Somewhere in the middle of nowhere

“It is time”

“I know” was my only reply.

“Can I have a couple minutes with him before…?” I trailed off, letting the question die out on my lips.

On the outside I may have looked calm, but even a blind man could see the pleading in my eyes.

He sighed before answering “You have 5 minutes kid”

“Try and make them last”

Closing the door behind me, I whispered that I would but we both knew my answer to be a lie.

How could 5 minutes be anything more than 5 minutes? It is unlikely he will say anything at all. He hasn’t for 2 and half years. He doesn’t speak to the guards and refuses to see his lawyer, not even The Judge could persuade him to speak. Though even stronger men have been known to grow silent in his presence. Obviously his reputation precedes him and He knows this.

Walking down the Stairs

Sometimes I cry when I see the chains. They drag him down. At first he looked so out of place. It was easy for me to imagine away the dungeon and replace it with familiar surroundings. It was the only way I knew how to cope with seeing him there all alone.

There were the usual places like the used bookstore on Park Ave. It was our favorite place to visit. We would spend hours combing through old copies of Shakespeare and Dickens with Raven, the owners petite dog, who never tired of following us around. It gets harder now to think back on those memories knowing that soon they would be all I had left.

As I walked down the stairs I started to imagine some new scenario even though I knew it to be hopeless. He has been here for so long that he has started to blend into his surroundings making it impossible for me to imagine him anywhere else but here. But I still tried. I guess it was for old time’s sake.

Inside The Dungeon

It’s funny how every time I enter this room I look around searching. Perhaps I am looking for some changes. But nope the room is still small. The brown table with graffiti and scratches on its cover is still there along with his cot and one chair in front of the window sill. More than likely I’m just bidding my time hoping that he will speak for once. But he never does.

He never does

He just sits there with his empty unfocused eyes, though only I know them to be an illusion. It is just his way of telling me as well as his other visitors that he does not wish to be bothered.

And yet still I come

“Hello Maxwell” I said to him tentatively. This is my usual greeting. Again it seems to fall on deaf ears.

He is facing the window today. There is a full moon out tonight and for a moment I stand there and watch with him.

For the last time

Perhaps that’s all I should’ve done. Stand there and watch the sky with him. But I didn’t because suddenly out of nowhere I was filled with such rage. How can he do this to me? Leave me with out a word.

We’ve known each other for longer than I can remember. My first memories are filled with him in them and yet he sits there so indifferent to my suffering. How can someone be so callous and unfeeling? I have been his only friend. His one true believer and yet that means nothing to him.

Almost as if he knew what I was thinking, he turned to me and smiled.

I was stunned

“Max?” I cried softly. “Please speak to me, let me know that I am not alone”

He frowned and turned away.

“No! You can’t do this to me” I screamed furiously.

“Give me something so that I can know that the man I once knew is still alive in there”.

“You can’t do this to me Max” by now I was sobbing uncontrollably on the floor.

“Why won’t you speak to me?”

“Why should I answer you” was his faint reply. I could barely see him for he was sitting in a corner, shrouded by the darkness.

“You betrayed me” he continued on calmly, shifting ever so slightly so that I could just about make out his silhouette

“Before me you were nothing but a common street rat”. “I took you in and treated you decently”. Unlike all those other men you’d been with, he said sharply.

I looked up from my position on the floor to see him smiling at me.

“Yea that’s right” he said responding to my startled expression. “I know about them, Tony, Blair, and Joaquin, all of them.

“How could you think that I would let some person that I didn’t know into me house, into my life without having someone check up on them”?

I’m not stupid, he screamed. “And I’m also not blind”

“I know that it was you who rated me out to Feds and to be honest, despite it all, I don’t even blame you”. “If only you had just admitted to making a mistake and that you were the one that put me in this position all would’ve been forgiven”.

“But you didn’t Lex, and that’s going to be your downfall, he said calmly while looking at me as rose from the floor.

“Sweetheart you think that these four walls can hold me”, he said to me while staring hard into my eyes, “Well you have another thing coming”. “You know that judge that everyone’s so scared of” I nodded slowly “Yeah I thought you would”, he said mercilessly, “Well I got some news for you sweet pea, he’s mine and so is about half the jury.”

“No!” I cried out.

“Yes”, he replied with a wicked smile upon his face. “I thought you knew me better but then again I thought I knew you as well”. “Oh well, I love surprises” he said laughingly.

And that’s when I knew it was over.

“Hey Alexis”, he cried out as I made my way up the stairs.

I turned to look at him as he said

“Your 5 minutes are up”

A/N: Hey there guys, I hope you enjoyed my story. Please have mercy while reviewing it. This is my first time publishing something that has ever been so long (3 whole pages). I would love it if you could all be honest and truthful(not to be confused with hurtful).Um, I guess that's it. Flamers will be mocked. PLEASE Don't forget to review. Also if you have time please check out my poem Voodoo Queen, I would love your opinions.

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