“One, breathe, two, breathe, three, breathe, four, breathe.” Firm, thick fingers attached to broad palms supported an absolute, muscular frame. Dan always kept his breathing in check while doing push-ups, inhaling while lowering his body and exhaling while lifting. Every day, he wakes up and warms up, stretching and doing basic exercises, push-ups included. “One, breathe, two, breathe, three, breathe, four, breathe.” His third set included thirty groups of four, leaving him with one hundred and twenty push-ups. Once the set was over, Dan sat his body up, crossed his legs, opened his hand, and placed his right fist into his left palm. “Peace…” He flexed his open hand and pressed it firmly against his knuckles. “... Over power.” He repeated the motion, tensing the muscles in his arms and relaxing them.
He hated this place, missed his old cell. The guards did, however, allow him to bring a couple of things from his old humble abode before being forcefully moved to this new wing. They couldn’t say no to the ice cold, steely grey stare that Dan shot out. On the grey, hard, unforgiving concrete wall were a few pictures. One was of his younger siblings, sitting together on a bench in an amusement park. The second was of his mother and father in a similar, happy setting, except the smiling face of his father was scratched out. Next to it was a poster, a joking one that a friend gave him three years back, depicting a cat clinging to a branch with the words “hang in there” written in pink. To this day, it still makes him smile a little bit. On the adjoining wall there was a small, shatterproof mirror, but big enough so that if Dan stood back far enough he could see most of his body.
The short meditation was suddenly interrupted by the sounds of agony-filled screams. Dan furrowed his brows and clenched his jaw, gritting his teeth. “Peace…” The white haired woman, Nadine, he didn’t know her well. She knew she did what he did, kill people, and that’s why she was in here. But regardless, now, she was doing nothing wrong. She was an innocent, and, to Dan, harming an innocent is the worst possible crime that could be committed. Her shouts bounced around his head like an echo-chamber, filling his ears. He was clenching his eyes so hard all he could see was white. “Over power.” His hand closed over his fist, digging his nail into his flesh. “Peace over power.”
Another interruption; a creaking and scraping as the door to his cell groaned open, allowing him access to the small common area. His mind wandered to various places, searching for an answer. As he walked out of his room, he didn’t even bother zipping up the second part of his jumpsuit to cover his exposed, sweaty upper torso. His heavy boots clunked against the ground with each step as his cold glare swept the room, surveying all of those who intended to enter.
He stood there, just staring at everyone, fierce, gunmetal stare and all, for a solid minute or two. Until a smile cracked across Dan’s lips. He even laughed as he took a seat, propping his legs up on the table before him. “It all makes me wonder what they expect us to do in here.” He said before cackling once more. “We have less than two hours, what do they expect us to do, share tales of thievery and murder?” He smirked, turning in his chair to face a camera. “Perhaps they want us to do some team building exercises? Give us a puzzle to do together, that’ll be fun.” He stood up, maintaining eye contact with the camera. “Ooo, how about some arts and crafts? Eh? I know I want to make a macaroni necklace.” He laughed out loud once more before flopping back into his seat. While letting out some disgruntled, mumbled phrases, Dan pulled a snack out of his pocket; a protein bar in a silver wrapper. Yet another privilege the he had. To this day, Dan isn’t exactly sure why he gets all of these things. Perhaps it’s because of who he was. The mere thought made him cringe as he tore off a chunk of the bar, munch on it idly, wondering when his friend Tommy would show up.
He did spot another girl. The young, Asian girl. He did his research beforehand. She was the one with the scream, the fields and the intangibility. She would be hard to counter in a fight. Dan looked at her for a few minutes, scanning, observing, taking all of her in visually. “Yo. What’s up?”