Risen To The Top

CHAPTER 5

Alex was shoved from behind as he staggered to the huge gate. The officers who had brought him here immediately handed him over to the men at the huge gate and walked back to the huge black van.

After going through the fingerprinting, photographing and strip searching procedures, he was finally led to his cell.

Alex couldn't help but notice the stares he was getting from the other inmates. He was going to be an easy target for everyone, he was thin and frail looking with little experience in fighting. He had once played baseball back in highschool,he was very good at it, that was where he met Sarah.

Why did everything remind him of her? The memory of her in court testifying against him had been plastered in his head, he was seeing it every time he closed his eyes.

He looked around, horrified at what he saw, he couldn't survive twenty years in here, he had no one to turn to, no connections to even help him out of here.

All through the night he kept on thinking about how his life had taken a turn for the worse, he had expected to be beaten by other inmates immediately he got here but surprisingly it was peaceful this night, the peace didn't do him any good, he cried his eyes out all through the night till the next morning.

There was only one thing on his mind

He hated Sarah.

He hated the fact that no matter how much he tried to hate her, he couldn't still deny his feelings for her. Deep down he knew he still loved her and that killed him, he was hurt.

There was no redemption for him, his miserable life had come to an end.

"Hey!" A gruff voice called from behind.

He looked down. Too late, he tripped over the unclosed latch on the floor, falling directly to his side and hitting the person by his side. The man's lunch tray flying from his hands and the contents spilling all over the man's face, the tray fell to the ground causing a loud racketeering noise.

Alex staggered to his feet as he quickly turned to the man to apologize, he saw it coming, it was coming at impulse speed, he didn't have time to duck or calculate it.

The punch sent him flying backwards, crashing into another table, the table had bent and all the food on it had slid to the ground.

The men on the table got up angrily, before Alex could stop his eyes from spinning, he was already receiving blows from everywhere.

Alex fell to the ground using his hands to guide his head as the kicks and blows continued, coming from every angle.

The guards came running, separating the angry mob.

Alex was beaten to a pulp, the guards immediately rushed him to the prison clinic. He regretted covering his head when they beat him, he wished they had kicked him to death to free him of the misery.

After a series of drugs had been administered to him, the clinic matron, an old woman.

Advised him to wait there till it was night so he could sneak back to his cell or else he could meet several problems from the group he had interrupted earlier on.

Alex's body was numb with pain, he did as the matron had advised and lay there, even if she had not advised him he would have still layed there, he couldn't move any part of his body.

After a while, Alex dragged himself back to his cell, he hadn't seen any of the men that had attacked him earlier on, he had been hoping to see them so they'd finish their work. He slowly dragged himself to his cell and gently put his battered body on the hard bed.

He hated his life. His life was ruined. He had quit the sport he loved so much all because of his frail body. He hated all the decisions he had made with his life.

His life was sapped of any joy, he never experienced love of a parent or a true friend or a true lover.

That's why he had grown so attached to Sarah, she had been the only person who had shown him attention.

He couldn't bear to think of the fact that she may have never loved him. He had no purpose on earth again, he had to end everything. He had seen his cellmate sneak in a thick rope the previous night, he didn't care what the man wanted to use it for, he was going to use it to end everything.

After waiting till he was sure the man was asleep, Alex quietly tiptoed to the man's bags, rummaging through it for the rope he had seen earlier.

"Hey, fish! What are you doing with my bags?" He heard a gruff voice from behind him, before he could turn back to explain,  the man had sent his fist flying, it landed squarely on Alex's Jaw, throwing him off balance straight to the floor.

The man pounced on Alex who raised his knees at the last minute, the man bounced off the knee,the impact sent his head straight to the bar of the cell, with a loud thud the man was sent down again.

He grunted loudly as he staggered to his feet, the man was unbelievably strong for how he looked, he ran towards Alex, sweeping him off his feet and taken him down with such brute inhumane force, the man tightened his grip on Alex throat, snuffing the air out of him.

The loud noise had attracted the wardens, and Alex could hear their faint footsteps becoming louder as they got nearer to the cell, he hoped to be dead before they got to his cell.

He felt a sharp pain across his face as he opened his eyes immediately, he was surrounded by wardens, the cellmate who was choking him was nowhere to be found, he caught a glimpse of the light coming in from the window.

He must have passed out for quite some time.

The wardens hauled him to his feet, his whole body was soaking wet, he looked around him, there were two empty buckets there.

He was sure they had emptied its contents while trying to resuscitate him.

"Take him to the time out cell!" The head warden barked angrily.

"He won't live another day if we leave him here!" He continued angrily.

The wardens dragged him away, they took him down the stairs, below the normal prison cells, to the isolated cells down.

This was where they kept forgotten prisoners or hardened criminals who had been sentenced to life in prisonment for heinous crimes, they kept them here without ever releasing them out of their cells, they only brought food and water to them.

Alex was dragged to the last cell and thrown into it, the door shut with a loud clang and he was left all alone in the dark musty room. He stood there for a minute before stretching his hands out trying to feel his surroundings for anything to sit on.

He searched around in the dark for a while before his hands touched something rough and warm, it felt like human skin.

"Welcome..." He heard a calm voice say from the darkness.

Alex quickly ran to the door swinging his hands to protect him from whatever was lurking in the darkness.

Suddenly, he seemed to have forgotten all about his wish to die, he knew he had to make it out of here alive.