Chapter 2

~Unit 05, Chicago prison~

Lewis was given his prison uniform and the sweet aroma of chicken masala was irresistible. He was taken to his unit, dressed in orange short sleeve and pants as the other prisoners. A bold No ‘167’ was taped at the back of his sleeve.

Warden Lee came forward and unlocked his cuffs before pushing him forward into his unit. Inmates were peering through their rooms, the upper part of the doors was made of guard rails and the down part was totally covered with steel barrier. So, they screamed at Lewis from the railings.

“Go, go mummy!” some shouted in mockery.

Each room was fighting themselves to get a view of the new inmate.

“Fathead! Let me guesh, he shitty his father!” an inmate with a British accent said and others bursted into laughter, enjoying humiliating their new prison mate.

“Nah, dick! His father is dead, A fucking Baker!” another shouted.

And as the noise came, it was quick to crawl away at the mention of ‘Baker’

Inmates didn't dare to utter a word after that, Meanwhile Lewis was unfazed by their tantrums. He located his room and went inside.

Two men were looking up at him with widened eyes, they never knew that a Baker could be arrested, and now one was standing before them.

Lewis ignored them and went to sit on the floorboard, leaning his back on the wall. He was really tired and the only thing on his mind was that, by next week he shouldn't be here, little did poor Lewis know that another door to a long journey has been opened for him.

“Hey, mate. Shit! I thought that the Bakers had enough money to cover their crimes,” the first inmate said.

The second inmate kicked his foot, signaling him to shut his mouth or not ask stupid questions.

“Anyways, my name is Paul and my mate here is Peter,” he said in a whisper as if they would be killed if caught speaking, “What's ya name?” Paul asked.

Lewis was far gone in thought, not giving a damn which organism was in the same room with him. He tried recalling how many people walked into his café yesterday, and who and who engaged him in a long conversation.

But it was like counting the stars in the sky, he never bothered to keep a record of the faces who walked in and out of his shop, why? Because they were happy faces who only wanted to relax or rush out to work with a Coffee in hand.

In the first few hours, Lewis was left in his own thought, he calculated and did all the math, there was no way the necklace crawled into his shop without a human's help, and soon, his eyes turned weaker and struggled to keep it open, but was defeated as he crashed out right in that position.

When he woke up, the room was getting dark and gloomy. He stood up and noticed that the guys in his room had disappeared, swiping a hand over his face to get rid of the dizziness, he saw a lantern on the drawer, he picked it before leaving the room.

The hall was quiet, no movement or sign of life. Lewis wondered where the inmates were. Thankfully, the hall was lit with a lantern beside each room, and he had not even reached the center when the door leading to the outside was bursted open.

Swimming in, were the angry inmates who held one or two harmful objects and yelled as they entered. Lewis's eyes widened in horror, and he tried moving back as the inmates came for him.

What has he done? He wondered.

Trying to search for a button, an emergency button or something to stop this cannibal looking inmates

“Stop! Draw back!” someone stopped them before they could hurt Lewis.

“I said draw back! Don't throw weapons!” the voice said again in the midst of the angry inmates.

And soon the owner of the voice squeezed out to the front, he was shirtless as his sleeve was tied to his waist, and he pointed his dagger at the inmates.

“We must not fight until the master arrives! Withdraw your weapons and keep calm, when the master arrives we shall follow his orders alone, right mates?” his chest bobbed up and down as he flared.

Lewis, who was lost at the whole display before him, only held his lantern tighter and his heart escalated each time he met one of their deadly glares.

Footsteps echoed in the hall, and a colossal man appeared with two huge men trailing behind him.

“Chun Li! Chun Li! Chun Li!” inmates sang his name loudly.

While the colossal man named Chun Li took out a box of cigarettes from his pocket, his follower stepped forward and lighted it before the man took a long drag and puffed in the air as the inmates chanted his name in praise.

“Who are you?” Lewis finally spoke.

The noises died for a minute before snickers broke out. They thought he was stupid, not only did he not chant Chun Li's name, he had the audacity to question him, he was digging his own grave.

“Mates eh? Your fucking face reminds me of your fucking father,” he chuckled, his golden teeth on display, “Now see, my people was murdered by your father, his son is in my den now, amazing grace thy lord,” he scoffed.

He has a very thick British accent that it was hard to make out what he was saying.

Lewis did not remember seeing this man with punk hair in the middle and bald sides, now that he had confirmed he wasn't alone in this huge building, he started making his way outside.

But the huge men beside Chun Li pushed Lewis and his butt landed on the hard floor. Inmates laughed in mockery. He squeezed his face in pain.

“See I don't care what bullshit happened to your people and just for your information, William Baker is long dead,” he glared at them, “Now get out of my way!” Lewis barked, he was tired of seeing these disgusting faces, some drastically used tattoos on their face and body while some had open cuts with dried blood.

It wasn't a pleasant sight for Lewis who spent his life with responsible and healthy looking people.

They only had to pray for Lewis when Chun Li moved and squatted in front of him. Gripping his jaw, now that he was close, Lewis had to seize his breath a few times to prevent the stench emitting from Chun Li from entering his nostrils.

“You are dead mate, dead!” he gave a creepy smile, “I told ya my people were butchered, you say ‘I don't care’ I told ya your father killed my people, you say ‘bullshit'”

“Give me my razor,” he called out and the razor was brought to him.

“What? What are you doing?” Lewis raised his hands up in defense.

“I'm gonna cut you, see what your blood tastes like, mate. If it tastes good I will get a cut everyday, and if it is bad you are dead,” he waved the razor in his face.

“Uptown my father caused lots of harm to people, each family was rewarded with gifts and money, didn't your family receive compensation?”

Lewis thought he was being kind by wanting to offer money, he understands that his father broke people's hearts so he was willing to mend the broken, but he was only adding fuel to the burning fire.

Chun Li smiled, and Lewis saw that as a deliberate smile, he went on,

“I will arrange gifts, it will be sen-”

Chun Li punched him in the face and Lewis fell to the floor completely, he straddled him and started messing up his handsome face. He punched Lewis until his knuckles started hurting, but that didn't stop him.

Chun Li has shifted to his beast form, his anger has reached its peak. He lost his mother and two sisters, and this son of a mongrel was only talking about gifts and money, like that would bring back his family.

“Mama was cut open!” He punched Lewis in the face.

“Mia was assaulted and disposed in the fucking river!” he threw a bigger punch in his cheekbone.

Lewis was helpless as each punch left cuts in his skin and blood flowed down his face. None of the inmates dared to stop Chun Li, as a matter of fact they were happy Lewis was getting a slice of life, after all his father was a known abductor.

“Maise was fucking raped ten times!” Chun Li applied more energy as he disfigured Lewis's face, recalling how his family was killed and brutalized.

“Stop, get off me, oaf! Stop it,” Lewis pleaded to deaf ears.

It went on for a while until Lewis's throat turned hoarse from shouting for help, his uniform was coated with blood. Chun Li was a big man with much strength, he didn't give up as he wanted Lewis dead at the moment.

“Chun Li, back off!” Finally someone intervened, and it was none other than Warden Lee who received the emergency alert in the middle of hooking up with a stripper. It took him all his sanity to leave behind his fun only to come taming these animals.

Chun Li finally stopped, he stood on his feet while exhaling fast. The movie ended and the inmates withdrew back to their rooms.

Warden Lee squatted and inspected the nearly unconscious Lewis who sprawled on the floor, in the mess of his blood.

“Tsk, tsk. Seems you've gotten yourself lovers already, wasn't that face smooth hours ago?” Warden Lee joked about his condition.

He laughed in an unbothered tone, “Take him to the infirmary and fill his card as self-mutilation,” Warden Lee ordered.

Two policemen stepped forward, “Yes sir!” They carried Lewis away from the hall.

Warden Lee dusting his hands, he gave Chun Li a sharp glare before he used the baton to hit him on the shoulder.

“No liquor for you this week, no whores, the special room is restricted, you will only get the main dish and no access to the stables until you get a hold of your fat brain!” Warden Lee ventured.

“That man fucking murdered my people, Lee, he wiped them in a merciless way,” Chun Li pursed his lips, his chest bobbing up and down.

Warden Lee scoffed and lowered his face, as if he was addressing a kid.

“His father killed your family, not him,” he started to leave before adding, “You and your minions will wash the toilets tomorrow.”

“Ahhhhh!” Chun Li was left on his own to counter his madness.

*******

The next time Lewis woke up, he was wrapped in a medical scrub, all alone inside an isolated room. He sighted his clothes folded at the edge of the bed, he picked it and when he stood up to put it on, he realized he couldn't even stand properly.

Worst of all, his whole face was like a heavy load, as it was swollen and bandages were used to cover the cuts he obtained.

His whole body was hurting, especially the head, it was on fire and he opted for a bottle of water instead. As he uncapped it and started drinking, the door was opened and a beautiful lady in nurse uniform walked inside the room.

However as beautiful as she looked there wasn't any smile lingering on her face, just a pretty blank stare. And when she noticed her patient was only on boxers, she swerved around and cussed inwardly.

“Jesus, did you forget that nurses walk in and out of their patients room?” she asked. Her voice was classically toned and has no rough texture in it.

Lewis realized someone has joined him and he started putting on his clothes before answering,

“Nurses should be taught that knocking before entering their patients room is a manner, or didn't they add that to your courses?” Lewis questioned, noticing that the nurse was still facing the opposite side.

“You can turn around, I am clothed now.”

His down zip was hanging open, and as the lady's full form came into view. Lewis was left flabbergasted. Her brunette hair was slicked back into a braided low bun, and her lips were painted in red.

“Zip up! Tsk tsk, none of them behaves like humans, all of them possessing caveman tendencies,” The nurse muttered.

Lewis ran his tongue on his lips as he zipped up. The lady in front of her was a nurse and she must have access to cell phones.

“Hey, do you mind if I borrow your cell phone?”

The lady raised her palms in the open air, “Did you see me with one? And mind you that inmates are prohibited from using cell phones.”

“How can I contact my people then? There is ac-” he was cut off.

“Okay, okay time up. You have received enough treatment for the day and your time here is over, go back to your cell room and take the sheets with you, wash them and submit tomorrow,” she rolled her eyes and started untucking the window blinds.

A gentle smile curved up Lewis's face, “Have you ever been accused of something, might be in highschool, church or even in your home?” he asked while looking at the nurse who stopped to glance over her shoulder.

Lewis continued, “I guess you haven't. So, you will never understand the pain of being in my shoes.” Lewis stood and carried his bottle of water, “A beautiful smile will harmonize with the red color," he said before exiting the room.

“We all have our shoes, our crosses to carry. While yours is painful, same as everyone's and with all honesty, I would rather not fit into your shoes.”

The nurse said to the man who was wasting her precious time.

She went back to drawing the curtains.