Chapter Three

Steak, baked potatoes, mac and cheese, cake– Kavi’s kitchen table was lined up with delicacies I hadn't eaten in a long time. The smell was heavenly. I think I was even drooling at one point.

“There’s nothing to wait for now. Help yourself! Dig in! We’ll save the dessert for later!” says Kavi, handing me a plate.

After filling my plate with as much food as possible, I take a seat and start going to town.

“Mmm, Kavi, I didn’t know you could cook like this!” I say, practically licking my plate clean.

Kavi laughs, “There’s more than enough for seconds, but I advise you to slow down a little.”

After withholding from getting more food for as long as possible, I force myself to relax and spend more time on my second plate.

Slowly chipping away at my food, Kavi asks me, “Would you like a drink?”

Patting my hand on my chest as I swallow some food, I reply, “Yeah, I’ll take some water.”

Chuckling to himself as he pours me some water, he hands it to me with a strange expression.

“What?” I ask, cleaning my face with a napkin before drinking some water.

“I suppose I didn’t phrase it well enough. Have you ever drunk beer before Mateo?”

A little confused, I say, “Yeah, but it was only a few sips with my family when I was younger. I didn’t really like the taste.”

“That sounds like Sergio. And yeah, we don’t usually drink just for the taste,” chuckles Kavi. “To be honest, I assumed you already had some experience with alcohol. Regardless, you officially became an adult today, so do you want to try drinking again?”

“I guess I wouldn’t mind trying again,” I reply, slightly uncomfortable.

Detecting my anxiousness, Kavi grabs two beers and takes a seat beside me, “When I turned eighteen and was officially old enough to drink, my father was there to drink with me. I know I’m not your father, and I’ll never fill the hole Sergio left, but tonight is for celebrating! So, I assure you, I’ll be here for you tonight like my father was for me. And if you don’t want one, that’s totally fine. I won’t push you any more than this. I’ll happily drink both of these myself!”

“Ehhh, I told you I’d give it another try, didn’t I?” I say with a grin, grabbing a bottle from the table.

“For what it’s worth, though…” I say, screwing off the lid. “I think you’re a damn good father, and an even better man. Thank you for… everything you’ve done for me, Kavi.”

Holding my bottle out to him, Kavi’s face trembles as he struggles to hold back tears. Suddenly lifting me out of my seat, he hugs me. Initially shocked by his abrupt display of affection, my body relaxes, and I hug him back.

Pulling himself away a few seconds later, Kavi chuckles with a sniffle, “Damn kid, now I actually need a drink.”

I laugh, and he does too. After tapping our bottles, I bring mine to my lips. A crisp, refreshing liquid enters my mouth, promptly followed by a firm bitterness. Pushing the bottle away from my mouth, I stomach the bitter taste. Kavi can’t help but laugh before taking another sip himself.

As we drink and laugh about so many things into the later hours of the evening, the eerie ambiance of night settles in, and the stars in the sky paint a much brighter forecast than usual.

If only we had paid more attention… we might have been able to somehow prepare for what was about to happen.

***

“So, there me and Eric were, trying to sneak into Ray’s house. Our objective was to steal the Defiantos that Ray’s parents grounded him from,” I enthusiastically describe, three beers deep.

“Oooo,” says Kavi with raised eyebrows, grinning like a plastered fool as he sips from his bottle. “Sounds risky.”

“It was. Ray was stuck in his room on the second floor, so we had no idea where his parents were inside the house. The only way in the house was–”

Noticing a streak of light through the window behind Kavi, I trail off, “From the…”

Kavi looks down at his chest, asking, “Mateo? I didn’t spill beer on me, did I?”

“No,” I mumble, still staring out the window as another streak of light whisks past.

Realizing where I am staring, Kavi looks over his shoulder, “What? You saw something?”

I stand up and slowly walk toward the window, “Yeah, a shooting star.”

BOOM!

As an ear-deafening sound echoes throughout Opuree, the ground beneath us begins violently shaking. While I grab onto the table for stability, Kavi is thrown out of his chair.

“Kavi!” I shout, a thunderous roar filling the background as plates and glasses rattle along the shelves.

Grabbing onto the table leg and lifting himself up, Kavi replies, flicking his gaze back toward the window, “I’m okay! What about you?!”

“I’m good! What’s happening?! We’re in the damn sky! An earthquake shouldn’t be possible!”

“I don’t know! Opuree hasn’t ever experienced anything like this!”

Being drunk, my confusion and response time made for a bad combination. As I watch more and more shooting stars fall through the night sky, a large vase topples off a shelf behind me. Hearing a chittering noise above me, I look up, only for the vase to strike me in the head.

The sound of glass breaking gets Kavi’s attention, and he whips around to see me falling to the ground.

Rushing over to me, Kavi cries, “Mateo! Mateo! Can you hear me?! Can you talk?! Mateo!”

Barely able to keep my eyes open, Kavi’s muffled attempts to communicate with me are in vain as blood starts to spill down my forehead. Picking me up off the ground, Kavi's eyes darted around in a frenzy, fearful for our safety. With concern that the house might collapse entirely, Kavi struggles to grab a few rags from the counter before carrying me outside onto his backyard lawn.

Falling onto the grass, Kavi lays me on the ground. Quickly placing the rags around my head to stop the bleeding, a blurry Kavi continues to ask me questions. Realizing I’m not coming to, he starts roughly patting me on my cheek, asking if I can hear him. Forcing my eyes to stay open, I try to respond with anything I can manage so he can stop borderline slapping me. Mustering some strength, I grunt as loudly as possible, and the patting stops.

Kavi disappears, and I’m left with quite a sight. Staring straight up at the only view I can, I watch as thousands of shimmering lights streak across the painted night sky. And that’s when I notice one particular light getting bigger. It keeps growing larger and larger, and I eventually start to think it is coming straight toward me.

Realizing the rags won’t serve much use, a terrified Kavi pats my chest, “Everything will be alright. I’m going to go find help. Just wait right here, Mateo! I’ll be back soon!”

Only hearing mumbles, I emit another grunt, which seems to satisfy Kavi. After smiling at me briefly, Kavi rises and starts stumbling toward his backdoor, where a pair of his Defiantos are.

Keeping an eye on me as he stumbles toward his house, Kavi is suddenly stopped dead in his tracks as a knife plunges into his heart. His ability to breathe is immediately inhibited, and all strength in Kavi’s limbs begins to fade as the knife is ripped out of his chest. Slumping onto the dirt with adrenaline still pumping, Kavi draws on what little energy he can into looking up, and standing over him is a masked man.

With a bloody knife in hand, the masked man stares at Kavi for a few seconds before he begins to walk over toward me.

“No… he doesn’t…!” wheezes Kavi, feebly trying to crawl toward the man to stop them.

Ignoring Kavi, the man kneels down beside me. Entirely ignorant of what's going on, I watch the light in the sky continue to expand as the murder weapon slips into my hand. Looking over his shoulder, the man sees that Kavi has stopped moving, collapsed on the ground.

The man emits a sigh and walks back over to Kavi. His hands gloved, he drags Kavi closer to me before flipping him over to expose the wound. Walking away, the man brings a phone to their ear.

“It’s done,” they say with a distorted voice. “Just make sure he doesn’t find out.”

Lowering the phone from their ear, the masked man makes his leave.

Ensnared by the dazzling, colorful image contrasting the night sky, my eyes remain locked on the single light rapidly encompassing my entire view. And then, out of nowhere, my vision splurges with all kinds of colors.

This vivid flash only lasted for a moment in real-time, but even while intoxicated, I realized what must've happened.

With my vision returning to normal, I notice something shiny has crashed into the ground just a few centimeters away from my hand.

Clumsily fumbling my shaky fingers around the gleaming item, I eventually get a grip on it. Wanting a better view, I raise my arm into the air, the item feebly nestled between my fingers. Its beautiful texture and color glisten before my eyes as I grasp that I’m holding a crystal shard. But as soon as I process that, the strength in my fingers gives, and the shard slips out of my hand, dropping onto my forehead.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Making contact with the blood leaking out of my wound, the shard begins to react strangely, and I feel my head start to heat up. A beautiful blend of blue and white dyes my vision, and I lose consciousness.

Abruptly opening my eyes, the empty night sky focuses into view. Sitting up, I itch my cheek to make sure I'm awake.

The sky is back to normal. Was that all a dream? I thought I felt pain earlier, but nothing hurts now. The land also started shaking and... it’s so cold. Why am I outside? What happened?

Looking around, the air in my throat constricts as I see Kavi. Staring at my dead friend in a pool of blood, I’m unable to look away.

“Kavi? Kavi?! What– what happened?!” I say as I extend my hand toward him.

I catch a glimpse of my dark red palm tainted with dry blood, and my eyes widen.

What the hell?

“Hands in the air!” yells a deeper voice.

Darting my gaze toward where I heard the voice, a line of Mako officers have their guns trained on me from across the yard. Overwhelmed, I’m unable to hear my own rapid breathing.

“Put your hands up now, or we’ll shoot!”

Slowly raising my hands, a slew of thoughts overloads my mind.

Why is Kavi dead?! Does the Mako think I killed him? I wouldn’t kill him! Who would kill Kavi?! And what was that earthquake earlier?! Did that happen to only our island or every island?! And that light… I don’t remember what happened!

Turning back to look at where I have just crawled over from, I see a bloody knife lying in the grass.

What?! Don’t tell me… I’m being framed for this?! Who would–?! Why?!

“Hey!”

I instantly look back at the Mako.

“Don’t make a damn move! Understand?!”

Slowly nodding, I look down at Kavi beneath me as the officers draw closer.

You’ve got it wrong! I didn’t do this! I didn’t do this! I didn’t–

“Get on the ground and put your hands behind your back!”

Tears start flooding down my face.

I didn’t kill him! I didn’t! He’s my only– Kavi is– he was–!

“Get on the damn ground! Now!”

I’m being framed! Can’t you see that?! I wouldn’t do this! You have to believe me!

I’m suddenly tackled to the ground by an officer, Kavi’s body leaving my view. Aggressively thrown onto my stomach, my face dirties itself as I numbly feel my shoulders practically yanked out of their sockets.

“I told you to get on the ground,” says the chief, pressing my arms harshly against my back.

As I’m cuffed, I’m unable to speak. I’m unable to move. I’m unable to breathe. Forced back onto my feet, two officers hold my arms behind my back as I’m ushered out of the backyard.

From behind me, the chief states, “Mateo Hernandez, you’re being arrested for the crime of murdering a tepran, breaking one of our most sacred laws. I hope it was worth it kid, because you’re about to rot in Soulbell for a very long time. May Nevis serve justice.”

***

My family couldn’t afford to buy my bail, so I spent three months behind bars in Midland Jail until the court would finally see me.

During the time I spent in that filthy cell, I was never able to figure out if I had actually killed Kavi.

I didn’t want to believe I had... I knew in my bones that I had been framed. However, the fact that I couldn’t remember what happened after I blacked out only made me spiral.

Rage, guilt, ignorance… my emotions spun like a top in that jail, but above all else, I mourned for Kavi.

People are calling it the shard shower. Apparently, all those lights I saw in the sky were crystal shards that rained down worldwide. From the brief exchanges I heard as officers passed my cell, the crystal shards contain special powers. That said, the officers also joked about it being a rumor quite often.

Nonetheless, even after three months, it’s obvious our country is still trying to sort itself out from the night of the shard shower. As for the rest of the world, it sounds like they’re not doing much better than we are.

With the shard shower serving as a catalyst, the closed door that limited change for so long... is finally open.

Under normal circumstances, I should’ve been seen by a judge far more quickly, but with the events of the shard shower, my trial was delayed. It doesn’t help that I’m a grounder. We’re always the last option in terms of priority. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Mako also postponed my trial just to see how I’d react to sitting in a cold cell for a few months.

Unfortunately for them, I got used to it.

My brother was busy trying to help Mom, so he rarely visited. I'd rather it be that way. Mom’s health takes priority over my life turned criminal. Eric told me once that he had tried going to Ray for some legal help, but Ray still wasn’t technically a licensed attorney yet, so he had no luck there. And as for Ray’s parents, who were both experienced and respected attorneys, I guess they weren’t interested in advocating for a grounder who was arrested for killing a tepran.

And as for affording the likes of any other lawyer? Ha, they're only available to the rich.

Walking into my trial, one look at the judge already told me the outcome. Still, I pleaded not guilty in court, explaining to the jury how close Kavi and I were, but it was futile. The jury was composed of fliers from the Skylands, some of whom knew Kavi well, and they were angry. I was already a known delinquent from shoplifting. And with multiple neighbors confirming I was at Kavi’s house, my fingerprints being on the murder weapon, and alcohol found in my system shortly after I was arrested, the need for a trial was… unnecessary.

The evidence was against me. I knew that. My one and only hope was my boss, Sydney. I sent her a letter asking her to advocate on my behalf in court, but she never showed up. Makes sense. I wouldn’t show up to defend the guy who just murdered my friend, either.

In the end, I was sentenced to one hundred years at Soulbell, the most infamous prison in Opuree. It’s home to our country's worst criminals, some of which being on death row. It might be because I’m still young that the judge actually gave me a little mercy with my sentence. One hundred years is lenient for killing a tepran. I’m surprised I wasn’t put on death row immediately. I guess if you look at it the other way, I’ll be living out the rest of my years in that prison.

Forty? Fifty? Sixty? Eighty years? One hundred if I make it that far? Who knows? That prison is the only place I’ll be for the rest of my life. Honestly, a quick death might be favorable over such a sentence.

Before transferring to Soulbell, it was only because of my pitiful begging in court that I was granted the opportunity to see my family one last time before I was put behind bars for good. Scenarios like this were uncommon for grounders... especially those who received such a significant sentence, but because of my mother’s medical condition, I guess the judge felt compelled to go against the norm. Under strict supervision, I finally returned home after three months.

***

Seeing Mom first, maybe it is just my imagination, but she looks much worse. No words are spoken until we embrace one another in her bed.

“I didn’t do it, Mom. I didn’t kill Kavi,” I say while hugging her.

“I know,” she says, pulling me closer. “You’re a good person, Mateo, and I know you would never do something like that. I will always believe you.”

“I don’t know how I will, but one day, I’ll prove my innocence and come back to you and Eric. I’ll make sure you become well again. I promise I will. So please hold out until then, please.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll fight this illness with everything I got, so focus on yourself."

"One way or another, I’ll make sure we see each other again,” I say, giving her one final tight squeeze before letting go. “I don’t have a lot of time. I’m going to see Eric now.”

“Wait, I want to give you this,” says Mom, handing me something.

It was a well-woven knitted square consisting of primarily white yarn. It can fit in the palm of my hand, and on both sides, a tiny red heart separates the blue initials M and H. Rubbing my thumb along its soft yet firm yarn texture, I smile.

“This is called a mitered square. This was supposed to be your birthday gift, but I wasn’t done making it yet back then. I just– whenever you miss home, I hope this helps.”

“Thank you, Mom. It’s beautiful,” I sniffle, giving her another final hug. “I love you.”

“I love you too Mateo.”

Walking out of the room and putting Mom’s gift in my pocket, Eric is standing next to the kitchen table. Instantly changing my demeanor, the red under my eyes still gives away how I actually feel.

“You can’t disappear again.”

“I know,” says Eric after a pause.

“I’m serious. I won’t be around to help like when Dad died. Mom needs that medicine… she’ll die without it. You understand that, right?”

“Yeah... I do.”

“Alright.”

Approaching Eric, I slowly wrap my arms around his shoulders.

“Damn, you’ve always been this short?” I tease.

Eric awkwardly chuckles, “Don’t think so.”

His chuckle fades as silence creeps around us.

“Don’t you dare give up on her.”

“I won’t. I swear.”

“Good, because I don’t plan on giving up on you,” I say.

“It’s time,” says an officer, and I separate myself from Eric.

As my hands are cuffed again, I say, “Mom’s favorite snack is stored behind the spices. You should make some for her tonight. I know you like them too, so try not to have much yourself.”

Interpreting my disguised message, Eric nods in understanding.

***

Escorted out of my home by the Mako, I’m taken to a groundland along the perimeter of our country called Brickworks. Brickworks is an island owned by the Clover Trine, and it serves as the only point that offers a course to and from Soulbell Prison. Travel to Soulbell from Brickworks also differs from the rest of Opuree. While quick travel with Defiantos is the most popular and efficient mode of travel, Soulbell is so distant from the Groundlands that it's only possible to get there via an iris-powered railway.

Arriving at Brickworks, a handful of cuffed criminals like me are filing onto an iris-powered train. Following them inside, the doors shut behind me. Walking down the aisle, men and women alike stare at me as I pass by them. Finding some empty seats at the back, I take a seat.

Soulbell Prison is famous not only in Opuree, but the world. Many recognize it as an inescapable fortress known for housing Opuree’s most unruly citizens. Resting at sea level and located far below even the Groundlands, Soulbell is where nobody ever wants to end up. On the flip side, Soulbell is a place that the entirety of Opuree is glad exists. The peace of mind it grants cannot be overstated.

The massive silver bell that rests at the top of the prison is the soul bell, which is just as well known as the prison itself. It’s rumored that when the soul bell rings, it can be heard on the shores of Taliarusa, a nearby continent.

I stared out the window at the ocean to distract myself from the fear and panic broiling inside me. It had all happened so quickly that I hardly felt like I had a chance to say goodbye.

“Hey, kid," says a man peeking over from the seat in front of me.

Choosing to ignore him, I continue staring out the window. Through my peripheral vision, I can see his nose is crooked.

“Tch,” the man spits on my face. “Who the hell raised you? I’m talking to you kid.”

I wipe the spit off my face and continue staring out the window without giving him the time of day.

“Fine, have it your way. I never forget a face,” says the man, sitting back down.

Zoning out for the rest of the lethargic ride to Soulbell, I silently gaze out the window. It’s a beautiful day. The ocean shimmers with serenity, calming my nerves. But far off in the distance, I see clouds moving in.

I wonder how Mom and Eric are doing…

I fell asleep at some point, only awoken by the thunderous ringing of the soul bell. The train is stopped, and the officers instruct us to file out. I am the last to step off. It is late evening and a hostile downpour pitters along the roof above us. Glancing behind me, I see a massive stone wall standing tall behind us, a dark shadow cast over part of the floor.

A large circular crest is engraved into the center of the stone wall, placed just above the entrance that the train passed under. The circular crest possesses two rings: a large inner ring and a thin outer ring. A bell is engraved at the center of the crest, and the words ‘Soulbell Prison’ are etched into the outer ring of stone material.

We’re here…

My heart races as I look around, registering that the stone walls encapsulate us in a large, barren room. Following behind my fellow convicts, we line up side by side.

Armed guards dressed in navy uniforms, black boots, and black stab-proof armor are organized around us. Straight ahead is a stone archway that hangs over a dimly lit tunnel. Before long, faint footsteps start to echo from further down the tunnel, slowly growing louder.

Eventually, walking into view, the esteemed warden of Soulbell faces us all for the first time.