Chapter 21: Orange is the New Black

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???'s point of view

Present Day

I examine the library of the prison. Nothing really that interests me, except for a few crime investigation novels. I take them off the shelf. I will reads these with intent.

The guards escorted me to my room. They slam the door behind me, then walk off. Not too far, though. There is always one guard standing at the end of the hallway, watching the cells.

With a step, I hop in my bed. The right foot went in easily, however, the left one always provides a challenge. This prosthetic leg is killing me, but I got it on the bed.

I lost my left foot during my time with the Kuzuryu Klan. In order to put the prosthetic foot on, the doctors had to give me a whole new leg, too. As someone who studies medicine myself, I trusted the doctors, nurses, and surgeons here. Nonetheless, the Japanese medicine culture is way different than the one I know. I am originally from Spain.

I begin to read one of the books throughly. 12 Angry Men is a classic. Mmm... I knew a lot of angry men on the streets of Madrid and the fields of Osaka.

I never knew my father, and my mother never took care of me. Hence, I pretty much raised myself. I never went to school. By age eight, I learned a lot about chemical reactions. Not only that, I learned a lot about medicine as well. By the time I was eleven, I considered myself a pharmacist. However, because I was young and I never went to any schools, no one gave me a chance. Even kids my age would constantly pick on me in the streets. I would occasionally get bullied a lot. Word in neighborhoods were I was a "perra loca".

It was then I knew I needed others to feel my pain. On my twelfth birthday, I set up a lemonade stand. A euro per drink was not a bad deal. Next to the stand, I had a tent set up for a "special project". In simpler terms, I drugged each customer I had. They would get sick from the cyanide pills, and I offered to "help them". I brought them to the tent, and finished them off from there. Even if I did not finish them off, the cyanide pills would have killed them in a few minutes anyway. I killed over 300 people within two years.

All good things must come to an end, though. The police investigated, and caught me. Because I was so young, there actually was not anything they could do. The only thing they could do was throw me out of the country. Threw me out, they did. I traveled and traveled, until eventually a "representative" from the Kuzuryu Klan found me in an alley in Chad.

They heard about me, and wanted me to join the klan in Japan. I was around the "Young Master's" age to begin with. They invited me to join as their medicine specialist or whatever they qualified as a doctor in that klan. Since I was traveling, feeling alone, and had nowhere else to go, I accepted the offer. It is not like I had a choice in the first place. He would have killed me right then and there if I did not agree to join the Kuzuryu Klan.

There you have it: my lifestory. Way different than most, but I did not want my life that way either. People drove me to live that life.

A guard pounds on my cell. I hobble out of bed. It is a lot easier getting out of bed, than getting in. I go up to the cell.

"Inmate, you have visitors," she informed.

"Okey," I speak my native language.

She escorts me to the visiting area of the prison. There are other prisoners in here with their families. I hope they see one another on the other side someday. I hope... I can have freedom again.

I sit down in one of the chairs at a table. Someone is here to visit me? I put a few people on my visiting list, but I actually never thought anyone would want to visit a murderer like me. I notice Maki and Kaito at the table, too. Shuichi later joined us, as he got some snacks and drinks from the vending machines.

"Maria," Maki hugs me.

"Hola," I smile.

I also hug Kaito and Shuichi. The three of them welcomed me into their home, after the Klan was looking for me when I escaped.

"How have you been holding up?" Shuichi asks.

"I've been in worst conditions," I admit.

"At least the Klan cannot get you here," Kaito enlightens.

That maybe true, but I still worry day in and day out. Maki wanted to join the Klan, but after she found out we were both fifteen and that the klan abused me, she wanted to escape with me. Escaped, we did. Maki and Shuichi work for Future Foundation, so they opted to rescue both me and Maki. It was all a trap, though. They only wanted Maki. They only rescued yours truly, to arrest her. That is why I am now in a women's correctional facility. Despite Maki and Shuichi working for Future Foundation, they hated the fact that Makoto Naegi and Kyosuke Munakata arrested me. Nevertheless, that is the way it is.

"Maria Gonzalez, you are not who you once were. Heck, I'm not even who I once was," Maki sympathies.

"You have good people with you. Only if I'd known that feeling," I frown.

"But you do. We here are for you. Yeah, true, you are locked up for fifteen years without parole, but we will visit you a lot until then," Shuichi mentions.

"Of course we will," Kaito agrees.

He places his hand in Maki's. She gladly does the same. They smile at one another. That's rather odd. I thought her and Kaito were just friends living up in Towa Hills together with Shuichi. Also, I thought she was a homosexual like me. I guess I was wrong. They definitely are cute together nonetheless.

"Just know, once you're out, you are always welcome back with us," Maki said.

"I definitely appreciate that," I nod.

"And we definitely appreciate you," Shuichi lets me know.

"To us, you are not Maria Gonzalez, the mass murderer of Spain. Instead, you are Maria Gonzalez, the great amiga," Maki warms up to me.

"As Saki Rin once said, who you were yesterday, does not define who you are today. People change. After all, if Tsumugi can be Shuichi's girlfriend, anyone can change," Kaito encourages me.

"Yes... none of you are gonna let our relationship down, are you?" Shuichi chuckles.

"Absolutely not," Maki answers.

"Anyway, we all love you, Maria," she adds.

"I love you all, too," I express.

It turned out to be a great visit. I cannot wait for the next one. I'm glad to know I have amigos and amigas like those three.

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