This chapter is dedicated to Heavenlyhash333! Gina, you're such a sweetheart, and I'm a better person having known you! Thank you for founding FANTASCI and for your constant support. I aspire to be able to write like you one day, you're just so filled with talent! (:

"So how long are you going to keep that up?" Warren asked Logan, looking at his reflection in the mirror as Logan fixed his black hair into a quiff.

"Keep what up?" Logan asked.

"That!" Warren said, as if it would clear anything up.

"And what exactly is 'that?" Logan looked annoyed at the boy standing behind him.

"Your hair, dummy. How long are you going to keep doing your hair like that? We're in prison. Why bother?"

"Because I like it." Logan said defensively.

"Well, I suppose you might as well try. After all, you'll never be much in comparison to me." Warren twirls his hand and flutters his eyelashes, looking like a ridiculous barbie impersonator. 

"Really?" Oliver walked over to the two boys. "Are you that full of yourself?"

"If by 'myself' you mean pure amazing, yes. Clearly."

"Or maybe you're just that insecure?" Logan shrugged.

"Five more minutes!" A guard called stiffly.

"Hey boys, remember the days of being allowed in the bathroom for as long as you wanted?" Foster walks by the group of three and out the door.

"How did him and Bianco shower so fast?" Logan wondered aloud.

"Well Jake was in the army, remember?" Oliver mentioned. "Probably is used to getting ready fast."

"He's such a freak," Warren laughed, "He doesn't ever talk, and when he does he sounds like a terrified little girl! I bet he was discharged for being a wimp."

"Hey," Logan frowned. "Don't say something like that. Everyone's a bit scared right now."

"Mmmm, not me." Warren replied.

"Dude, he could have PTSD," Oliver spoke in an urgent, hushed tone.

"See. Wimp!" Warren started walking towards the door.

"That's not—" Oliver followed him out, protesting his statement.

Logan stood where he was, staring at himself in the mirror, a frown on his face. His brown eyes were so dark that they could've be mistaken as black, especially in that lighting.

"Please tell me this is a dream," he whispered. "A really bad dream."

~~~~Logan~~~~

Red and blue lights flash through the night sky, alerting the whole neighbourhood that something horrible has just happened. Even worse than the lights though are the piercing wails of the sirens and the shrieks of horror from the tiny woman, wrapped in the Logan's arms. Her tiny, bruised frame shakes violently  from a mixture of cold, fear, and shock.

"It's okay," Logan soothes her, pressing his lips against her hair. "Everything will be fine."

"L-Logan," she cries.

"Mom, I'm okay, you're okay."

"What will we do now?" She sobs. "What are we going to do?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Did you know the island used to be called French Southern and Antarctic lands?" Kithara asked the roomful of people.

"Learnt that in history," Oliver said.

"You remember what you learned in history class?" Paradox asked with a slight laugh in her voice.

"I would. I could if I wanted too. I just choose not to," Audrey cut in. "I'm so smart. Like, smarter than all you probably."

"Right yeah, that's why you're in prison," Warren smirked.

"It was one mistake!" She jumped up and screeched.

"Okay, princess. Whatever you say."

"How long will it take to get there?" Kithara asked over Audrey's screeching.

"I don't know, just be quiet and enjoy the ride." Aurora glared. "Your scared voice is unpleasant."

"Y-you're kind of unpleasant," Kithara whispered.

"Ohhhhhhh!" Warren jumped into the air and hollered. "Burrrrrrrn, dimples, burn!"

"I will burn you Warren."

"Oh go play in the halls!" Nicole exclaimed. "Loud, insufferable children."

"Actually, you know what?" Aurora said. "Sounds good, Let's go Paradox."

"Oh, oh no, look I would rather not get caught an... ack!" Her voice got cut off mid speech when Aurora marched over, grabbed her arm and pulled her off of her bed and over to the metal barred door. "Ah-roar-ah!" Paradox broke her friends name up to emphasize it.

"We are leaving now, goodbye!" Aurora played with the lock for a moment before opening the door and dragging Paradox out with her. Jake had fixed it so it would open easily without the guards being able to tell there was anything wrong with it. The only possible problem was that anyone in the halls could be caught. 

"I swear, Aurora. I will hurt you." Paradox threatened.

"Isn't that more my forte?" Aurora smirked.

"Yeah well I learned from the best—" Paradox stopped talking when she heard footsteps. "Move!" She hissed, pushing Aurora into another small hallway.

"Touch me again, Paradox. I dare you." Aurora narrowed her eyes into slits.

"Someone's coming!" Paradox said in a hushed tone.

"Does that mean you need to grab me?"

"Oh for pete's sake, Aurora," Paradox muttered, rolling her eyes dramatically.

Aurora finally shut up and began to listen to the noises. Once the footsteps completely faded away, the two girls cautiously stepped out from their hiding place and continued on where they were going.

"Just like when we were kids, eh?" Aurora remarked with a grin.

Paradox shrugged, memories flooding back to her. "I suppose."

~~~~Paradox~~~~

"Come on, Paradox!" A much younger version of Aurora calls out into the cool, silent night. The sky is without stars, leaving the treeline completely hidden by darkness.

"Shut up," Paradox hisses, walking towards Aurora. "Just because people can't see you doesn't mean they can't hear you."

"Are you scared?" Aurora taunts.

"I'm not scared, Aurora. I'm trying to make sure we don't get caught before we finish this. My mother would kill me if she found out." Paradox begins to hoist herself over a metal fence surrounding a lab claiming not to test its products on animals.

"Fine, I'll be quieter. But don't expect me to hold back my victory cry when we find our evidence."

"Yeah, great. Find it and then get caught before we can do anything about it." Paradox rolls her eyes.

"There's no one around for miles!" Aurora drags out the last word. "Lighten up."

Paradox doesn't answer, but continues walking along the gravel towards the building. By one of the back entrances she finds a bag of rabbit food. She quickly takes a picture, blinking when the flash lights up the whole area.

"What did you find?" Aurora asks excitedly, finally speaking in a hushed tone.

"A cosmetic lab wouldn't normally have any need for rabbit food, now would they?" Paradox's smile spreads across her face.

"They're so going down!" Aurora squeals a bit too loudly.

"Oh crap." Paradox's eyes widen when the huge outdoor lights come on. "Go!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How did we go from that to this?" Paradox mumbled.

"What?" Aurora stopped and looked back at her.

"Nothing, keep walking."

"Don't tell me what to do."

The rocking of the ship in the waves kept Kithara awake. That and her chaotic mind that just would not shut up. She tried everything to get to sleep, which was really the only time she could feel peaceful. She even tried the stupid counting sheep thing her mother had taught her when she was a young child. It didn't work.

Kithara sighed and rolled over once more. She wished she could at least hear the waves, but she could only feel them to know that they were there. Somewhere far off in another corridor a prisoner was screaming, but to her it was only a faint whisper.

"Stupid, disgusting criminals." She mouthed, worried that if she said the words aloud someone would hear her. It then occurred to her that she was one of them. At least that's what everybody believed. She was, in a sense, no better than anyone else there. And who knows what these people did to wind up there. Kithara wanted to believe that they, like her, were innocent people who didn't do, or at least didn't mean to do anything wrong.

She shivered under her blankets, even though she wasn't cold. She knew that at least the vast majority of the people in their cell did something to get them there. What were they? What are they? Murders? Thieves? Are they even mentally sane?

A tear slipped down Kithara's cheek. In her mind, she was completely alone.

Nicole watched over her sleeping inmates and Jake, who always woke up before anyone else. She tilted her head at him, twisting a strand of her long red hair around her fingers. Such a strange young man... So alert all the time. Everyone assumed he had been in the military or navy and did something wrong there to land him in prison. Nicole wasn't so sure. The man didn't seem like the betraying type to her, but who really knew what anyone was truly like in this place? Except her husband, she knew who he was. She looked beside her to where he lay sleeping. Sharing a twin bed had been less than pleasant, but it was either that or sleep separately until they arrived at the island. I wonder if by the time we get there and have to part ways, I'll miss any of these strangers. Everyone was so different, with such different stories, yet they were all the same. Everyone must have done something to get them here. Nicole felt no shame in her actions leading up to the arrest, though she knew she should have. Many of these people did look ashamed; although shame does not necessarily mean guilt.

Nicole averted her eyes to look at Aurora. Fiesty little thing. Thank god she has that other girl to keep her from killing people. Nicole wanted to touch her colourful hair, but knew that doing so wouldn't end well. The girl was small, but she looked strong.

Next, she looked at Audrey. That kid confused her the most. She seemed disgusted by everyone and everything here, as if she was way too good for this kind of treatment. What could she have done to wind up here that made her still so high and mighty? Nicole rolled her eyes at Audrey's pink eyemask. We're only allowed a single trunk each and she wasted precious space on a frilly mask that she only wears when she's asleep? Ridiculous. As if she could hear Nicole's thoughts, Audrey began to stir. A small sigh escaped her lips as she turned over in bed, where Nicole could not see the silly mask.

Nicole copied the sigh and picked up a book to read until everyone else woke up and the day began.

"Okay, okay, I have a better idea," Warren said out of the blue. Eyebrows were raised and heads turned in his direction, because no one had been talking previously.

"A better idea than what exactly?" Oliver asked after a few awkward seconds of staring occurred.

"Nobody except grandma and grandpa want to talk about why they're here—"

"Hey!" Foster glared. "I'm probably half the age that your grandparents are."

"Well..." Warren made a face. "I'm not sure what half the age of dead is but, sure."

Kithara frowned, seeming sympathetic for Warren, despite his uncaring attitude.

"Just get on with it please," Audrey demanded.

"Right, so," Warren continued, "How about we say how much time we're gonna be in for? We'll get to know each other a bit, but you can still all keep your secrets."

"If I remember correctly..." Paradox sat on the floor with her legs tucked underneath of her. She was in the middle of stretching. "You were one of the people keeping secrets."

"A valid point, green eyes." Warren noded. "Another reason why I came up with this idea. So, how long?"

Paradox said nothing.

"We're doing five years." Nicole motioned to her husband and herself. "So, not that bad. A good, long, vacation! Right honey?" She began to laugh, elbowing Foster in the process. He chuckled a little along with her.

"Anyone else?" Warren looked disappointed at the lack of participation.

"Two years," Oliver spoke up.

Kithara relaxed a little, happy to know that there was another person she could check off the list of people who possibly did something completely awful.

"Thank you!" Warren smiled. "See, we're bonding. I have four years."

"This is ridiculous," Aurora laughed. Everyone except Paradox stared at her in surprise, as that had been the first time she genuinely laughed in front of them.

"Oh really? Well then what do you got? Or are you not going to tell us because you have the terrifying twenty five year sentence of a serial murder?" Warren joked.

All the sudden Aurora realized that she could use her answer as a way to make sure these people feared her. "No, I don't have twenty five years." She raised her eyebrows.

"What do you got then?" Nicole leaned forward, expecting an answer.

Aurora licked her lips and smirked while Paradox gave her the death glare. "Life sentence, actually."

Graphic attached made by MulanJiang

How did you like chapter two? Make sure to vote if you enjoyed it, it really helps! Or even if you didn't enjoy it, vote because that's the nice thing to do XD

How do you think the other inmates are going to view Aurora now that she just revealed her life sentence to them? Do you think Paradox will tell them about hers, or just keep quiet about it?