Reject It

It had been an hour since Ethan was thrown into a shabby prison. While coming here, he checked that each prison he passed had three to four people inside. While the one he was given only had him.

The pale walls had become black with time. The stench of blood and rotting things were so strong that one would feel nauseated but he sat there calmly and looked around.

It took them four hours to return, their eyes narrowed when they did not register fear in Ethan's eyes. He was leisurely staring at the dark ceiling with a thin smile. Rage flickered in those dark eyes, 

"What are you smiling about? Do you have any idea that you could spend your lifetime here or worse, you would be sentenced to death," he warned in a voice full of malice as his eyes narrowed on his face with an icy glare. But he frowned when Ethan did not feel scared. The slight chuckle felt humiliating. He scowled at the policemen following him.

"Looks like this man had no idea of the mess he was in. Teach him a lesson or two. I will see if he can still maintain that smile on his face." the policemen could feel the pressure of such words.

He glared at Ethan for looking at ease. They had only seen that kind of expression on the faces of big criminals with contacts who knew they were not getting any punishment. But why did he have that expression?

They had confirmed before bringing him here that he was an ordinary man with no background. Gaining that confidence from that though, the policeman dragged him into an investigation room and sat in front of him on the small dark table. The room only has one source of light pointed at Ethan's face, making it uncomfortable to sit there while the whole room and the policemen are covered in darkness. They look like a wolf who has found lone and weak prey. 

"The words you speak now would be recorded. So, speak wisely. If you utter lies, no one will be able to save you."

"What is your name?"

"Ethan Stuart" 

"Age?" 

"25"

"Place of Birth?" 

"Elder Street." The questions were simple but they were meant to irritate him. Yet, Ethan sat there with a smile. He answered happily even if it was the most retarded question ever, unexpectedly causing the 2 policemen to be the ones that felt irritated. The reason for asking such questions was to scare him so that when he was asked about the fight today, he would reply in an agitated voice or worse, shout. 

Then they would have justification to keep him in prison for a long time. But the calmness he was showing could not belong to a person who had faced the investigation for the first time. 

"Do you accept that you have connections from the underworld and you beat people without a reason using that power?" The voice of the Policeman went grim as he asked that, waiting for Ethan to finally react but he only smiled helplessly.

"If I had connections with the underworld, I would not have been sitting here. Have I?" he chuckled softly, mocking them. Ethan slowly saw their expressions changing and sighed. 

He had thought that a bunny would come to help him. But he did not. It meant he only came for emergencies and this was not one. More than that, Ethan had been to police stations many times since they often dealt with gangsters for his boss. But he had never been inside a prison.

Nonetheless, he knew the law well. Had studied it to help his boss. He knew they could not harm him until they used underhanded methods. 

"I have not beaten them to show my powers. But they were robbing my money and attacking me. I only defended myself from them." he replied when their faces turned ugly.

"So, you meant they attacked first but you do not have a single injury on you while all five of them are badly injured?" he laughed with malice as his eyes narrowed at Ethan. 

"Yes, because I was fast and they were not. But it did not change the fact that they have come to me, I did not go to them and they have asked me for money. You can investigate the matter by asking more people around." he explained with a soft and helpless smile on his face as if he were dealing with a child. "If not, you can file a lawsuit and my lawyer will help you." he offered with a look rich men give, making policemen frown.

"Ha! A vegetable seller will have the money to pay for the lawyer?" they laughed, mocking him with a look of contempt on their faces. "You will only waste our time. We have a better solution. Accept that you have beaten them since you have, and we will see how we can help you in lessening your imprisonment if you behave well." The silent one took out a form and passed it to Ethan.

"All you need is to sign it. We will manage the rest." Ethan looked at the blank page in front of him. 

They did not even mention the charge against him and they wanted to sign him. What if they added multiple false charges later and showed them in court? Did they think he was mentally retarded. His lips twitched thinking about it.

"Why the hell are you laughing now? Laugh one more time and I will break all your teeth." Ethan blinked and looked at the policeman with his lips curled upward making the policeman clench his hands into a fist, ready for strike. Ethan's expressions turned playful and he smiled at them coldly. 

"You are asking me to sign a blank page as my statement? Is that even legal? I am sure the suspect had the right to stay silent until a lawyer was appointed. But you have come here investigating me and now this." he stated with a sigh, and before they point at his poor condition as defense, he added, "Even if one is poor, our government will appoint a lawyer for them. No?" 

They exchanged glances with darkening eyes. 

"Ha! It is only to save our time. We will only write about what happened. Are you questioning our integrity?" 

"Of course, not. But we all have sufficient time. We can discuss the matter slowly. So, where was I?" the agitated policemen slammed the table with force! The table shook and the lantern about him.

The light strained on his face further.

"Just because a foolish person like you has a lot of time, you think we all are free! You have beaten them and we can easily prove that. The more time you waste, you will be accused further. If you cooperate with us, we will support you. So what do you say?" they offered him with a smirk, luring him with their kind words, "We are being considerate, if it had been our head, he would have already started tormenting you. You would not want to face that, so accept our offer." 

"I reject it!"