Prison

I immediately thought, just sulking around will not help much. So I quickly jumped out of bed, put on a pair of trainers, stretched a bit, then started to jog towards Ley Valley Park. While I was jogging all the fresh air began to fill up my lungs, and I began to think more clearly. I said to myself, "I will go tonight, if Emma is there, I will straighten all this out." Into two miles of jogging, I noticed my breathing was getting heavier, that's when I knew I had to get back into training.

Later that night, I entered the Forum. I walked around, looking to see if I can see Emma anywhere. I saw a group of girls I recognised from her class; I went over to ask them if they had seen her tonight. They said that she was around somewhere. I walked around the Forum a couple of times, as I was ready to leave, I spotted her.

Sitting on a stool with a drink in one hand while the other on the tall round table, she was talking to some guy. He suddenly leant over and kissed her. I just turned around and started walking towards the exit.

Someone next to me shouted out, "WOW I bet that was a surprise, Johnny."

I said to myself, "It's Jack, you stupid jerk, not Johnny."

I was making my way back to my car when I saw Tony in front of me. He had to say something; he had to finish the decorating of the cake by putting the cherry on top. "I see your girlfriend is getting very popular with the guys." I was like a time bomb ready to explode; I walked up to him tightening my fists on the way. All it took was one punch to the gut and then another on the chin, and he was down. After that, I just blacked out.

When I came around it was to the sound of CB radios. When I looked up, two police officers were standing there, a paramedic attending to my head. At the same time, I felt a sharp pain on the side of my head. One of Tony's henchmen must have been behind me when I hit him. I looked over to where Tony fell when I punched him. A piece of black plastic was there covering something which seemed like a body. The paramedic finished attending to my wounds. I looked around seeing a group of people gathered behind a black and yellow strip that police usually put up when there is a crime scene.

As I started to get up, one of the police officers put a hand on my shoulder.

He ordered, "We will need you to come with us to Hatfield Police Station."

On arriving at the station, I asked them if I can call my parents. I made my telephone call, and within half an hour my parents were there. They showed us to a room with just a table with four chairs in the middle; we waited there for two hours. Suddenly the door opened. Two police officers came into the room to tell me I was to be detained overnight until further investigation.

The next day I found myself in front of a judge. He told me I was under arrest for the murder of Tony Giordano. At that point, my mum started crying while my dad held her tight. The police then escorted me to my cell.

During the two months that followed, I was behind bars in a cell waiting for my trial. My parents visited me daily. In the first month, Emma kept on coming to see me, but I refused to see her.

Mum said, "See her so she can explain herself, there must be a logical explanation to all this."

Just to get my mum to stop pushing me to see her, I told her I would write her a letter. Later that night, I asked the guard for some paper, envelope and pen. The guard left for a few minutes to return with the items I requested. That's when I put pen and paper together to write a letter to Emma,

Dear Emma,

That fateful night Tony died I was in the Forum, I saw who you were with, saw the way how he kissed you. That's when I knew that I had lost you to someone else. That is when the pieces to the puzzle came together. Why you wanted me to leave your house that night, the cold shoulder all the time while you just sat there spaced out. I guess your mind was on someone else. There is no need for you to explain yourself. I think it's best we don't see each other again. My lawyer thinks I am looking at ten to fifteen years; with good behaviour, I could be out in eight. It's best you carry on with your life.

Good Bye.

Jack.

I thought, "short and sweet." I put the letter in the envelope and sealed it.

"When a young lady with the name Emma comes to see me, can you give this to her please?" I asked the guard.

The guard responded, "I usually don't do this, but every time that girl comes she bursts into tears as soon as you refuse to see her."

"What is it with everyone defending her?"

The following day, mum came to see me early in the morning. She was silent, so straight away I knew something was wrong. "What has happened, mum? You are never this quiet."

She opened her bag brought out an envelope with my name written on it. I recognised Emma's handwriting. She put the letter in my hand.

"Emma has gone Jack. She's gone to stay with her sister in Blackpool."

My eyes just teared up straight away. I took a deep breath and sniffled, "I think that is the best, mum."

Mum just stayed silent.

The morning of the trial, I was waiting in the court's small jail in the basement to go upstairs in front of the judge. Eventually, two police officers came to take me to the courtroom. Sitting near where I was standing were my parents. On my right, Tony's lawyer.

Mr & Mrs Giordano was sitting behind their attorney. It seemed Mr Giordano aged a decade, after what happened to his career and then his son. Will that be me in a couple of years?

The hearing went on until three in the afternoon. I was put up in the stands to be questioned by Mr Giordano's attorney. Then all the history I had with Tony was brought to light, even the time when I grabbed him by the collar. That was not in my favour as well. The Judge said to have a one hour recess be back at four for the final verdict.

They brought me back into the room. I stood there to hear what the final verdict was. Mum and dad stood as well behind me. A folded piece of paper was handed by the jury to a court official to give to the Judge. The room went silent; you could hear the paper as the Judge was unfolding it.

After adjusting his glasses, he said, "After a careful review of the case, I at this moment sentence you for the Manslaughter of Tony Giordano. You are to serve twelve years in prison."

Before the Judge could finish my mum just screamed, "No, No, No!" As I turned, I saw her collapse. I then looked over at Tony's dad; he just sat there, with a look on his face that said, "This will not bring my son back."

I sat in my cell holding the letter Emma wrote to me, sitting, just staring at it, speculating if I should open it.

The cell suddenly opened, two officers said, "It's time to go, Jack."

I put the envelope in my pocket and followed them, to take me to my new home for the next twelve years.

Chapter 8

The HM Mount Prison was about a forty-five-minute drive from Cheshunt. Five other guys and I were taken there by a prison bus. On arriving, the driver stopped in front of two big gates. The guard sitting next to him grabbed his radio to speak to someone. Then a few seconds later the gates started to open.

On exiting the bus, we were all put in line then taken to a room where an older guard explained to us the prison rules in a secure, orderly way. The guards took us to another room where they issued us prison uniforms. Our clothes plus belongings were taken from us for safe keeping until the day of our release.

I had the letter in my hand and said to the guard. "Can I hold onto this?"

He looked at me then left the room. When he came back, the older guard was with him.

He came up to me, looked at his clipboard and said, "My name is Mr Williams. I am the Warden here. Jack, I'm not going to have any trouble from you, am I?"

"No sir," I replied.

He held the envelope in his hand tapping it with his other hand. Then he handed it to me.

We put on our uniforms. Then we were taken to a big hall where all the other prisoners stood around waiting to see the new inmates. As we walked with the guard in front showing each person his cell, all eyes focused on us. Then I heard a voice as I was walking. "What are you looking at?" I looked up, one of the inmates was staring at the guy behind me. I quickly put my head back down and carried on walking.

Entering my cell, I found an empty bed on the right. On the left was a guy lying on the other bed, holding a copy of the Bible. I put my things on the bed, sat down, took out the envelope and just stared at it. I felt a tear run down my cheek.

Then my cell mate spoke, "Here, wipe your eyes. Don't let the others see you like this."

He threw me a box of tissues. I whispered, "Thank you."

That is how my prison sentence started. Bob, who is my cell mate, and I hardly talked. Only 'Good Morning' and 'Good Night'. He always seemed to hold that Bible close to his heart. Not one time did he open it while I was present. We were like this for a couple of months. During that time, mum and dad visited four times. They wanted to come every week, but the prison only allowed the same visitors twice a month. Tyrone was in the country. He came to visit at the first opportunity he got.

I had a visit from mum. To my surprise, she came on her own.

"How are they treating you in here, son? Are the guards and other prisoners ok? Are they teaching you anything?"

I looked at my mum and asked in return, "Why hasn't dad come."

"Your father could not make it because he was out of the country for work."

I said to her angrily, "I am learning to do some gardening; I like to be outside in the fresh air!"

"Why are you talking to me like that, Jack?" she exclaimed as she started crying.

I banged my hand on the table shouting, "It's Sunday, mum. You're telling me dad is on a business trip."

Crying she mumbled, "It's killing him, Jack, seeing you like this. Have you seen yourself lately, Jack?"

I just stared at her for a few seconds, got up, walked to the guard and asked him to let me out of the room.

That night just before the lights went out, I was lying on my bed looking at the envelope and replaying the last words my mum said, "Have you seen yourself lately Jack?" Was I becoming like Mr Giordano? Then something happened that changed me overnight. Something that gave me a purpose in here.

Bob asked, "Can't you read?"

I turned, looked at him and shouted, "Yes, I do know how to read!"

"Why don't you open the letter and read it?"

I just threw it on the floor while I turned towards the wall. I heard the springs on the bed make a noise I recognised the sound. It was the sound Bob made when he got up.

"Teach me? Teach me how to read please?" he asked.

I turned and saw in his hand the envelope. I took the envelope, put it in the waste basket, then looked at him and smiled. "Yes, Bob I will teach you, not only how to read but to also write. Lessons will start tomorrow."

He smiled back and said. "Thank you."

Chapter 9

The next day, our lessons began. Bob wanted to learn how to read in a week. I explained to him that it would take much longer than that. After he got to know the alphabet, I told him we need to get some books from the library. We went to the prison library to find some learning books. We took the books to have them stamped out; the librarian tried to have a laugh at us for getting education books. I saw Bob put his head down to shame.

I said to the librarian, "Do you have the book 'The English Patient' by Michael Ondaatje."

He tried to pronounce the author's name with no success. Bob and I started laughing as we left the library.

Six months into my sentence, while Bob was reading a book, he put it down.

He said to me. "The reason I am in here is that I killed my step-dad. He kept on beating my mum and also abusing my sister. They were too scared to do or say anything. Until one day I had enough, I did something about it by beating him to death with a baseball bat."

I looked up; he was just staring into space. That night I told him what happened to me. The lights went out. We talked until early morning. When we woke up after three hours of sleep, the first thing that Bob said to me was, "You need to start running again."

Since the last outburst during mom's visit, she and dad would only come together, not missing one visitation date. They were scheduled to visit that weekend, as it was a sunny day we had the privilege of sitting outside.

Just before they left, I turned to my dad saying, "Dad next time you come, could you bring me, my trainers, if it's ok?"

They looked at each other, turned to me, and both said, "Yes Jack." Their smiles were from ear to ear.

The following day I was doing some gardening when one of the guards called out to me. "Jack, in the warden's office now!"

All the other inmates looked at me with a grin. One of them turned commenting, "What have you done Jacky Boy?" I ignored him while I walked with the guard, thinking has something happened to mum or dad?

I knocked on the door. "Come in", a demanding voice said.

In the warden's office, Mr Williams was sitting behind a big desk. My first words were, "Has something happened to my parents?"

"Relax Jack; your parents are okay."

He then pointed at a box, which was sitting by the entrance of his office. "Your dad came late last night to drop that off for you. You know, I don't give any inmates this kind of privileges, but what I've seen you do with Bob is remarkable."

The warden got up, came around his desk, put his hand on my shoulder and looked at me straight in the eyes. "I was waiting to see when you were going to start running again, Jack."

I looked at him saying. "But how did you know?"

"I know all my inmates' history Jack, even about your 800m record. Now take your box, and on your one-year anniversary I may ask a favour of you." He smiled as I turned and left.

That is how I started running again. At first short distance, then gradually I did more laps every week. Within three months I was doing twenty laps of the prison court, which was equivalent to 5000m. My daily routine was like clockwork. I would get up in the morning and do my gardening work. Then in the afternoon, I would do two hours of running and working out on weights before dinner. In the evening, Bob and I did more studying plus reading.

One afternoon, while I was preparing myself to start my 5000m jog, two inmates in their fifties came up to me. They asked me if I could show them some exercises to do.

"No problem" I replied.

It wasn't long until two became five, then ten. It also didn't take long for a couple of racers to finish the 5000m with me. At least I had company when I ran.

On my one-year anniversary, I made an appointment to see the Warden.

As I entered his office, he said, "Make it quick Jack. I am on a tight schedule."

I quickly spit out,"It regards some equipment we need sir, for inmates who are interested in sports."

"Make a list give it to the secretary by morning. Is there anything else?"

"No sir." I turned to leave, but then I remembered. "Sir, last year you wanted a favour from me on my one-year Anniversary," I said.

He looked away from his computer towards me and smiled. "You started doing the favour a few months ago, by getting inmates interested in sports."

The equipment I asked for I had within two days. I smiled back to that.

As I was coming to my third year in prison, I noticed a lot of changes. The first thing, Bob was becoming better at English; he was even considering doing an online university course in English literature. When I started my prison sentence, the inmates were two groups. The white skin section and the dark skin section were separated. During my time there, people of mixed races started getting closer together. They still had their differences, but it wasn't like it used to be. Inmates said to me I was the one that brought everyone together with all the positivity I put into them.

Chapter 10

It was July on a Sunday afternoon I was in the yard with two young inmates, working on their abs. We were just getting ready to finish for the day when I saw one of the guards approaching us.

When he was near enough, he said, "Jack, you have a visitor."

I got up looked at him and said, "It can't be for me; my parents came last week."

"It's for you, a young man your age."

The only person I could think of was Tyrone. I grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat off my face as I started to make my way to the main building with the guard.

I entered the visiting hall, seeing the room full of visitors with inmates. Sundays were always busy like this. Sitting on his own was someone I had not seen for five years. I reached the table looking down at him.

"Hi, Pete."

Without looking up, he replied, "Jack."

Still looking at him I sat opposite. Not taking my eyes off him. Shocked to see how much weight he had lost. He was half the person I knew in school.

We sat in silence for a minute before I spoke, "What brings you to these parts of the woods, Pete?"

What he said after that changed my whole world again. "I did it."

"Did what, Pete?"

Silence again for a minute.

With my voice a little louder I repeated myself, "What did you do, Pete?"

Then impatiently, I got up, shouting, "What the fuck did you do, Pete?"

The whole room just went silent after my outburst, with everyone's eyes on us.

"I killed Tony," was his reply in a whisper.

Shocked I dropped back on my seat like a sack of potatoes.

I will not get into detail but the rest of the week was like the trial I had four years ago, only this time I was not the accused, Pete was. Pete spoke of what happened that fatal night in the car park. Pete was hiding behind a car. He had planned to attack Tony. He saw what happened when I hit Tony. Then made his move, whacking me from behind, knocking me out, then beating Tony to death. I guess the anger that he held inside himself was stronger than he thought. When he saw what he had done, he just ran.

I was there during the first day of his trial. So were my parents. Sitting on the right was Mr Giordano in the same position as he was four years ago. The trial went on till very late; the judge said the jury must make a decision that evening so that tomorrow will be the final verdict.

The next day I got up very early in the morning, put on my prison clothes and started to make my way to prepare the equipment for the inmates to exercise.

"Jack you're not in your suit. The bus is ready to take you to court." I turned; it was the warden with a confused look on his face.

"Sir I know what the verdict will be. If it is ok, can I stay to help the men with their exercise routine?"

He came up to me, patted me on the back saying, "OK Jack."

By lunch time, a guard came to tell me that Warden Williams wanted to see me. I went to his office. As I passed his secretary, she smiled at me. I knocked on the door, knowing it would be the last time I would knock on his door.

"Come in," that demanding voice said.

I entered the warden's office.

"Jack, you are a free man,"

I looked at him then turned, walked to the large window looking outside at the yard, watching the other inmates working on the exercises I showed them fifteen minutes ago.

"Free to do what? At least in here, I have something now."

He came next to me put a hand on my shoulder. "Look at what you have accomplished in here. If you can do that with a bunch of hardcore criminals, I cannot imagine what you can achieve in the outside world."

"When can I leave?"

"You can walk out that door right now."

"If it is OK with you sir, can I leave in the morning? I would like to say my goodbyes."

He looked out the window. "Get out of here before I make you stay another week."