Energia Tower

Chapter 5: Ten to Twenty Years

Gil held his bandaged face with a puzzled expression. He never felt such a pile of emotions before, he wondered what changed. The mysterious prisoner, Leo that he met the other day seemed to know a lot about him, but why?

The oddest part about the whole situation was that Gil actually missed the emotions he felt. It was painful, yet so very authentic. Now he was back to being a blank canvas, he couldn't fathom which one actually caused more pain.

He didn't work the day after getting beaten by Bug and his terrible companions, he chose to remain in his icy cell and continue to tell himself that he was innocent.

He desperately wanted to leave Energia Tower after the previous day's incident with Bug and Leo. Though Bug was the one who injured him, it was really Leo who gave him the creeps. It was as if Leo knew secret things about him that he would not reveal. What could he have been hiding exactly?

He also really missed his adoptive parents. Though he only met them when he was thirteen, they still treated him with love and kindness. His mother was a chef, her cooking was the greatest thing ever. He missed her homemade ravioli and baked cakes, would he ever be able to eat them again? He also missed his father's enormous laugh, his laughter could fill an entire mansion. He also missed his video games. It was his greatest hobby, nothing entertained him more. He just wanted to take his career test to make games of his own, yet there he was getting pounded at Energia Tower.

Vince walked through the sturdy reinforced door "How are you holding up now?"

"I don't... feel anything," Gil said while eyeing the floor.

"What do you mean?" asked Vince.

"Uh... I don't know actually," said Gil turning towards Vince. "So, when can we eat!"

"Right now!"

Gil and Vince exited the cell; the eyed the dozen of guards that watched them like hawks as they walked towards the spacious cafeteria.

"Told you there were people who would give you a hard time. I'm just surprised they beat you that bad though," said Vince angrily.

"Why do you care so much Vince? It's not like you've been lifelong friends after all," said Gil.

"Well," Vince began before scratching his head. "I just don't like to see innocent people get hurt. Can you believe that I used to want to be a police officer. I have no idea how I ended up on this path," he said while looking at one of the prison guards.

"What!? You a cop? No way!" laughed Gil. "You'd be one of those dirty cops who'd give someone a ticket for going 1 mph above the speed limit!"

"Shut the hell up! I didn't want to do those kind of things!" barked Vince. "There's just a lot of people who are pure evil in this world, their ice cold eyes give me chills. I just wish I could stop all of them... Now they're all around me."

"I see," began Gil with widened eyes. "You mentioned that there were people who were evil when we were about to work yesterday. Were you talking about Bug and his friends?"

"Uh... not really. Bug is here for petty crime, he's no bigshot at all, he just thinks he's important. A lot of guys come here and refuse to leave for some reason. They think running this place will give their lives purpose, or something," explained Vince.

"Interesting," said Gil as they walked into the spacious cafeteria. The smell of chili highlighted the air. "Why do so many people want to run this place? What's the appeal?"

"Well... The higher your status is here, the more perks you get. There's like a social hierarchy here. Being at the top would make anyone feel special. I want to so I can change this place forever, by bringing justice to the true evil people. I don't think being sentenced to Energia Tower is true justice because of all the benefits. Also, I think people want to run it, because AquaLux wants to keep as many prisoners as they can to increase their productivity, especially over their rival corporation Skyra," said Vince.