River.

Chapter 57: Breaking Their Silence

Cassidy's P.O.V.

They walked in with blood on them.

Blood covered their shirts and hands and fists and arms.

There were even splashes of blood on their faces.

Their guns were in their back pockets.

But they had not one ounce of worry, fear, or guilt on their faces.

In fact they walked in like nothing happened.

Jordan, Lindsay and I just sat on Max's couch, staring at them until I gained the guts to ask the question we were all wondering.

"What'd you do?" I asked though referring to both of them.

Without a moment's hesitation Max answered.

"I killed someone."

Lindsay brought her hands over her mouth in disbelief.

Not out of surprise because we knew it was gonna happen. A part of us was just hoping that they would've changed their minds.

I looked at River without saying anything and he immediately knew what I wanted to know.

"I killed 3." He said.

How do you react to that? How do you react to getting told that someone that you're so close to and that you love is a murderer.

We were all at a loss for words.

"When I was 12 I asked my dad if Max could come and stay with us for the summer." River began. "He said yes and so Max caught the next plane to Minnesota. We spent the first month of the summer camping, fishing, playing soccer, chasing girls, and getting into trouble. When July came everything changed. One night, on July 6th, we snuck out at midnight into the woods with two of my dad's shotguns. We only intended to shoot a few squirrels and what not. We challenged eachother to see who could get the most. And so we hid behind a bush and waited. Not too long after we heard the rustling of leaves near a tree and so we took aim. Something stepped from behind the tree and we both took a shot at it. Then we heard a man yell. We jumped up and ran over to the tree to see what was going on and when we got to it there was a girl, no older than 14, laying on the ground, covered in blood, with two gunshot wounds to the chest. She wasnt breathing. She wasnt moving. She was just laying there. The man called the cops in a panic. He told them that we'd just killed his daughter. Max and I didn't try to defend ourselves because the man was right, we killed his daughter. The police arrived 3 minutes later if not sooner and arrested us. When we got to the station they asked us questions but we were in too much shock to answer them. And besides, there was no getting around what we did. We went to court and the judge ruled that since it was an accident, our punishment would only be 9 months at a juvenile detention center. So we were sent to Blairwood- an all boys juvi center. Those 9 months at Blairwood made me the man I am today. Blairwood changed my life. It scarred me for life. It killed who I was and turned me into a completely different person. Cold, careless, and violent. When we got there they sent us to a large cell with 6 other boys. Then they laid down some ground rules: 1. 'If any of you try to escape we'll kill you. 2. If any of you hurt one of the guards or wardens we'll kill you. 3. If any of you tell anyone what goes on within the gates of Blairwood, we'll kill you.' And those weren't threats. I wasnt much of a fighter when I was younger but 9 months at Blairwood completely changed that. Every Friday night the warden and the guards would set up fighting matches and bet on who would win. The warden didn't like me the slightest bit so of course I was always forced to fight the 16 and 17 year olds even though I was only 12. And the matches had no rules. In fact, they weren't over until blood was spilled. I gained 4 concussions while I was there. And like I said, I wasnt much of a fighter back then however, I was a pretty bad kid. That often led to me being taken to an isolated room by the warden in the middle of the night and either being beaten with a 3-inch wide metal pole until I was bruised all over or my head being dunked in a tub of water until my face was purple and I was on the verge of blacking out. I remember when he got angry one night and threw a cigar on the mattress of one of the boys in the cell block for 10 year olds. It ended up catching the whole cell block on fire and caused 4 kids to die because they were asthmatic and the smoke got to them. I tried to run in and save one of them that had fallen unconscious but when the warden saw me run in he locked me in there. I ended up suffocating and passed out but luckily Max and Reese got me out of there before I actually died. That's why I have asthma. Then, while I was still just 12, I lost my virginity to the warden's 30 year old wife. I had no say in it whatsoever. I tired to fight it but I wasn't strong enough and the guards just stood there, laughing. After that whenever one of their daughters or wives were horny I, as well as a lot of the other boys in the facility, were forced to have sex with them. Eventually I stopped trying to fight it because I knew I wouldn't win. The warden's daughter ended up getting pregnant and the warden swore up and down that I was the reason why meaning there's a possibility that I have a 16 year old daughter I've never met. We went through hell at that place. After I developed asthma, the guards would take my inhaler away from me as a punishment whenever I refused to do something. Even when I was in the middle of an asthma attack they still wouldn't give it back. They watched me suffer. They watched us suffer. They threw bricks at us for fun which resulted in broken bones and they shot us with rubber bullets until our arms and legs were bruised black. One of the boys in my cellblock ended up being paralyzed in his right arm because of it. They tased us just for the hell of it and one time almost killed Max. If it wasnt for me begging them to stop he wouldn't be alive. In fact the only reason why they stopped was because they were tired of listening to me beg and cry so they took me outside in -2° weather while it was snowing and left me out there all night and into the morning. Of course I got pneumonia but they told me to suck it up or die in a corner. Eventually I became so used to the abuse there that I stopped crying. I didn't cry anymore when I got my ass kicked by the older kids. I didn't cry anymore when they beat me with metal poles. I didn't cry anymore when they held me down and burned me with their cigarettes. I didn't cry anymore when they tied me up and hit me with barbed wire. I didn't cry anymore when they threw bricks at me nor when they attempted to drown me. My body just wouldn't shed tears anymore. Even to this day, I haven't cried since I was 12. I didn't even cry when my daughter died. That's how cold Blairwood made me. It dehumanized me. It made me the asshole I am today. It made me a violent person. I went from never fighting to lashing out on anybody that even looked at me the wrong way. I watched them kill kids at Blairwood. Kids that I knew. Max, Reese, and I were lucky to come out of there alive. And we vowed to get revenge on every person at Blairwood that fucked us up. Starting with the warden, Mark. But Reese... He's not gonna be able to see that day because he's dead now. Because Mark killed him out of fear that Reese would tell someone about how they treated us. I've purposely killed 5 people throughout my life. I was 23 the first time when one night Darryl, one of the former guards, broke into my house and tried to choke me to death so I shot him... And I didn't feel the slightest bit of guilt. Now Mark and Chris, and John, and all the other people that worked at Blairwood are trying to hunt us down... All of us. Now that we're older they're trying to kill us off just to save their own asses. But I'm not gonna let that happen. I'm gonna get to them before they get to me. I don't want them in jail, I want them dead. And I won't stop until they are."

He finished and just stared at me. Max stared at Lindsay as well. Like they were waiting for us to respond.

But neither one of us could.

Even Jordan was speechless.

I tried to talk but I literally couldn't.

"So now you know." River continued. "Now you know the real me. The part of my life that I didn't want you to know about... Now you know about Blairwood."

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A/N!!!!!

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