Reborn as a RUFFIAN (Complete)

The tap in the faucet is leaking from few days past and the sound of dripping water is lingers in the dark cell of Prison Hospital of Tirana. Life is a mess and it’s messier when living a life of a prisoner. I am the Prisoner of my own fears. This all started way back in 2014, I was a student who worked on a coffee shop as a part timer to support my loans and to save some penny for my mother’s treatment. In the need of urgency of money, I got blinded when a stranger offered me a stack of crisp notes to make a favorable deal. I needed money and he needed me but what I didn’t know I was stepping in a web of lies. All I needed to do was to pass a bag from one station to another. Not a big deal for me, I agreed but caught on the next station. I had nothing to prove my innocence, so I was convicted in the jail, for f*****g 5 years. I lost the career of my dream and so does my mother. They informed me, my mother passed away few days later. It broke my heart and shattered into pieces but in these 5 years, I learned to mend the broken things in life. Time passed and my wounds got healed, I learned back to get upon my feet. They hit me, beat me to the pulp but it never bothered me. The jail taught me to tolerate bullshit and handle situations. Since I had nothing to lose now, I dedicated all my time to become stronger. All this time, I had this one image pictured in my mind, the stranger. I vowed to my soul, I will destroy him like he destroyed me. The jailer unlocks the bar and gets inside, “congratulations Russo, you are free!” she states. I get up from my bed and follow the jailer to the outside. the corridors I saw when they brought me here are still same. The guards open the door and the light flashes in my eyes, blinding me almost. I scream, “stop it!!!!” forced to shut my eyes. “She is sensitive to light, since she lived all these 5 years in dark.” The jailer explains it to someone. I open my eyes slowly and glance at a strange woman, standing few feet away from me. She is all dolled up with face painted in heavy makeup. She turns to me and smiles bitterly. “She is Isabelle, you guardian. You are going home with her, Russo.” The jailer informs me. The woman makes a smugly face and raises her brow while scanning me from head to toe. “You are dirty, and smell awful. Guess they don’t have bathing facilities here.” the woman states. She gestures me to follow her out. She leaves from the main entrance but I hesitate. “What’s wrong? Don’t you want to go home?” the woman yells. “I don’t have a home.” I inform. “I am your mother’s far away relative cousin and now you are my responsibility.” She rolls her eyes, “we are running late, so hope inside faster.” She yells. I take a step out and inhale the fresh air first time in 5 years. The beauty of the nature is calling me but I am disturbed by the continuous honking of the car. Isabelle is yelling at me to get inside the car. I open the passenger’s door of the car and adjusted. She keeps scrunching her nose and that because of me, I stink. I had my last bath a month ago. Jails are not the place what it seems like. They are dark and hold darkness which can consume everything. They torture you to pretend someone else. They beat you to make you suffer. They give you scars you won’t ever forget the times and always remember your place. “I am sorry for the inconvenience I caused you.” I barely whisper to Isabelle. “You will get tired for apologizing for your existence, Illionna.” Isabelle taunts. “It’s Illona!” I grit my teeth. Isabelle turns wheels to a deserted road and I had this weird feeling in my guts, “where are we going?” I ask seriously. “Home!” she shoots. “My mother had her relatives in city. Where the f**k are you taking me?” I raise the pitch of my voice. She smirks wickedly and turns to me, “clever b***h! You are going where you belong.” Isabelle opens the passenger door of the car and kicks me out. I broke my arm and twisted my leg. Her car went out of the sight and I scream while lying on the dirt. I see no vehicle on the road and the area is completely deserted. I drag myself to cross the road and it burns the exposed skin when comes in contact with the hot concrete road of summer. I huff and gasp for air but my throat become dry and itch. I need water to survive but I bare anything to survive. I stretch my arm forcefully and arrange it disfigure. I grab a stick and put my weight on it and walk back on the road from where I came. I guessed my luck when a car stops nearby. An old couple approaches me and offers a bottle of water which I gulp down in seconds. “do you need a ride to hospital?” the old man asks. I nod my head and hopes in their car. They seem genuine and caring enough to make the piece of stink sit in their car. We are on our way when a big vehicle bumps into the car. The old man gets scared and pulls off in midway. The vehicle stops blocking our way to pass, three men in their thirties, steps out. They are well built and carry guns in their pocket. One of them brings his gun out and shows off to the old couple. “Drop her here and you can leave.” The man states. The old couple exchange looks and I leave the car before these men force them to do so. They all smile wickedly and grab me from the arm and drag my body like a bag of rag. The couple started engine and blasted from the place like no tomorrow. I see my hope getting lost and turn to look at these men. I face them and one of them punches me on the nose, breaking it and I feel the blood oozing out. Another man kicks at the knee, displacing it. I scream in pain but they put deaf ear on it. “we leave no clues for getting caught of doing illegal.” They chant. And I got hit by an iron rod on the back. The pain execrates as I feel my muscles getting ruptured.  One on one, the rod hits every inch of my skin. Scarring my body like a painters paint on the canvas. “you will never find out why you have been killed.” A voice echo in my ears. The road is painted red in my blood. I hear the crackling of the bones splitting into fragments. I scream, I howl but all in vain. And this one last shot on my head and everything went black. They left my partial dead body on the road so the wild can feed on it. The blood is flowing like a river. I choke on my saliva and the blood fills in my mouth. I gag and empty whatever was in my gut. The place is silent, like the dark cell of the prison. I hear no voice except one in my mind, “you are free! You are free!! You are free!” Am I really? My vision darkens but by senses awakens. I stayed like this for hours, dying in the middle of the deserted road in the outskirts of Tirana. Suddenly, I hear screeching of tires few meters away. The footsteps are clear and rushing to me. I can't focus to look at the face of the person who is standing near me. All I see that I am free.