Vagabonding.1 [COMPLETE]

9. Don't shoot the messenger

Everything around me was starting to blend into a proper image as I blinked a few times. I was on a grimy floor, the darkness enveloped me despite the fact that I could make out a light beyond my own room, just past the gates that were keeping me imprisoned. I got up to my feet when I noticed my face felt like I just had it run over by a truck, and from the corner of the room I could hear the sound of someone throwing up heavily. What followed was the rough sound of spitting lightly echoing in the stale air of the cells.

"Hello?" I said quietly. No response came so I said it a little louder, "HELLO!"

"Don't yell, inmate!" Someone called out from the hall angrily. "Keep your mouth shut and stay quiet!"

I limped forward towards the voice until I tripped into the metal bars of the cell, griping onto the bars as I clung on and jostled at the bars angrily, as if that alone was going to get it opened. Even if I could escape now, it's not like I even can, I said to myself. I'm completely trapped again.

"Where's my friend?" I spoke out into the dark.

"Do you want a taser to the mouth? I said shut up already!" The person yelled out again.

I looked at every possible corner but there was nowhere to escape from without it causing another issue. Digging my way out could take years and tools that I can't spare, the bars where too small to fit through and there was no window to be seen in this place. I circled the room for what felt like hours, but was most likely minutes, trying to find a solution but getting upset and worn out emotionally. This was too much for me to handle.

I retreated like a wounded dog to the corner of the cell and gripped at the shoulders of my shirt before rocking back and forth in place.

By the time I had finished searching and retreated to being pathetic, I noticed that the cells were filling up with artificial light that could let me see clearly. Along with the brightness came a light chattering with a voice that sounded familiar but I couldn't figure out from where. It wasn't Rotem's robust voice, so who could it have been?

"How are the boys treating you?" said the familiar voice.

"One's been acting up but he's been put in his place," The guard from earlier replied.

"Take me to him, I'll need to see if my suspicions are with warrant."

The footsteps echoed closer until I saw the guard point to me and alongside of him was someone that I had only met once.

"Dio?" I asked in shock.

"The messenger?" He asked in exchange. The look in his eyes clearly showed that I was not the person he was looking for.

"...You two know each other?" The guard asked before being quieted by Dio.

"It's a small world, you're already a person we both know, so it's not that uncommon," Dio replied as he kept his eyes on me. "What's the crime?"

"I didn't do anything! I was just trying to help out," I said quickly. "They kidnapped us when we were at the restaurant!"

The guard cleared his throat before he spoke up, "Actually, Mr. Ansari, he was submitted on account of mutilation against one of our town folk. We had orders to bring him in."

"That's an awful lot of 'nothing', isn't it?" Dio asked as he tilted his head to the left and leaned on his cane.

"I already told you that it wasn't me, I was just supposed to go out to the desert to die," I said stubbornly.

Dio straightened his posture to take a strong stance, "Looks like you needed to take your own advice."

"You tried to help me escape, remember? Don't act like you're clean in all this too!" Anger coursed through me as I stood up and walked over to the bars again, "If anything, you're just as guilty as me!"

Dio let out a hearty chuckle as he spoke, his head shaking from side to side gently, "You're saying that helping you escape is just as bad as cutting off someone's limb?"

"Of course not! But what do you want me to do about it?" I said quietly before raising my voice higher, "Did you expect me to die in that library alone with that monster?! Of course you did, you all expected me to just stay quiet and die from the looks of it. I'm not going to lay there and take it, I won't let you tell me that my life isn't worth saving. But you won't get another word out of me until Rotem comes back for us."

The change in his face was clear that I said something that wasn't meant to be said. Dio raised his eyebrows and bent his torso to meet my height.

"Rotem?" He asked blankly. "What about him?"

It was clear that I was being set up to answer; either way I go, it's obvious that I already screwed up. I was too talkative and gave up my mental poker cards, it was already a bad hand anyway.

"I just recently met him," I lied, "I'm just a random hitchhiker."

"Rotem would never give rides to random strangers," Dio said as he gave a gentle smile.

"Maybe he's just feeling generous with all the holidays right around the corner."

We fell into another itchy period of silence as he stared at me with his narrowed eyes, his expression turning into something similar to how a hunter views his prey.

"Generosity is so common from him lately, isn't it?" Dio flashed another toothy smile when I noticed his gold front canine tooth glinting boldly.

"I wouldn't know," I said as I didn't dare break eye contact, "I barely know anything about him."

"Didn't your parents ever teach you to never lie?" He said lowly as he reached from the inside of his white jacket and pulled out a lollipop and began to unravel it from its wrapping.

I bit back my tongue for once as his comment rang in my ears. What parents? Maybe if I had some I wouldn't be in this mess right now... but no, it's my fault no matter how I see it. I raised myself and I let myself down by being in this dingy place, blaming them won't get me out of here any faster.

"Do you have any idea when I'm getting out of here?" I pushed myself off the bars and walked away towards the back wall of my cell.

"That's not up to me, sadly," Dio said as he popped the candy in his mouth. His cheek swelled out from the lollipop as he spat out his words, "Sadly, it seems that we've all been caught in a nasty web here. It's a shame that you two lads got strung up in it, though."

Out from somewhere in this jail, I heard another guard yelling in disgust over a mess that needed to be cleaned when the place finally stirred into slight life with people passing through from time to time behind Dio.

"Best of luck to you lads then, keep a strong upper chin," Dio pulled out a small cologne bottle from his jacket and spritzed the fragrance directly into my cell. He quickly tucked the bottle away before turning around on his heels and gave a half-hearted wave towards me, "Looks like I need to make my way to the next county's jail as I continue on my search. I'll have to leave you now to plan or cry on your own... perhaps even both, given the situation you're in. Take care!"

I quickly got up and rushed to the bars simply to stare at him stepping away, the scent of Dio's smoky and spicy cologne lingering in the air, "I hope someone spits in your drink!"

The guard smacked my fingers with his baton and I was reprimanded at for talking yet again.

The world sucks, the guard sucks, the jail sucks... but the constant jumbling of horrible complaints swirling in my head as I walked away to soothe my swollen knuckles was the thing that sucked the most. There's no place left to cry without being seen so I tell myself to hold it in, there was no pity to be found in anyone it seems.