Benevolence

Chapter 9

He was searched when taken in and prodded thoroughly- which was very awkward- and then got stripped down in a cold cell to be disinfected. The fact that he was being watched by six members of this faculty was disgusting but he knew criminals were dealt with this way before their inquisition.

Keeping his head high as he was thrown a black and white striped trouser and shirt he shakily dressed himself up. This entire procedure was scaring the s**t out of him and he really didn't want to go to juvie. Yeah sure everyone saw him as a hard core murderer but he wasn't going to last two days stuck with real killers and rapists.

After getting ready, they handcuffed his hands in front of him and took his photo with those big black boards containing his name, crime and number from the sides and front. Then they took his fingerprints and locked him in a grey cube room that looked as though it were made of metal. He stared at his handcuffed wrists and wondered if he could ask for them to be loosened. He shook his head after a while because that would just look suspicious like in all the movies.

Sighing he jumped in his seat startled as a cold, stern and emotionless man in a grey suit sat opposite him. He had a gun by his side and looked like a man who would shoot if he needed to. There was no warmth or humanity in his eyes and he looked business. This was a guy that wouldn't appreciate Will's sarcasm or wit so he'd need to keep his nerves down.

What the f**k could he say because being confused would look suspicious since he'd used it already? The fact that the cuffs were digging into his angry red wrists and stinging like hell didn't help one bit nor did the unblinking staring eyes of the man opposite him.

Gulping he prayed to whatever unseen force was out there to aid him in this trial. The waiting made him tense as s**t because the man looked like he would wait a while before speaking. Probably trying to read him and see his weaknesses. Well the formidable man was in luck because Will was sweating up a storm under his arms and his flighty eyes would have told the man how scared he was. This man already heard a great deal about him and presumably hated him as he was Mark's dad.

This interview would either get him into a secure children's home or juvie. It just mattered how it was conducted.

‘Mr William Clarkson I am Constable Wallace and you are here in London King's Cross Police station for the charge of maiming and then killing Mr Theodore Bond. This questioning is taking place on Monday 12th November 2012 and at 3:pm. Hence it shall commence.’

The only reason Will listened to everything with avid attention was because this was going to define the next period of his life. Normally he would zone out for the dreary gravelly voice of the constable was so monotonous.

‘Right let's get right to it then. Mr William you were seen in St Mary's hospital at 4:30 pm yesterday and there is a picture of you holding the clip from the ventilator that was attached to Mr Theodore. Do you deny said charges?’

‘No I don't deny them but...’ he said hesitantly, trying to see if he could make the situation lighter.

‘And before this in the Oakfield gym locker rooms you were seen at 4:50 pm on Tuesday 13th October 2012 covered in the blood of Theodore Bond who was laid in front of you. Do you deny being at said location under such conditions.’

Will was frantically trying to pull a reason or solution out because things were looking bad. He couldn't deny any of these things.

‘Then Mr William do you deny lying to both your lawyer and the court framing Mr Randall an innocent man to your crimes.’

‘No but please I...didn’t. I mean....yes to some but...’ Will tried looking at the recorder placed between them, panic wringing his heart.

‘To wrap up this session Mr William Clarkson you are hereby charged with murder, framing and misguiding the court. For these crimes you will have to stay in juvenile prison until you have proven to be fit to return to society. That will be all and this questioning is over at 3:45 pm with Constable Wallace.’

It didn't do anything but entertain the witnesses and label him as a liar but what choice did he have, ‘Look I can't remember doing any of the things I'm accused for even though I was at them and it really looks like I did them. I can tell you that Theo wanted to frame me and killed himself in order to put the blame on me.’

The constable turned around with a smirk on his face and loomed over the desk, ‘Very convenient for you Mr William to forget and be there. And for Mr Bond to kill himself and put the electrode clips in your hand. However I am afraid that your petty excuses are just that. Petty and therefore hold no ground. This session is over and please Miss Simpson, my coffee?’

As the man left Will swore he could hear Theo laughing at his poor attempts and smirking at him victoriously because he said he would get his vengeance with his fool proof plan.

A woman came in and coughed to get his attention before crisply telling him that he had visitors that would be coming inside in five minutes. God sent an angel because she gave him a cup of hot chocolate too with cookies as his parents came in.

Their expressions made him choke on the hot chocolate because he wasn't the only one going through this s**t. Dad looked like he hadn't slept with dark grey bags under his eyes and his clearly badly shaven face. He hadn't even bothered to change out of yesterdays clothes and had an exhausted look about him yet Mum looked as perky as ever with her face artistically made up and in her best suit.

He didn't care how mum felt because she was all about appearances yet dad genuinely cared and looked more stressed than he'd ever seen him. Twisting his fingers with each other he took another sip to find it lodged in his throat. God guilt hurt like hell.

‘We tried Will.....we really did but having talked to the police we have come to realise this is best for you. These people can help you more than we clearly can and we are sorry because as your parents it's our fault you were driven to so much hatred feeling compelled to act in such violent ways. ‘

Then his mum took over and in a chipper tone told him that they had just come back from Theodore's funeral. It had been a quiet and small affair where his best friend had been present and given her words. The family had also told them never to come near or to them again because of the bad blood between them.

The look his father was giving him crushed him and he felt as if he was being buried under a bunch of sharp boulders as the five minutes came to an end. As they left he saw James standing outside the door giving him a thoughtful and perplexed look which confused him. Why was he acting so weird all of a sudden; so calculating and searching?

Well he had no time to ponder over that seeing as he was being shipped off to juvie any time soon. He just hoped that the hot chocolate they gave at juvie was as sweet as the one he was having now yet they probably didn't even give hot chocolate to criminals.

One thing he was absolutely certain about was that Theo's ghost and memory would haunt him for the rest of his life warming him whilst also filling him with cold dread that seized his heart.

They took him from his dingy cell at 8 pm-ish and put him in the back of a sleek black car- probably a Mercedes- with his handcuffs still on. They had started to dig deeper into his wrists leaving a slight trickle of blood up his palm. It was very inconsiderate of them to leave them on as he seriously couldn't kill anyone whilst locked up in there.

Wow so the police doubted their own commando and action when it came to their prisoners. That would be sort of flattering if he was a killer, which he wasn't.

Sighing he looked out of the window saying a soft goodbye to freedom and life as they went into the courtyard of a rectangular grey oppressive-looking prison. The barbed wire strewn over the sky-scraping fence did nothing to brighten the atmosphere and neither did the many guards roaming the area drab in their existence.

He was unceremoniously dragged out of the car and brought inside the heaving metal doors of his new home for god knew how long. His life was just amazing wasn't it?

A man, who looked extremely buff and intimidating- where do these guys even come from? - met him by the front desk and told him to follow him in a blunt gruff voice. Not wanting to get on the bad side of this ogre-like man Will kept up with him, jogging to do so and listened to the lecture he was being given.

‘You gotta be up early, nice and sharp to begin a schedule that I'll send ya in the morning. Now you gonna be sharing a room with three other delinquents like yeself so don't be giving them any tough time okay. Three meals a day as well as two hour luxury time is given. A ten minute shower is allocated everyday as well as a therapy session three times a week. Other than that chores around the building and services to society to prove yourself are done in your planned schedule. You'll have a night pack in your room on your designated bed with all your essentials and then if you're a good boy and your superiors’ think you can leave you could be lucky ‘nuff to have a temporary.’

With that he grunted and proceeded to show him where everything was until they got to the rooms. There he was given a key and left standing alone in front of room 897.

Taking a deep breath and calming himself down he opened the door. It all happened in a matter of seconds. He was pushed against the wall and a knuckled punch met his skull causing stars to dance in front of his right eye. Blinking blearily, he saw three glaring gorillas fuming at him and showing him their fists.

Fuck. He was going to be living with these assholes for a while and they had just shown him how they were going to deal with him being here. Taking a scratchy deep breath he cleared his throat and said hi, praying to god he would survive this.

Never in a billion years could he imagine himself here of all places. He'd tried so hard being the good kid with the steady future and great grades so that he would have a great job and live a stable life.

And now he was here rooming with thugs. Oh the irony of life blows. If he wasn't cursed he didn't know how all this kept happening to him as he managed to get the worst luck.

He was dropped hard on a bed and told to keep to his side of the room. He gulped and nodded vigorously to show he understood. His plan was to listen to whatever these guys wanted from him and keep to himself before he was bailed out.

He meekly began unpacking his bag though his body remained tensely alert for another attack but they mercifully left him alone. His heart was drumming frantically in his chest and his eyes fluttered shut as he let out a soft exhalation of relief.

He lay on his bed and listened to his roommates betting over cards. Unsettlingly he also heard them talk about him. From their discussion he understood that one of them was slightly scared of him and another wanted to show him who the bigger man here was before he got any funny ideas. However the third one had stayed quiet mostly but rounded on the other two telling them to leave the kid alone as he was scared shitless enough and that he would help him understand the place but didn't want violence to do so.

Will squeezed his eyes shut as he felt their eyes on him and tried to stop his body shaking out of the rational fear he was feeling for himself. After five minutes the others agreed to leave it to the guy who stood up for him- sort off.

Feeling a small level of protection and security Will relaxed and realised just how exhausted he was. His eyelids drooped heavily down, covering his eyes and fell asleep in a few seconds.

....................................

Will woke tense to the rough shaking of one of the thugs but relaxed when he saw it was the kinda nice one. He was handed a schedule that was slightly crumpled and made a crackling sound as he straightened it out.

Daily schedule:

8:00 AM – wake up

Shower

Breakfast

8:45 AM- sign in

9:00 AM- Service (of own choice at sign in)

12:00 PM- Lunch

12:30 pm- Therapy session

2:00 PM – Snack and luxury time

4:30 PM- Service

7:00 PM- Exercise

8:00 PM- Dinner

9:00 PM- Sleep

Well the good thing was that he wouldn't be starved but it was a tough schedule. Bleary eyed he got up, waited his turn for the shower and took it fast remembering the strict ten minute rule. From there he was taken by Ben – the guy who was sort of nice- to the breakfast hall.

It was massive and crowded with kids. There was a separation for the girls and guys though some people easily breached it. Snorting in amusement he noticed the plastic cutlery and rolling his eyes took his tray to the canteen.

The food looked disgusting and grey which made his already morbid mood even duller. Sighing he took the porridge and apple to the drinks table and poured himself a coffee as well as taking a water. He looked around lost till he saw Ben waving him over and relieved, walked over to him. He slid his tray onto the table and sat himself beside Ben. He stilled when he saw the other two tense from last night but relaxed as Ben introduced them to him and told him they would look out for him.

As Will was going to eat the apple he felt it get wrenched out of his hand and blinked up at Ben, who was holding it tight in his hand.

‘Will see we've been here quite a while now and lost a lot of our health doing the hard work we get put under so I don't think it's fair that you just came and get the same nutrition as us right? So how's about a payment for our keeping you safe here from all the bad guys wanting to hurt you huh? Nothing big but the coffee you got and the apple. See we are a generous group because you get to keep porridge and water.’

Will felt like he had no choice and these guys could pulverise him seeing as he was falsely accused and couldn't hurt anyone even if he wanted to. Besides it was just an apple and coffee. Nothing really compared to his life but he felt the sting of humiliation and weakness as he nodded his agreement. Trying not to scream as Ben ruffled his hair with a thank you he kept his head down and ate.

Burying the embarrassment he signed in and chose to do woodwork. Only because the other options sucked and he was good with his fingers. The concentration and focus he put into the clock he was making made him forget about the mess that led him here and he even earned a small smile of approval.

Lunch was bread and steak with vegetables and mashed potato. With a glass of water and a carton of ribena. Again however he only got half of it as his steak and, potato and ribena were taken by his ‘protectors’. It took all his willpower not to snap.

Then he had a therapy session which was just as pathetic as his old ones but he kept silent the entire time. Thankfully he was allowed to keep his meagre snack of jammy dodgers and milk to himself however at dinner they had stew, bread, vegetables, beans and juice. Alas his beans, juice and bread was taken.

He didn't know how he was going to cope with these tough idjits that insisted on malnourishing him. He had had his time of anorexia and starvation so didn't want to go back to rejecting food to his body. That period of his major depression had been horrible yet at least he'd had Theo and R to help him out. Funny how then he'd neglected them but now would do anything for their company.

Exercise was another meaningless torture for him where his persecutors found his pathetic weight lifting and push ups hilarious.

Maybe god felt some pity for him because he was left alone after dinner, whereupon he proceeded to write down his shitty day in his diary.

This routine continued for a month and he was at the end of his tether. He was breaking down and felt his eyes and hands twitch whenever his food was taken or when he was ridiculed. He wasn't hurt however his pride was crumbling before him.

He cried himself to sleep every night silently and soothed his throbbing wrists that weren't given time to heal from the cuffs due to the straining exercise periods. The only relief he felt was during service and his free time. The routine was hellish but bearable and he kept his spirits alive by remembering that he could get temporary release in five months now.

He couldn't keep his resolve much longer however, no matter how much he tried to make light of everything and stay focus. His health was waning badly due to the lack of proteins and fruits in his diet. He could hardly lift the dumbbells and twist screws without getting insanely tired. He put up with it but a week before Christmas in the freezing cold amidst the flurrying snow he was pushed over when trying to do some push ups and couldn't protect himself from the iced tarmac that he banged his head against.

He woke up a few hours later in a blinding white room with a man in glasses writing on a clipboard. His head felt lumpy when he touched it and groaned in pain. All attention was on him immediately asking what had happened and demanding to know about why his vitals lacked some essential nutrients they had discovered in his scans.

He groaned again looking in a mirror to see his swollen face looking back at him with a grimace. He couldn't do this anymore. He just couldn't. It was so hard. He wasn't made for this place where he trembled and cowed into himself with every threat.

He just wished that he could get out of this mess he was in. Growling slightly from the pain he looked up to see a confused doctor staring at him and apologising with wide eyes for the violence that had occurred during his research visit.

The assistants and receptionist greeted him and told him they hoped his visit was worthwhile and that they hoped he had a good day. When he asked them if he could leave they laughed thinking he was being funny and said of course, it wasn't like he was an inmate.

Will weirded out just nodded in agreement and walked out back to his room. He packed his bag quickly and pocketed his many creations including his first cuckoo clock. He swiftly left the premise and grinned wildly as everyone let him through. He was free!

Curiously he asked a guard where his ride was to pick him up from his visit and was escorted to Lou's car, with him tapping the wheel.

It was like everyone had just forgot that he had supposedly killed Theo. Whipping out his phone he checked the news where earlier it told of his murder but now just mentioned the untimely death of Theo that was natural.

That Theo's injuries were so grave that at the end the doctors saw no point in keeping him on the life support and with his parent’s consent. Ironically even though he hadn't killed Theo personally-meaning he was safe from jail-he was still the reason why Theo died.

He had done it however, he had found a way out of Theo's vengeful plan but it brought him no joy whatsoever since Theo's gaunt laughing face haunted him still in his dreams. It felt like no victory as Theo had still won and forever would.

Will had just ended his suffering earlier though the scars would never fade away. Theo was still out there to hurt him even if it were only in his head as the words swam through his head over and over again; I want to hurt you.......you'll get what's coming for you.....I hate you.

And for that reason he felt that his torment wasn't over yet. He'd managed to worm his way out of this one. ....................................................

It was strange being back around his family after having spent a month amongst juveniles. He forgot how much he missed having their warmth and security around him. He sighed happily at the thought of good wholesome food being provided for him and also the relieving aspect of no one remembering his hospital crime.

His parents though upset and angry about the maiming didn't believe him a murderer and his sister had friends as he wasn't framed. James still cared enough to shield him and thankfully wouldn't be wearing a serious investigating face anymore. Lou though he still tense and angry around him was slightly more relaxed than he would be if Will was a murderer.

He was scolded on his return home for leaving the house for so long and overfed with the most heavenly barbeque chicken and trifle he had tasted in a while. He couldn't eat much before he felt it travelling back up his oesophagus and hurled down a toilet.

But damn it felt good to be back home in his own cosy bed, surrounded by his own blood who weren't out to exploit or kill him and where he didn't have to break his limbs every day in exercising.

It had been two luxurious days of being regularly fed, gaining his strength and muscle, showering with his familiar products and sleeping snugly in his bed. Not to mention no routines, yet that last chapter of his life he couldn't forget even if everyone else had.

His reminder hung beside the door; his cuckoo clock which he felt both nauseous and proud over whenever he saw it. He also had a few book ends on his shelf holding his books and two photo frames he'd made beside his bed. Holding pictures of the trio Theo, R and he had been. It hurt immensely to look at them but they were his heart and love was meant to be painful wasn't it?

The night before Christmas he had come to his room, earlier than usual to hide the presents he had gotten everyone when he stilled, noticing a figure standing by his bed. He tiptoed to the door, quiet as a mouse, when the cursed creaking floorboard in front of his door gave him away and the figure looked up placing a photo frame down.

Seeing no point in being deceiving Will went inside and pretended that James holding his hand-made crafts weren't a big deal though they were because James had that thoughtful look again. Looking at the cuckoo clock James murmured about getting some sleep before the celebrations so that he wouldn’t be grumpy Christmas Day.

Will laughed a little before looking at the clock uneasily and then shook his head for thinking like an i***t. Maybe James just wanted to unnerve him because of his suspicious trial or Theo but there was nothing else to it. Everyone had forgotten obviously or else he would be locked up again. And James would ask and question him or everyone else. It wasn't in his nature to quietly stew things over.

Finally Christmas would lighten up the grisly mood he had been in for the last two months.

Or maybe not..... It's not like the world owed him any pleasant moments

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