1. released

                                    

                                          


                          
Jason
                          
I take a deep breath as a police officer cuffs my wrists and leads me through the long hallways of prison. Cells on either side, inmates looking at me, jealousy written all over their faces. I take another deep breath, as we stop in front of the exit doors. The officer removes the handcuffs and pushes a button to open the doors. A bright light shines into my eyes, blinding me.
                          
Taking my first step outside of this hell whole feels so good. Freedom.
                          
After seven years of crappy food. Seven years of sleeping on a hard ass bed, with the thinnest blanket and no pillow. Seven years of no communication with the outside world. Seven fucking years of my life, wasted. Seven years that I will never get back. All because of one stupid mistake. Hack, I should've never even enter the gang in the first place! I should've just stayed away! I should've listened to my brother!
                          
But not anymore. No, this time I will do it differently. I will start over. Change. Start a new life.
                          
"McCann!" An officer yells. My head snaps around, a glare on my face. "Are you going or what?" He says. My eyes widen. "Uhh.. Yeah." I mutter and walk out fully. A gate blocking my way. but not for long, since the officer opens it when I stand in front of it. Then one more gate and I'm free. Forever.
                          
As I walk on the sidewalk, I realize that I don't have anywhere to go. I don't have a home. I don't have friends anymore, since I left them with the rest of the gang. I thought of places to go, but can't come up with any. Until I remember the person who actually got me in here in the first place. Nick Stokes.
                          
A twenty-minute walk later, I arrive at the place where my life got
                          
ruined. The police station. My head falls into my hands as I sit down on the steps in front of the entrance. I'll just wait here until he comes out.
                          
To be honest I have no idea why I'm here. You can say I'm kinda desperate. Like I said there's nowhere else to go for me. I have no one. No friends, no family. Yes, that's right. I don't have any family left. My mom left us when I was six. My dad got killed by my brother and my brother, Alex, got shot by the cops.
                          
Wait! Stop, before all the sensitive girls reading this are gonna be like 'aaawww poor Jason'. No, there's no need for that. It's not sad. I'm perfectly fine. My life is great. It's how I'm raised. I don't know any different.
                          
So don't pity me.
                          
After my dad died, me and my brother were put into foster care. Family, after family, after family. But none could handle our reckless behavior, until Ralph came along. He took me and my brother in. He could handle us. I was ten and Alex was sixteen. He got Alex into the drug dealing business. Which eventually lead to making and selling handguns and bombs. Me, I was going to school just like any other normal kid.
                          
Two years later, Ralph got caught arrested. They took him away from us. For no fucking reason! The only thing they had against him was driving without a license! They didn't have proof he made bombs or sold drugs! They just assumed it was him. Alex was eight-teen around this time, so he could take care of me. Because the business was running short on people, he taught me everything Ralph taught him. That's how I got involved, at the age of thirteen. That's also when I had to quit school to help out in the business. It has been seven years since Alex got shot. And now I'm twenty-three. A tear slips from my eye, as I think about my brother. He was everything I had left, now I have nothing. Except a jail record and shitty past.
                          
"Jason McCann?" A voice interrupts my thoughts. I look up and see Stokes and an unfamiliar woman standing at the top of the stairs. "Hey." I say, my voice rough, from the lack of water. I get up, slowly. "Well, goodnight Nick." the woman says, and leaves. I clear my throat, as Nick walks down the stairs. "What are you doing here?" he asks, surprise written all over his face.