Joey's P.O.V.

        I have no clue where I am going but the journey there is terrible. I still have people looking at me and acting like they're in high school. I mean, we're in fucking jail for murdering people and all they can look at is a boy who lied about being raped? They must be bored.

       My guard takes me into this room and leaves me cuffed to my wheelchair as the door behind me opens and I hear footsteps creeping behind me. Now more than ever I want Daniel here so I feel safe. Yeah, I said I didn't want him to keep me safe but the truth is that I need him. I need him like I need air to breathe.

       "I never thought this is where you'd end up, Joey," the voice that brings my whole childhood back says to me. This is the voice I would hear whenever my mind was running a mile a minute.
       "What are you doing here, mom?" I say as my heart shatters. I left home when I was sixteen and haven't seen her since. I couldn't take her drinking all the time and fighting with my sister and stepdad. Before I left, she also started getting into pills. I couldn't stick around to watch it get any worse.
      "Oh don't sound like you aren't excited to see me," she tells me, lightly tapping me on my shoulder. It feels like she had acid on her fingers and now my shoulder is having a home burnt through it.
     "I'm surprised you aren't in here with me, seeing as though you couldn't get your act together the last time I saw you. When was that? Oh yes. My sixteenth birthday. You know. The one where most kids have a sweet sixteen. But you wouldn't even let one day be sweet for me would you?" I tell her as I begin to sob very quietly.
      "Ooh you're still feisty aren't you, Joey? Well, I'm here because I have been in rehab for a few months and I have finally came clean. I wanted you to know. Also, I'm here to pay you out. Now, since you murdered someone it will have to be a pretty penny. But I want you to come home with me. We need to have a relationship and I think I am finally in a position to be your mother," she tells me as if it is all nothing and I will just come running back to her frolicking in roses and daisies.
"You think that now that it is convenient for you that you can be my mother? No. You don't get that privilege. You should have dropped the bottles as soon as it became a problem instead of losing me. You can't expect me to just come running back to you after everything I had to go through. I'm not leaving this jail with you. I would much rather stay here for twenty years than spend twenty-four hours in a house you are in," I tell my mother, finally standing up to her. The moment you finally get to face your demons is a moment that lifts everything off your chest.
"I understand this is a lot to take in for you now and I'm sure your emotions are a bit heightened because of it. So, I will be coming back later on and i will ask you again. Hopefully by the you will finally understand that the rational thing to do is come home with me. I love you, Joseph," she tells me, kissing me on the forehead and then walking out the way she came in.

My mind, heart, and forehead sting where she has touched me mentally, emotionally, and physically. I can't believe that she just showed up and expected me to forgive her. Alcoholism isn't something that you can just forgive someone for. Especially if they were okay with you being out of their lives for nine years.

"Alright, Joey. I have to take you back to your cell," my guard tells me as he unlocks my wheelchair and rolls me out of the room, down the halls where people make me feel hopeless.

As soon as we come in sight of my cell, Daniel jumps up and just stares at me. He has this red mark on the side of his face where I assume he had his head leaning on his hand. For the first time since we have been here, Daniel seems to look older. His face seems stronger but his eyes seem darker. Daniel,a shoulders look broader but his mouth seems turned down. He seems to have aged but it only has been a few months.

"Where did you go? Are you okay?" Daniel tells me as soon as the guard places me in the cell.
"I'm okay and I am not having this conversation with you. I'm so tired of talking to you and having to deal with how clingy and frustrating you are. So please, let's not talk about it," I tell him, rubbing my temples from the headache I can feel coming on.
"If you don't talk about it now, you'll never be ready. I promise. Readiness doesn't just pop up one day. It is either there or it isn't. So Joseph, tell me," he tells me looking at me with that lost puppy gaze again.
"Stop calling me Joseph. My name is Joey. And if you don't shut the fuck up right now I don't think you'll ever even hear me say hello ever again," I tell him as I sit down on my bed and cuddle up into my sheets.

I can feel Daniel starring at me from across the room in his bed. I hear his deep breaths go into his lungs and push back through. This is killing him. I can tell that he just wants to talk my ear off but he is scared to, wise choice.

And maybe I lied when I said I was okay.