If you're looking for an adventure in the morally grey, and a crash course of the human condition, this is the story for you! What is good and evil? Where is that line drawn, and who decides that? Packed with humor, danger, feels, and awkward relati...
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Stepping out into the fresh air, Nathan gasped in the first breath of freedom he'd had in so long that he couldn't remember. Ever since the day he'd pushed Randy and ran home to huddle and await the authorities' slow descent, not even a second had been his own. Cell, lawyer, court, cell, lawyer–it had been a horrible merry-go-round of confinement. Even being out on bail had been counting his days until he was thrown under the bus. Released from that, he spun happily around, wanting to see everything. After only walls in building after building, he was excited for fresh air and scenery.
The area they were in was nice, urban with one and two-story houses, but Nathan could see taller buildings looming on the horizon. The penitentiary was placed on the urban outskirts of a pretty big city. They had given him the five-cent verbal tour before shipping him off here. Half urban, a quarter city, and a quarter nothing but trees, it was a good mix of everything.
Building a penitentiary here must have put a nice dent in the property values because otherwise, it was a perfect setting for daily life with short commutes. The pen also stood out like a sore thumb even in the suburbs, taking up several plots of land and standing at least a story taller than all the other buildings.
Passing three blocks or so, he finally arrived at a small downtown Ian had spoken about. Small businesses lined the sides of the street, and there were actually quite a few people out and about shopping. Nathan skimmed the signs for familiar places, recognizing a well-known burger place and a coffee shop among them. It would be nice to explore later, but Nathan wasn't really interested in swimming through people right now. The men at the pen had him a little on edge, so it was best to avoid crowds.
Instead, he opted for a small alleyway. The sound of a ball bouncing on pavement drew his attention, and at the end of the alley, closed in by a well cared for chain-link fence, there was a basketball court.
A shape in the distance jumped up, spun, and slammed a basketball in the hoop, before swinging on it and dropping to the ground. In awe and curiosity, Nathan neared the area. He sure couldn't dunk a basketball.
As he entered through the gate, Nathan found only one man on the court as he bounced the ball off the backboard and into the basket again. After catching the ball, the man turned toward Nathan and his short black ponytail swung with him. Obsidian eyes starkly contrasted against pale skin, and as the man registered Nathan, he bowed his head slightly.
"I'll leave," the man said. A pained look tightened the lines on his face, and he walked toward the chain-link door on the other side.
"You don't want to play with me?" Nathan asked, trying to figure out why he'd turned tail so immediately.
The man turned slowly back around, looking both ways to make sure that there was no one else could have been speaking to. "No one plays with me around here. I'm sorry, I'm used to being kicked out or asked to leave."
"That's rude of them. Plus, I don't have a ball, and you look into the game." Nathan smiled and the man's face lit up with only an upward tilt of his lips.
