"Ha? You talking to me?"
"Are there other people here?"
“Oh… erm…” Luke felt awkward and reflexively rubbed the back of his neck, “…I accidentally hurt someone at school.”
"What kind of harm?"
Luke didn't think Nad was this curious. So Luke refused to answer, after all, it was none of his business.
"Friend?"
"No."
"Is he an asshole?"
“Yeah… not really. I'm not familiar with that person.”
Nad's body, which had previously been hunched over, suddenly straightened up and he looked at Luke in surprise.
"Then why did you harm him?"
"You don't need to know," Luke said . Luke immediately cleaned up the equipment and before leaving the toilet, Luke turned to Nad. “Anyway, I prefer to keep quiet. Don't bother asking me to talk or be friendly with me. We don't know each other, do we?"
Then Luke left. Follow the corridors of the prison building to the guard room in corridor B. Report to the warden on duty that Luke has completed his task.
"Can I go back to the cell room now?" he asked .
But the warden said, "No."
Luke's reflex protested, " Why not ?!"
"Someone's visiting you."
"Who?"
“Your grandfather. Wait there. Officer Jave will escort you in a moment," said the warden, gesturing towards the iron chair on the left.
So Luke complied and sat for five minutes before Officer Jave, who had a tattoo of a duck on his arm and liked to wear sunglasses, arrived carrying a can of soda. He put the can on the table where the warden was.
“ You're fucking damn late, Jave.”
“It takes time to walk. You think I can teleport, huh? This. Drink it. Think of it as compensation for being late.”
The warden snorted an annoyed breath, but still grabbed the soda can. opened the lid while nodding at Luke .
"You take the boy to the visiting room in room 777."
From where Luke was sitting he saw Officer Jave's back bend, lean over to the warden and whisper.
"Why to room 777? Instead of the usual visiting room? That, right, a special room.”
"Why ask me? Sergeant Miller ordered. Just do it, don't ask too many questions.
Stupid. Even though they whispered to the lowest pitch, Luke could still hear it. That made him giggle automatically.
“Hey, why are you laughing?!” the warden bullied Luke .
Luke's laughter vanished instantly. "Is laughing now also a crime, sir ?" Luke deliberately answered with a whimper. Instead of being provoked, the warden motioned for Officer Jave to take Luke to the visiting room immediately. So, Luke followed him. Don't forget to handcuff him first.
"Why did my hands have to be handcuffed?"
“Procedure son. Procedure. No one can guarantee that you will run away after this,” Officer Jave said.
"Even if I run away, I'll use my feet instead of my hands." Luke rolled his eyes, not understanding the logic of the prison officers here.
“Oh, so you're asking me to tie your feet up with iron balls too? Well, if you want, I can get it for a minute.”
"Nope. I don't like to bother other people, sir ."
“Look, I'm not interested in arguing with teenagers. Come on, let's go. You don't have much time."
Officer Jave grabbed Luke's hand and led him by force into a closed room next to the regular visiting room. Room 777 which the warden mentioned earlier in a whisper. Previously, Luke had thought it was a mysterious, heavily guarded room, based on Officer Jave's tone earlier. Luke also imagined there would be lots of surveillance cameras or walls with double-sided glass or even fully armed security.
Unfortunately no. It was just Luke's imagination . Because it turns out the room is not too special. Consists of two rooms. One is a small room for the prison guard and the other is rather large for the prisoner to meet people who visit him. Well, Luke's in that second room. When the door opened, Luke was overjoyed to find Ben there. Immediately Luke walked quickly to hug Ben. Luke couldn't remember the last time he had felt this good when he'd seen Ben. Because so far their relationship is like water and oil which often fight.
"How are you doing here?" he asked.
"Not bad. Yeah, except for the food. Eugh…”
they smiled at each other and Luke realized that Ben had not come alone. He comes with... erm, is he Ben's doppelganger?
“Oh, introduce this Jeremy. My twin brother. You met him when you were a baby.”
Outrageous! Can babies remember anything?! Luke thought . But they are quite similar. Starting from the nose, the shape of the lips, earlobes, and height. The difference is, Jeremy is a bit fuller and his face is more shady than Ben's. Luke remembers at the hospital that Luke overheard Ben's conversation with someone named Jeremy. Even Ulfa also said his name while rebuking. So, Luke couldn't hesitate.
"He's a good lawyer and he's the one who will take care of your case," said Ben, interrupting Luke 's reverie .
Luke's brows knit involuntarily. "Uh, how about Mr. Miller?"
Mr. Miller is the attorney who originally took Luke's case . He came from a well-known law firm in the area. So Luke was a bit surprised why his grandfather had suddenly changed their attorney .
" Well, let's just say that I can trust Jeremy more because of my brother."
"Well, I think that's enough of an introduction," said Jeremy, "We don't have much time to visit, son. So, I'm asking you to tell me exactly what happened at that time, how you felt, and afterwards, I'll tell you about the current condition of the Bowleans. You don't need to hide anything from me, even the most unreasonable things, so that I can choose a suitable method to defend you. Did you understand, child ?”
" Yes, I did ," Luke answered firmly.
Jeremy took out a voice recorder, some files and a highlighter in his hand. So Luke started to explain again how the incident happened and, as Jeremy said, Luke didn't try to cover up the fact that Luke heard a strange voice in his head, that Luke felt Luke's body change uncomfortably, and about his emotions at that time.
Luke's sentence stopped when a light near the door flickered accompanied by the sound of a bell. A sign that visiting hours are over. The door was opened by Officer Jave.
Before parting, Jeremy touched Luke's hand and said in a comforting tone.
“Just trust me, kid, that I'll take care of it. Maybe you are guilty, but that is not who you really are.”
Luke didn't know what to say so all he could do was nod and thank him. Luke also hugged Ben. Then waved. Had seen Jeremy tidying up his files and when Luke was completely outside the room, Luke heard his voice saying.
“Did you hear the Saint County Juvenile Center, Ben? You might start to think about that place.”
Saint County Juvenile Center . It was an institutional center for troubled teenagers, especially criminally, a kind of juvenile prison and Luke's age was indeed still a minor. Still sixteen years old.
Luke took a deep breath. Ha ... sounds stupid.
***