It has been half a year since Boye's death, the guards has not been able to catch the culprit behind it. A lot of investigations were done, but they didn't help. The culprit was so smart that he didn't leave any evidence behind. After searching for the culprit for six months, Lucas finally gave up the case. Apart from Lucas and his men, the others believes that they were responsible for Boye's death.
Shamgar became closed to the other boys, but he shared a stronger bond with Shem. Over the months, Rajah became more distanced from them. Patmos and Ham tried to reach out to him, but he didn't listen to them. With time, they stopped trying.
Shamgar has gotten used to the place, he didn't think about his mother and Diana too much. Although he missed them dearly, he has learn to accept the people around him as his family. Dan was like the father he never had, Shem was like a brother to him, while patmos and Ham were his best friends. Who would have thought those four will get along one day. They were inseparable now.
" Why did they call you Pinocchio the first day we met" Shamgar asked as he wiped sweat off his face with the back of his hand.
Shem laughed " I Can't believe you still remember that."
" I've been meaning to ask you for a while now."
" Really! Why didn't you ask then?"
" I didn't know how you will react if I did, that was the reason I never asked.''
" Don't be silly! Shamgar. We're brothers, you shouldn't be afraid to ask me anything. We promised to stand by each other till the end, in bad and in good times." He nudged his shoulder. " Hum... obviously, my name is not Pinocchio, they called me Pinocchio then because of my pointed nose." He giggled. " Growing up, my father told us a lot of stories--my younger brother and me. One day he told us a story about a puppet, named Pinocchio. The length of his nose grew whenever he told a lie. Father encouraged us after the story to remain truthful, brave and selfless no matter what life throws at us..." He pushed for a while.
" You miss him don't you?" Shamgar spoke, bringing him out of his thoughts.
" We all miss our families Shamgar, but we shouldn't lose hope of reuniting with them again. Who knows, one day we might be set free."
Shamgar nods in agreement.
" My father is the complete opposite of your father. The only thing we did was fight. He hates me and I hate him too." Shamgar sighed. " I'm in this mess because of him."
" At least you have a great mother, unlike mine who left my father for another man. I hate that bitch! She is the reason why I'm in this mess.
" I guess we're even then?" They both laughed.
" Hey! you two over there, why are you discussing? Get back to work!" A guard yelled pointing in Shem and sharmgar's direction. They stopped talking immediately and went back to work--cracking rocks.