02. Imprisoned.

Right after Derek fired the first shot, the neighboring residents made a complaint about gunshots being heard around the block.

It was only a matter of minutes before the police gets to our house.

The police officers approached our house and at that moment, two shots were heard from inside the building.

They barged in to see a tendril of smoke oozing out of a gun muzzle.

I gently raised my hands with the gun to surrender, but I couldn't hear what the officers were yelling at me while grabbing the gun and cuffing me.

I was unable to hear anything right after I fired the shot. The same goes for the incessant banging on the door from the other side of the bedroom and even when my little sister was crying once again.

I still couldn't hear anything.

It all felt like a dream while I was taken into the police vehicle and driven straight to the station.

"Ace!!"

Sophia shouted my name, trying to escape from the two officers, asking her to calm down and to answer a few questions.

….

It's been three days since then. Derek was dead and there wasn't any doubt who the murderer was.

Currently, I found myself in a cell, alone with no one else.

I lay on my hardened bed, staring at the roof of my cell.

"I hope mom and Alice are doing alright," I uttered worriedly.

Then I heard footsteps heading towards my cell.

"Hey, kid!!" The grumpy voice yelled. "You've got a visitor,"

Hearing that, I impulsively hurried to my feet, trailing behind the weightlifting officer to a certain room.

Like in the movies, the room had a glass in the center with a telephone separating the inmates from the visitors.

I saw Sophia sitting with one hand covering her mouth in disbelief at what I was wearing.

I wore an orange inmate uniform, so seeing such a view appeared shocking to Sophia.

Alice sat on her lap, trying to wipe the tears off her mother's face.

I took my seat and both Sophia and I grabbed the phone in front of us to communicate.

"How are you feeling?"

"Have you eaten?"

"I hope Alice is eating as well?"

I asked all three questions with my facial expressions and voice looking and sounding worried respectively.

Listening to what I said, Sophia couldn't help but giggle and weep at the same time.

She placed the phone closer to her ear, saying. "Hehe..... Even while you're here, you still care about how we're feeling when you should be more concerned about yourself,"

'She does have a point, I should be more concerned about myself,'

I smiled, hearing those words from her.

'No matter what, I have to maintain a smile for them,' I uttered internally to myself.

"Are you eating?" She asked, and I nodded in return, but this only saddened her more as more tears began to flow out of her eyes.

I placed my hand on the glass, hoping I could wipe her tears.

We both knew the food given to inmates in the cafeteria was always inedible and partly cooked, hence her reaction earlier.

Her thin face and body had fattened up a bit since she didn't have to suffer from Derek any longer.

The same could be said for my litter sister, who could barely be differentiated from a skeleton a few days ago.

Now her cheeks were cutely bigger than ever before.

"Mama..... Mama,"

Alice raised her hands to grab the phone, and Sophia offered her the chance to speak to me.

"Hello Alice," I said, and the little girl grinned from ear to ear, trying to touch my face through the glass.

"Big brother… When are you coming home?" Her cute words sent a sharp pang of guilt toward me.

Listening to her voice, I wanted to burst into tears at that very moment, but I acted brazenly to smile right back at the little girl.

"Soon.....baby sister…very soon." I comforted her, but this only made more water accumulate in her eyes right after she heard my voice.

Sophia grabbed hold of the phone from Alice and said to me.

"I tried to hire an attorney, explaining to him your situation and informing him of your innocence,"

I was shocked to hear those words come out of her lips.

'How could she afford an attorney?' I wondered, but my attention drifted back to reality almost immediately.

"But…." She paused.

"But what?" I asked in anticipation.

"But he said no one would want to accept the case,"

"Why?"

" He said this case had become a federal one?"

"A federal case? How?!" I exclaimed in shock.

"I don't know, but he said the same goes for every other inmate around the globe,"

"What do you mean?" I was puzzled by her words. What does this have to do with other inmates around the globe.

"I don't understand, but I was told you'll be transferred to a separate prison facility just like everyone else where you'll be asked to do something for a hundred days and once you can do it, you'll be sent back home on parole,"

"What?" Everything she said made no sense to me.

'I'll be released on parole if I do what exactly for a hundred days,'

"What do I have to do?" I asked, but the weightlifting officer barged in to take me away.

"Your time is up, kid," He uttered in his usual grumpy voice.

"I don't know what it is, but I…." Sophia hurriedly tried to reply as fast as she could, but the officer yanked the phone from my hand and ordered me to get up.

I stood up to see Sophia standing up as well with Alice crying once again, seeing as how I was about to leave.

With tears in her eyes, Sophia mouthed a few words to me.

My eyes widened in shock at those words.

___

The total number of players currently in the game: None…

The number of deceased players: None.

The total number of deceased players: None.

Author's note: If you're enjoying it, then dump all your Power stones, motivational gifts, and golden tickets to this novel. It is already contracted and all would be rightfully accepted. Thanks.

I'm sorry. I'll try to increase the release of chapters per week as the week goes by. Hope you're enjoying the rewrite.