The Red Nights

Jamal patted his cheek while shouting to him to wake up. When he finally opened his eyes Brad started by gazing around him to find out that he was a little room enlightened by a single neon hung on a low ceiling, then his sight landed on Jamal's face. Brad's face deformed of anger he tried to jump on him many times in vain as his arms and legs were chained with the chair he was actually sitting on. Jamal didn't want to waste his on waiting for him to calm down, so he began his interrogation while he was still struggling.

" Listen, at the other side of this door " he pointed the only door, the only entrance or exit of the room, which was behind him " there is a guy who is waiting with a lot of tools I can use to torture you , all that for you to understand that sooner or later you will talk so let's save our time and tell me right now what I want to know ".

He tried to spit on his face , but Jamal dodged it then he went on cursing him until he was out of breath, " you really want me to hurt you ?" Jamal asked with compassionate tone " at least can you tell me why you do that? Those guys outside... aren't they friends?" he sighed " you are really one of the worst? "

" Shut up your mouth! Don't act condescending as if you know me or my history " Brad replied , " but I do know you though " he responded and Brad laughed " I didn't know you were that much conceited " .

He walked around him " well let me guess, from the start, at your younger age, you were a little boisterous brat , always wanting to fight with others, always wanting to show that you're the boldest " he leaned on his ear and whispered " always imitating those rebels who looked so cool at your eyes " then he straightened back and went on his description " then with that bad attitude you grew up to a teenager , multiplying your delinquencies what made your repute to grow a bit as well. Maybe with that bad boy, you could enjoy your life a little more, maybe you got some two to three girls with whom you had some fun, however it didn't take long for your name to reach the ears of the elders you admired, the real thugs of the city. They approached you , they proposed you to join them what you couldn't refuse, could you? It was your dream, right ? " Brad stayed quiet looking down as he carried on telling about him " well so you went with them and you stayed there for... I don't know... maybe one or two years. Anyway, you didn't last long with them, you know why ? Because it turned out to be something you didn't expect to be. What they were doing, it was a way too much you could handle, too extreme, so you prefer to run away. That experience convinced you to not go on walking on this path , so you changed into a better man. You got a respectable job what allowed you to get a respectable life situation, surrounded with many friends who loved you. What I respect too but what I still don't get it is why caused you to return back being that piece of shit you used to be? " Jamal was now in front of him , gazing at him with his eyes full of apprehension , waiting for him to justify himself.

Still glancing at the ground he chuckled then he slowly lifted his head up to land his sight on him " can't you guess " he said " it's obviously due to that f.u.c.k.i.n.g terrible night, what else ? ".

Jamal plunged his sight into his eyes what made his mocking smile fading away slowly replaced by a wince . " no , it's not due to that, or at least not only . Those guys for whom you are working... they want to obtain something from this chaos so they must have promised you to give you what you want if you help them out. "

" And you expecting me to tell you what they are aiming for? " he asked mockingly. He shook his head " no , I already know that they only want to rule this city and make all those who resist them their slaves. But what I want you to tell me is what did they promise you to accept such a terrible fate for your friends. For which reason were you resolved to sacrifice them? " .

Brad felt the pressure in his whole body, his sight was too heavy for him to support, when he tried to drop his head down shameful Jamal extended his arm toward him and with his hand, he held his chin up to force him to gaze at him " why are you trying to look away? Is it too hard to face and assume your disgusting actions? " . Brad couldn't help but to recall about all those comrades he had led to the death because of his treason, at that moment he was feeling so culpable and that was what Jamal wanted, he purposely emerged painful memories to cause him to crack and confess everything, and it seemed like he succeeded as he started to talk.

" Two years ago, after that tragic, they come to me and Bart told that Raul, the former chief of gang, was one of those who... disappeared " he started with a melancholic voice " and it was now him the new chief he said that he had a great idea and exposed to me his plan to take the control of the city. I found that was a bullshit and I didn't hesitate to tell him that he was crazy to think about doing something like that after what we went through, I also told him that I didn't want to join them. At that period I didn't care about nothing else but to take care of my girlfriend who was very traumatized by that tragedy as she had lost all her entire family so I turned them down and go back to my home to meet up with her . Few times later the wave of crime and violence rose and I knew it was due to Bart but I didn't care , either when the mayor came to ask for the help of some of the citizens to join forces with the police and help protecting the others. Few days later Bart came to again, he said that they had difficulties to deal with the cops and they needed someone like me to lend them a hand but I again refused so he started menacing me saying that I would regret it and of course I didn't take him seriously. The day after while I went to visit my girlfriend at her home I found out that she was missing, I searched her everywhere I still couldn't find her then one of Bart's men came to tell me that they kidnapped her and if I wanted to find her again I had to do whatever they wanted me to do ".

" But you're not the type of guy who let it go that easily, right? " Jamal guessed.

" You bet " Brad chuckled " I beat the guy and forced him to tell me where they were holding her, I took my gun of the time I was still member of the gang and I went to the abandoned building he said to me. I passed by the fire escape stairs to reach the good level, I entered by the window and I reached the room she was supposed to be . When I opened the door what I saw put me in a wrath that I had never attained before " his face changed into a wince what showed clearly his anger " she was laying down on carpet all n.a.k.e.d her arm full of mark of syringes . Those bastards r.a.p.ed her and drugged her and the worst was that she was not the only one when I took a look at the entire room they were many women and girls n.a.k.e.d on the floor " he paused " you surely take me as a madman to work with them after what they did to me " .

What he didn't know was that Jamal had already an idea of why did he still work as a spy for their count , however he didn't interrupted him as it was important for his interrogation to let him talk , as more he did and more he would be inclined to confess what he wanted to know .

And so Brad carried on " I wrapped her in my jacket, killed the two guys who were blocking my way out and I left the building as fast as I could, a moment later I called the cops to tell them about what happened there and they made a raid to go free those poor girls while I was heading back home with my girl. I tried to take care of her as best as I could, staying with her as often as possible to avoid another kidnapping again, the fact that she had changed was, at my eyes, completely normal as I thought she was even more traumatized than before . But I found out that she had developed a drug addiction, firstly they started by sending her some dose directly at her home the few times I wasn't there, when I found out I became uncontrollable, I caught the deliver in front of the door, I beat him up so hardly that they didn't send another one after him . But instead of arranging things I just made them worse as she became aggressive and refused me to help her, she even decided to go see the dealer by herself in order to get her dose and when she was running out of cash she didn't hesitate to sell her body. I couldn't support that and Bart knew it , all that was a trap delicately prepared for me , he said that he would continue to do whatever he wanted with her until I accepted to help him. I accepted to play the role of spy for him and in exchange he gave me back my girlfriend and usually delivered her doses to me , like that I could manage to help her to cure in one way or another " He lifted his head up " I didn't have the choice you understand? "

" What I understand is that for 2 years long you have kept choosing the life of your junkie girlfriend over the lives of innocents " Jamal said , he leaned toward him " I can't fool you by saying that you can fix all what you have done because the dead don't come back and I'm not god to pretend that your sins will be forgiven but I can tell you that at least you can still help to preserve the lives of those remaining " then he straightened up " and for my part I can promise that I will protect Daphne and do whatever it takes to heal her for good "

Brad jumped on his chair of surprise, he stared at him completely shocked " you knew? " he asked slowly. " with your story about drug addiction, the fact that she has a long bandage weirdly wrapped around her arm and that her eyes are completely empty . I managed to make the link. "

He chuckled again " as they said, you are really scary. OK you win I will tell where you can find Bart and all his band "

•••

Jamal left the interrogatory room and walked out to go meet up with the soldiers in his way he crossed with Howard the mayor, " did you manage to obtain something from him , l hope you didn't hurt him too much, in his inside he is a good person you know? Even though I still don't understand why he did that " .

" Relax mister the mayor, I didn't hurt him " Jamal reassured him " at least not physically " he said with a little voice. They reached the outdoors where all the soldiers were waiting, their equipments ready, they were debating about what happened, he glanced at the crowd and perceived Daphne, alone in a corner stroking her bandaged arm her eyes red as if she had cried a lot [ she is not completely lost in the end ] he was happy to notice.

" Your attention please " he shouted to the crowd and gradually stopped talking to focus on him and what he was about to say. " I finally obtained the location of our enemies, I will now expose to you the plan we will use to destroy them and before the sun goes down we will come all together to celebrate it " , then acclamation raised in the crowd as their dream of finishing this war was about to come true.