Prison

Jack is a 16-year-old teenager who is forced to move to a new part of England when his father is transferred from the north to the south. The story tells how he falls in love with a girl.

Prison

Chapter 1

As I waited and stared at the prison gates, the same gates which I saw four years ago, from the outside. The gates started to open I waited to see what my future holds on the other side, I turned to Mr William, the prison Warden beside me and I said: “How did I destroy everything that I had and the people I loved?”. He turned to look at me with a reassuring stare and said. “Jack when those doors open everything will be OK, take my word for it.” He smiled and watched the doors open with me, waiting in anticipation to see what was going to happen.

Let me start from the beginning. You see, you have to go at least six years back to understand how everything I worked for on all those years, I managed to lose overnight.

We lived in Liverpool, the north part of England, but as the company my father worked for was being moved to Croydon, in the south of London, my parents sold everything and decided to get a place in Cheshunt, this was on the outskirts of North London. We wanted to move to London but as rents were high, they chose the outskirts of the big city.

I was sixteen at the time and it did not go down too well with us moving so far away from all my friends in Liverpool. I remember it like it was yesterday the words that my father exclaimed to my mother, “Thank god we only have one child! Can you imagine if we had three or four and they were as rebellious as this one about moving?”

By the way, my name is Jack and I am about 5' 8". My hobbies are movies, reading and my main love is athletics. At my previous school, I was in the track and field team. I could say I was hoping to get a scholarship at one of the top universities, I suppose that is why I was so upset about coming down to the South-East of England. My teachers knew my training plan and what my dreams were. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying teachers down here aren't good, it’s just they don’t know me and I don’t know them, as you will see later on. At least we moved during the summer holidays which made it easier than having to move during the middle of a school year. I suppose I can thank my parents for that as my father was living out of a suitcase in hotels until he found something to rent and move us down during the summer.

We moved in August, we started packing everything with mum, whilst dad would help when he came home during the weekend. We were all surprised at how much stuff we had, you think you don’t have much until your opening cupboards and start emptying them. During the weekend of the move, I and dad gathered all the boxes together into a corner of the living room for the delivery men to quickly load them up along with the furniture onto their van.

We arrived at the new place on Monday at about lunch time. I and mum hadn’t seen the place, as dad was viewing properties after work when he was down here. I think mum was not very impressed. With both her hands on her hips and a look that could kill, she said to my father, “I hope you’ve bought some paint because you’re going to need plenty of it”. Dad smiled at mum and said, “Don’t worry love, I and Jack will have the place looking like new by the end of next week. Why do you think I’ve got two weeks off from work?” All I could say to that was two weeks of painting and the rest of the summer holidays spent unpacking and putting things in their place. It looked like that was going to be another task as the previous house was larger.

Like my father said it took us a couple of weeks of decorating to make the place look presentable. Finally, we finished painting the last room and while we were cleaning up mum came in and said, “Let your dad finish off. You can go and get cleaned up and ready for dinner”. When I finished, I went downstairs and mum said, “Jack I noticed a fish and chip shop just down the parade of shops at the end of the road. Here’s some money, could you go and get two cod and chips and whatever you fancy”.

It was late in the evening and it started to get dark. As I was approaching the parade of shops, I noticed a group of kids in a circle and from the middle I heard a young voice saying, “Please don’t hurt me I’ll take it off”. I was a few feet from them and I exclaimed, “Everything ok guys?” There was six of them and they all turned around at the same time and looked at me as if I’d just disturbed them while they were doing something important. They all looked the same age as me and the kid they were picking on only looked about ten. There was one that looked like he was the leader, he was holding the young lad from his sleeve. He was slightly taller than me with blonde hair which he had slightly longer at the front all jelled up, kind of reminded me of a cartoon character.

I looked at him and said, “I think you’ve had enough fun for today you can let him go now Tin Tin”. All his mates just chuckled. He looked at them and they immediately stopped. He turned back to me and looked at me up and down. Then he yelled, “what did you just call me?”

I thought, great! That’s all I need, some headbanger on my case. Great start to a new place. Then I said what the heck, what’s the worst thing that can happen, instead of eating fish and chips I end up in intensive care. So, I thought let’s push it up a notch.

“Got a problem with your hearing Tin Tin? By the way, where’s your little dog? You left him at home?” More chuckles from his mates, I think I over did it with the last comment.

He let go of the kid, made his hands into fists and he was starting to come towards me. I then heard a horn and he all of a sudden stopped on the spot while everyone else looked towards the road. Going by very slowly was a police car. In it was a bald police officer in the driver’s seat. It looked like Tin Tin but an older version with no hair. Baldy yelled, “Hey Tony! You want a ride home?”

Tin Tin replies, “OK uncle!” He then turns around, looks at me and says, “I’ll deal with you later”. As he leaves with his uncle, the others look at him and then at me, nod their heads up and down and walk back to the parade of shops, chatting like nothing just happened.

I looked down as this kid is trying to wipe down his clothes from the dirt after he was pushed on the ground by the bullies. He looks up at me and says, “Wow you just called Tony Tin Tin, I can’t wait to tell my friends tomorrow.”

As I was looking at the boy and smiling at him, I looked up and all I saw was this beautiful girl come steaming at me. In a flash, all I felt was a smack on my cheek.  Then she just said, “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size bully!”, grabbed the boy by the arm and dragged him into the night while he was trying to explain to her what happened.

I made my way to the chip shop got three cod and chips and made my way back home. As soon as I got in, my mother said, “Why is your cheek red and what is that big smile on your face?” I looked at her, smiled and said, “I think I’m going to like it down here mum.”

Come Monday morning, dad went back to work, and I and mum were busy for a few more days putting the final touches to our new place.

The summer was quite hot this year so I spent the rest of the summer holidays at home chilling out during the day and in the afternoon I went for my daily 5k run. As we were in the countryside it wasn’t long till I found a nice jogging path in which I used daily. I kept on thinking if I will ever see the girl that took my breath away, so I can at least explain what happened that evening.


Chapter 2

As my mum pulled up at the entrance of St Mary’s school she said, “Do you have your lunch money with you? Are you going to be ok? Do you want me to come inside with you?” She leant forward to kiss me on the cheek, I put my hand out, “Mum please I’ve got it from here”.

I got out of the car and started making my way to the school entrance when I noticed a couple of lads staring at me. As I approached them I noticed they were two of the lads in Tin Tin’s gang. I went passed them and they both nodded their heads and said, “Alright mate?” I looked at them, smiled and nodded my head up and down a couple of times.

Entering the school yard most of the students that were there just stopped what they were doing and stared. I just looked around, found the nearest empty bench and sat down. I took my backpack off my shoulder, opened it and started looking for something to read just to distract me. After a few moments, everyone went back to normal.

A little while later, the school bell sounded and everyone started making their way into the school. I went straight to the reception desk to ask where I had to go. On approaching the desk, I noticed a group of girls chatting and giggling between themselves. I said to the lady who reminded me of the Britain’s Got Talent winner Susan Boyle, “Excuse me, could you please direct me?” She looked at me and said, “Why don’t you look at the information board for your name to see where you need to go young man?”

The girls started to giggle again and Susan Boyle turned to them and irritatingly yelled, “Girls! what is so amusing?!” One of the girls said, “He would Miss, but he’s a new student.” Susan looked at me and smiled, looked at the girls and asked for one of the girls to show me where to go. All of a sudden the girls scattered around apart from one who just stood there looking away from me and called out to the others, “Great bunch of friends you are.” She then turned around said, “Hi” while staring at her shoes. I recognised her straight away. The girl who slapped me. “Hi,” I said.

“If you follow me I’ll show you where the information board is.” Then she started to walk down the corridor at a fast pace. I quickly threw my backpack over my shoulder and started to follow her, dodging all the other students while I was trying to keep up with her. It reminded me of one of those movies when the protagonist is being chased down a busy high road full of pedestrians.

I called out, “Can you tell me what race we are in?” She suddenly came to a halt, quickly turned around, made eye contact and said, “I am sorry about that night when I slapped you. After my little brother explained to me what happened, I felt like s**t. Are you happy now?” I said, “I didn’t say anything”, looked at her and smiled.

As if we were both synchronised we started laughing. I said, “Let’s start from the beginning. My name is Jack and it is a pleasure to meet you”. She smiled and said, “my name is Emma and I am happy to make your acquaintance”.

After the ice breaker, we made our way to the information board in which we both looked up our names to check our schedule for the term. To our surprise, we were in the same form year and we had most of the lessons together. We looked at each other and started laughing again.

When we stopped, I asked, “Out of curiosity, why were those boys picking on your brother that night?” She immediately looked at me and said, “Let’s go to our lesson, we don’t want to be late for English, the teacher is a bit strict on punctuality”.

At lunch time, Emma took me to the school canteen to get something to eat. With our trays in hand, we found an empty table to sit down. We didn’t get the chance to pick up our cutlery and start eating when our table, as well as the table next to us, was swarmed by her friends. With her eyes fixed on me, she said to her friends, “Thanks a lot for leaving me in such a sticky situation earlier this morning”. That’s when everyone started laughing, including me.

Then they all started asking me questions, like what city I came from and how long was I staying in Cheshunt for. The boys asked if I was into any sports. I looked at them and said that I was into athletics and couldn’t wait till tomorrow after school, where I’ll be going to the track and field trials. At that moment in time everyone just went silent.

One of the boys broke the silence by saying, “Your mate Tin Tin is in the track and field team. That is when I thought to myself, “wow news travels fast around here”. Emma looked at me and said, actually insisted, “Tomorrow at the trials, promise me that you won’t say anything to Tony”. “Like his new nickname”, I said with a smirk. She crossed her hands and said, “I’m serious, don’t provoke him or anything, he’s trouble. His dad is the coach for the track and field team and Tony is the dream that he messed up when he was young.”

“Why what happened to his dad?” I asked.
Emma took my hand, looked into my eyes and got up. “Let’s go for a walk, I’ll tell you all about it.” As we walked towards the track and field area, Emma continued. “He was seventeen years old when Mr Giordano that’s Tony’s dad had broken every record on the track in our school. Near the end of the year, we have our annual track and field event with three other schools. All the best athletes from our school, Goffs, Turnford and Cheshunt, all compete. During this event, many scouts come to see the athletes and this is the best chance to get a scholarship to one of the top universities”.

“So what happened? Did he get caught taking steroids?” I said with a grin on my face.

Emma stared at me for a few seconds and said. “No, he was accused of interpersonal violence towards another athlete. It’s claimed that he tripped him up while they were racing in the cross country.” “Guys are always fighting at that age” I replied. “But the other guy ends up in the hospital fighting for his life on a life support machine. He gets away with a slap on the hand and his family send him away, rumours have it somewhere abroad. Comes back after ten years, married with a wife and a kid and becomes head coach of the school.” “How did he manage that,” I said. “Money can sometimes influence people in the right places. Like the Board of Education.”

“What about the other guy, what happened to him?”

“He was in the hospital for a few months. When he got out of hospital he tried to find justice but like I said the Giordano family had too much power in the right places. He ends up with a limp and when he left school he got a job as a janitor in Turnford school. He has a son that goes to school there, who is the same age as us. I heard that he is being trained by his dad and is really good.”

That Evening I surfed the internet to get a clearer understanding of what happened so many years ago. Like Emma explained to me it was all there. Local newspaper clips and pictures of Mr Giordano when he was young and a picture of a dark-skinned boy, named Colin Brown, who was the victim. As it was close to midnight, I started to prepare myself for bed. I wanted to get a good night’s sleep since I had a big day ahead of me tomorrow with the trials.


Chapter 3

Whilst approaching the school track the next day, in the distance I could see a group of boys preparing themselves for the trials. I found an empty bench and put my sports bag on it and began to take off my tracksuit top. Moving away from the others and avoiding being in the way, I started doing some stretching and Tai Chi breathing exercises to prepare myself mentally.

I was turned away from the others and absorbed in my breathing, when I heard a familiar voice say, “Look who it is if it isn’t the good Samaritan. There won’t be anyone to save you after I finish with you on the track today.” I turned and gave him a sneer then turned back to my Tai Chi. “Don’t turn your back to me punk!”  he irritably said. “Leave it out Tony,” another voice said. When I turned around I noticed it was one of his friends. “Pete! You’re taking his side?” Tony exclaimed.

There was a loud whistle which got everyone’s attention. When I looked, I saw the resemblance straight away. It was Tony’s father. As he picked up his glasses that were hanging on his chest and put them on, he looked at his clipboard and started asking everyone’s name and writing them down. When he finished, he looked at us and said “Gentlemen there is eighteen of you, our track has eight lanes, there will be two heats. That means I only need sixteen today for the trials.” He then randomly picked two boys pointing at them with his finger and said, “Next year lads.” They put their heads down, picked up their bags and started making their way back to the school. I immediately thought “Who does something like that without giving them a chance?”

The races that I wanted to compete in was the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m. In total, there were eight. I still had to race in all of them but I was going to use most of my drive in the ones I knew I made good times on. For me, it wasn’t about winning the race. It was about how long I could last in the field and proving my efficiency during that limited amount of time.

The first race was the 110m hurdles. I was in the second heat so I just sat back and watched as the other racers were ready to start. Tony was in that race; it was a chance to see what he was capable of. He won that race with no difficulties. It was the second heat. We all lined up to start and the coach raised the starting pistol. “On your marks, get set, go!” Bang! As I went passed the finish line I noticed there were two other racers behind me. I finished fifth, that did not even qualify me for the finals.

I was walking back to my bench to have a little rest before my next race. I was sitting there just gazing into space when I saw the coach walking towards me. He stopped, stood right in front of me and whilst looking down he said, “What can I say.” Standing behind him was Tony chuckling. At that moment, I looked up at the stands and saw Emma with a couple of her friends. When she noticed me, she smiled and waved. That was enough to raise my morale up.

The next race was the 800m and I was in the first heat. Running in this race was Tony as well. I was in the inner lane which I preferred, that way I can see the other runner’s abilities on the first lap. Tony was first in the outer lane. Coach raised his starting pistol and started the race. We were all going at a good pace on the first lap and I was gaining ground on the other racers, as I came around the bend on the second lap, I took my pace to the next level. The other runners just disappeared as I passed them. On the last stretch, I and Tony were level.  He saw me and I noticed he tried to push himself. He was no match. We finished the race and I was at least two meters in front.

Everyone started cheering and clapping. I turned to Tony, raised and lowered my eyebrows, he walked away and started kicking whatever item was in his path. I drew my attention back to Emma and started walking towards her. While she was clapping, she was saying, “Impressive very impressive.”

It was a long day due to the first heat and whoever qualified ran in the finals. Overall I think I did relatively well consider I didn’t push myself too much during a couple of the finals. I didn’t want to upset Tony and the coach too much. Making the team was good enough for me. I won the 800m, came second in the 200m and 400m and I was third in the 100m. The school’s golden boy came first in five finals. But I think he was still pissed at me for taking the 800m from him.

“Gentlemen, well done for all your efforts today and I hope to see you all at practice even if your name is not on the qualifying list.” The coach then ordered his assistant to collect some items while the rest of us started making our way back to the school.

“What the f**k!” shouted Tony. Everyone turned towards him and he was staring at the school stands on the top row of seats. Sitting there was a dark-skinned boy. I immediately saw the familiarity with the picture on the newspaper clip. He started making his way down towards us and Tony started to walk towards him angrily. I turned to Emma, “Hold my bag.” I quickly leapt in front of Tony and put my hand out to command him. “Save it for the track Tony”. He went to say something but instead looked around to see everyone watching him and he decided to turn around and walk back to the school. His mates also decided to follow him.

Everyone was gone apart from me, Emma, surprisingly one of Tony’s friends, Pete, and the newcomer who I believed was the son of Colin Brown. We were all just standing there looking at each other. “Hey, that wasn’t a very good idea coming to another school to watch their trials”. “Hey nobody asked for your help OK!”. I tried to break the ice by introducing myself. “My name is Jack and I just moved here. What’s your name?” “Tyrone. I’m sorry if I sounded a bit rude. It’s just me and Tony have some issues.” “Look don’t let him get to you, he’s just scared of how good you are” Pete insisted.

It was getting late so all four of us started making our way home. We talked about school, expressing our likes and dislikes. Tyrone seemed like a good guy. Pete was full of questions. I just hope he wasn’t being a spy for Tony. We walked past Burger King and I said, “Anyone fancies an ice cream? My treat!” We sat inside and chatted a bit more. A while later, Tyrone said, “Guys I need to get going, my dad worries if he gets home before me.” I said it was nice to meet him and we all said our goodbyes. Before leaving the table, he turned to me and asked, “Why did you back off on three of the races?” He was good, he knew what my game was. I smiled, “All strategy my friend”. He smiled back and walked out.


Chapter 4

Eventually, Pete was OK. He started to drift away from Tony’s gang and a couple of other boys stopped hanging around with him. It seems that they started to grow up a little and stopped taking orders from a bully like Tony. However, some of them were still following his league. Pete started to hang around with me and Emma’s friends. Everyone was a bit cautious with him but in time he was trusted. I believe he started dating Emma’s best friend Sarah. Sarah fancied him as well, but never approached him before since it seems that he was hanging around with the wrong crowd.

After a few weeks, I and Emma started dating. At school, we were always together. We did our homework together. She was always around my house and I was around hers. Our parents saw how serious we were with each other and how we just let our love grow. I started getting popular at school with everyone, except for Tony and his two henchmen. I think he didn’t like the idea of someone being better than him on the track.

I and Tyrone would meet at Ley Valley Park every day and run together. We exchanged useful information regarding good diets for our physical health and exercise routines. Basically, we helped each other out during our training. Tyrone’s father, Mr Brown, would sometimes come to the park and help us with our preparations. During the training at school, I just did the required time to maintain my position in the team. I would help some of the other athletes while I was there, in what they needed to do to improve their track times. Overall, it seemed that the coach never quite helped any other member of the team, except his son. However, he did provide his athletes with energy tablets to make them stronger and faster. We all accepted them just to be in his good books. Some took them there and then. I and a few others just put them in our bags.

It was a very tough year, with all the extra pressure we had from the teachers to prepare for the final exams. It was our last year at school and we needed to pass our O levels to guarantee our places in university. Emma, Sarah, Pete and me were planning to stay on for another year to do our A levels. I had a good chance of getting a scholarship into a good university but still I couldn’t merely depend on that.

One of the most important things in my life at that moment in time was Emma. Being with her while we studied together brought us much closer. We studied hard. During our breaks, we would talk about our future together and get to know each other more intimately. Before I met Emma I never had a serious relationship. In just under a year I have met the person I want to spend the rest of my life with.

We finished our exams and it was time to start preparing for the end of year Track and Field event in Ridlins Park Stadium. This was the event all the athletes from the four rival schools trained for. The preparation was tough. Since the event was at the end of June, we had to train in hot and humid weather conditions. Good thing we had the coach to help us with the energy tablets. There were still some idiots taking them just to show Mr Giordano they followed his orders. Yet, there were the others who just bagged them, like me, including Pete and a couple of others.

Mr Giordano’s family was in pharmaceuticals, that is how the family made their main income. That is also how they could afford to have the police and some politicians in the palm of their hands. Rumour had it they were selling illegitimate drugs to different companies in the UK. Word was that Mr Giordano’s brother who was a police officer was doing all the illegal movement of merchandise. Pete said to me once, “Tony is not a bad kid he just grew up in a negative environment.” During that year, I tried to find a way around Tony’s negativity but he just wouldn’t accept any help from anyone.

It was one week before the event and we trained harder than ever. Emma was a little grumpy with me because I didn’t go around her house or tell her to come to mine. I trusted Emma when I was with her, it was myself I couldn’t trust. I explained, “If I am going to do well I can’t have any destructions.” She answered with a frown. “So I’m a destruction now.” “No, no I didn’t mean it that way”, I sadly responded. “I know silly”, was her reply. She grasped my head and kissed me on the lips. Oh, god how much I love this girl was my immediate thought. Beaming I said to her, “Get out of here before I jump on you.”

Before the evening of the event, I was training with Tyrone, doing practice sprints and some quick starts as a last-minute preparation. When we were done, both of us collapsed on the track from tiredness. Mr Brown leant down and started giving our leg muscles a rub down. Tyrone excused himself to get a couple of bottles of water from the cooler in the car. While Mr Brown was on his knee rubbing my calf, I saw the discomfort in his expression and knew it was from his injury. “Mr Brown, there is no need for you to do that.” He looked up at me with glazed eyes, “Jack this is the least I can do. Tyrone was a lost boy a year ago, at school, at home and in the sport that he loves. But since you moved here you have been an inspiration to him. You have motivated him to go that extra distance.”

He started to wipe his eyes as Tyrone was coming back with three bottles of water. He looked at his father and asked, “What’s up dad?” Waving his hand in front of his face he responded, “Damn bugs! One went straight into my eye.” “What bugs dad? There aren’t any bugs.” All three of us started laughing.


Chapter 5

The drive to Ridlin Stadium was only thirty minutes but it seemed like forever. It doesn’t help much with Mr Smith, the assistant coach driving the school bus. “He isn’t exactly Paul Walker in fast and the furious is he. I think if we walked we would have been there by now.” Peter said. “Tell me about it, Pete.” Then a voice from behind said, “In your own good time Mr Smith.” We looked back and Tony was sitting in the back row with his henchmen on either side. Sitting there with his hand on the back of his head. We looked at each other and turned back towards the front.

Ridlin Stadium was all prepared for the event today. Each school had a section in the stands for its spectators. The stands started to fill up with people, I found our part of the stadium and started looking for my parents. Then I saw her, Emma started to wave so I can see her. Next to her on the left was mum and dad looking all nervous. From all the preparations, I made during the year, I guess they were part of it as well. Every time I had an injury, mum would be there with an ice pack. When I was down due to a bad day on the track, dad would be there to raise my moral. I presume that is a parent’s duty towards his child.

We found our section of the stadium and made our way to our benches to start preparing ourselves, I was on one knee adjusting the laces on my running spikes when the overhead speaker on the stand announced. “Can all athletes participating today please come to the changing rooms to have their blood test please.”  Peter glanced at me and said, “s**t!” “Please tell me you haven’t been taking the s**t he’s been giving us.” I asked with a worried look on my face, “Are you kidding? They went straight into the garbage bin” was his answer. We started to make our way to the changing rooms and as we were standing in the queue, I felt a pat on my shoulder. I looked behind me and it was Tyrone. I smiled at him and we hugged each other. We started chatting while we waited about how all these blood tests were something they did with professional athletes and that now it was starting to get implemented into schools as well.

I was facing Tyrone while he was speaking to me and over his shoulder, I saw Tony approaching just behind him whilst staring at me. “Tyrone, whatever happens, do not lose your cool,” I warned him. “Well if it isn’t the two bum chums”, Tony said. Tyrone slowly turned shaking his head from left to right. “You know I was a fool to let you get to me for so long.” Then he turned back to carry on talking with me. Tony just frowned and walked away. “Now that wasn’t too hard was it Tyrone?”

Everyone had their blood test and started making their way back to their section of the waiting area. Each Coach giving instructions to the athletes before the event started. Well our coach, Mr Giordano, was giving advice all right, just to his son, instead of everyone in the team. When he finished everyone in our team came straight to me and started asking me various questions like what spikes to put on their shoes, breathing exercises, how they should run the qualifying race etc. I believe they approached me for moral motivation mostly, not to confirm what they already knew.

The qualifying races started with the 110m hurdles first, I was glad that I wasn’t in that race as I and hurdles were not the best of friends. The first heat was won by Tony and then heat two was won by Tyrone. After finishing his race, I went and congratulated him with a handshake and a hug. I think that did not go down too well with the coach, he came over to us and said to Tyrone in a low tone so no one can hear, “Why don’t you go over there where your kind is.” At the same time looking at a crowd of dark-skinned boys. Before he left Tyrone said to me, “I’m depending on you for the 800m and 400m. Okay?” Coach looked at us all confused while Tyrone was going back to his team.

My qualifying heat was up next, the 800m, all the athletes started to prepare themselves on their starting positions, everyone was lined up, ready to start the race. On your marks, get set, go! It was a force start. A boy from Goff’s School started before the starting pistol went off. We all went back to our starting positions and got ready again. On your marks, get set, go! Bang! The race got under way, the first four hundred meters I proceeded with my usual strategy, keeping the same pace as the other racers, after the first lap I sprinted round the track just about finishing first by a couple of feet.

As I was walking back to my bench I saw Tony approaching me opposite, as soon as he was a couple of meters away he shouts so everyone could hear him. “What happened there? I see your time wasn’t too good today!” he exclaimed while chuckling. I looked at him and just walked passed him. I sat on the bench, got my smartphone out of my sports bag and saw I had a message, it was from Emma.

Emma: “Everything OK?”

Me: “Everything is perfect, just working on my strategy.”

Emma: “Good luck for the next race.”

 I looked up in the stands, mum and dad were smiling while Emma started waving at me and blowing kisses. How much I wanted to go up on the stands and give her a big hug.

The qualifying heats went on until 2pm. By then all the athletes were glad that part was all over. Many were glad they passed whereas some left disappointed. My friend Peter was one of the latter. I approached him, I wanted to comfort him. He just said, “I don’t want to talk about it Jack” then just walked away. As I was about to follow him, Emma came behind me and hugged me. “Let’s go to the picnic area, your parents are there to have something to eat.” I took her by the hand and we went whilst worriedly trying to spot Peter in the crowd.

As soon as my parents saw me, my mother hugged me then my dad hugged me while he picked me up and gave me one of his bear hugs. From behind I heard Mr Brown shout out, “Put him down we don’t want him injured during the finals!” Dad answered, “Straight away coach.” Then he started putting me down slowly. When he let go of me, we all started laughing. We all sat together and had our lunch, me and Tyrone had some fruit as we didn’t want to be too bloated for the finals, even though we had a couple of hours until then.

When we finished Mr, Brown took me and Tyrone aside to give us some final advice. As he was talking to us I saw he kept on looking behind me. “Jack get your butt over there with your fellow athletes” I recognised the voice, it was Mr Giordano. As I was turning around to say something I felt on my chest my father’s hand and he said. “I think the races are about to start, we better start making our way to the track. Come on ladies let’s go to the stands. Mr and Mrs Brown, would you like to join us?” Mr Brown smiled at my father while he answered, “It will be our pleasure.”

I qualified for the 400m and 800m, I was surprised to make it in the 200m as well. I had three races I needed to do well in. Tyrone worked more on short distance sprints, 110m Hurdles, 100m and 200m. Both of us needed to impress some scouts so we could get a scholarship to university.

The 110m Hurdles was the first race of the finals. The eight athletes stood next to their starting blocks when Tyrone nodded his head. I gave him a thumbs up. Then I quickly rushed near the finish line. I can hear on my left near the start. “On your marks, get set, go!” Bang! They leapt off the starting blocks, sprinting toward the finish line every second or so, flying over a hurdle to get to the finish line. As Tyrone rocketed passed the finish line, the Turnford crowd started applauding. He looked at the board to check his time and saw it was his personal best, he started throwing punches in the air and screaming, “Yes, Yes, Yes!”

The next race was the 800m, it was my turn. This time I was in the middle lane and my rival Tony was behind me. That means I couldn’t keep an eye on him to pace myself. We all moved towards our starting positions. I started to prepare myself, closing my eyes I thought. “Jack you do not need to pace yourself with the other racers. Just let your heart do the pacing for you. The official for the race said. “Get ready for your race gentlemen.” All eight athletes were ready on their starting positions. “On your marks, get set, go!” Bang! I started the race pacing myself at a good speed. As we all came to the finish of the first lap we were all close to each other. I felt behind me someone a little too close to me and as he was getting even closer by my side, I noticed it was Tony. Something told me his intentions were no good. That’s when two thoughts came into my mind, either going at this pace and getting tripped or making a break for it. I went for making a break, I flew around the track passing everyone and finishing first by a good distance.

Anticipating as I came to a stop, I looked up at the time board to see my time before it even showed up. One of the officials shouted, “It’s a regional record!” Tyrone ran up to me screaming. “You just broke the South-East England record!” while we high-fived each other. I looked in the stands and saw everyone applauding my achievement. I saw my parents with Emma making their way to the front row of the stands. As I made my way to the stands all my fellow athletes were patting me on the back. My parents held back and let Emma hug me as she whispered in my ear, “I love you” then released me for my parents to congratulate me.

It was time for the 200m. Tyrone and the rest of us were on our starting blocks. I just made it to the finals so I was happy if I didn’t finish last. Tony was in this race eager to make up for the 800m lose. But Tyrone’s main concern was an athlete who went to Goff's school, as everyone’s eyes were fixed on him. All Tyrone wanted was a good performance in this race. “On your marks, get set, go!” Bang! As we started around the bend towards the stretch to the finish, everyone was levelled except for Tyrone and the Goff’s runner. I was alongside the other six that were racing for third place that was also trying to avoid finishing last. I dashed the last 50m to the finish whilst seeing Tony on my left and I drove myself that bit more while crossing the finish line.

Tyrone finished well ahead of the other racer and his team approached him to congratulate him. While I was on one knee trying to catch my breath, I heard the official over the speaker announce the winner Tyrone, second place the Goff’s runner and with my name in third place.  I heard a commotion coming from where my team members were, I saw Mr Giordano arguing with one of the officials. When I approached them Tony’s dad was arguing that it was his son that came third. The official just said, “The decision is final and that’s it.”

A lot of time was wasted with Mr Giordano arguing with the officials. All the other events were coming to an end and it was getting late in the afternoon so everyone was eager to finish. During the day, no one had broken any record except for me. Tyrone had won two events and was hoping for the third in his last race. For Tony, it looks like no golds for him this year.

Now it was time for the 400m. As I approached my starting block to get ready, the coach called out my name so I ran towards him to see what he wanted. “Jack, you need to let Tony win this one, or you are off the team next year.” I just stood there looking at him in shock. He lifted up his hand and pointed a finger at me and shouted: “Did you hear me!” That’s when Mr Brown appeared next to him grabbed his wrist and pushed him back. Mr Giordano went back and fell over. Everyone’s attention focused on them. He got off the grass and charged towards Mr Brown. Mr Brown said, “Jack go to your starting block.” As I was leaving they just stood there staring at each other. When I reached my starting block Mr Brown started making his way back to the stands looking behind him at times.

“Gentlemen if you can get ready on your starting blocks.” Once again, my start to the race was how I wanted it, I went around the track getting ahead of all the other racers. When I was approaching the finish line I looked to my left and saw Tony struggling as I glided past him, still having a few meters to finish the race. I came first and Tony came second.

After the race, Tony was sitting on the bench with his head down while his father approached him with remarks that did not sound like words of comfort. At that moment, I felt sorry for Tony. All this time I thought of him as a bully but it was his father that pushed him down that road.

I had finished all my races and was in the stands with Emma and my parents. Emma was holding my hand and her head was on my shoulder. She looked up into my eyes and whispered, “I am so proud of you.” At that moment, an official announced on the speaker it was time for the final race to start. All the spectators focused on the track.

Tyrone went on one knee to get ready at the starting block. Next to him was Speedy from Goff's school. The officials told the racers to prepare themselves on their blocks. The race started. Jesus Christ the two favourites sprinted off the blocks like they were obsessed. As they approached the finish line Speedy was ahead and suddenly Tyrone came back and grabbed another win for the day. He started dancing around and looking up in the stands, searching for me. As soon as he spotted me he pointed at me and I smiled pointing back at him.

The next hour was spent giving the athletes that came in the top three their medals. In the male gender, Tyrone came first and I came second. Both our families celebrated our achievements. My family as well as Emma’s and Tyrone’s family all met up at a restaurant that evening to celebrate how well we did. I and Emma were sitting next to each other at the table when she squeezed my leg and whispered in my ear, “You’re staying at my house tonight, I have a surprise for you.” I whispered back, “Should I skip dessert then?” She put her hand further up and gave me a squeeze somewhere else. That made me jump a little and brought a big grin to my face. I think my mum sitting opposite knew what was happening and gave me the ‘what are you up’ to look.


Chapter 6

The last couple of months have been hard, preparing for the exams and all those hours of training, had taken a toll on everyone. In a way, I was glad to be back to school for a couple of weeks just having lessons and now preparing for the sixth form. But for the rest of the term, it wasn’t like that at all.

On my walk down Churchgate Road and past St Mary’s Church, I noticed all the cars stopping on the main road to let all the kids out and wondered why they were not turning into the school. When I reached the corner that leads into the school my question was answered. On Homeleigh Street, which leads to the school gates, parked on both sides, were at least half a dozen vans with satellite dishes on their roofs. Walking past them, printed in large letters on each van were the names of the national TV channels, BBC, IVT, Channel 4, etc.

Going through the main gate, I found Emma, Peter and a few others in our group. Emma looked at me with a worried look on her face. “You know the tests that the athletes had before the event the other day, well nine athletes showed positive for drugs. Seven of them from our school.” With anger in my voice, I shouted, “Which athletes?” Emma has never seen me as angry before and to my surprise, she stepped back before answering. “No names were announced yet.”

At that moment Tony and his two henchmen were marching towards me. When they reached their destination, Tony was a few inches away from my face while his bodyguards were on either side. “Looks like you got a good dosage of peptide hormones for you to win them races.” I grabbed him by his shirt, lifted him onto his toes and pushed him onto the nearest wall on my left. I then glanced at the two henchmen, but I think they saw I meant business and backed away. I twisted his shirt a bit and noticed he started choking at the same time. “What has your dad gone and done?”

That is when Emma and Peter grabbed my arm, pulled me away and sat me down on a bench nearby to calm me down whilst I kept my eyes fixed on Tony walking away with his two bodyguards.

That morning instead of having lessons the whole school was gathered for Assembly. The headmaster made an announcement. “Some students had been taking illegal drugs while training to increase their performance. All the athletes who participated in the events this week will need to have another blood test today. They will need to go to the nurse’s room to have it.” We all gathered in the nurse’s waiting room to be called for the test. Everyone had the same thought in their mind, “was it the tablets that coach gave us”. If it was we all knew who the athletes were that showed positive. It was a matter of time for the names to be made public.

When I entered the examining room, the nurse was standing to one side and seated at her desk was two gentlemen with white coats. They told me to sit down and told me this will take a couple of minutes. After they finished I asked, “How long will it take for us to know what the results are?” The one that took my name and wrote it down said, “The results will be ready tomorrow morning son.” “Why so long!” “Son this is very serious, the drugs that were found in some of the blood tests are very dangerous. A lot of tests need to be done.”

For the entire day, no one could concentrate on the lessons. It was like the whole school was in mourning. It seemed that during lessons, teachers would try to lecture with no success. Even they didn’t want to teach. During recess, all the students sat around in the school yard and just talked about what happened. Everyone had the same topic of conversation, “Doping.”

The next day at school was the same, all the vans again parked outside the school. It seemed like they hadn’t moved all night as they were parked in the same spot as yesterday. It looked like they were waiting for the breaking news. It was another nail-biting morning at the school where everyone was on the edge waiting to see what the results were for the drug tests. Finally, we found out who the athletes were. We found out through gossip at recess since the students with drug positive tests were asked to go to the headmaster’s office during the break. At least I and Peter were not included.

Just after lunch time all the athletes that attended the event in Ridlin were asked to go to an isolated classroom where we were individually interviewed. When it was my turn, I was put behind a desk whilst two gentlemen in suits sat opposite and asked me different questions. Who was supplying the tablets, did I ever take any, did I give my tablets to any of the other athletes etc. I realised it was more like an interrogation.

It took a good two hours for everyone to be interrogated. No one could go until everyone was finished. I left with Peter. We started to make our way out of the main gate when I saw Emma there waiting for me. We hugged and kissed each other and turned to start walking home when Peter said, “Wasn’t Sarah with you?” Emma explained, “She waited a while then her mum texted her and she had to hurry home.” He just turned and walked away. I called his name out but he just carried on walking without turning back. I turned to Emma, “I’m worried about him, he’s been acting strange since the day he didn’t qualify for the finals.”

I asked Emma if she wanted to come to my house for a while. She happily agreed. I took my mobile out and called mum and asked her if it was ok for Emma to come to dinner, even though mum always put a plate on the table for her. Emma took my arm in hers and cuddled up to me while we were making our way to my house.

We were up in my bedroom looking through the tablets that Mr Giordano gave to us and reading their ingredients. That’s when I read on them peptide hormones. I knew I heard that name before. Emma immediately jumped and said, “Before you attacked Tony he mentioned that you took peptide hormones to win the races.” At that point, mum called us down for dinner.

We were eating with my parents and talking about the scandal at the school when suddenly my father quickly stood up and grabbed the TV remote to turn up the volume. We have a through lounge and the dining table is right opposite a large flat screen. That TV is always on, as long as there is someone in the house, even if no one is watching.

On the screen was Mr Giordano being escorted by two police officers into a police car. The newscaster was stating that he was arrested after many allegations from students and other eyewitnesses that he was distributing illegal drugs to students. Mum and dad just sat there with open mouths as they heard the news. Myself and Emma were not surprised one bit.

My father turned to me and asked me if he ever gave me any of those drugs. That’s when I got up, went upstairs and brought down the box of sealed tablets I had under my bed. I hid them under my bed because deep down I knew I should have told my father about them. On seeing them and reading the labels my father went furious. “What were you thinking Jack! Why did you not come to me the first day he gave you these!” Looking down I replied, “I’m sorry dad.” “What’s done is done I’m just thinking of the other families that were affected,” he exclaimed as he paced up and down the living room.

We had the media outside the school all week. As the days went by something new was discovered each day. It all started with Mr Giordano being arrested for giving the drugs to his students, however, the police and anti-fraud squad also uncovered more than just the illegal use of the drugs. He was also involved in pharmaceutical crime, the trade and distribution of fake, stolen or illicit medicines. Whatever power he had, it was not enough to save his neck this time. The board of education fired him from his position as St Mary’s Coach straight away. All the family assets were frozen until his trial was over. My father said he was lucky they did not put him away, but we said he probably still had some connections somewhere.

All the athletes that came out positive for the drugs were disqualified and whoever received any medals was stripped from them. The good thing about all this is that it did not have any effect on their future if they wanted a career in sports.

Peter was throwing away the tablets, but Tony and the henchmen told the authorities that he was selling them to other athletes. With some bullying, a couple of athletes went with that story. Eventually, he was suspended from school till further investigation. Sarah, Emma, myself and other friends kept on trying to get in contact with him but he wouldn’t answer his phone or answer any texts.

On Friday after school, eight of us went to his house to see him. We all waited by the gate while Sarah went to knock on the front door. A few minutes later the door opened and his mother appeared. She said Peter is not feeling very well and as soon as he’s better he will call.

In my situation, the day after I showed my father the tablets, he decided to take the morning off work and together we took the tablets back to the school. I received a good talking too by my father and headmaster for not approaching someone with more authority when I noticed something was not right with what the coach was doing. The fraud squad put me in a room and interrogated me for four hours with all sorts of questions. At the end of the day, I just received a slap on the hand.

During the last week of school, everyone tried to get back to normal. The media found another story to pursue. Peter was nowhere to be found. Tony did not come to school for the last week, rumours say he was sent away to Italy until the dust settled down and to avoid all the public humiliation his family caused. I guess when you have money you can just pack up and go.

The summer holidays were long, I and Emma went on a vacation for a week to Cyprus, stayed at a lovely hotel in Paphos, where everything was paid by our parents. We mostly relaxed by the hotel pool, we just wanted to get away from all the drama back home. During the rest of the summer, I spent a couple of hours a day with Tyrone working out and the rest of the day with Emma.

Our original plan was to stay on to the sixth form in school. Eventually, Emma’s final marks and my good performance at the school event got us each a place at the University of Hertfordshire. I was going to study Sport and Exercise Science and Sports Therapy. Emma was going to do a Bachelor of Law and then her Masters of Law. Tyrone was planning for the same university but eventually got an excellent offer in a Sports Academy in America.

When we went to his house to congratulate him, his father was so proud he just could not stop talking about it. He got the barbeque out and insisted we dine with them. Tyrone’s eyes teared up saying. “I have never seen him so happy.” We all then smiled and enjoyed the rest of the evening.


Chapter 7

The alarm woke me up from a deep sleep, I turned towards the sound and slammed my hand onto the snooze button to turn it off. I started rubbing my eyes, then blinked a couple of times so my vision can focus. Looking at the clock it was only 6:00am. Then I remembered I had my driving test today. The test was at 9:00am near Waltham Cross industrial estate, only a ten-minute drive from where we live.

In a weeks’ time, I and Emma start university and our plan was to live at home and drive there and back. Thankfully mum and dad bought me a ford focus to get around in, all I needed now was my driving license. If I pass today, we would save a lot of time instead of getting the public transport. The drive to Hatfield, where the university was located, was only twenty minutes, but to get there by bus could take up to two hours.

I was going to take my test in my car. Initially, I began lessons with a driving instructor and once I became comfortable with driving, mum taught me the rest. I preferred mum to dad, he didn’t have much patience.

Mum drove us to the test centre, parked the car and then told me to adjust the seat and mirrors to be ready. As we arrived a little early, we made our way to the waiting area. Mum looked at me and said, “You’re looking nervous Jack.” “Wouldn’t you be mum?” I replied. That’s when she opened her bag and pulled out a Tropicana Orange Juice and a Mars Bar. “Have this. It will make you relax before your test.”

I sat in the driver’s seat while the Examiner sat on the passenger side. He was a big man, around fifty. He looked like the actor who plays Fred in the Flintstones movie…what’s his name. I’m sitting here and instead of concentrating with the test I’m trying to remember what the actor's name is. Got it, John Goodman. “When you’re ready you can start your engine Jack and I’ll instruct you from there,” Fred said. When I took my foot off the clutch and the car started moving, how much I wanted to shout out “Yabba Dabba Doo!”

I drove around following the instructions Fred was giving me. To my knowledge, I did everything perfect. But just seeing him write something down every time I did something made me more nervous. After about half an hour of driving, we started to make our way back to the centre, that’s when I knew it was nearly over. Fred told me. “If you can park the car anywhere you find space please Jack.” When the car came to a halt, he took off his seat belt and started to write again. He then looked at me and said. “Jack I am pleased to inform you that you have passed your test, congratulations.” “Thank you,” I said, but really I wanted to scream out “Yabba Dabba Doo!”

The following week we started University. It was different from school. In school, everyone was much younger, at university, everyone was over twenty. There were students that were twenty-five and over. At school, everyone knew that Emma was with me, but here all the males were hitting on her. They saw we would be together during recess but still they chased after her when we weren’t together.

The second week of our classes, guess who rolled into my class, Tony Giordano. He was all tanned up and ready to start his classes. I guess the gossip about him going to Italy was true. When he saw me, he tried to stare me out, but I just ignored him and carried on with my work.

The first term until Christmas went very quickly. I had to study more now. The professors here explained the basics and students had to study more to understand each theory. With Emma, we kept on arguing about guys wanting to get into her pants. I guess I was overreacting to all these changes. I was under a lot of pressure as well due to my workload and I wasn’t seeing much of Emma all week, except for weekends.

With Tyrone, we kept in touch daily through Facebook, twitter and all the other social media. We would Facetime each other every couple of days and talk. I was glad I had him to talk to. He was a good listener and I would always talk to him about any issues I had with university work and Emma. He would always bring my moral back up, he would tell me I was underestimating myself. Regarding Emma, he assured me that it was me she loved.

During the Christmas holidays, I sat down with Emma and we talked, we both agreed that we would try and spend more time together and study together on our free time. Tyrone surprised everyone by turning up on Christmas Eve. He spent Christmas Day with his parents and the evening around my house. I got to see Emma more during the holidays, we did more things together and went places. I and Tyrone trained together every day before he had to go back. Emma was always by my side encouraging me.

Once the holidays were over, I agreed with Emma that since we were nearly eighteen we could our parents if we can stay around each other’s house overnight. After the new year, before the start of the new term, I would stay a few days around Emma’s or she would stay around mine. We carried on like this and everything seemed OK. I noticed that we started getting closer again. Our lessons were becoming easier as well.  It seemed like everything was going back to normal.

By the end of the second term before Easter, my reputation with all the other students and professors was having a positive effect. Even students who were a few years older than me would come and ask for help in their lessons. Emma was also progressing in her class and was getting very popular with her peers. I still wasn’t very happy with the way some of the other students approached her.

A month before the end of the year I noticed some changes in Emma. She started to become very distant with me, it was like she was holding back on telling me something. She was like this for a couple of weeks, she would sit there and stare out into space and not say anything. One Sunday evening out of the blue she said to me, “Jack I think you need to go home tonight, I have to finish off some essays I need to hand in by Tuesday.” I insisted that I would like to stay and I promised I will not disturb her.” To my surprise, she was suddenly angry and shouted, “I need to study Jack!” I put my head down and made my way out of her house, got in my car and drove home.

The next day I messaged Emma, “What time would you like me to pick you up?” She replied, “My father will be taking me this morning as he is going that way today.” I quickly messaged back, “OK.” For the rest of the week, we just avoided each other.

Around noon on Thursday, I was in the cafeteria having lunch when I spotted Emma sitting alone. I picked up my tray and went over and asked her if it was OK to sit with her. She looked up and just said, “Sure.” I sat down, picked up my fork and started picking at my lunch. After a couple of minutes of silence, I asked. “Are you going to the end of year party at the Forum tomorrow?” “Maybe” was all she said. She had her hand on the table so I tried to put my hand on top of hers. As soon as she noticed what I was trying to do she pulled her hand back. I looked at her for a few seconds and just got up and left.

The following day I didn’t have any lessons so I stayed at home. I was in my room lying on my bed, reading the latest novel by my favourite author. I was trying to concentrate but I was just going over the same paragraph again and again. I looked over at my desk. Sitting there was a picture Tyrone took. In it was me, Emma, Sarah and Peter. Straight away my thoughts went to Peter and how we lost contact. I grabbed my iPad and logged onto Facebook, I found Pete’s profile, clicked on it and I realised I was still blocked. Why did he block everyone? Since the day he was suspended from school no one saw or heard from him again. We tried to contact him but after a month into the summer holidays, his family just moved. None of us has seen or heard from him since.

I immediately thought, just sulking around will not help much, so I quickly jumped out of bed, put on a pair of trainers. Stretched a bit and started to jog towards Ley Valley Park. While I was jogging and the fresh air started to fill up my lungs, I started to think more clearly. I said to myself, “I will go tonight and if Emma is there, I will straighten all this out for once and for all.” Into two miles of jogging, I noticed my breathing was getting heavier, that’s when I knew I had to get back into training.

Later that night, I entered the Forum. I walked around, looking to see if I can see Emma anywhere. I saw a group of girls I recognised from her class and asked them if they had seen her tonight. They said that she was around somewhere. I went to the Forum a couple of times and as I was ready to leave I spotted her.

Sitting on a stool with a drink in one hand and the other onto the tall round table, she was talking to some guy. He suddenly leant over and kissed her. I just turned around and started walking towards the exit. Someone next to me shouted out, “WOW I bet that was a surprise, Johnny”. I said to myself, “It’s Jack, you stupid jerk, not Johnny.”

I was making my way back to my car when I saw Tony in front of me. He had to say something, he had to finish the decorating of the cake by putting the cherry on top. “I see your girlfriend is getting very popular with the guys.” I was like a time bomb ready to explode, I walked up to him tightening my fists on the way. All it took was one punch in the gut and then another on the chin and he was down. After that, I just blacked out.

When I came around it was to the sound of CB radios, when I looked up two police officers were standing there and a paramedic attending to my head. At the same time, I felt a sharp pain on the side of my head. One of Tony’s henchmen must have been behind me when I hit him and immediately reacted by hitting me back. I looked over to where Tony fell when I punched him. A piece of black plastic was there covering something which seemed like a body. The paramedic finished attending to my wound and left. I looked around and saw a group of people gathered behind a black and yellow strip that police usually put up when there is a crime scene.

As I started to get up one of the police officers turned to me and said, “We will need you to come with us to Hatfield Police Station.” On arriving at the station, I asked them if I can call my parents. I made my telephone call and within half an hour my parents were there. We were put in a room with just a table and four chairs in the middle, we waited there for two hours. Suddenly the door opened. Two police officers came in, told us that I will be detained and I will need to stay in a cell overnight until further investigation.

The next day I found myself in front of a judge. He read me all my rights and explained to me that I was been arrested for the murder of Tony Giordano. At that point, my mother started crying while my father held her tight. I was then escorted by the police to my cell.

During the two months that followed, I was behind bars in a cell waiting for my trial. My parents visited me daily. In the first month, Emma kept on coming to see me but I refused to see her. Mum said, “See her and let her explain herself, there must be a logical explanation to all this.” Just to get my mum to stop pushing me to see her, I told her I will write her a letter. Later that night, I asked the guard for some paper, envelope and pen. The guard left for a few minutes and returned with the items. That’s when I put pen and paper together and wrote,

Dear Emma,

That fateful night Tony died I was in the Forum and saw who you were with and how he kissed you. That’s when I knew that I had lost you to someone else. That is when the pieces to the puzzle came together. Why you wanted me to leave your house that night, the cold shoulder all the time and you just sitting there spaced out. I guess your mind was on someone else. There is no need for you to explain yourself, I think it’s best we don’t see each other again. My solicitor thinks I am looking at ten to fifteen years, with good behaviour I could be out in eight. It’s best you carry on with your life.

Good Bye.

Jack.

I thought “short and sweet.” I put the paper in the envelope, sealed it and wrote Emma on the front and called the guard. “When a young lady with the name Emma comes and asks to see me, can you give this to her please?” The guard responded, “I usually don’t do this but every time that girl comes she bursts into tears as soon as you refuse to see her. I said, “What is it with everyone defending her?”

The following day, mum came to see me early in the morning. She was very quiet and straight away I knew something was wrong. “What has happened, mum? You are never like this.” She opened her bag and brought out an envelope with my name written on it. I recognised Emma’s handwriting. She put the letter in my hand and said, “Emma has gone Jack. She’s gone to stay with her sister in Blackpool”. My eyes just teared up straight away. I took a deep breath and said, “I think that is the best mum.” She just stayed silent.

The morning of the trial, I was waiting in the court’s small jail in the basement to go upstairs in front of the judge. Eventually, two police officers came and took me to the courtroom. Sitting near where I was standing was my parents. On my right, behind Tony’s solicitor, was his parents. I first noticed Mr Giordano, it seemed in one year he aged a decade, after what happened to his career and then his son. Will that be me in a couple of years, just the shell of a man?

The hearing went on until three in the afternoon. I was put up in the stands and questioned by Mr Giordano’s solicitor. Then all the history I had with Tony was brought to light, even that time when I grabbed him by the collar. That was against me as well. The Judge said to have a one hour recess and be back at four for the final verdict.

They brought me back into the room and I stood there to see what the final verdict was. Mum and dad stood as well behind me. A folded piece of paper was handed by the jury to a court official to give to the Judge. The room went silent; you could hear the paper as the Judge was unfolding it. After adjusting his glasses, he said, “After a careful review of the case, I hereby sentence you for the Manslaughter of Tony Giordano. You are to serve twelve years in prison”. Before the Judge could finish my mother just screamed, “No, No, No!” As I turned I saw her collapsing. I then looked over at Tony’s father and he just sat there, with a look on his face that said, “This will not bring my son back”.

I sat in my cell holding the letter Emma wrote to me. Sitting, just staring at it speculating if I should open it. The cell suddenly opened, two officers said: “It’s time to go Jack”. I put the envelope in my pocket and followed them to take me to my new home for the next twelve years.

Chapter 8

The HM Mount Prison was about a forty-five-minute drive from Cheshunt. I and about five other guys were taken there by a prison bus. On arriving, the driver stopped in front of two big gates. The guard sitting next to him took his radio and spoke to someone. Then a few seconds later the gates started to open.

On exiting the bus, we were all put in line and taken to a room where an older guard explained to us the prison rules in a firm and orderly way. We were then taken to another room where our prison uniforms were given to us. Our clothes and belongings were taken from us for safe keeping until the day of our release. I had the letter in my hand and said to the guard. “Can I hold onto this?” He looked at me and left the room. When he came back the older guard was with him. He came up to me, looked at his clipboard and said, “My name is Mr Williams, I am the Warden here. Jack, I’m not going to have any trouble from you, am I?” “No sir.” He held the envelope in his hand tapping it with his other hand. Then gave it to me and left.

After putting on our uniforms we were taken through a big hall where all the other prisoners stood around waiting to see the new inmates. As we walked with the guard in front showing each person his cell, all eyes were focused on us. Then I heard a voice as I was walking. “What are you looking at.” I looked up and one of the inmates was staring at the guy behind me. I quickly put my head back down and carried on walking.

Entering my cell, I found an empty bed on the right was on the left was a guy lying on the other bed, holding a copy of the bible. I put my things on the bed, sat down on the edge, took out the envelope and just stared at it. I felt a tear run down my cheek. Then my cell mate spoke, “Here, wipe your eyes, don’t let the others see you like this.” He threw me a box of tissues. I whispered, “Thank you.”

That is how my prison sentence started. Me and Bob, who is my cell mate, hardly talked. Only Good Morning and Good Night. He always seemed to hold that Bible close to his heart, not one time did he open it while I was present. We were like this for a couple of months. During that time, mum and dad visited four times. They wanted to come every week but the prison only allowed the same visitors twice a month. Tyrone was in the country and he came to visit at the first opportunity he got.

During a visit mum came on her own, she said to me my father could not make it because he was out of the country for work, then changed the subject and asked me If I was being treated well and if I was learning anything. I said to her angrily, “I am learning to do some gardening; I like to be outside in the fresh air!” “Why are you talking to me like that Jack?” She exclaimed as she started crying. I banged my hand on the table and shouted, “It’s Sunday mum, you’re telling me dad is on a business trip.” “It’s killing him, Jack, seeing you like this. Have you seen yourself lately Jack?” I just stared at her for a few seconds, got up, walked to the guard and asked him to let me out of the room.

That night just before the lights went out, I was lying on my bed looking at the envelope and replaying the last words my mother said, “Have you seen yourself lately Jack?” Was I becoming like Mr Giordano? Was I becoming an empty shell? Then something happened that changed me overnight. Something that gave me a purpose in here.

Bob asked, “Can’t you read?” I turned, looked at him and shouted. “Yes, I do know how to read!” “Why don’t you open the envelope and read it.” I just threw the envelope on the floor and turned towards the wall. I heard the springs on his bed make a noise and recognised the sound. It was the sound he made when he got up. “Teach me? Teach me how to read please?” I turned and in his hand was the envelope. I took the envelope and just put it in the waste basket, then looked at him and smiled. “Yes, Bob I will teach you, not only how to read but to also write. Lessons will start tomorrow.” He smiled back and thanked me.

The next day, our lessons began. Bob wanted to learn how to read in a week. I explained to him that It would take much longer than that. After he got to know the basics in the alphabet, I told him we need to get some books from the library. We went to the prison library and found some learning books. We took the books to have them stamped out and the librarian tried to have a laugh at us for getting learning books. I saw Bob put his head down to shame. I said to the librarian, “Do you have the book The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje.” He tried to pronounce the author’s name with no success. I and Bob started laughing as we left the library.

Six months into my sentence while Bob was reading a book, he put it down and said to me. “The reason I am in here is because I killed my stepdad. He kept on beating my mum and abusing my sister. They were too scared to do or say anything. Until one day I had enough and did something about it by beating him to death with a baseball bat.” I looked up and he was just staring into space. That night I told him what happened to me. The lights went out and we talked until early morning. When we woke up after three hours of sleep, the first thing that Bob said to me was, “You need to start running again.”

Since the last outburst during mum’s visit, she and dad would only come together, not missing one visitation date. They were scheduled to visit that weekend and as it was a sunny day we had the privilege of sitting outside. We talked about the usual stuff and mum was happy that I was looking well. But deep down she knew I was in pain. Just before they left I turned to my dad, “Dad next time you come, could you bring me, my trainers, if it’s ok?” They looked at each other, turned to me and they both said, “Yes Jack.” The smiles were from ear to ear.

The following day I was doing some gardening when one of the guards called out to me. “Jack, in the warden’s office now!” All the other inmates looked at me with a grin. One of them turned and said, “What have you done Jacky Boy?” I ignored him and walked with the guard, thinking has something happened to mum or dad.

I knocked on the door. “Come in”, a demanding voice said. On entering the warden’s office, Mr Williams was sitting behind a big desk. My first words were, “Has something happened to my parents?” “Relax Jack, your parents are fine.” He assured me. He then pointed at a box, which was sitting by the entrance of his office. “Your father came late last night and dropped that off for you. You know, I don’t give any inmates this kind of privileges, but what I’ve seen you do with Bob is remarkable.”

The warden got up, came around his desk, put his hand on my shoulder and looked at me straight in the eyes. “I was waiting to see when you were going to start running again Jack.” I looked at him. “But how did you know?” “I know all my inmate’s history Jack, even about your 800m record. Now take your box and on your one year anniversary I may ask a favour of you”.

That is how I started running again. At first short distance and then gradually I did more laps every week. Within 3 months I was doing ten laps of the prison court, which was equivalent to 5000m. My daily routine was like clockwork. I would get up in the morning, do my gardening work and in the afternoon, I would do two hours of running and working out on weights before dinner. In the evening, I and Bob did more studying and reading.

One afternoon I was preparing myself to start my 5000m. jog, two inmates in their fifties came up to me and asked me if I could show them some exercises to do. “No problem” I replied. It wasn’t long until two became five and then ten. It also didn’t take long until a couple of racers finished the 5000m with me, at least I had company when I ran.

On my one year anniversary, I made an appointment to see the Warden. On entering his office, he said, “Make it quick Jack, I am on a tight schedule.” “It was regarding some equipment we need sir, for inmates who are interested in sports” I quickly said. “Make a list and give it to the secretary by morning. Is there anything else?” “No sir.” I turned to leave but then I remembered. “Sir last year you wanted a favour from me on my one year anniversary.” He looked away from his computer towards me and smiled. “You started doing the favour a few months ago, by getting inmates interested in sports.” The equipment I asked for I had within two days, I smiled back to that.  

As I was coming to my third year in prison, I noticed a lot of changes. First thing Bob was becoming better at English; he was even considering doing an online university course in English literature. When I started my sentence, the prison was split into two sections. The white skin section and the dark skin section were separated. During my time there, people of mixed races started getting closer together. They still had their differences but it wasn’t like it used to be. Inmates said to me I was the one that brought everyone together with all the positivity I put into them.

It was July on a Sunday afternoon and 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 off my knee and 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 was full of visitors and inmates. Sundays were always busy like this. Sitting on his own was someone I had not seen for five years. I reached the table and looked down at him. “Hi, Peter.” Without looking up he said, “Jack.” I sat down opposite and looked at him. He looked so fragile and under his eyes it was black like he had not slept for days. We sat in silence for a minute then I said, “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, “What did you do Pete?” Then impatiently, I got up, looked down and shouted: “What the f**k did you do Pete?” The whole room just went silent after my outburst, with everyone’s eyes on us he said, “I killed Tony.” I dropped back onto the seat like a sack of potatoes being dropped.

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 murderer, Peter was. What happened that fatal night in the car park was that Peter was hiding behind a car and was planning to attack Tony. He saw what happened when I hit Tony and made his move. He hit me from behind, knocking me out and then beat Tony while he was on the ground. I guess the anger that he held inside him 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 was my parents and sitting on the right was Mr Giordano in the same position as he was four years ago. The trial went on till very late and the judge said the jury must make a decision that evening so 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 suite, the bus is ready to take you to the 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 and help the men with their exercise routine?” I replied. He came up to me, patted me on the back and said “OK Jack.”

By lunch time, a guard came and told me that warden Williams wanted to see me. I went to his office, and as I passed his secretary, she smiled at me. I knocked on the door and knew it will be the last time I would knock on this door. “Come in”, that strong voice said. I entered. “Jack, you are a free man.” I looked at him then turned, walked to the large window and looked 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 and 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.” I turned to him and said, “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 and said, “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 and thanked 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 Bob was sitting there with his head down. As soon as he heard me say, “What’s up with you? I thought you would be happy for me?” He looked up and said. “I thought you’d gone without saying goodbye.” “Really 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 shelve, 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,” he said. “I threw it away.” “And I saved it for you.” I dropped everything and took it from his hand and just stared 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 started 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 did 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 very scared to tell you. The night I told you to go home, I was going to tell you, but again I got scared and didn’t know what to do.

The night at the Forum, I wasn’t planning on going but the other girls saw how I was and forced me to go hoping it would cheer me up. I was sitting there with them and then a song came up and they decided to go and dance. I declined and 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 and gave him a slap that knocked him over.

I am sad for what happened with Tony and I know you did not kill him and 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. After reading it he said, “Jack, your girlfriend has nice handwriting.” I lightly punched him on the shoulder. “What are you going to do now?” I just lifted my shoulders up to show Bob I didn’t know.

The next day, I was up at six in the morning. I had a shower and put on my suit. I went to the dining room with Bob and had breakfast. At eight-thirty I said farewell to everyone. I gave Bob a hug and we both teared up. We tried not to show our affection, but the other inmates knew we had become very good friends.

One of the guards escorted me to the main gate. Waiting there was the warden. I went and stood next to him, facing the main gate. “How did I destroy everything that I had and the people I loved?” He turned to look at me with a reassuring stare and said. “Jack when those doors open, everything will be OK, take my word for it.” He smiled and watched the doors open with me, waiting in anticipation to see what was going to happen.

With the doors open in front of me stood my parents. I turned to Mr Williams said, “Thank you.” “Like I said Jack, everything will be OK.” We shook hands and I started to make my way towards my parents. I hugged mum and dad put his arms around both of us. When we released each other, mum was facing me, she nodded her head and looked behind me.

I turned around and standing there in the distance was Emma, as beautiful as I remembered her. I walked up to her and said “Hello Emma” she answered back, “Hello Jack.” From behind her holding the hem of her dress, a little girl appeared, no more than four years old. “Hello,” she said. I smiled at her and went on one knee and said, “Hello.” She had a Barbie doll in her hand, showing it to me. “Do you think mummy is this pretty?” I looked up at Emma, smiled and replied, “Your mummy is much prettier.”


Epilogue

Life out of prison was different, there was some getting used too. In the beginning, I found it very difficult to adapt to my new environment. Emma and my parents would be by my side whenever they saw I was doubtful about blending in with the way of life outside of those ten-foot walls. The biggest challenge I had was finding a job when you do time in prison even though you are innocent, potential employers look at you differently.

With Emma, it was another test in life to see how strong our love was. We both believed in the beginning that Amie our little girl kept us together. As the months went by our love grew much stronger than it was before I went to prison. I think this was because we were older and with all the hurdles in life we encountered it made us much stronger and wise. Amie at first was very cautious when she was around me when her mum was not there. But day after day she started to get more comfortable with me.

The first six months I lived at home with my parents, dad was at work most of the day. Most of the time I spent with mum. She would help me with new job search’s, filling up application forms etc. One day she said to me. “Why don’t you go back to University and finish your degree.” That’s when a seed was implanted in my brain to get my degree. I applied to the University of Hertfordshire and they accepted me. I didn’t have a scholarship this time, but the money mum and dad saved for their retirement was going to pay for the three years at Uni. This time I wasn’t going to be one of the young students I was going to be one of the oldest.

Emma was living and working for a law firm in Blackpool. On hearing about my release, she approached the senior partners, telling them that she will be applying for a transfer to one of the London offices. They told her that a move like this could jeopardise future promotions for her. When she explained the reason, she wanted to move back home, they were very understanding, she was offered a job in London with a bonus to help her move.

After six months of living with my parents, Emma approached me with the idea. “If we are going to make this work I think we have to start living together as a family.” That is how we found a small two bedrooms flat to rent and moved in together. Our budget was tight because only Emma was working full-time. I was at University all day and in the evening worked a few hours in Starbucks for the extra bit of money. We had a lot of help from our parents looking after Amie. I think her grandparents spoilt her, especially my mum.

One day I decided to go to the cemetery where Tony was buried. I took some flowers put them on his grave and sat on a bench that was next to his tombstone. I was sitting there in thought when I heard some leaves move on the ground, I looked up and saw Mr Giordano standing there. I got up straight away and stepped back. He smiled at me and said. “Thank you for coming Jack, you are the only one to visit his grave from school.” “I am sorry for what happened to Tony,” I said. We sat and talked for a while about my future, what plans I had, talked about Emma and that we had a little girl together. After a long talk, we said our farewells.

The following term when I went to pay my university instalment I was told by the administrator in accounts that my course was fully paid till I finish, including any books and exam fees. When I asked by who? They told me he wanted to stay anonymous. When I told the good news to Emma we both figured out who did this good deed.

On receiving my degree after three years, the University made me an excellent offer as Coach for the track and field team. I refused it as I had another offer. I was offered a job at HM The Mount, to help prisoners in English Literature and coaching the prison athletics team. The money wasn’t as good as the other offer but it was more about helping people to start over. I was told on hearing the news Bob was singing in his cell all night. All the other prisoners were complaining next day they didn’t get any sleep.

It has been four years since my release. I’m sitting here in front of the TV watching the Olympic games, Tony our two-year-old is sitting on my lap. He hears when the commentator mentions Usain Bolt. Tony shouts out: “Bolt Doggy.” His sister Amie looks up from her colouring book towards the TV and shouts back: “Daddy is uncle Tyrone going to race with Usain Bolt.” On hearing Amie, Emma struggles to come as fast as possible to the living room from the kitchen as she is six months pregnant with our third. As we all wait in anticipation for the 100m race to start. On your marks, get set, go. BANG.


The End.