Amends Chapter 1 - Stop speaking from inside my head!

Wake up, you fucking bum.

“Huh! Who the …”

It does not matter who I am, but do you know who you are?

“I am… Ha, you thought. I perfectly remember who I am, Gle Harlet, happily married, father of one, and a professor at the University of Tellmond.”

That's fine and all but who *are* you?

“Waddafuck are ye talking about, ya clinically retarded or is this one of yer tricks to get yer ass out? If ’tis the latter, it won’t work,” the man paused for a second before resuming, “it won’t work if ’tis the former either.”

This time it was a huge, burly man who spoke out, a man the size of a cannon.

“Incredibly rude of you to wake me up with such unpleasantries and then straight up call me retarded.” Gle sounded annoyed beyond reason, an expression he rarely showed.

“What’d ye say, fucking twat. I didn’t say shit, are ye alright in the head? Look around ya.”

Gle quickly started looking around, confused like a child who suddenly gained consciousness on his fourth birthday. The stone floor was cold, the walls were not too different, the light came in through an iron mesh, except the horizontal wires were missing. Actually, upon further observation, these wires were far too sturdy to be wires, with all the shine and hardness; they were more like bars, not the black licorice kind but the actual, cold, steel bars. It was indeed a prison cell, one exceptionally small and inconvenient at that, since there were no signature prison windows you often see in the comics.

Are you aware now? You are damn convict now, how do you feel, if I may ask?

“Who are you and where the fuck are you speaking from?”

“Yeah ye tell me, there is no’ne here but ya, me and that blond fellow lying over there.” The giant suppressed his slight smile to maintain a poker face.

Gle squinted his eyes, it was safe to assume that his eyesight had not served him well in the absence of his glasses. It turns out that the prison cell was not really as small as it initially seemed to be, just that it was incredibly dark the further one went away from those cold bars. In the darkness, there was a dull silhouette of a man, or is it a woman? With a build similar to Gle’s but hair golden instead of brown, the threads on this young man were incredibly lavish unlike Gle’s commoner clothes and the giant’s shirtless waistcoat.

Go wake him up, just like I woke you up, and you might learn the reason why you are here, don't you wanna make new friends?

Am I going insane, is this voice just inside my head, I should not have browsed those damn imageboards; always knew they were bad for my mental health, better keep it hidden and not make a fool of myself.

“I am not going to waste my time asking you why I am in here since you wouldn’t really know, but do you know what date and time is it?” Gle sounded a bit like those cunning Ilai merchants.

“Been here fer a few years now, was never interested in tracking dates so never cared, but I am guessing late spring; and ’tis almost time for the second daily meal,” the giant sounded slightly annoyed, but the cause is unknown.

clomp clomp clomp

They both turned their heads towards the resonating sound, it was a guard, an officer if you will. The clothes were brand new, probably a new recruit, but they were unfamiliar; it was surely a uniform, but not one that Gle recognized.

“Here.”

The officer threw three bowls of what looked like porridge, or perhaps some curry. Gle immediately went towards the bars, locked his eyes into the officer’s and finally spoke.

“What place is this, why am I in here, from what I remember I just went to sleep last night and now I am here, this must be a sick joke.” He sounded very desperate, looking for help like a wounded dog.

The guard took a good look at Gle and thought, the silence was awkward but nothing out of ordinary for an inmate-officer conversation. He starts speaking very softly and politely.

“My job is to provide food and to supervise you guys here in the south quarter.” The guard replied finally.

“Supervise me ass.” The giant muttered. The officer ignored him without batting an eye.

“South quarter? So we are geographically in the south?”

“No, the south quarter of the circle that makes the panopticon.”

Woaaaaaah, a panopticon straight out of movies, I love this. You do too, right?

Gle broke his line of sight and moved his head to see behind the guard. His eyes widened, it was indeed a panopticon.

“This is a panopticon, wow.” He was genuinely amazed.

“It is, yes.”

“So you guys are not with the government? Are you sure this is not some government policy to secure the citizens against disasters and terrorist attacks?”

“Nein, and no, you are here because of the crimes you committed. I bet your friend over there knows more about it. I just started working here yesterday, I have no clue and neither do I care, for it is not my job.”

Do you believe me now, you retarded fuck? You should be more aware of what heinous things you do, I am so ashamed to share your pathetic self.

“I see, thank you, can I call for you again if I need you?”

“No.”

LMAO!

These voices are getting more and more annoying. I can ignore them all I want, but they are still me and I am them. At least I have some sense of recognition and have not completely insane.

A quick and decisive answer, Gle was taken aback but nodded in defeat. He quickly went back to the place where he woke up and started thinking hard. Maybe he felt like that place was his new home in this small district of a prison cell with a total of three citizens. He looked up almost snapping his neck and turned towards the giant and spoke.

“Hey you, is it true? Do you know why I am in here?”

The giant turned towards the man with an even more disinterested and annoyed face than before.

“Sure I do.”

“Then why did you not tell me before, I am not particularly enjoying this here.”

The giant’s face went from annoyed to expressionless, making it even scarier.

“Yeah, well does it look like I am partying in here? Besides, ye’re the one who went all like ‘I won’t ask since ye wouldn’t know’, retard.”

Gle sank into the floor a bit more. A composed professor of Harlevian literature, was now a complete mess who cannot think twice before asking, panicking like a four-year-old separated from his mother.

“I am sorry, it was pretty rude of me but I request you to tell me if you know anything.”

“Well then, all I know is ye’re in here for murdering a kid and her mother, that it.”

Gle went completely silent, he felt his insides twisting, his brain going cold, his vision became white and he struggled for air. This went on for a minute or so. The giant was confused but he still did not care about him enough to calm him down, and knowing he is a killer surely did not help.

Ha! You fucking killed your wife and your daughter, you sick fuck.

No, it can’t be… I must remain calm, there’s no way I could have killed them, I just went to sleep with Mint as usual and Cavon was already in her bed sleeping.

“Ah, thank you for the information, now that I think about it, may I have your name?”

“My name doesn’t matter, jus’ call me whatever ye feel like. It is awfully weird of ya to remain this calm after killing two people including a kid.”

His face was much less tense than before.

“No, I just… Okay, you probably would not believe me, but I have not done anything like that, I just went to sleep like everyday.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” He was now just trying to sound uninterested but that was not the case.

Wow, nobody cares about you, damn.

“So, what place is this?”

“Why finally, shouldn’t that have been yer first question if ya did not do anything? This is some kinda facility, where they put selected people from different prisons together. I really do not know the specifics, none of the prisoners do but one thing is fer sure, we don’t share the same ethnicity.”

“Right, you sound Gecovian.”

“Me father was Gecovian but I am from Martell. Ya must be a Harlevian from your accent.”

“My parents are Harlevian but they are first-generation immigrants. I am Martella as well.”

“Well, ain’t that a pleasant coincidence, we both share the land of the free.” The giant burst out laughing, lightening the mood.

Well, what about the other guy, surely he cannot be a Martella as well.

“So you have any clue about who the other guy might be?”

“Nah. Sorry.”

Well, too bad.

“Okay, this might sound strange, but I have voices in my head but I am aware of them so I have not gone completely insane.”

“Voices, huh. We all do.” He fell into deep thought right after saying that.

“Oh, I completely forgot about the food. It must have gone cold by now.”

“It already was cold, me man. Here, have mine, I eat once every few days anyway.”

Hard to believe when you have a body like that.

“Well sure, thanks!”

They now just sat there, with the now calm Gle eating and the giant staring. The sound of him slurping his food was reverberating within the walls of the cell. The giant no longer wore a tense expression, it almost felt like he was smiling.

Suddenly the sleeping figure sprang up.

Baby, guess who is up.