'Scars' (Polopocalypse and Battleaxe) - Mature Content

[[None at all ]]

Kelli frowned as Mitch pulled her back to him tightly, wrapping his arm around her shoulders possesively, like he owned her. This was how he was with his drugs. That wasn't very reassuring or helpful. She belonged to him. She was his possesion, his property. Suddenly she didn't feel so ditent from women back in the past when they were considered property of their husbands.
Glaring up at him, she shook his arm off of her and shot him a warning look. Hopefully he'd be able to read her expressions as well as he did at the orphanage. That would save her a lot of explaining to the two of them.
"Yeah, uh, Mike... you're going to have to."
The blonde's expression changed from joy to confusion to horror to rage in a matter of seconds as he realized what was going on, what all of the gestures were adding up to.
"Because I'm not sticking around."
There. She said it.
Kelli couldn't stop the tears that were welling in her eyes as she saw Mike glance from Mitch to her, in their bedraggled clothes and dirty appearance and everything. He could probably guess what was going on, and he was most likely assuming "things" had happened between them.
"I see." Mike murmured, dropping his gaze and kicking a loose stone. "You'd best be going then. I don't want to make him any more angry than he already is."
Of course Mitch was as easy to read as a book. He didn't hide his emotions at all. In fact, most of the time he just let them all out, exploding and hitting everyone near him with them. And Mike was not stupid. He knew Kelli was done with him, and it was all Mitch's fault. But he was no good for her, in any way, shape, or form.
Sighing, Kelli bit her lip, wishing he would offer them shelter or food or anything. She'd expected him to help her, even if she hadn't been faithful to him. He was so caring.
She decided she'd been wrong.

"Hard luck, Mate." Mitch said, shrugging at Mike, "Y'win some, y'lose some."
Of course, he would not have been so nonchalant if he had lost this one... He'd probably have thrown his toys out of the cot and killed Mike - in which case Kelli would definitely have rejected him, which probably would have lead to him killing her, too - then himself as well for good measure.
The thought made him frown. He really wasn't in the soundest mental health after all... And he was rather a sore loser, it would seem.
"Kelli," He turned to her, "We'll have to find somewhere to stay..." He frowned thoughtfully, suddenly feeling uncomfortably inferior beside Mike.
Mike could probably offer her a house, or at least a small apartment. He, on the other hand, could never provide for her in that way. He could not even get a job, what with his face printed on Wanted posters all over town. All he could offer was a life of running, hiding, and stealing...
A sad, guilty expression fluttered across his face - displayed solely thanks to the help of the Jeffery.
He stared at Kelli, and his eyes searched hers - silently asking questions he would nver ask out loud.
Is this really okay? Choosing me over him, despite all the sh*t that comes with me...? Is it really okay, to give up on ever living a normal life?
Are you... Sure?

"It was nice seeing you, Mike." Kelli murmured detatchedly, not looking up at Mitch. It was his piss poor attitude that had driven Mike away from helping them and not giving them what they needed at the moment, and she wasn't about to let him off the hook so easily.
Mike nodded and turned away stiffly, walking in the opposite direction and forgetting the shotgun lying on the ground. As he disappeared into the rows of corn to the right of them, she picked up the fire arm andbegan walking away, expecting Mitch to follow.
She made her way down a narrow pathway, winding down the down the shallow path of dirt. It wasn't very pronounced, so she guessed it was most likely a deer trail. Maybe she could even shoot one, although she didn't thinkn she'd be able to pull the trigger and ectually end a life...
Frowning, she turned abruptly and looked at Mitch, glaring at him under her long bangs that had grown and gone untrimmed. They covered some of her eyes, but she was still able o angrily gaze at him with frightening accuracy.
"Why, Mitch? Why did you do that?"
She was angry, hurting, sad, terrified. She was uncertain. What would happen to them next? She didn't know and wanted every last resource they could get, and had just thrown one away.

"Do what?!" Mitch retorted, frowning irritably.
Perhaps he was being overly-sensitive, but he found it highly unfair that Kelli was blaming him!
"What did you expect me to do? Sit there and pretend like we weren't together while he was all over you like that?" He huffed haughtily, and concluded, "Sheesh, I'm sorry for taking some pride in having you as my girlfriend..."
It was the first time he had used that word, and it struck him as strange, but he maintained his glare on Kelli all the same.
"If you'd rather be with him, go ahead. I'm not stopping you... But you know as well as I do that nobody could love you as much as me." He paused a moment, thinking over what he had said, then hurriedly corrected himself, "I mean, as much as I do. Nobody could love you like I do."
He nodded firmly to emphasize his point, then shoved his hands into his pocket and trudged on like a sulky schoolboy.

Kelli glared at him. "I didn't mean that-" And she was cut off as he began again. Biting her tongue, she stood there with her arms crossed over her chest, the shotgun slung over her shoulder with some sort of carrying strap. That probably wasn't the safest, but she didn't care.
"Nobody could love you like I do."
That was like a slap in the face. She knew it was true, but she couldn't bring herself to say it, not then. No, she still wanted to be mad at him, make him actually think about something before being rash and just acting off of the current emotions rushing through his system.
"I wan't talking about that, Mitch. What was with the 'You win some, you lose some'? You make me seem like I'm an object. Like I'm you f**king property!" Her voice was rising and become shrill as she shouted louder and louder.
Hopefully they were out of earshot of everyone, because she wasn't finished.
"Well, let me tell you Mitch Reid. I do not belong to you. I don't belong to anyone. I am my own person that makes her own decisions and until you can start accepting that, I'm not sure I really want to be around you!"
As the harsh words slipped off her tongue, Kelli immediately regretted them. He didn't deserve that. Some of that, but definitely not it all.
But she refused to take them back, watching him walk off with bitterness.

Kelli's words literally struck Mitch like a slap to the face - so painfully shocking that he actually stopped walking, and just gawked at her stupidly for a moment.
When he realised this, he slowly closed his mouth, and began walking after her, shoulders held stiffly.
The more sensible side of him told him to apologise, to admit he was wrong and ask for forgiveness, but his pride would not allow it - so instead, he defended himself.
"Is it so wrong..." He snarled angrily, "For me to be possessive over you? Look, Kelli, I'm a possessive guy by nature, and you're a lot to lose!
Is it really so wrong..." He paused, drawing in a breath, "For me to be possessive over the best thing in my life?"
Eventually he sighed, and reluctantly dropped his defensive front.
"Look, I'm sorry if what I said made you feel like some kind of... I dunno - object? I didn't mean it. It's just the way I talk." He shrugged, "Old habits..."

Kelli watched as he actually gaped at her, mouth hanging open in dumbfound surprise and horror. She could understand that. Her words even caused her to shudder. She couldn't imagine a life without Mitch, a life without this wonderful boy she'd given her heart to, even though she had for the past 14 years or so. Absently she wondered how she did it.
"Is it so wrong... For me to be possessive over you? Look, Kelli, I'm a possessive guy by nature, and you're a lot to lose! Is it really so wrong... For me to be possessive over the best thing in my life?"
His words made some sense in her head, even though she knew she was definitely right. She was about to make some sort of nasty remark when he actually apologized.
"Yeah, you know what, Mitch?" She began, still a bit irritated. "Everything's a habit for you. And it's your habits that are making me mad at you. Just stop!" She knew she was being unfair, but she wasn't through fighting with him. She needed to be angry, she needed a punching bag to let all of the emotions that had been plugged up within her out. She needed something to yell at, to be mean to, for even just a little bit, and right now it was Mitch. She knew it was hurting him, but it felt like the world was rushing out of her. She couldn't sstop. And it didn't help she was on her period.
"It really gets me mad when you think it's okay to just go and blame your gang for everything you're doing. Yeah, they influenced you, but you chose to listen!"

Mitch was honestly taken aback when Kelli threw his apology right back in his face.
He had never expected that from her, and something told him that he would not be able to deal with it well. He was a proud guy, and Kelli had just injured that precious pride of his.
If she had been anybody else, she would already have been on the brink of a slow, painful death.
But this was Kelli. He could forgive... He could shrug it off and let it go... Right?
"I'm not blaming anyone!" He snapped angrily in respone.
Wrong.
"This is me, Kelli!" He thumped his bare chest to emphasize the point, sucking a pained hiss through his teeth when his hand slapped against his burnt skin.
"My habits, my choices, everything you hate so much - they're me, now! Just get that through your head!"
He knew he was digging himself into a hole, knew he was angry and yelling, but he couldn't stop... He was out of control.
"I can't just stop being me, okay? And if that's what you want, then maybe you should find somebody better!"
Idiot! Shut up, shut up, shut up!
But his lips formed a cruel snarl, and worst of all, he wasn't done.
"Go running back to Mike, why don't you. I bet he doesn't have all these [i]habits. Bet he doesn't blame everything on some old gang..."
The words slid like poison from his lips, but even though he knew he was ruining everything, he just couldn't make himself stop...
"Frankly, Kelli, you only ever seem to see my mistakes. But I've got news for ya, kid. You ain't that perfect yourself." His eyes narrowed into a glare, "But I loved you through and through - the good and the bad! Even the things about you that I hated, I loved, because they're part of what makes you, you!"
Loved...? Did he just say that...? Oh, God, Mitch - just shut up...
"So if you won't take me as I am, then leave! Right now - I dare you. Because I ain't gonna change, and I sure as Hell ain't gonna waste my time on somebody who won't accept me."
Why...? You mother f**king fool... Why?!

Keli sucked in a breath as she listened to Mitch yell right back at her. She knew she should have expected it from him, but she hadn't. She honestly hadn't. That was the problem with her these days. She just couldn't think ahead, plan out her actions. Maybe if she started expecting these reactions from him they wouldn't hurt as much.
The very thought of that hurt her. She couldn't bear to go around expecting Mitch to be the bad guy, the kind of person who would burn anyone and everyone that got in his way. She couldn't bear to think of him as the guy that treated girls as items. She couldn't bear to expect things so low as getting high and taking whatever he wanted from him. That would cause just as much - if not more - pain as having him do it as a complete surprise.
"I know this is you, Mitch." She snarled back at him when he was finally done. "And I know I'm not perfect, either. I'm just trying to make-"
"So if you won't take me as I am, then leave! Right now - I dare you. Because I ain't gonna change, and I sure as Hell ain't gonna waste my time on somebody who won't accept me."
That knocked the breath out of her chest.
"Waste of your time?" She murmured, all of the fire and anger draining out of her system. Now she just felt completely and utterly exhausted, defeated and overcome. There had to be more to the end of them than this.
"Is that really all I am, Mitch? A waste of your time?" She whispered hollowly, eyes never leaving the ground. She could see some faint animal tracks, maybe a raccoon, running around in circles. The dead brown leaves that lay half crushed on the ground were suddenly very fascinating. Anything was better than looking at Mitch.
She suddenly spun around and dropped the gun, sprinting off in the direction they were going. She needed to get away, escape, leave. Find somewhere else to think.
With tears welling in her eyes, she grabbed onto a branch of a tree that was lower than the others and hauled herself up, letting the small twigs and branches cut her. The pain felt good. It distracted her.
She kept climbing and climbing, hands rhythmically grabbing the branches and yanking her small body up the trunk of the tree. She'd always had an aptitude for climbing. Mitch used to call her Monkey-Girl.
The memory brought more tears and increased her longing for the old Mitch. Where was he when she needed him most?

[[Dude. I am practically exploding right now. This is so much fun O.O]]

((I know, right?! Messing up relationships is THE BOMB!!!! So glad you're having as much fun as I am.

PS. Love the name. XD ))

When he saw how upset he'd made her, it took less than the space of a heartbeat for Mitch's anger to drain away. "No, Kelli, wait, I didn't mean-"
But it was too late. She was gone - run off ahead of him, leaving nothing but empty footprints.
He didn't go after her. He couldn't - because after all that, she would only push him away.
Instead, he yelled out his anger - anger with nobody but himself - in a wordless shout of fury.
He wheeled around, the scenery flashing by in a blur of red as he searched for something, anything, to release this fiery fury on.
The nearest thing was a tree trunk - and with a feral roar, he slammed his fist into it. The bark splintered, split and crumbled at his feet, falling with droplets of blood from his hand.
The pain angered him more still, and he punched the tree again and again, splintering the wood, and causing the sturdy trunk to shudder and groan beneath his attack. The tree showered him in dead leaves and acorns, and in turn, he showered it in his blood.
If took him a long time - longer than he was proud of - to get a grip on the temper he had lost.
But eventually he managed it. With all the fight drained out of him, he collapsed to the ground in a broken heap, leaning back against the tree and cradling his injured fist in his hand.
He could see the bones of his knuckles, because he had punched the skin clean away, and though it was swelling rapidly and bleeding profusely, he could still make out that the bones in his hand were crushed.
As the pain slowly began to hit him, he cursed under his breath. Then he gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and cursed again.
Cursed Hell, cursed Heaven and Earth... Anything that had ever brought Kelli to him, and anything that had taken her away.
He relished the pain in his hand... Because nothing, nothing hurt like the idea of losing Kelli... Again.
He had to follow her... Find her. He had to get her back.
But he couldn't... She would have to come to him, of her own free will.
The thought brought to mind a quote he had heard long, long ago - probably during his innocent years at the orphanage.
"If you love something, let it go. If it comes back, it's yours. If it doesn't, it wasn't yours from the start..."

[[I think this kind of makes up for how emotional I've been letting my characters get Kelli can suffer for all my characters' wrongdoings!!! And, yes, my name is true ]]

Kelli listened to his cries of rage, the roars of anger that could probably heard for a long way away. He was angry, and that was natural reaction she'd expected. Again, the expectation concept washed a whole other wave of despair over her. She'd never be able to accept him as a bad person. He would always be good and righteous to her - even when he wasn't.
Frowning, she listened for anything else, any other sign that he'd be coming back for her, but there were none. That was probably what hurt most of all.
She climbed a little bit higher, relishing in the sense of being so far above everyone. She was completely capable of doing anything and everything she wanted at this height. At least that was what it seemed.
The sun was setting and stars were beginning to appear, winking at her from their heavenly positions as if mocking her.
Stars.
Mitch.
So she lay there in a fork of the tree and cried herself to sleep, praying to a god that didn't exist that somehow, some way, it would all be okay. That maybe one day they'd be able to watch the stars together. To count them. To believe.
***
The next thing she knew, Kelli was falling, the wind rushing up her, trying to stop her. The branches from the tree tried to reach out and catch her, but it couldn't. It only hurt her, scratching her and tearing at he skin.
She woke up from that terrible nightmare screaming, only to realize with a painful thud on the ground that it really wasn't a nightmare at all. It was real life.
She screamed again, the pain in her back and right leg ddriving her insane. Black spots filled her vision, trying to blind her and put her back to sleep again. That was what she needed right then. A good sleep. Drift back into unconsciousness and escape the pain...
From what she still could see, the bone in her right leg was sticking through her skin, its jagged edges covere dwith red liquid. More of the blood was pouring out of the wound, stainging the ground a sickening shade of crimson and making mud.
She groaned and rolled her head back, half moaning, half shrieking for Mitch, tears welling in her eyes.

((Mine have been getting too emotional, too - but I'll probably just punish them all by half killing them, like I always do.

WOOOOP! Go Battleaxe! XD ))

Mitch had fallen asleep on the ground, cradling his hand, but he woke abruptly when Kelli's shriek ripped through the air.
He sat up quickly, then gasped in sheer agony when his injured hand was lifted in unison with his head, only to have the glue of blood binding them unstick, letting his fist fall back to his side.
On his face was the horrible sticky print of his hand, in powdery dried blood.
The thought made him gag - but he didn't have time to throw up. Kelli's screams had already dragged his legs into a sprint before his eyes were even fully open.
As he reached her, he skidded to a stop, letting out an exclamation of horror. He fell to his knees beside her, and began muttering useless words of comfort.
"Shhh, it's alright, I'm here... It's okay, everything will be fine. Just hold on. I'm here... I'm here..."
As if it mattered! This was all his fault to begin with!
He swallowed back the bile that accompanied this unpleasant thought, and quickly shifted around to block Kelli's view of her leg.
One thing he knew: With this kind of horrific-looking injury, shock was the biggest danger. He couldn't let her look at her leg... The bone sticking grotesquely through the skin... He shuddered, and swallowed again.
"Hey..." He crooned, "Hey, ssssh. Look at me, Babe." He smiled calmly at her, acting like everything was totally okay - like it was all in her head. "Remember when we were little, how we used to play doctors and nurses? D'you remember that?"
He spoke to her as if she was a child, trying to speak through her pained consciousness to the slumbering subconscious beneath.
"Let's play again, okay? Just like before. It'll be fun, right...?" He stroked her hair calmly, still smiling in that casual way of his. He had to play with her mind - keep her trapped in her imagination, so she couldn't go into shock.

He kept talking pointlessly to her as he began to work, always keeping his body between her eyes and her leg.
He cut away her pants just above the break, then found a sturdy stick to use a splint.
But he had no bandage...
Swallowing thickly, he glanced around in desperation - then shrugged and decided to improvise.
His fingers fumbled with the buckle of his belt - and the next moment, he was kneeling there in his boxers - ripping up his pants with knife and teeth.
He cursed his crushed hand, his burnt chest, his lack of medical knowledge... Everything that hindered him from helping Kelli.
Finally, he had the pants cut into strips, and he used these to bandage Kelli's leg - holding it steady with the stick / splint.
"Listen, Kelli, you need to go to hospital." He mumbled through a mouthful of rag - tying the makeshift bandage awkwardly with his teeth and one good hand.
"Luckily there's one nearby. I'll carry you there - just focus on breathing nicely for me, okay? Deep breath in, deep breath out..."
Still quietly talking, he picked her up carefully, biting back the screams of pain that threatened to overwhelm him every time he bumped his injured hand.
Once he was holding her, draped carefully over his back to keep her leg straight, he hurried on to the hospital, walking as quickly as he could, yet taking care to move smoothly for fear of jolting her...

[[Heck yes ]]

Kelli barely noticed when Mitch entered her line of vision, sprinting to her side to see what was wrong. The only thing she could feel was the burning sensation in her leg, the shock of the bone poking through her skin, the blood slowly dripping down her calf and onto the dirt ground. She could feel the sticky trail it was leaving along her skin as it slid onto the earth, marking it with a part of her.
She winced as she noticed him moving to block her view from her leg. Good. She didn't want to see it. Maybe she could pretend that it wasn't there, that this wasn't happening, that it was all a dream...
The sharp pain reminded her that it was real.
He was murmuring comforting words to her, trying to figure out what he was going to do. She really just wanted to beg him to leave her alone, to let her pass out and escape the pain, but the words refused to leave her mouth. Her vocal cords refused to work.
So she just swallowed back her teears and tried coughing, wincing as she moved her back.
"Once you've seen a little too much of real life, your imagination just doesn't work any more."
The words just flowed from her mouth as she repeated the same sentence he'd said just a month earlier in response to her wanting to play and be young again. And now here she was, forcing herself to be older, to not let her imagination get the best of her, to focus on what was happening in front of her, even though she desperately wanted to escape.
She had just enough time to wink weakly at him beefore she fainted, a black hole of serenity and peace and painlessness swallowing her up.
***
When she awoke, Kelli was watching Mitch's feet as they trudged along the sidewalk behind the hospital. She knew this place well; she'd had to intern there to get credit for high school. She was glad they were going in the back way. Not as much attention would be drawn to them.
As they reached the door, someone opened it, carrying a black bag of garbage and wearing a white coat. The man - she could tell it was a man instinctively - gasped when he saw the pair of them and let the bag crash to the ground, running over to help.
"Come quietly." He murmured, grabbing Kelli from Mitch's shoulder.
She saw the familiar face underneath the haziness of the dull pain thudding through her veins with every heartbeat. It seemed normal now. This was what she would feel like for the rest of her life.
"Arion." Kelli murmured, and was whisked away down the back corridors of the monotonous white building to a room in the back.
As he was leaving, he gestured for Mitch to follow.

Mitch almost flipped out when the garbage man (XD) tried to take Kelli from him - but when he realised that the two knew each other, he let it go.
He raced after Arion as he man carried Kelli to safety, but once they were in the main part of the hospital, curious looks and whispers began to follow him, and eventually somebody called out, "Hey, it's him! It's Matches!"
Pandemonium reigned.
People screamed and ran from him, but he paid them no mind. He had eyes only for Kelli...
Unfortunately, it was not long before he was tackled by a burly security guard - and before he could free his uninjured hand to fight back, he had taken a tazer to the ribs.
The struggle continued a short while, but eventually the continuous blasts from the tazer became too much, and Mitch uttered Kelli's name once before passing out - left helpless at the mercy of the security.

The next time he woke, he would be lying in a dirty jail cell, at the mercy of cruel, toughened inmates...

[[I'm confused -- is he already in jail? O.o Replying to this will be a challenge xD]]

((Nah, I can send him there later if you like. But he must land up in jail. He just would. Poor him.

Want me to edit? Or just ignore everything after the first 2 lines? ))

[[Nah, I'll just timeskip Do you have a bed time tonight?]]

((Cool.

And no, I don't, but I'm tired, so won't be up for long... ))

[[Alright, go to sleep, I'll think of something while you're down xD]]

As Kelli was nursed back to health, she was finally released from the hospital after months of waiting. Since she had nowhere to go, Arion offered to take her in, and she stayed at his place for a couple of weeks. She knew Mitch had gone to jail for what Matches did, and she was worried about him. Thoughts of her best friend clouded her thoughts night and day, and she couldn't sleep without waking up screaming for him to run, to get away, to leave, to escape.
But he never did.

One day she could take it no longer.
"Arion, I need you to help me get Mitch out of jail." She murmured while sitting at the table with her friend. She was eating a bowl of cereal, and he was reading the newspaper. He slowly lowered it and looked her in the eyes.
"Kelli, dear," he began, using the term of endearment without really meaning it. He always used it when talking to girls, but it was okay because he was gay. That was one of the charming things about him. "We can't. He's in there for another ten years for all of the fires he's started. No judge would ever listen to us." His eyes were sad as he watched her struggle with her emotions. He really hated to see her in pain, but she couldn't keep living in a dream.
"I don't mean legally get him out." Kelli snorted. "I know we'd never be able to. I'm talking about breaking him out. I've seen the prison he's in. It's not that highly secured. I could easily find a way to get him out."
"Then why do you need me?"
"Well, I don't need you per se. I need your clothes."
Arion arched an eyebrow at her and leaned forward to listen as she related her plan to him.
***
Kelli anxiously awaited the door with a half dozen other women going to visit their husbands or boyfriends or brothers or whoever was in jail. This was strictly a male prison, which had its benefits and disadvantages.
Sighing with relief as she was finally let in, she made her way down the line of prison cells, not looking at the inmates on either side of her that whistled as she passed. She just kept her eyes straight ahead and turned the corner to get to Mitch's cell.
He was in isolation for excessively rowdy behavior. Kelli had no idea what that meant, but she was sure it couldn't have been good if it left him away from his fellow prisoners for over a week. When she got to his cell, she stopped in front of it and opened it with the keys she'd convinced the guard to give her. It had taken some... persuasion but she'd gotten them.
"Mitch." She breathed out.

It had been a rough couple of moths for Mitch. He’d woken up in a cell on his own, but since then he’d been chucked loose into the pack, with every shape and size of violent, horny criminal he could ever dream of.
It had not been easy. Being the new inmate at a prison was like being the new kid at high school – and not the cool kind. The white, nerdy kind with braces, glasses and a weak bladder. The kind small enough to be shoved into lockers, and hoisted up the flagpole by his underwear.
Actually, now he thought about, he had suffered similar things at the hands of the orphanage bullies…
But either way, things were different now. He had begun climbing the heirachy from the moment the first fight broke out, and the other inmates learned of his strength and ruthlessness. Still, for each bastard he beat the crap out of – there was another wanting to take him on – and it got worse the higher up he got.
Just like in the gang… Everybody wanted a piece of the top dogs, because respect was what they lived for. There were very few things to take pride in while in prison, after all… Every guy needed something – if you weren’t fighting to get on top, you’d give up hope eventually. He had seen them: The Hopeless. That was what everybody called them… They just sat there, wasting their lives away as despair set in. After giving up on living, most died there in the jail – though some simply went mad, in which case they often ended up killing themselves or being ‘mercy killed’ anyway.
That was what scared Mitch more than anything… To die in that shameful way – a shadow of the man he once was. And it was that fear that kept him fighting. That, and a fierce desire to see all that he had left behind…

He asked after Kelli every day, but the guards never told him anything. They just scoffed, or laughed in his face – which usually ended up with him getting tazered again, since he had totally lost the ability to control his temper by this stage.

Eventually, he found himself as the top dog at the prison – and though he wasn’t sure how it had happened, he was not pleased. The top dog always fell – always – and ended up as some other prisoner’s little bitch-boy. He had seen it plenty of times: The entire prison ganged up to bring the leader down. Mutiny was the only thing that united them…
He refused to suffer the same fate as those before him. So he made a plan…
There was one man at the prison – Geek, they called him. He was pale and creepy, and somehow managed to keep himself outside of the usual scuffle. He was in for hacking, they said – or some sort of technological sh*t. Either way, he was a resourceful bastard, and it was to him that Mitch appealed for the one thing he knew could save him: A lighter.
Naturally, Geek had one. He always found a way, somehow… But Mitch had to do some things that he was not very proud of to get it…
Still, in the end, when his fellow inmates had surrounded him with raised hackles as expected, he had toasted the lot.
That was how he had ended up where he was: sitting on the chair in his dirty individual cell as though it were a throne. The other inmates were being treated for burns, but he had been given his own private chambers.
It may have been a punishment – but to those inside the jail walls, this was the highest honour!

His week there was almost over now – but before it drew to a close, something amazing happened.
Kelli walked in.
Mitch, who had been occupying himself by carving patterns into his arm with a sharp shard of stone, stood up slowly and stared at her in bewilderment.
When she unlocked the cell and stepped inside, his entire body tensed – eyes darting to the crack of freedom for that brief moment before Kelli closed the door behind her.
He felt like an animal – a crazed beast in a cage, desperate to escape by whatever means possible.
And then there was Kelli, looking more beautiful than ever after the heavy atmosphere of sexual tension in the prison. He could hear his pulse pounding in his ears as he stared at her, eyes wild as a caged lion.
He did nothing. Nothing at all – because he just couldn’t decide which path of action he should take…
Shove her aside, and escape through that unlocked door?
Grab her by the ass, and rip her clothes off with his teeth?
Beat her to a pulp, just for the pleasure of seeing her pretty, pure blood on his hands?
The feral urges made him feel like monster, but his control over them was limited, and he struggled with the effort of containing himself.

But when Kelli softly breathed his name, everything changed. His shoulders slumped, and his deadly expression softened. “Kelli!” He gasped in response, closing the gap between them in one quick stride, and pulling her into his arms. He squeezed her close to him, and breathed in the scent of her – each heartbeat coming with a stabbing pain as he realized how much he’d missed her.
“You’re okay…” He sobbed quietly, shoulders starting to shake as he clutched her tighter still. “Nobody would tell me anything, I was so worried… You could have been dead…”
Something tickled his face, and he brushed it away irritably – then stared at his hand in utter bewilderment.
Water? Where had that come from…?
He looked up, but there were no leaks in the ceiling…
Another drop of water fell onto his hand, and he frowned at it in complete confusion.
Eventually, he reached up and felt his cheeks.
They were soaked, and sticky with salt.
He was crying…
The realization came as such a shock that he nearly threw up.
He had not cried in over eight years. He had almost forgotten that he could… No, check that, he had been sure that he couldn’t cry. He had hated it… Feeling like an emotionless rock.
And now-
He swallowed thickly, and reached up to wipe his fingers over his eyes. When he lowered them, they were wet with tears. He stared in fascination for a while, then slowly looked back at Kelli – hands dropping pointlessly to his sides.
His eyes locked on hers, wide with shock and bewilderment, and his expression spoke a thousand words.
What the Hell is wrong with me?

As Mitch strode forward to her with one huge step, Kelli opened her arms to accept him, but braced herself in case prison had changed him. She'd heard sotries from other women as she had waited, of girls who'd gone in and came out beaten. Or worse.
She didn't want that to happen.
But as soon as Mitch had wrapped his arms around her, she chided herself for ever believing that he could have changed. He was stronger than that. Nothing would would ever change him. Except for, well, you know, gangs.
“You’re okay…” He sobbed quietly, shoulders starting to shake as he clutched her tighter still. “Nobody would tell me anything, I was so worried… You could have been dead…”
Could she have been dead? She supposed so. She'd lost enough blood to have died, but she didn't. She couldn't. She'd faintly seen Mitch's form being dragged away at the hospital, by police or paid security she knew not. The only thing she'd been sure of at the moment was that she needed to live, to give Mitch a reason to live, because a world without him in nit was unimaginable.
Immediately, Mike's words bounced around the back of his head. She finally knew how they could be true.
"I'm fine, Mitch. Fine." She murmured. Suddenly, he was pulling away, wiping at something on his face that she couldn't see. There was water in her hair, but she didn't know from what. The ceiling maybe? No, there was no leak.
It was from Mitch.
He was crying.
Hesitantly, Kelli moved forward and toouched her palm to his face, not minding the salty tears that made it wet. It just felt so good to have him back.
Standing on her tip toes, she gave him a quick kiss on the lips, smiling as she pulled away.
"We're getting you ouot." She whispered, seriousness creeping into her voice. She bent down to grab her ginormous purse and pulled out the clothes, revealing the two pistols.

Even after the emotional moment was over, tears continued to trickle down Mitch's cheeks. He didn't understand why, but he ignored it - assuming that his eyes would stop leaking in their own time.
He felt Kelli's hand against his face, and leaned into her touch with a soft sigh of relief. The only 'touches' he had experienced recently had certainly not been the welcome kind. It was a relief to feel the softness of Kelli's skin again.
She pecked his lips briefly, and Mitch was shocked by how much this gesture affected him.
Being in prison, without a single woman around, and a great deal of desperate men, did a funny thing to a man's mind. He found it difficult to keep himself in check - and it took a great effort for him to let her pull away again.

"We're getting you out." Kelli said, and Mitched wiped the dampness away from his face in order to see what she had produced from her bag.
Clothes... And guns? What was she planning...?
He stared at her a moment, taking in all of her - thinking back over their time spent together, and comparing it to his time spent in prison...
At last, he took her hand.
"No." He said simply.
No?!
"I've messed up your life enough, Kelli. If you get caught helping a convict escape..." He trailed off, and sighed heavily. "I won't put you through that, Kelli. So I repeat: No."
His eyes were dry now, finally - and he looked like himself again, aside from the grubby orange prison jumpsuit he'd been forced to wear.
"It's game over." He said with a subtle shrug, smiling slightly to himself. "I lost this one."

[[*dies* Swim meet today D: Won't be on probably all day ]]

Kelli snorted. He'd messed up her life her ass. If he'd messed up her life, she didn't want to know what normal was, because he was undoubtedly the best thing that had ever happened to her - especially the past couple of months. They had been more exciting and more fulfiling than the past eight years of her life put together, and that was saying something.
"Mitch. You didn't mess up my life, so shut up."
She frowned and pulled the shirt out of the bag, yanking it over his head to cover his prison garments. Frowning, she stood back and inspected him, handing him a pair of loose jeans. "I don't think these will fit over your jumpsuit. Take off your pants and put these on."
Turning away, she walked to the front of the cell and peered out, making sure no guards were coming. She had the gun in her hand, but wasn't sure if she'd be able to bring herself to shoot anyone if she had to.
Curse her softness.
Sighing, she bit her lip and kept looking around, hoping no one would come. She planned to use the emergency exit out back, where Arion waited with his pick-up truck. It would set off the alarm, but they'd be able to get away. Arion knew a place where they could go. Hopefully they'd be safe...