The sound of chains dangling resonated through the eerie silent air like a beacon. It was loud and ringing, painful to his ears but that was nothing compared to the pain of his painful past life. Why did he choose this path? Why is he so stupid when the risk and danger are widely spread through flyers, media and all people that care for him? Nth time, all the cautions gave it to him. Still, he was so stupid and merely did not even though for his future, choose this path. Drugs? That one word could make a soul fidget. Disgust? Hatred? Sad? Sympathy? Broken? Pathetic? Useless? Scumbag?  Does he, one of the drug addicts know that all that feeling from the passerby or people has always lingering around him? Oh not even give a care about it, he shook his head and still continued his activity. That is how stupid he is.

           Now, behind the cold iron jail cell there is him, lay on the floor after being push mercilessly by warden. The warden was more than tall, he was huge; standing in the height of six feet tall but that wasn’t technically what made the bald male with the Irish beard huge, it was because of the male’s body size. Plus, with his grumpy and fierce facial, which would never back down even once. The beefiness on his arms was meaty but they showed faint shapes of muscles makes the man that laying on the cold hard surface shows no effort to against the warden. The warden snorted as he watched the pitiful man who still lying on the floor crouching at the corner and locked him up before he gone away.

           He examined his room which is dull, gloomy, dark and cold walls. There is a window cell that place high at the back of the room to allow some light illuminates in this jail room. ‘I deserve this’ a voice erupted his though. After a few seconds, he nods agreeing what the voice has said. He knows who own the voice. It is part of him. It is his mind’s voice. But knowing there is another voice a part in him, which that voice will be very mad and object what the mind’s voice said. It is his heart’s voice. The one who needs for something or anything that will satisfy the owner of the body without caring about the harm will cause to the owner of the body. After nth time being fooled by his heart’s voice, he knows better to listen to his mind’s voice now. Knowing he does not have much time, he stretched out his left upper part of his dark blue uniform. Glanced back at his name tag, which is show “John Park” on it.

           John Park? Now he cannot feel proud about his name. It is already been tainted. He smirked. This is what he chose back then and he should be prepared for this. He lifted his head only get a greeting from the cold iron jail cell. He then noticed the box at the cornered of the room. ‘They must has just put it a while ago before I came back from the court giving my last punishment’ he though. With curiosity, he walks near to the chocolate box and open the lid resulting piles of letters with various type and color.

            As he slowly picks up the letters from the box, a piece of Polaroid picture falls from the letters. He crouches to pick up the picture but stop half-way as he recognized the person in the picture. There is him, trying to head-lock the other person who looks identically like him. The person was struggling to break free from his arm. Both have bright eye-smiles plastered on their face, showing how much affectionate they are. The person in the picture was his twin brother.  Slowly he reaches out his right hand to pick the picture. As he gets a better view of it, he examined slowly and a cares the Polaroid. He flip it and notice there is something written at the back of the picture. It wrote ‘I, Jay Park, have the best twin brother ever!   -2009-‘. He flips it back to look at the picture on it as he slowly feels nostalgic.  All the memories he had with Jay are so precious but it just for a short time. That was when he started doing that ‘activity’.

         He caresses the picture for the last time before he start to look at the letters. All the letters are not the newest; it also concluded the past 3 years ago. Apparently, there is one letter that caught John’s sight, it different from the others.  It is more look like an envelope, a hue blue color envelope. There is a date wrote at the above and it seems like this envelope is the newest among of all the letters he had received. It was last Christmas. He tears up the envelope. It contains 4 pieces of A4 size white paper. It was from Jay.

 

“        Hey my best twin brother, John

 

So I guess the warden did not give you my other mails, huh? Well, that is what I’ve had expected. I do not know what happen to you at all from all of those years. This prison is way crueler than what I’ve expected. What is wrong with this place? Why won’t they ever give all the letters I’ve wrote to you. Tsk, what a mean people. Okay, let’s stop talking about me. I’ve write all of these letters are especially for you, brother. I do not care what people said to me and all those slander they had gave it to me for writing this letter. John, I am here and always am your best friends or best buddies. Although it had been long time since we’ve met, it is okay because I always send you letter day by day. For you to not forget about me, I’m your only family that you have and the only friend. Today, I want to write a story. So, let’s begin~

 

On a bright day, where a lot of people join in the park and do their own activity, there is a young boy with his spiky hair sit all alone on the bench near the big tree. That bench is a bit isolated from the people at the park. He is all alone, sitting there and watches the people do their own thing. The kids were all over the place, some of them play hide-and-seek, some of them running around chasing each other, and some of them too preoccupied with all the games at the park. The mothers and the aunties continue gossiping the latest that they have heard. The young boy that sits all alone at the bench had a smile on his face as he continues watch all of the activities. He does not know there is someone who watching him from afar that still does not know what was playing inside of his head. He slowly approaches the loner boy with each of his hands held an ice-cream. On the right hand was a chocolate while the other was vanilla. When he’s position exactly behind of the loner boy, he quickly jerks out his left arm beside the loner boy’s head.

 

“An ice-cream for a loner boy!” He shouted at the lonely boy and the latter flinch when his older twin brother decides to surprise him.

 

“Yah! I almost have a heart attack, John!” He scolds his older twin brother and quickly snatched the ice-cream from John’s hand.

 

“And I am not a LONER!” He said back to John who is currently now sitting beside him and enjoying his ice-cream.

 

“Say someone who literally sit on a bench that far from a lot of people alone” John sarcastically said still continue enjoying his delicious chocolate ice-cream on his hand. He chuckles how he got to tease his younger twin brother, Jay.

 

“Sometimes, I wonder John. Why my own twin brothers do this to me?” Jay looks at John, waiting for his answer.

 

“And you should be lucky to have this awesome twin brothers” John wiggle his eyebrows at Jay and only earn a scoff from the latter. Both of them become quiet for a bit. They want to take time to mesmerize the laughter, the smiling face and the harmonious of the people moment to keep a memory inside of their head. Both of them are still young kid but their thinking is already matured. It because the twins were already had experienced a lot of obstacles in their young age. Their mother was a drug addict while their father was a drug dealer. Since they were still babies, they had been abuse by both of their parent. Fortunately, none of them had involved in their parent’s activity and their internal organs are still good. When the twins turned 6 years old, their father was dead because of hit-and-run happen in the other side of country. Their mother went all crazy after receiving the news and vigorously took a large amount of ecstasy. She had happened to be dead by the night. Since that incident, a passerby found the twins and admitted them to police station. The twins told what were they saw and got for the past years. They had shown the policeman the abuse mark on all over their body. After confirming what the twins said was truth, they brought the twins to the hospital for a checkup. When the result of their health showing they are in pink health, the policemen sent the twins to orphanage. The twins were raised at the orphanage until now.

 

“Hey” Jay breaks the silent. John tilts his head only earning a flick on his forehead from Jay.

 

“Ouch~!” John yelps. Jay only chuckle seeing his dorky twin brother face.

 

“Do you want a challenge?” He asked raising one of his eyebrows.

 

“Of course! You, amount of people you know, you should already know I am the one who never back whenever there is a challenge” John said with his usual cocky voice. Jay scoffs when John still has no shame being too much of cockiness.

 

“So you are up, then.” Jay say again to make sure he did not hear any wrong.

 

“Well, of course! So, what is the challenge, Jay? Be sure not a video games, I don’t want embarrassed you more when you already had a plenty of it.” Jay rolls his eyes.

 

“It is about achieving his dream and never ever gives up no matter how hard it is.” Jay says, completely ignored about the video games part.

 

“Piece of cake! You sure think this is the task?” John asks again. Weird why this task was too easy? Jay smiles and nods eagerly this time.

 

“Yeah, piece of cake. Never ever take the wrong path while you struggling to achieve your dream. Think this as a game and solve all the obstacles to achieve your dreams. It is easy, right?” Jay holds out his pinky little finger to John.

 

“Pinky promise? What are you? Is there a girl who possess in my younger twin brother’s body?” John asks as he raised one of his eyebrows. Jay shrug but still waiting for John to do pinky promise with him. John sighs in defeat as he also holds out his pinky finger and does pinky promise with Jay. After that, they continue their childish arguments without caring the time just flies like that.

 

-First year in High School-

 

The twins are the teachers’ puppet in school. John outshine in the school with an excellent grades in academic while Jay outshine with a great skill in sports. Although the twins did greats, both of them still lack in social. They were always isolated themselves from the other students. To them, they did not need anyone else. They only need each other and to be always there for each other.  It is not because of their selfishness. It is because they had a phobia in trusting people. Remember the passerby that picked them up years ago after they had the incident, he did not send them to the police station. He actually wants to sell the twins to foreigner. The twins are lucky because they had overheard the conservation between the unknown person and the foreigner. They actually ran from the black van that owned by the unknown person. On their way to the police station, it was dark and only dim streetlights lighten the road. They had been victim of many cases before they have made their body to the police station. Limping exhausted, blood, and hungry two bodies stated lying on floor of the police station. They decided to watch from afar and never to socialize with other people. The days go by with a repeat routine every day. 

 

On 17^th March, the twins’ birthday, Jay was casually sits at the café having a snack and hot chocolate while waiting for John to finish his classes. But on the other hand, John trying to break frees his right hand from the hand-lock of the fierce looking boy. The boy throws John hard on the concrete wall and all his gangs come from behind him, surrounding John. John yelps in pain as his back met the concrete wall. The fierce-looking boy known as the leader is Ken. Ken is not like other gangster who is brainless in school but he always in the top 2 in school. Why top 2? Why not the 1^st? It is because John already secured that place. Ken, the son of the top politician, unable to beat the low-life John, as he always got the 2^nd place. His father felt ashamed of his son and never shower him with love and care. Ken, on the other hand have a grudge on John. He wanted to get a revenge on him. So practically today, he will make John have the worse birthday present ever by ruined John’s perfect life.

 

Ken pulls out a box of cigarette from his back left pocket and take out one of the cigarettes. He points to beside him, signaling for them to light up. After the member did so, he moves to John.

 

“What are you waiting for!? !” He roars causing John to flinch a bit. Then, this is when all the choice in him. Listen to them? Or run away whatever does it takes? John takes a glance side by side, looking for a room to run from this. To his unfortunate, there are none. Ken interrupt John’s though by punching John’s lower stomach. His face started to pale. His leg is shivering. Ken roars again but this time with a thread. Pops! He already choose what he will really do and to may his disappointment, he knows this is the worse of among his choice was. He will never forgive himself. He chooses to listen and do what the Ken tells him to. From that day, all of the bad things happen to him every day. There is a video of him smoking spread all over the schools and the world. The video is on silent and there is only him inside it. The bully Ken and his gangs were none. They already cut that part, so they are basically safe. His twins Jay also get the worse treatment from others. It is not like they have ever been nice toward the twins but they are more likely bully them from time to time. It amaze the twins how the bullies never ever been discover by the teachers.

 

As the days pass, John only gets more stress until he felt desire to smoke again. Jay did not notice this because he, himself too busy to get rid the stress by over-working on exercise. After a while, John started using drugs to escape himself. He began mainlining heroin at age 19 and eventually became addicted to as well. One day, Jay finds out John’s activity.

 

“I didn’t choose to become an addict. I choose to experiment, to escape.” John said to Jay. Drug abuse, he adds, helped him cope with anger, anomie, and feelings of powerlessness. Jay asks him again, what have he done when he is on high. Does he remember anything?

 

"I can clearly remember my using drugs because of emotional pain, and because I didn't know where to go with the pain or what to do with it. . . . I think sticking that spike in my arm was a violent act, maybe it was an act of just basically anesthetizing me." He says.

 

“Then can I ask you where you were last night?” Jay asks in concern as he saw a blood on John’s clothes. John went silent, having deep thinking. His face from scrunch to frown then his eyes get big and he take a big gulp. His eyes becomes teary, he tilts his head facing Jay. Jay prays that John will not say that word in his mind right now.

 

“Jay, What must do I do now?” All hope has gone just like that. His face turns white. ‘I must protect John no matter what’ that is what he had in mind.

 

 It didn't take long for John to figure out that he was addicted. "Emotionally and psychologically, I just knew that this was it," he says. "This was going to be my way, you know, to cope."

 

Jay grabs John’s shoulder. “So you broke your promise huh?” Immediately, John’s shoulder deflects and his used to be pale face become paler.

 

John did try to stop using drugs many times. He tried methadone. But his early efforts didn't last very long, even though drug use eventually became mundane and not even pleasurable. John says he knew there had to be more to life than getting high, but by some point he felt powerless to give up drugs even when their use became what he calls "an empty routine." John says he did whatever he could to support his habit. To his dismay, his act had gotten worse day by day. Smokes, drugs, drinks, , robs, murdering, each of them, John already did it literally.

 

After a few months, the cops already catch John. John right now, in jail alone freezing in the dark cold surface room. He did not know what happen to Jay and what happen at the outside. The situation is same goes to Jay. Even though every day, Jay would write him a letter. The letter will never arrive in John’s hand on the time. So this is may be the last letter Jay would because he is now have a brain tumor and will undergo a surgery. If after 5 months, the letters still continue coming for John, it would mean that the surgery is success. So John, I really miss you my best awesome cocky twin brother. I hope we can meet soon since you are the only one my family and my best friend.

 

 

-From the loner boy-

Jay Park

“

             At the last paragraph, the letters become smeared as what he knows that what his tears and Jay’s. He crumples the paper as he now feeling total useless and really is a fool for choosing the wrong choice. He is crying out loud. After a few minutes, the jail cell was open again and there is the warden.

            “It is time.” The warden simply said. John holds his sobbing and rubs his tears with his uniform arm. He quickly  look at the date on the envelope, it is already past 5 months and still no others letters after that.

            “I will meet you soon Jay” He smiles but his heart was torn apart. He slowly made his way to the warden. He gives the warden a nod assuring the warden that he is ready. The silent corridor is now having a footsteps and chain dangling sound. It is time for John to meet the death sentence.

 

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Umm Hye fellas~.. So I published this a complete one-shot story.. Hey, I'm gonna face a final next week for my first sem.. huhuhu.. Okay, don't worry I didn't spend writting during study weeks okay.. This story actually long ago, where I tried to relate thge risk of drug on a person's life.. It's a cwritting competition actually... Hmm, But still I feel so guilty not post any story here.. so, TADAH!!! sorry it's not a romance or fluffy type..I just want to share a story and improved my English.. If there's something, feel free to comment here.. Hope you enjoy my story~ bye~