t on his payroll, you’d do something about it!” Leon yells.
“I don’t think I like your attitude, Mr. Xero.”
“F**k you, my dad killed himself, and nobody did anything to help him! You just let it happen!”
“Oh, is that what you think?”
“I don’t think so, I know so!”
“You know what? Because of your insubordination, I’m going to recommend thirty days in solitary, and an extra six months to your sentence.”
“What?? You can’t be serious!”
“Do you want more? Take him away, please.” he tells the guards. The guards take Leon, and put him in solitary confinement.
“F**K!” Leon yells as he paces, grabbing his head, and continuing to yell.