I Killed Blank

Chapter V

Now today is something out of the ordinary routine, the warden tells us that some of us have to do community service, and that means getting to work outside prison, now each and every one of us writes our name down on a piece of paper so that we can be randomly  chosen, but like most random ballot boxes, it ain't so random, joey of course loves to do outside work, I mean who doesn't love a breath of fresh air, and when you're the kind of guy like joey is...there ain't nothing he can't get, so a few of his boys including me got called on, who would've guessed eh ? hahaha. It's been a long time since I got to do work outside the walls, and let me tell you something, whenever we're in that highway, I just love to stare at that shore, beautiful scenery, like I can't help but loose myself to that view, if only I brought a piece of paper and pencil, I would've loved to draw this where I could see it with my own eyes, staring at the horizon just makes me feel at ease you know ? it's like my happy place, it feels like ain't nobody can take it away once your staring at that scenery, and you couldn't help but smile a bit, sure it weirded out some of the guys that saw me, but I didn't give a fuck, I just enjoyed the view while making our way.

The bus finally stopped and seems that we arrived at our work place, an empty field with nothing but left over wheat grass shavings from a harvest, now the warden wanted us to clear out the entire field for the next plantation so that the locals can take it easy since it was a big harvest, and by the looks of the field it sure was a big one. Working in these conditions ain't so bad, unlike the last time I did community service, it was raining back then and still work work work, unlike this time, sunny with a bit of clouds shading us, gentle breeze, it felt like something so familiar, and then it hit me, it almost felt like when I was working as a crew member on a ship, yup, you heard it right, I worked on a ship.

Now working as a crew member ain't no easy task, it's very very very hard work, everyday repaint parts of the ship, tie and untie knots, check cargo, and since I was found out to be good at math, I sometimes was assigned for plotting courses, once you get the routine, it may not as tiring as it seems, well...at least that's what I think. Sure it was lucrative, but you can't escape the feeling of being homesick, but still they were doing fine, and no I still don't have a gal, but speaking of gals, I hooked up with a few during our voyages, and not one commitment, just fun stuff like drinking, talking, dancing, and...uhm...well you know, fun-fun. And one more duty to add to the pile, and it was the hardest one of them all, lookout duty, the title says it all, you just stay at your position and keep your eyes peeled for anything that needs attention like floating objects, stranded people, and things that the ship will run into, now that is the most important, yup, look out duty may be the most important role aside from the captain and engineers. The mariner's life is like a piece if dream, you can have it easy once the cash starts rolling in, but there are challenges of course, nothing that good ever comes easy, that is something I always believed in, one night I woke up finding myself being held down and being threatened.

Three guys held me down with my mouth covered, and one of them holding a knife, suddenly hits my chest with his elbow and pinned it on me and then said "stop making us look bad", I was like what the fuck did I do ? , then it hit me, they were jealous of me, hey all I did was did my job with the best of my abilities, it's not my fault that they were slacking off during their duties, I struggled so hard to get loose but couldn't, then he pointed the knife near my face and said "here's something to make you remember", then he suddenly stabbed my thigh and what's worse was he twisted the knife while the blade was still in my flesh, it really hurt bad, then finally he pulled it off, then said "if you say anything...you're DEAD !!!", with that happened, I just covered my leg and went into the infirmary, the doctor asked what happened to me, with the threat on my mind, I just said I fell and I got stabbed by a pipe, the doctor scratched his head with confusion, he just stopped thinking about what happened and just stitched it up, 64 stitches ain't no pretty sight to see, or feel, with that in mind, it got me so mad, not at them, but myself, why couldn't I defend myself, why must these things always happen to me, then I got an idea just by looking at the doctor's medicine cabinet, I made an excuse to the doctor so that he would look away, then I smuggled a bottle of medicine when he wasn't looking, what kind of medicine you ask ?...the kind where you can make someone sleep forever.