Claire
Flames surrounding me, I'm crying for my mom and dad; boards have fallen. in my mind there's no escape. Red, yellow, and orange flames are in my way. I trip over a burnt fallen board, I fall to the ground; I look up seeing my father lying on the floor a few feet away from me. The smoke from the fire makes my eye sight a little hazy. I get on my knees and crawl my way over to my dad and find a knife in his back and a puddle of blood around him. I sit there staring at his motionless body, letting the blood stain my clothes, while I question what had just happened. A man in yellow comes rushing within a few minutes a and snatches me away from my father. I scream out in cries,
"Don't leave me daddy! Daddy Get up, come on, get up please!"
******
I am sixteen and it has been nine years since it happened. The memory haunts me every night, it comes back to me and I can't stand it, can't stand it anymore. Why this had to happened is still a mystery to me, I don't know if I will ever find out why this fate had to happen. For all I know my future could be even worse, but it will remain a mystery for now.
"Wake up!" yells the guard while all the cell doors slowly open.
"God I'm sick of this place" I mumble.
"Well, Claire you're leaving, so shut up and get over it," the guard tells me while walking down the rows of cells.
"Yeah, to a different detention center, that sure makes me feel a hell of a lot better." I say sarcastically." Thank god I won't be here much longer and no longer taking orders from your ugly ass." I add under my breath.
" What did you say?" the guard walks up to me and gets in my face.
" Bitch, you heard me!"
" Claire, I am not your bitch, I am the one who is in control, so therefore you are my bitch. Now get your ass moving to the bus so I can get rid of you already." The guard grabs my arm and shoves me forward.
As I walk to the bus to be transferred to the new detention center I notice that it says "Gasping Tommy Manhattan"
I whisper to the girl standing next to me who is also going to the same place, "Have you heard of that place before?" She looks back and says,
"Yea, have you heard the stories?""
"Just a few."
"I heard that there was this guy named Tommy, and he was the first prisoner that was transferred there. Soon after he was more kids were transferred there. One of the kids that was locked in the cell across from Tommy's cell saw Tommy rebel against a guard. An argument broke out. The kid watched intently the argument get heated, and Tommy hit the guard. The guard got his night stick and started beating Tommy, other guards saw Tommy tackle the guard. The guard yelled for back up. About five guards started beating Tommy. They beat Tommy up so badly that he could barely inhale and exhale. Later on Tommy was thrown into solitary confinement. The kid who witnessed all of it told other kids that were locked up there, and they told other kids. Guards over heard the kids conversation, plus all the guards that were involved in the fight also told the story,the thing is that more things were probably added to the story so who really knows what happened. According to this story it was spread to other detention centers, prisons, and jails. People say after about a week a guard was asked to get Tommy and take him to the guard that he attacked. The guard stayed and watched the other guard beat Tommy and then strangled him. While Tommy was being strangled he was gasping for air, the only words that he could manage to say with the little air he could inhale was, and I quote, "I will come back for you." she tells me, "But that's just a story that i was told and it could just be completely made up. Anyways that's how is got the name "Gasping Tommy Manhattan," plus it is in Manhattan so that's where that parts comes from." she laughs a nervous laugh.
