Author Bio: I like the outdoors, solitude, and rapping.
Blurb: Nico goes to juvie and his world is turned upside down.
There was a buzz as the door opened and Nico was shoved into a world of orange jumpsuits and numbered names. He had just been accepted into St. Leonards School For Disturbed Children. Known to the people inside as “The Mad House”. He had been sent there for putting someone in the hospital after they had killed his older brother. He wasn’t supposed to come out.
As he sat down in the only open desk the kid next to him leaned over and asked “Snakes or Crowns?”.
“What?” replied Nico.
“You’ll find out soon enough.” the kid answered.
As Nico took in his new surroundings he saw someone throw a chair across the room and into the door. The teacher just stood facing the chalkboard and sighed as he heard the chair break.
A bell rang and he followed the stream of children to the lunch room. As he sat down at the only table with no occupants. He surveyed the people at the other tables. It was simple to see what the kid had been talking about. On one side were the Crowns with their heads shaved on the other were the Snakes with fangs tattooed on their lower lips. He knew he would have to pick one or deal with both. The question was which one? In the end, it came down to the fact that he didn’t want to shave his head. Now he just had to wait for someone to approach him.
It didn’t take long. As Nico sat down on the chair and watched the tattooist prepare to start working, he sensed a little bit of fear. Then the preparations were over and it was time. As the needle entered his lip his eyes glazed over and he set his fate. The next day as he walked into the reck yard he rubbed his lip where the fangs were and watched as the Crowns glared at him. When he got to where his gang was,
Henry the leader said, “Get ready.”
Nico didn’t know what he was talking about. When the two gangs started to walk toward each other. When they met in the middle it turned into chaos everyone was punching the other. Nico smiled and roundhouse kicked the nearest Crown then hopped over their body as they crumbled and went on to the next.
The next day they were sent to the church. As Nico sat down next to Henry he whispered, “I didn’t know these were still around.”
The Nun behind him walked up and hit him in the face with her rosary beads.
As he looked up at her with a look that would have made God himself cower Henry grabbed his arm “It’s not worth a month in the Pit,” he warned.
The Pit was what they called solitary and the Nuns were notorious for giving overly long sentences saying “More time with God will do you good.” cheerfully as if they were giving you candy instead of a punishment.
It turns out the kid he knocked out was a boy by the name of Max, he was the Crowns leader and now Max was gunning for him. The next week Nico got a note in his locker telling him to go to the reck yard at midnight.
When he showed it to Henry he just shrugged and stated: “We’ll be there to support you.”
Later that night when the clock struck midnight the guard turned and walked away.
As Nico walked out into the reck yard it was suddenly bathed in blinding light from the prisons spotlights. When his eyes had adjusted to the light Nico saw that all the prisoners were crowded in a circle and in the middle, Max waited with a bat. The crowd closed around him with the Crowns jeering at him and the Snakes yelling support. Wile, he was still caught up in everything else Max swung the bat low and hit him in the leg. He felt it break and fell to the ground.
Max laughed and yelled “Look at this fool already on the ground. How could he have beat me?!”
Nico stood up trying to ignore the pain and declared
“You wanna fight, put the bat away and do it like a man.”
Max smiled and threw the bat to the crowd
“If that’s what you want. How could I deny a dead man.”
Then with a flash as quick as lightning, he threw a punch that knocked Nico flat on his back
As he struggled to stand he tried to remember the month he did in Karate. The only thing he remembered was his instructor telling him not to kick as high he can but at his waist height for more power. He knew Max had the advantage over him with his broken leg and that he needed to get the upper hand. Max rushed him flailing his arms, but Nico used his body to deflect him and at the same time hit him twice in the lower ribs. Max fell back and clutched his ribs so Nico knew he had broken them. Max realized that he was outmatched and shouted for someone to toss him the bat. As he caught it he seemed to grow. He advanced in a prowl then pounced, swinging the bat at Nico’s head, Nico narrowly dodged it.
As Nico let his anger loose, everything seemed to slow down and he watched Max’s follow through. He stepped in right up to Max’s face and headbutted him in the nose. As Max reeled back Nico limped forward and punched him in the chin. Max collapsed and didn’t get back up. Nico knew he should stop there, but he was no longer in control of himself. He wrapped his arms around Max’s head and twisted it. There was a crunch as Max’s neck broke.
The next day they dragged Max’s broken body out the door and into a waiting hearse. When questioned the children didn’t know what happened. Nico said that he had broken his leg falling out of bed and they reset it and put it in a cast. At the lunchroom, everyone mingled for the first time.
Later that night everyone was abruptly awoken by a loud explosion. Cops poured through the doors and had everyone face the wall and put their hands on their heads.
As Henry leaned next to him he told him “I stole Max’s death report. They faked it all.”
“ Didn’t expect them so soon though,” he added.
They were all lead onto a waiting bus which immediately sped away.
They had been traveling all night and most of the next day when they showed up at a different prison. They could tell this one was different. They were lead into a hall with a door at the end.
“Have a nice stay,” the guard said as he opened the door.
The door opened and a group of boys was escorted into the lunch room. The two in the front had fangs on their lips and one supported the other whose leg was in a cast. They all sat down together and observed their surroundings. They’d rule the prison by the end of the week.