Wasuranai Kara

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17

The next morning, the lights snapped Gren out of the best sleep he had had in all the time since he came to the prison. He didn’t open his eyes right away…he just wanted a minute to think about absolutely nothing.

"Gren…wake up…" Rumo’s voice.

"Yeah…I know…"

Rumo kissed Gren’s forehead and moved out of the bed. They only had five minutes before the guards came and they were herded off to the showers. If the beds weren’t made (and the inmates weren’t dressed) by then, there would be hell to pay.

Gren swung his long legs over the side of the tiny bed. He looked up in time to see Rumo pulling on the white t-shirt all the inmates wore under the dark green jumpsuit. "Hey…wait…" he said, "I never noticed you had a tattoo…"

Sure enough, on Rumo’s left bicep, there was a tattoo. It was of a black snake. The snake’s tail was curled around the blade part of a dagger, and blood ran down the snake’s tail. Gren walked over and traced a slender finger along the curve of the snake’s body. Rumo stood completely still.

"That’s why that guy in the mess hall called you ‘Bloodsnake,’ isn’t it?" he asked.

"That’s most of it."

"What do you mean?"

"You’re still naked, you know…" Rumo whispered.

Gren wrapped his arms around Rumo. "Hit a soft spot, didn’t I?"

Rumo pulled away. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"I see." Gren turned and pulled on his own clothes. Each made his bed silently after that.

"Rumo…" Gren began.

"Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell you sometime."

"You don’t have to."

"Oh, don’t worry…I’ll tell you…………as soon as you tell me why you have such a problem with Vicious."

Gren stared at him, open-mouthed. "How dare you!" he said. Rumo opened his mouth to answer, but the buzz of the door unlocking cut him off. As they lined up outside the cells, Gren glared at Rumo.

I knew last night should never have happened. That bastard. Not like Vicious, he says...... Gren’s mind spoke. He tried to shake Vicious out of his head, but it hurt. He didn’t say a word the rest of the day.

The next day, during the hour of "exercise" time that the inmates were allowed, Gren noticed one of the new inmates talking about something.

"Oblivion. Take this shit, and won’t no thoughts be left in your head. Block out all pain and suffering." It was a blue-haired kid. Younger than Gren was, but toughened by the streets of Earth.

"Yeah, sure. Nothing good ever came from Earth."

"No thoughts? Fuck…it’d be worth it, but I don’t think it works. Prolly a fuckin’ sugar pill."

Gren stood up and walked over. "What do you want for it?"

The others stared at him like he was from another dimension. "You serious? You ain’t a druggie."

"What’s it to you? He wants it, let ‘im have it." The kid looked up at Gren. "I don’t want nothin’ for it. You can have it."

"If it’s free, it must be worth nothing…" Gren muttered. Should have known…but to get Vicious out of my head…to get Rumo out of my head…I would give anything. "But if it’s nothing, I shouldn’t be afraid. I’ll take it."

The new guy dropped a tiny white pill into Gren’s hand. Gren looked at it for a minute. A tiny thread of doubt began to wind through his mind. He ignored it and popped the pill into his mouth. It was easy to swallow, due to its size. "Thanks. I’ll tell you how I like it tomorrow," Gren said, and walked off.

"He won’t remember who I am by tomorrow…won’t be able to tell me………prolly won’t remember his own fuckin’ name…"