JAIL

Luke

The officer roughly shoved him into a cell. "Stay," he barked, and Luke sulked.

"I'm not a fucking dog," Luke snapped back, and the officer ignored him, slamming the bars shut.

"Hey, look, the bastard's got an attitude."

Luke's head snapped up.

Michael Clifford was sitting in the cell across from him, a haughty smirk on his face.

Luke sneered at him. "Why are you here, jerk?"

Michael pretended to be scared. "Ooh, Mum, Luke called me a jerk." The smirk returned. "I burned your house down."

"You burned my what?"

Michael shrugged, still grinning. "Not completely. It's still standing. Barely."

"What the fuck?"

"Watch it, or you might end up somewhere bad. Oh wait." He winked.

"Fuck off, seriously," Luke said, glaring at him.

Michael sat on his cot. "So why the hell are you in here?"

"I stole a necklace," Luke said.

Michael laughed. "Wow, gee, horrible. I'm so scared of you." He jerked his thumb to the left. "In the next room, they've got a murderer. I heard him screaming. Apparently he's with some guy named Niall."

Luke stiffened. "A...murderer?"

Michael rolled his eyes and Luke's feeble voice and said, "We're in a fucking jail, idiot. Who do you think they keep in here, kindergarteners who snap crayons?"

Luke frowned. "You burned my house down?"

"Eh. It's still standing."

"That wasn't my fucking question."

Michael raised his hands. "Whoa, okay, Hemmo is getting feisty. Jail sure does changes people. Although it's been what, five minutes?"

"I could steal the guard's keys and get us out of here. I'm good at that kind of stuff," Luke said.

Michael shook his head. "They're moving us soon, idiot."

Luke raised an eyebrow. "Moving us?"

"I heard the guard blathering on about how they gotta get handcuffs and shit for all of us. We're all going somewhere later today, apparently," Michael said, fiddling with a match.

Luke's eyes widened, fixated on the match. "They let you being a match in here?"

"Pft, no," Michael scoffed, twiddling it between his thumb and forefinger.

"Then how-"

"I guess the last guy in here was a smoker. There're a bunch of matches in the corner." Michael stroked the cold wall. "It's like this cell was made for me."

"Whoop-de-fucking-do, what a fascinating story. Where are they moving us?" Luke demanded.

"An asylum."

Luke's mouth dropped open. "A what?"

Michael rolled his eyes. "An asylum. Damn, do I have to repeat everything around you? Seriously, if you're going to ask me questions, at least I pay a little fucking attention to my answer-"

"Asylum?" Luke squeaked. "Oh god."

"Won't that be fun?" Michael asked with a twisted grin. "I heard that officer lady, the annoying one who questioned us, say they're taking us. It's creepy in there. Sterile. Isolated. It's like a horror story just waiting to happen."

"You sound like you know what you're talking about," Luke said.

Michael was silent.

Luke's eyes widened. "Uh..."

"Don't fucking mention it."