Where Fans Go To Die

Avia

It's everything I can do not to scream at the top of my lungs as I see Cole go unconscious. Scream out of fear, pain, longing, the desire to be able to trust someone. But I can't scream. I can't, because if I do, both of us will be punished. "Where are you taking us?" I ask, trying to keep the anger and terror put of my voice. I see other prisoners moaning in their cells. Some are even begging to be killed at this point.

"Showers. You get one a week. Afterwards, we give you each one piece of bread." He sets Cole down on the ground and slaps him. I bite my arm to stop the scream I can feel rising in my throat. Cole wakes up though. He stands up, looking confused and in pain.

"Showers," I whisper "then food." The guard marches us down the hallway, arriving in a large room with shower heads on each side. There are hooks next to each shower head with a clean pair of clothes on them.

"Boys on the left, girls on the right." The man snarls. I leave Cole's side and join the girls, who look as terrified as I feel. One of them already has more cuts on her back from the whip then I can count. I saw her come in with me yesterday. At least, I think it was yesterday. The water is ice cold, and I almost slip on the floor twice. Whose idea was it to make the shower room out of cement? Oh right. This is a prison.

I finish my shower and dry myself off. The new clothes are slightly bigger then yesterday, but they still fit. I see a group filing into a room to be fed and taken back to their cells. I scan the faces for Cole, but I don't see him. He must still be showering. I get in to what seems to be a line, when Cole comes up behind me.

"Hey Av. We're supposed to be next to our cell mate." He smiles weakly. I return the smile.

"7400-7401!" Someone calls. The two girls in front of us walk nervously to the group of prison guards. One hands them each a piece of bread and shoves them towards the cells. "7402-7403!" we are called. I walk up to them and grasp my bread as if my life depends on it, which it does. Oh god. I recognize the guard that's taking us back to the cell. It's my friend Carrie's brother. Carrie's family moved to London a few years back. Now her brother is torturing me. I hope he doesn't recognize me.

Wordlessly, he pushes us along, occasionally kicking us in the back of the legs or slapping us. After what seems like hours, we reach the cell. He shoves Cole back in to the cell, but grabs my wrist and spins me towards him. I catch his smell. Blood and sweat. "Look at what we have here! I didn't think I would see Missy Avia ever again. God you look so cute in a jail uniform." He reaches for me but I dash in to the cell, still clutching my bread.

Once he's out of earshot, Cole starts talking. "God, that guy is sick, trying to get with a... How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"Trying to get with a fifteen year old? What kind of guy does that? You're in freaking jail! Why would you want to be near the people who are keeping you here?"

"Yeah." I nibble on my bread and have kind of a silent staring contest with him. Finally I start laughing. I finish the bread and just start thinking out loud. "Do you know any stories?" I ask and Immediately regret it. What kind of fifteen year old asks someone to tell them a story? I feel my face flush red and I look down.

"Actually, yeah." Cole responds. He starts to tell me a story. I play with a loose thread on my shirt as he tells the story. He tells it in the most amazing way, and I'm there. I'm not in a jail cell. I'm in a kingdom trying to stop a troll from spreading a plague. I'm not sure when it ends, but eventually it does.

I stare at Cole and smile. I shouldn't be talking to him. Making friends in here will just kill us later when one of us is dead. I shouldn't trust him. But I do.