Birthed

"You can come out now." the police officer called out. "You might not be this fortunate next time, so spend more time thanking your stars and hopefully they won't afford you much time to visit this place again."

Jonathan Morgan walked out of the cell, and the breath of fresh air he inhaled felt more precious than gold. Two days in the cell was enough to go through hell, coupled with brutal bone-breaking treatment he had to endure while in the cell.

Jonathan struggled to steady himself on his feet as it took him several feets to walk out of the police station. Pity or hate? it was difficult knowing exactly what he should feel. Jonathan for the most time, carried on a very strong appearance, and seeing how his friends looked on as he made his way to his rescuers only left him more heart broken.

"What happened?!" Lesley asked, overwhelmed by the pitiable sight as she hurriedly reached out to offer Jonathan some support. "Talk to me Jon."

An attempt to speak proved futile. Jonathan concluded that he won't allow himself lose his life by attempting to talk after surviving hell in a cell—it'd be an absolute waste of second chance. By saying nothing, he'd be saving himself and saving his friends from two days worth of bad breath.

"I never thought I'd see you like this." Liam said as Jonathan was carefully helped into the vehicle. "We take him to the house or to the doctor?"

"To the house." Lesley replied. "Miss Callahon will come over."

"The nurse?"

"Yeah."

Jonathan could hardly sit upright, bruises on his rib cage and back meant he needed to rest on Lesley's body as Liam drove through the city to their house, driving into a couple of potholes along the way. After about 7 minutes north of half an hour, they eventually got home. A cold wind of 'funeral silence' accompanied them into room, the atmosphere outside was filled with sadness following the events that led to Jonathan's unfortunate arrest along with over a hundred other arrests.

Jonathan rested on a recliner as Lesley quickly prepared a bed where he will be nursed back to good health. In no just time, the bed was set and he became better relaxed lying on the bed. Despite feeling sleepy, he dared not to sleep for fear he might not wake up.

There was a knock on the door which Liam quickly attended to. It was Miss Callahon, dressed in her customary white professional outfit, looking as smart as ever.

"Peace be unto this house." Miss Callahon greeted as she approached the bed Jonathan was lying on.

"And unto you as well" Lesley responded.

"Oh boy! you look done for. Very fortunate you're in safe hands now." Miss Callahon examined his wounds carefully and gave off a sigh. "Has he had anything to eat yet?"

"I started preparing something already."

"That is fine. All i will need from you is a bucket of hot water. So get him to eat while you get the water ready."

"Alright, will be ready shortly."

Miss Callahon got her instruments ready as she waited for the water. Usually she wouldn't talk much when attending to a patient, but the events of the last few days had left her curiously seeking for some information about what was actually going on.

"Fortunate you weren't arrested as well." Miss Callahon said as she turned her attention to Liam.

"It's easier being fortunate not to get arrested than being unfortunate to get arrested I guess." Liam responded slyly.

Miss Callahon failing to immediately understand Liam's response took a few moment to get the sense of it.

"So you mean it's their fault they got arrested?"

"I wouldn't say so exactly, but all this could have been avoided. The police reported that it was members of two opposing gang groups that were arrested, if there were no gang groups, there would have been no conflict and hence there'd be no arrests."

"So it was a gang fight." Miss Callahon said as she looked at Jonathan quizzically.

"Yeah, so I wonder how Jon got caught up in the mess."

"Well, I don't think the number of arrests made correlate with the number of people involved. I think the police just made a sweep of both the guilty and the innocent. So what's the reason for the conflict?"

"There's been no definite report as of now, but i guess it's likely as a result of political tussle. Jon might be able to tell a better version when he's in better condition."

"Here, the water is ready." Lesley said as she handed over the bucket of hot water to Miss Callahon.

As soon as Jonathan was done eating, Miss Callahon went about her business swiftly, retrieving a sterilized piece of cloth which was soaked in hot water and used to clean the surface of the wounds. She applied anesthesia to the wounds and had them stitched up.

"These drugs will alleviate his pain and speed up the healing process. And please ensure he takes them religiously." Miss Callahon emphasized as she handed over the drugs to Lesley and collected her charge. "Call me if there be any unexpected development." were her last words as she made her way out of the apartment.

Lesley had become stressed out and almost completely exhausted from going through two sleepless nights, from receiving phone calls and having them placed, and from going to one place after another in search of Jonathan—The past few days and the chaos in the city at large had messed up much of the daily routine, and she just needed rest from it all; at least now that Jonathan had been found. Liam needed no invitation to begin his journey to dreamland as he boldly took the initiative to doze off on the recliner.

"Alright... Dear gatekeeper of the dreamland, I hope you can care for your wounded friend when you both meet in dreamland. I'll be going home to rest now." Lesley said, giving off a sigh of accomplishment that was strongly affiliated with tiredness as she stared at the exhausted body of Liam.

Just how much she needed a good sleep was revealed to Lesley as she could only walk off the room with shaky legs. "Some friends are just worth giving all for." She reasoned as she slowly made her way to her apartment which was just about a stone throw away from Jonathan and Liam's apartment.

Lesley had the firm belief that a lot of people were just greater than what they appeared to be; and for her, Jonathan was lonely at the top on that list. Something about him she couldn't really explain just gave her the strong conviction that Jonathan was destined for greatness. However, the arrest has made her fear of the possibilities of Jonathan's affiliation with gang groups. Alright, she needs to give her friends the benefit of the doubt, but she need not view matters concerning Jonathan through tinted spectacles, so she gave room to the possibilities of him taking what can be considered as wrong steps which could always be corrected.

•••

The rays of sunlight tore through Jonathan's eyelids to usher his consciousness into the new day as Liam opened the curtains to allow for some fresh air. Jonathan managed to sit-up on the bed. His wounds were still very fresh, making the simple task of putting on a shirt much more difficult than a mundane task.

"So how did you get caught up in this mess bro?"

"I—er... well, ill fortune I guess." Jonathan mumbled. "I was at the right place at the wrong time, so I got arrested and tortured for what I knew absolutely nothing about—two days, two God forsaken days without any food or water! I was treated like a common thief." Jonathan tried to contain the blazing anger violently seeking it's way out by making hand gestures with each word.

"Damn it!" he yelled as he angrily overturned the table in front of him; an action he immediately regretted due to pains like knife stabs he felt after the impact.

"C'mon, take it easy with yourself." Liam cautioned him.

Tears trickled down Jonathan's cheek which he quickly wiped off trying to regain his composure. It was easy to see the true reason for his pain; physical pain was only secondary to the pain he felt for enduring the punishments of crime that was not of his own doing—that hurts differently!

"We hardly know about anything leading to the fight. A faction of the people believe it's a political tussle, while another faction thinks otherwise." Liam said, with the intention of getting clarification on the matter.

"While it might have an underlying tone of politics, it's more about business territories. James O'Brady attempted bringing his products into the city, and 'The Brothers' got tipped off, so they were able to locate the transporters and seize the goods."

"James O'Brady is one hell of a venturesome lad. he's not even confidently in his early thirties yet, and he appears to have no fear for danger."

"He has no course for fear, all he has to do is call the shots, while the minions get the shots. Even worse, the unsuspecting ones get the shots too."

"Just like in your own arrest case."

"Exactly the point!"

"Interesting."

"Chances are you get shot a hundred times before he faces one. And if you have the riches and influence, others get punished for crimes that are pretty much of your own doing—they are hardly ever brought to book. And the bloody hoodlums? They are happy to put their lives on the line all for a penny. And not just the hoodlums, even their employers get paid pennies for all their hardwork."

"So by way of summary, your point is—being a criminal boss is the new sexy. Right?"

"It's either you're bossed around till you become surplus to requirement, or You can decide to be the one who calls the shots. And sincerely, I'm tired of being bossed around in the name of working for someone."

"Speaking of getting tired of being bossed around in the name of working for someone, Old-man Simons came around during the time you went missing, and he expressed his desire of not having you back at work."

"Alright... Alright..." Jonathan said in disbelief. "I didn't really mean it that literally. But then, just maybe, this is my clarion call to the league of elites."

Liam smiled and shook his head. "Two days seems to have done a lot. If you're ever going to get to the top, you're going to become a criminal and you're gon' die. And believe me, you don't have what it takes. Granted, you do have what it takes to die, but not what it takes to get to the top."

"Fortune favours the brave: no one ever has all that it takes. The universe has prepared us all, and all we're left with is taking the initiative."

"One State, ten territories, all overseen by ten trigger happy families and gangs. You really do not want to be mixed up in all of it."

"The reward for the calm and peaceful life we've led has left us more heartbroken than not. There is no honour in ending up as paupers. It is high time I reaped the reward of my exploits or boldly suffer the consequences of my own actions. So feel free to be a spectator as I stake my claim at the very top and make those self proclaimed territory overseers suffer for all their atrocities."