Jax didn't know how long he stared at the closed door after the two police men left his hospital room before literally notifying him of his own impending doom.
Even minutes felt like hours in the dead silence of the hospital room. He did everything from his daily routine to filling his stomach with some bland hospital food with a dazed mind. Before he knew, the sun was already down in the west.
However, he couldn't even get a single moment of rest. All kinds of thoughts invaded his mind at the same time, and he felt his head buzzing just at the randomness of each thought that crossed his mind.
Of all the thoughts, one particular idea wouldn't leave his subconscious no matter how many scenarios his mind presented him with.
Run!
Right, escaping was the only idea his frenzied brain could suggest him to do at this point and Jax felt himself leaning toward that one particular thought of his.
But how? He turned his eyes to his left hand which was fastened to the bed railing, with those handcuffs made of cold metal. He then turned to glance at the semi-transparent door of this hospital room, and saw a man in grey uniform standing there, his back ram-rod straight.
Honestly, escaping from this room didn't seem to be that difficult of an attempt if he managed to get rid of these handcuffs and dodged that police man's guard.
But, as if the world was hellbent on pushing him to his own death, the doctor who came to check on him in the morning, pushed open the door to enter only to reveal two more police men standing not too far from the door.
Holy HELL!
Were they all guarding outside this room to make sure that he didn't go anywhere?
"Mr. Black?"
Jax heard his name being called and turned to the source of that voice, only then did he realize that Mr. Doc was already standing near his bed, holding a folder of reports.
"Yes. " Jax voice was barely audible. That didn't seem to bother the nerdy doctor, though.
"Mr. Black, you are all good to go now. However you will still feel a slight pain in your neck, if you pulled your wound too hard," the doctor said to Jax calmly and looked at Jax leisurely pushing his glasses up which slid down on his nose bridge.
"Thank you." Jax didn't know what else to say.
The doctor then turned around and walked to the door, but didn't leave the room like what Jax had expected him to do. Instead, he invited someone into the room.
Jax heart nearly jumped into his throat out of fear when he saw a total of four police men enter the hospital room, looking all grim and serious.
And sure enough, he soon found himself being escorted out of the hospital, and into a police van meant for criminals.
Before long, he was already sitting in a square shaped room, in a chair with a table in front of him.
That's it! Nothing else was in this room.
It was a room with three walls painted in light grey, the fourth wall resembled a floor to sealing glass wall with a glass door, if only this was tinted black, and he couldn't see beyond the glass.
There weren't even any windows in this room, only a small ventilator with an exhaust fan just beside it.
Jax stared at his hands, which were now handcuffed to a small ring like structure bolted to the table in front of him.
After what felt like an eternity, the glass door of this seemingly cramped interrogating room opened with a gentle screech, grabbing Jax's wandering attention.
Jax turned to look at the source of sound, and saw a man in black suit walking in with a black bag in his hand.
"My name is Peter Steve," said the man before sitting in the only vacant chair which was just opposite to Jax's on the other side of the table.
He opened his bag, took out his laptop and some documents before arranging them in front of him.
He then looked up and met Jax's fearful eyes.
"I'm a public defender appointed by the court to defend your case," he paused for a moment, "Mr. Black, as a part of the protocol, I'm obliged to know the real truth of whatever happened in your apartment, to help you defend your stance."
Jax repeated what he told the two police men who came to interrogate him in the hospital.
However, his recipient didn't answer him immediately. Steve studied the case materials he gathered for a notable amount of time, before he shifted his attention back to Jax and addressed his opinion to the latter.
"So Mr. Black, what you are saying is you are innocent and that you are being framed? But all the evidences say otherwise, and it is in your best interests that I'm saying this that you should consider one more time and tell me the exact truth," Steve said impassionately.
There they go again! Why everyone come to him asking the truth but won't believe him and then suggest him to rethink his statement? Is he supposed to readily admit that he was responsible for a murder he didn't commit?
By now, all hope left the young man as he slumped into the chair, feeling defeated. He thought maybe he could make at least one of them believe that whatever he was saying was truth but reality proved him wrong.
The man named Peter packed his stuff rather calmly and left after advising Jax that the latter should admit his crime and plead guilty for a lesser punishment.
Soon after, two men in grey entered the room and freed his hands that were bound to the table by the handcuffs before clasping his each arm securely in their own and led him out of the small room.
***
The two police officers dragged the dispirited young man toward a detention cell where all convicts were supposed to stay until they were summoned to the court for their trial; which was going to happen on Monday in Jax's case.
They left him alone after locking the door behind them securely.
Jax walked toward the rectangular stone structure, built against one of the walls. He sat himself down on the solid stone bed which was covered with a quilt and lifted his seemingly hopeless eyes up to observe his surroundings.
He had to keep his mind from thinking of the masked man or the pitiful victim or his own unfortunate self. So it would be good to keep his mind busy from anything and everything other than the aforementioned issues.
However, there wasn't much to observe in this seemingly match box like a room, as this detention room was even smaller compared to the interrogating room they made him sit earlier.
It was literally built to accommodate a single person. No windows, no fan or not even a ventilator. It seemed like the architect decided that these things wouldn't be necessary, as the door was literally an ensemble of iron bars.
Soon, Jax finished counting the bars along with the number of bolts, keeping the bars together in less than a minute. He ran out of things to think about at the same time and like an elastic band rebounded due to a pull, all scary thoughts slapped his sub conscious hard at the same instant.
There gone his mind distracting theory!
He felt so devastated and frustrated, since he had been holding himself back from the moment he heard that he was being accused of a murder that he didn't commit.
The young man curled into a fetal position on the stone bed, hugging his knees to his chest, gritting his teeth, tears fall freely, crying silently for he felt utterly helpless and frustrated at the same time. He wiped his face roughly with the back of his hand.
F*ck this situation!
What he had done to be in this mess?!
However, it didn't help much as his emotions went really out of control just in a split second. Thus he got tired after wiping them for like a tenth time, soon his eyes ran out of tears, but he stayed in the same position as he covered his shivering body with the quilt provided.
The night seemed to drag on, but Jax found himself unable to fall asleep. He was dead tired. Like really really dog tired! But his eyes wouldn't even listen to him and let him get a wink of sleep.
Soon, the sun went up in the east and it was already a new day.
But, Jax was still staring at the wall in front him in a dazed state.
Just like that, Jax spent his detention in a trance.
And, before he knew it, it was already the day of his trial, Monday.
In other words, his dooms day!
Jax heard someone unlocking the door of his confinement room, so he lifted his head up and saw two people standing at the door.
When did they enter this room?
Even though he heard the door being unlocked, he didn't notice anyone pushing it open.
Behind them, he saw the door move slightly as if it just glitched like a phone screen running out of battery. Were his eyes playing tricks on him?
He rubbed his eyes and looked at them again.
Good gracious!
He thought he had turned crazy. How could a thing in the real world glitch like that? Not only his mind, now even his eyes were trying to fool him. At this rate, he would go insane even before his trial.
As it turned out, it was just that he was way too exhausted and everything seemed not working properly.
However, it soon occurred to him that they weren't wearing the typical grey uniform he had been surrounded with.
Weren't they supposed to be wearing that during their working hours?
The men entered his room were wearing a set of neatly ironed black suits each, looking all prim and proper.
The man standing on the left was bony white while the one on the right was dark.
However, the bony white man appeared rather approachable with warm eyes than the dark man whose face was a little bit stiff with a cold gaze. These two sure were a pair of contrasting characters.
The approachable man walked toward Jax within two strides and began to scrutiny the latter with much enthusiasm. While the other man just stared at him uninterestedly.
"Who are you?" Jax stepped a back a little out of instinct, involuntarily.
Even though these two men looked simple, they gave vibes that said otherwise.
Yet, the young man couldn't possibly keep much distance from them in this match box like room, thus he stopped his silly actions and stood in his spot, staring at them as if waiting for their answer.
At his question, the two men exchanged a look before turning to face him again.
"We have plenty of time to know about each other in the near future," the bony white man said, flashing the young man what he deemed to be an amicable smile.
Jax was about to ask what did he mean by that, but was stopped short when the gloomy, sullen man beat him to it and spoke in a very cold tone.
"How about we start from how you felt so far?" He directed his eyes at Jax.
What kind of question was that? Should he be happy for being arrested from the crime that he didn't commit?
Jax was stunned speechless at his question.
Why would he ask something like that? Were they here to scoop some news like some kind of reporters or what?
But on the second thought, ordinary reporters wouldn't be able to step into a detention cell that easily and would look much different in apparel wise.