CHAPTER 24: THE BROTHERS

COALFEL TOWN

As the car drove down the road, the huge walls, probably over seven meters, began to appear in view.

The walls were too tall and the barbed wire that was also an electric fence added together. It was notable that whatever was hidden within the walls wasn't something that the people wanted to be seen by the public occasionally.

The small car drove over a kilometer before it turned into the outside parking slot of the facility that remained hidden within the walls.

In the parking lot, there were a few cars parked already. However, there was plenty of free parking space.

Seated inside the car and preparing to go out were two men. Who both looked pleasing to the eyes.

"Dear, are you sure that it is okay to tell him such news when we haven't even confirmed it yet?"

"I can't wait another day. Who knows what that lass will do if she knows about this?"

"But ….. don't you think that she will flare up when she knows about this in the end?"

"That will be a problem for the future. Let's go and see Big Brother now. He must be dying of impatience by now."

The two men chatted back and forth before finally leaving the car with a transparent plastic bag showing a book inside.

When they got out of the car, the two men could be seen properly.

One of the two men was quite tall. He was around 1.87m tall, with bronze skin toned and short hair.

The other one was shorter than him, around 1.8m tall, chestnut skin toned and his hair was just below the ear, just a bit longer than what one would expect from a man.

And unlike the taller one that looked more muscular with a huge build. The slightly shorter one looked more androgynous but leaned more to the feminine side.

"Travis, I am telling you before we go inside there. Darica will skin you alive for snitching on her like that," the shorter man reminded the taller one, Travis.

Travis looked affectionately at his lover of several years and smiled at him, "Craig, darling. Trust me when it comes to Big Brother, she won't be angry for eternity. I am just helping those two. They haven't seen each other in a long time, too."

Craig looked helplessly at the man he had fallen helplessly in love with, in the wrong place, but at the right time.

"Fine, let's go in then and see him. We should be home before she is back, otherwise, all hell will break loose!" Craig conceded as he couldn't argue after hearing Travis's excuse.

Seeing that Craig had acquiesced to him, Travis became very happy and shamelessly grabbed Craig's hand as they both headed towards the gate that once separated them from the outside world.

"To think that this place was once a place I desperately wanted to leave and yet in the past year, I have found myself coming back here as if it is my home!" 

Travis muttered as he looked at those bold words that happened to be the nameplate of the facility that was hidden behind the several measures of security.

FOREST EDGE PRISON

Looking at the name written in bold letters, Craig also couldn't help but recall the years he spent behind those walls.

It was torturous and uneventful but when he thought of how he got to meet his beloved Travis in that same place, he started feeling that all the uneventful events he went through were worth it.

Since they were entering the prison; the two had to go through a strict routine to make sure that they weren't carrying any contraband or any illegal goods inside.

However, as regular visitors, and as former inmates of the place, the prison guards were acquainted with them. So, they had it easier before they were allowed inside.

On the other hand, sitting inside a cell reading an old and tattered book. A man bulging with muscles, with a scar on his left cheek, was seriously enjoying his book when someone disturbed him by hitting the metal door with a baton.

Raising his narrow eyes filled with annoyance at being disturbed, he glared at the young prison guard who had joined a few months ago without saying a thing.

The young prison guard would have shuddered with fear if it was the time when he was still new. But after being on the job for a while now, he was getting used to it. Especially to some special inmates. He brushed aside the glare and told the man what he came there for.

"Your brothers are here for a visit!" without mincing words, the young guard informed the man.

Upon hearing that, the frostiness and the annoyance from his face suddenly vanished before being replaced by a warm and gentle smile.

Seeing the man who was feared by many in prison suddenly warming up like that. The young guard became curious once more about what was so special about the man's brothers for him to act in such a manner.

The scarred man closed his book and stood up hurriedly. He stretched his hands and allowed the guard to handcuff him first before he tagged behind the young man. He could just snap within a second if he ever wanted.

But he wasn't that kind of man anymore, and with just a few years remaining on his sentence so that he could leave that hellhole, he didn't want to cause any trouble for himself.

Passing other inmate cells, some cursed at him while others just cheered at him as he walked.

After walking for minutes, he finally reached the hall where inmates received their visitors. And seeing the two familiar faces he last saw one month ago, a smile crept onto his face.

Travis and Craig, who had been waiting for their big brother to come, were busy checking towards the gate. And anxiously waiting for the man who was more of a parent to them.

After sitting inside the hall for twenty minutes, the person that they had been waiting for finally arrived.

And since touching was not allowed, they couldn't hug the man. So, despite their anxiety, they sat there obediently and waited for him until he finally joined them.

The young guard took a closer look at the two men that had been waiting for the inmate he was very curious about, and began to wonder silently if they were the ones that made the man smile that earlier.

The thought of those two men who seemed to have been part of the prison before being the ones made him feel frustrated, but he couldn't show it.

So, as protocol suggested, he just left the man reluctantly and stood outside as he waited for the time to take him back to his cell.

'Who should I ask? I am going crazy over this!'