Chapter 10

It was July on a Sunday afternoon I was in the yard with two young inmates, working on their abs. We were just getting ready to finish for the day when I saw one of the guards approaching us.

When he was near enough, he said, “Jack, you have a visitor.”

I got up looked at him and said, “It can’t be for me; my parents came last week.”

“It’s for you, a young man your age.”

The only person I could think of was Tyrone. I grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat off my face as I started to make my way to the main building with the guard.

I entered the visiting hall, seeing the room full of visitors with inmates. Sundays were always busy like this. Sitting on his own was someone I had not seen for five years. I reached the table looking down at him.

“Hi, Pete.”

Without looking up, he replied, “Jack.”

Still looking at him I sat opposite. Not taking my eyes off him. Shocked to see how much weight he had lost. He was half the person I knew in school.

We sat in silence for a minute before I spoke, “What brings you to these parts of the woods, Pete?”

What he said after that changed my whole world again. “I did it.”

“Did what, Pete?”

Silence again for a minute.

With my voice a little louder I repeated myself, “What did you do, Pete?”

Then impatiently, I got up, shouting, “What the fuck did you do, Pete?”

The whole room just went silent after my outburst, with everyone’s eyes on us.

“I killed Tony,” was his reply in a whisper.

Shocked I dropped back on my seat like a sack of potatoes.

I will not get into detail but the rest of the week was like the trial I had four years ago, only this time I was not the accused, Pete was. Pete spoke of what happened that fatal night in the car park. Pete was hiding behind a car. He had planned to attack Tony. He saw what happened when I hit Tony. Then made his move, whacking me from behind, knocking me out, then beating Tony to death. I guess the anger that he held inside himself was stronger than he thought. When he saw what he had done, he just ran.

I was there during the first day of his trial. So were my parents. Sitting on the right was Mr Giordano in the same position as he was four years ago. The trial went on till very late; the judge said the jury must make a decision that evening so that tomorrow will be the final verdict.

The next day I got up very early in the morning, put on my prison clothes and started to make my way to prepare the equipment for the inmates to exercise.

“Jack you’re not in your suit. The bus is ready to take you to court.” I turned; it was the warden with a confused look on his face.

“Sir I know what the verdict will be. If it is ok, can I stay to help the men with their exercise routine?”

He came up to me, patted me on the back saying, “OK Jack.”

By lunch time, a guard came to tell me that Warden Williams wanted to see me. I went to his office. As I passed his secretary, she smiled at me. I knocked on the door, knowing it would be the last time I would knock on his door.

“Come in,” that demanding voice said.

I entered the warden’s office.

“Jack, you are a free man,”

I looked at him then turned, walked to the large window looking outside at the yard, watching the other inmates working on the exercises I showed them fifteen minutes ago.

“Free to do what? At least in here, I have something now.”

He came next to me put a hand on my shoulder. “Look at what you have accomplished in here. If you can do that with a bunch of hardcore criminals, I cannot imagine what you can achieve in the outside world.”

“When can I leave?”

“You can walk out that door right now.”

“If it is OK with you sir, can I leave in the morning? I would like to say my goodbyes.”

He looked out the window. “Get out of here before I make you stay another week.”

I guess he did not want to show his emotions.

On my way back to my cell, all the inmates congratulated me thanking me for everything that I had done for them. I also received a few threats that if I don’t come back to visit, they will come looking for me when they get released.

On entering my cell, I saw Bob sitting there with his head down.

As soon as I saw him sitting there, I said, “What’s up with you? I thought you would be happy for me?”

He looked up. “I assumed you’d gone without saying goodbye.”

“Bob! You think that is the kind of person I am?” I went to my bed and started to look through the things I had on the shelves; it was a handful of items I wanted to give to Bob. As I turned towards his bed, in his hand was something I had not seen for four years.

“This belongs to you,” Holding out the letter Emma wrote.

“I threw it away,”

“I saved it for you,”

I dropped everything and took it from his hand, just staring at it. He started to make his way out of the cell. I sat on the edge of my bed while I was still staring at it. I turned it over and started to open the envelope. I removed the paper inside, unfolded it and began to read,

Dear Jack,

I would like to start off by apologising for what I have put you through the last few weeks. It was very selfish of me not to tell you as soon as I found out.

I wasn’t feeling very well, so I made an appointment to see my GP. After he had done some tests on me, he told me that I was pregnant. With the shock of the news, I was scared to tell anyone. Till today even my parents don’t know anything. Only my sister in Blackpool.

I didn’t know how you would react, would you have loved me more, would you have forced me to have an abortion. I was petrified to tell you. The night I told you to go home, I was going to say something, but again I was afraid, didn’t know what to do.

The evening at the Forum, I wasn’t planning on going, but the other girls saw how I was and they forced me to go hoping it would cheer me up. I was sitting there with them. Then a song came up; they decided to go dancing. I declined, sat there on my own. Then John saw me; he’s been trying to flirt with me all year. That is when you saw him try to kiss me; I guess you didn’t see the after effect when I threw my orange juice in his face, gave him a slap that knocked him over.

I am sad for what happened with Tony; I know you did not kill him, that you are innocent. Because you are not that person, they think you are.

I do not know what I will do with the baby yet. I will go to my sister’s tomorrow; I will decide then what to do.

Love you forever

Emma

I read the letter two more times. When I finished, I folded the letter and put it back in the envelope. A while later, Bob came back to the cell. I gave him the letter to read.