Prisoner of War

Jasper's Story

I stayed in that corner for who knows how long. When my food was delivered I got up, ate, sat back down in my corner again, back turned to the flames. I was ashamed of it. I stayed in that corner all of the next day. Then I slept in that corner overnight. I had my book, I had my plant. I didn't read my book, I didn't look at the plant, just kept them as far away from the flames as possible, tried to protect them. They were all I had left, I couldn't burn them too.

On the second night sitting in my corner, I heard the noise of a boot scuffing the concrete floor, and a person sliding themselves down the wall outside my cell. I turned my head to see Jasper sitting with his back against the wall opposite my cell. He was holding a bottle of liquor in his hand.

"Life's tough kiddo" he sighed after a long silence. I said nothing.

"I used to be just like you. I used to be just a kid like you, I used to have my own dreams. I dreamt I would become a soldier, and look where it got me. I'm a soldier, living the 'honourable' life of serving my country, but I lost so much to get here kiddo, I lost too much just to be on this side of that door. But I got what I wanted didn't I? I got to become a soldier, serving my country, saving lives, what I had always dreamed of becoming right? What I didn't know back then, was that I had to kill. Once you've killed a man, kiddo, that's when you've lost your soul. You can feel it fall away from your body, it's the worst thing you can imagine. They force you to lose your own soul in the army. They force you to kill, to kill other people who are still innocent, who still have their souls." Jasper begun to cry, but still I said nothing. He didn't know that I had lost my soul when Angel died, and I didn't want him to know. I still couldn't come to terms with it.

Jasper took a swig from his bottle, and started again after another silence.

"Larkin took me into the army, he was the one I first started under, and he hasn't let me leave since. I'm stuck with him, and he is the most monstrous person I've ever met, ever will meet I'd wager. When the war had just started, he was one of the Conscriptors, one of the people who force innocents to serve in the war. He came in, barging through our front door without even the courtesy to knock. He rampaged through our house, shooting at my mother the second he saw her, but my father jumped in the way of the bullet, saving her life. My mother screamed, and Larkin just stepped over my father's body, even worse he made sure to step on it. Made sure to put all his weight on my dad's skull, finally cracking it. Then he shot mother point-blank, the bullet even came out of the back of her skull, trailing some blood and gore. My sister came out of her drawing room to see what was going on." Jasper started crying uncontrollably. "She was not even your age" he sobbed. He took another swig of his liquor. "I was sitting at the top of the stair case, I was only eighteen. I saw it all happen, and then Larkin saw me, but he didn't kill me. The only thing that saved me was the fact that Larkin still wanted to be paid, and had to take in at least one soldier. He's kept a close eye on me ever since, trying to keep what happened then between us. For years in his service, I have tried to convince myself that my family died of a sickness, and Larkin saved me but I just can't anymore. I know what happened, I know he killed my family, much as he did yours, and I hate him for it. He murdered them, kiddo. Murdered them in cold blood. He's a monster."

"And then look at you, kiddo. You're just sitting there, staring at me, not saying a word. You shouldn't be here,this place is not good for you. You've had to go through so much for someone so young, you've had to see your family get killed, you've had to see things you loved be burned down and it's all because of Larkin. You have grown up so much for someone so young. You shouldn't be here, you should be living a normal life with your family, with your sister, mother and father. But they are all dead because of Larkin. You can't stay here, you're still so innocent. You have so much left to live for, you can live outside of this place, but I can't. You're still innocent, but I've killed. I can't go back from that. And so..." Jasper paused for a second. Then said with a defiant look in his teary eyes "I'm going to help you to escape."