Year 18

-Chapter 5-

  A screen begins a slow descent to the right of me, and I step back, unsure of what is happening. A video is already playing even before the screen is fully visible. All I can see is a clear image of a Cell similar to the one I am sitting in, with Charlie sitting off in a corner. His head is between his knees, his body shaking. Charlie's whole demeanor is always an act, a solid mask he wears so regularly that without it he is almost unrecognizable. Without his confidence, his swagger, his air of slight authority, he's a shell of a man. A boy even, looking younger than before, back even before I first met him. He's thinned out quite a bit, his muscles still prominent under his t-shirt, and yet the shirt seems to fit him more loosely. His normally chiseled features, his sharp jaw, his angular cheeks all look harsher, more defined as though they have been darkened, enhanced.

  Off to the right of the camera, another individual walks in, his back to the camera. I don't need to see his face to realize who he is. I would know him anywhere, having become more than accustomed to seeing him, to picking him out of a crowd. He stalks over to Charlie, then finally turns to face the camera. It's Kane, his hair a mess, although he looks a lot less battered than when I saw him, before he was let go. He towers over Charlie, his eyes aflame, practically scathing to watch, no doubt scalding to Charlie.

  "You're a mess Charlie," It sounds like Kane, but the tone is too menacing, too harsh, "be a man."

  Charlie looks up, his eyes bloodshot, his cheeks stained with tears, new and old. I gulp, waiting to see what happens, hoping what I'm seeing isn't real. Hoping that this footage isn't going to play out how I fear it may. I don't believe the man is Kane, I can tell that clear as day, but Charlie couldn't. Charlie was afraid, weak, is afraid, is weak. He'll believe anything the Government shoves at him, even if they're telling him to throw years of trust away when complications arise.

  "Please," Charlie's voice comes out as nothing more than a whimper, "please just leave me alone."

  I feel sorry for Charlie, knowing that in his mind the man in front of him is truly Kane, and that he intends him nothing but harm. Charlie's view, Charlie's thought process has been altered here. He has flipped his opinion on Kane and the Government, no longer trusting the man he's run with his whole life.

  "Leave you alone?" The UCP version of Kane laughs, a rumble that splits my nerves. "What's the fun in that?"

  Kane kicks Charlie in the side, and he crumples, crying out in pain. Before Charlie has time to sit up, the toe of the man's shoe is deep in his side again, repeatedly kicking him. I shake with anger, not only that they are hurting Charlie but that they were pitting him against Kane. So much has gone wrong because of this. So many lives could have been saved. So many more could be saved if it wasn't for the evil deceptions the Government has fabricated.

  Charlie stays down, his body heaving with attempts to catch his breath. "Kane, please, I want to be left alone."

  "Charlie, Charlie, I know that isn't true," Kane says, grinning menacingly from ear to ear.

  Charlie deflates, beginning to cry, obviously beyond frustrated. "Kane-"

  "Stop," Kane's voice is louder than necessary. He squats down to Charlie's level, his hand caressing Charlie's cheek as though he feels regret for what he's done, as though he's trying to comfort him.

  Within five seconds though, Charlie's head is bashed against the pavement, a cut above his eyebrow dripping blood, the whole right side of his face turning vibrant shades of purple and red.

  "Next time," The UCP Kane says, whispering, his voice just loud enough for the mic to pick up on it, "take it like a man."