Prisoner of Your Love

CJ stepped into the apartment wearing a noticeable amount of aggravation. He threw the box he had been holding onto the ground and stormed into the kitchen in search of anything containing a percentage of alcohol.

Mindy cautiously stood up and joined him in the kitchen, unsure of what she could do or say to calm him down. So, she decided to settle with boldly addressing the issue.

“What’s wrong? I thought you were just going to the office to check in on your assets.”

“That’s what I went there for. Turns out we’ve got a little rat snooping around. The bitch recognized me, yet I couldn’t find her name in the database!”

“See,” Mindy sighed, “this is why you should’ve waited until I could tag along. I bet I could’ve identified her. She probably was let go or something.”

CJ growled and slammed his fist into the nearby wall. He pulled back slowly, not even bothering to acknowledge the tender pain and spots of blood on his knuckles, or the fist-sized dent in the wall for that matter.

Shortly after the outburst, the doorbell rang. Mindy and CJ exchanged wary glances. CJ was about ready to tell her not to go near the door, but he could tell that she was hesitant. Besides, where would a grieving brother and secretary be on a weeknight anyway?

Mindy approached the door and peered through the eyehole. The detective from before – David, or Daniel something – was standing on the other side. She drew a deep breath and tried to think before she did anything that would end up costing them. She glanced over her shoulder and noted that CJ was hidden in the kitchen.

Maybe she could just say he wasn’t home right now.

Adele slowly stepped into the visitor’s room, taking her time despite the fact that visiting hours would be ending soon. The guard led her to a seat near the end of the line. Adele waited until the guard left before she looked up to identify her visitor.

Her face lit up when she saw Carrie sitting in front of her. Although Carrie wasn’t exactly considered Adele’s “friend,” she still thought of her as an acquaintance, or fellow employee at the very least. If anything she was a link to the outside world.

“I know it’s late,” Carrie began, “but I think there’s something you deserve to know.”

Adele nodded. “No, please, it’s not a problem at all. What’s going on, Carrie?”

“I think that they’ve made a pretty big mistake locking you away. I don’t know who killed CJ, but here’s the thing…he’s still alive!”

“What do you mean?”

“I was clearing out your office today because I wanted to save your possessions, and I bumped into someone in the back lot. It…it was CJ!”

“You’re the second person to tell me something along these lines. Did they really kill his twin brother instead?” Adele murmured.

“He mentioned his brother, actually…said I confused him for CJ. But the way he was acting so sketchy, I knew something wasn’t right.”

“We have to act immediately,” Adele said, giving her David’s cell phone number. “He’s the lawyer who came here the other day to tell me he believes in my innocence. Carrie, if you’re testimony is recorded, then maybe I stand a chance!”

“A-alright I’ll give him a call first thing tomorrow.”

“Thanks so much,” Adele grinned.

Unbeknownst to everyone in the room, there was an invited guest observing the whole scene. Once he saw Adele coming toward him, he spun on his heel and returned to his cell.

Shadows was about to become a very unhappy man.

Matt woke up in his cell with a startle. His body was throbbing with pain, and it took him a few minutes before he could piece everything together. Gates came in his cell and attacked him, knocking him out cold.

Obviously there had to be some sort of reason for why he would do that. And Matt was willing to bet that it had something to do with Adele.

His mind began racing at the very mention of her name. He needed to protect her from Shadows and whatever he planned to use her for. And then suddenly the answer seemed so simple. He began banging on the bars until a guard attended to him.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Tuck? It’s lights out,” the guard said.

“If you so-called ‘guards’ can let someone in here to do this to me,” he said, pointing at the scratches and bruises on his face, “then I think you can let me out to go ask someone a simple question.”

The guard, at a loss for words, decided to let Matt go, but only for five minutes. That would be all that Matt needed. He made his way down the dark halls until he reached Adele’s cell. He peered inside and was surprised to find that Oli was the only one in there. He turned around feeling heavy with disappointment, concern, and confusion.

“Matt, you’re alive!” Adele exclaimed, running up to him. He glanced up and saw Adele up ahead in the hall. A large grin erupted on his face as he greeted her.

“I took a pretty bad hit to the head,” he nodded, “but I’m okay.”

She pulled back from the embrace and smiled. “That’s so good. I was worried!”

“Hey, I hate to rush you, but the guards have me on a time limit, so this has to be quick…”

“Yeah, sure thing. What’s up?”

Matt took her hands in his and stared into her eyes as directly as he could in the darkness.

“Adele, will you be my girlfriend?”

Mindy finally opened the door and greeted David with a noticeably false smile. “I realize it’s late, but I finally got the fingerprint kit. Surely you understand that with the potential impact of this case, these tests must be done promptly.”

“O-of course, please come inside,” Mindy replied stepping aside, unsure of how CJ could possibly get out of this.

CJ heard every word spoken in the living room. He bit down on his lip, cursing himself for not investing more time in taking this lawyer seriously. He glanced down at his hands, zoning in specifically on the finger that was removed from his brother. It was a shade darker than the rest of CJ’s fingers, namely because the flesh on that finger was by all means dead.

His eyes frantically scanned the kitchen for something, anything, that could be used to prevent the test.

And then everything made sense. The stove! It was perfect. Sure, it would hurt like hell, but CJ assured himself he could handle a few seconds of heat.

His fingers eagerly twisted the knob, bringing the burner to life. On the count of three, he placed all ten fingers down on the flat heated surface. The feeling was numb at first, but after a couple of seconds passed, the pain surfaced as layers of flesh melted away.

That had to be enough by now. Any longer and he might accidentally let a scream slip.

He pulled his fingers off the surface and took a brief moment to look at them. The skin on his fingertips was gone, replaced with a bloody mess of melted flesh and boiled flakes of skin. He reached for the first aid kit under the sink and hastily wrapped bandages around his fingers. The footsteps were approaching. He leaped up to his feet just in time.

“AJ, the lawyer says that he’s here for your prints,” Mindy announced.

CJ stepped into the hall with a sheepish smile. “I’m afraid you’re timing is terrible. I tried making eggs for Mindy this morning, but clumsy me burned myself pretty badly.” CJ shrugged with exaggeration, showing off his bandaged appendages. “I don’t know why Mindy didn’t tell you this right away.”

Mindy swallowed a lump in the back of her throat. She couldn’t believe that CJ just did that to himself…and that he expected her to read his mind. David stared at the bandages both in disbelief and suspicion. “That looks pretty bad. I…I guess that the prints will have to wait until you heal. How long did your doctor say it will take?”

“My doctor?” CJ said, though it came out as a question. “Oh, yes, my doctor…he said it would take at least three weeks for the skin to regenerate.”

David nodded and excused himself to the front door. He couldn’t stop thinking how much of a coincidence that was. And it was beginning to piss him off. The moment he situated himself in the car, his phone began buzzing in his back pocket. He strained to reach for it and looked at the caller id, noting that it was an unfamiliar number. He answered anyway.

“Hello?”

“Hi…is this David? Adele’s lawyer?”

“Yes, who is this?”

“My name is Carrie, I used to work with Adele, and I believe I have some information that can help your case.”

“What kind of information?”

“I…I was at the office earlier and bumped into CJ. He tried convincing me that he was actually his twin brother, but his behavior seemed off.”

David couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This could be much better than a lousy set of prints. “Okay, Carrie, I need you to meet me at Adele’s office first thing tomorrow morning.”

He hung up the phone wearing a large smile. What more could he ask for? This was practically his ace in the hole. The case was already won.

Adele couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She spent so much time reminiscing about their first encounter, reliving their intimate moment together the other day. Hearing him say those words to her seemed to have ignited a fire inside of her. She almost couldn’t breathe.

“Of course. Yes, I’ll be your girlfriend,” she beamed.

Matt leaned in and lightly pecked her lips. She stood up on her tiptoes and peered over Matt’s shoulder before glancing over her own. The coast was clear. “I think we should celebrate,” she whispered.

“I’m sure that guard will be returning any minute now, though.”

“Come on, Matt. We’re already in prison. What else can they do to us?”

Matt took a moment to contemplate. Spending the entire night with her, being able to protect her if only for the moment would be worth losing sleep and risking punishment. Finally, he agreed.

“Follow me,” he said, “I know the perfect place.”

They silenced their steps as they crept through the dark halls, jumping at the sound of a sudden series of snores coming from behind the bars every now and then. Most of the guards were asleep by now, which made this a bit easier.

Surely, the one who released Matt would be wondering the halls, but they would be long since hidden before he could find them.

Matt stopped suddenly and tugged on the handle of what sounded like a rather large metal door. They walked inside and he closed the door behind her. He felt around the grimy walls in search of a light switch.

Adele gasped when the lights flickered on, revealing their secret location. A solitary metal chair stood in the center of the room, firmly bolted to the ground. A silver cap rested at the top of the chair, with leather straps dangling from the cap and armrests.

The room was completely made of cement. Bloodstains were splattered all over the place, dried into the cracked cement. The ceiling was leaking from God knows what. A small desk stood over in the far corner with some rusted control panels on top.

“This is the old electrocution room,” Matt said, watching her take in the sights. “I know it doesn’t exactly scream romance novel, but no one would ever expect us to be in here.”

Adele turned to face Matt. “As long as we are together, I guess I really can’t complain,” she teased.

A prison jumpsuit wasn’t exactly the most flattering or sexual get up, but Adele managed to make it work. She walked forward slowly, purposely moving her hips from side to side, occasionally glancing over her shoulder wearing a seductive face. She sat down in the very chair where countless bodies fried. She began to unbutton her jumpsuit to reveal a bit of cleavage.

Matt’s mouth went dry as he watched her little show. He could feel his penis rapidly expanding and hardening in his pants. “Are you just going to stand there all night, or do you plan on joining me?” she asked in a sultry voice.

On command, he ran over to the chair and took her wrist, tugging her up from her seated position and sat down, pulling her onto his lap. “I like you better on top,” he breathed.

He held onto her face, bringing their lips together in a crashing sensation. She ran her tongue along his lower lip, while her hands trailed down his abdomen. He relaxed his jaw and allowed her tongue entrance inside.

Once their tongues met, they danced inside each other’s mouths. The kiss held passion and hunger, though not to the dangerous degree that someone such as Gates or Shadows may possess. She rocked her body back and forth, grinding herself against his growing package.

In the back of her mind, Adele imagined a man sitting in the very same chair, strapped down with the metal cap wrapped around his head. She pictured him putting up a struggle, causing the guards to beat him with their nightsticks a couple times. They broke bits of his skin and caused blood to spill onto the rough floor.

He screamed in protest, possibly trying to claim his innocence, or maybe just a plea to let him live. Once he was secured, the executioners would press some buttons on the panel.

Jolts of electricity would flow out of the sensors, slowly at first, perhaps jumpstarting his heart. Then they would increase in intensity, frying his brain and skin. Smoke would linger around the metal cap as his body convulsed.

Spit and blood would drip out of his mouth. Once his body reached its limit, everything would shut down. He would still be in the chair, slumped over with his eyes wide open and mouth ajar.

And it didn’t turn Adele off a single bit.

CJ wanted to feel relieved after the lawyer left, but instead he felt restless. This still didn’t solve his issue with that girl he ran into. She’s a danger to his innocence. He waited until after Mindy was passed out before digging through her purse and finding her ID card.

He logged into the office’s database and used her username and password to access files. He clicked on the master list of employees, both current and recent, achieved over the past ten years.

Each name had a face next to it. It took him hours to sift through all of them, but around 4 AM, he finally found his match. Carrie Morgan.

He scribbled down her address and took off into the night. In the passenger seat next to him he had two gallons of gasoline and a box of matches. House fires have become a big problem over the years. This should come as no surprise.

He parked his car a few streets down from Carrie’s house. Her house was only a ranch, one story. He threw the gasoline around the perimeter and then lit the matches, tossing them into the liquid.

He paused only long enough to watch the flames consume the foundation, and to hear her scream.

Oli woke up in the middle of the night with urge to piss. He debated whether or not it would be worth leaving his comfortable position. At first he didn’t want to move, but once he discovered that he couldn’t get back to sleep, he groaned and forced himself out of bed.

Once he finished his business, he turned around and discovered two empty bunk beds. “Where the bloody hell is that whore?” he mumbled. Given the unexpected condition, he decided that now would be the best time to talk to Shadows.

It took twenty minutes and several complaints from nearby inmates before a guard arrived. Oli had exhausted his list of songs, some of which needed to be repeated to kill the time.

Before he was arrested, his band had been working on recording a new album. It had been a while since he screamed, so his throat a little raw, but it was refreshing all at the same time.

The guard let him out just for the sake of not having to listen to such raspy screaming-meant-to-be-screaming anymore. Oli made his way down to Shadows’ cell and had the guard let him inside. “Do you even know what time it is?” Shadows growled.

“Trust me, this couldn’t wait. How much has Adele told you about her visitors?”

“She said they were friends from work.”

“Interesting. Did you know she has a lawyer working for her case?”

Shadows immediately sat up. “She’s already trying to get a case?!”

He nodded. “And this girl who visited tonight was the first of her friends, as far as I could tell, meaning all this time she was meeting with the lawyer.”

“She betrayed you again, Shads,” Gates commented.

“I’m gonna kill that bitch,” he growled, ready to go back to the cell.

“She’s not in the cell, that’s why I came here,” Oli supplied.

“I think you should just wait til the morning. We need to teach her a lesson, remind her who is in charge here because obviously she doesn’t get it,” Gates suggested.

The three of them all agreed, and, as a matter of fact, greatly looked forward to the morning.