Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-7424710-20150214062513

Quick Note : I haven't done this for 2 years,also,a lot of slang,this takes place in the South,hyuc hyuc.

"Snitches get stitches" is what a lot of people say. In basic form,it's kind of a threat to prevent you from becoming a tattle tale and being untrustworthy. But I've been in this situation where it was a motto that ran my life for a little over a year. You see,when I moved into a town and went to school in a place called Rossville,I joined a gang of sorts. Perhaps they were a cult,but I don't think cults are as violent as they were.

When I was 16,me and my single mother moved to,you guessed it,Rossville,and went to school in,right again,Rossville High School. A little into the second semester,a boy bumped into me,and he just ran without saying a word. I was going to attempt to stop him,but I looked down and noticed that he dropped a note. When I picked it up,it had a place and time : "BACK OF THE COURTYARD,4:15 PM." I was speechless for a moment afterwards,I couldn't tell if this is an invitation to a deal,fight,or God knows what,but I went anyways just for the sake of curiosity,knowing that I just murdered the cat.

I waited for whatever came up,my mother allows me to stay behind with friends as long as I came home by at the latest 5 PM,so I just wanted to see what it was and leave home immediately. A little before the designated time,a tall teenager and two seemingly younger boys followed him. "You Roy?" he asked in a gruff voice. "Y-yeah? Why do you want me?" I was asking with a little tremble in fear for what was to come. "You seem smart,I wanna bring you in my family. They call me Kavarious. We the-" I stopped him in his words. "Wait,what are you talking about?" I was near the edge of bolting,but he pulled out something to stop me : a switchblade. He seemed more fit than me,so he could definitely outspeed me,along with his grunts. "No words,or we gotta take you out,you hear? I was sayin' we the Staples,if you snitch,you get out the hard way,that's our motto. We want you so you can help us plan somethan' out. If you say yes,you in. If you say no,we'll make sure you regret it."

I heard him right,I was in a lose-lose situation. By also checking his tone,he was serious. So,I agreed in defeat. "Aight,we good now. These are my sons,Tyler and Ahijah." Each one did a custom handshake of sorts,so I guess I had to get used to it. I also didn't understand his phrasing of the word "sons," but it apparently meant they were in a family that isn't a family,so a father in that family could be younger than his "sons." Kavarious later told me where we were to meet and when. We were to meet inside the abandoned store that was once a deli,and we were to meet after school times,around 2 PM,to around 4:30 PM. I asked him why it was so short of a time period,but he later said "I got a life,boy!" The day after,I went to the old Jacob's Deli and went around back to begin my first day as a staple.

Once I walked inside,I instantly regret accepting. The first thing you see when a thug verifies you in is a chair ; and on that chair was a man who was brutally beaten and slaughtered to his death. After examining and vomitting,I noticed why they're called the Staples,they're signature is by repeatedly stapling their mouths,most likely because they snitched about something. Once inside,a member named Brenton walked up to me and guided me away from the corpse. "It's good,man,everyone wants to go back when they see this,but you gotta stay or you gotta go,a lot like him." He told me his name,and sort of toured me around. He was ordered to show me my position and what my purpose was. "We planning a heist,I guess. You smart,so you gotta tell the boss how we can get clean from robbin' this house. They got goods that can sell,you got me?" I didn't want to,but I knew what would become of me if I didn't oblige.

I figured out a route we could take knowing in mine the gang was quite small with only 19 from what I remember. If we could've gotten a select few for a certain side,then we could do something with a getaway since the Neighborhood Watch would get on us,we would have to make a mechanic that switches license plates,which wouldn't be too hard. After which I presented the plan to Kavarious,and he agreed,and we were to meet back at 1 AM,meaning I had to sneak out. Before leaving his little space,he threw a case on the ground. "How you gonna protect yourself if somebody jump you,we got some legal weapons there,use 'em." It had objects from sap gloves to tasers. I asked him where he got it,and he said it was from a "former staple," and the only one who was a former one was the man in the chair. I looked at the name on the case before I placed it in my bookbag : David.

At night,I locked my door,slid my window open,and quietly snuck out of my house and made a cut for the hideout. After which we met up,but one or two were missing,which meant that they would be punished of sorts sometime later. We did as planned,a select few plus me got in through the back,while others got in through the front sides. Two were scouting,and three in two cars were waiting to drive onced they were told to by a call from Kavarious. Once we got in,we took as much as we could,jewelry,valuables,something not too small or not too big worth of value. I looked up at the pictures while we were taking the objects,and it looked like a happy family with a father,mother,and 2 little boys. Sadly,it ended once we heard a light switch from not too far away from us.

"Who the hell are you?" a man asked in a cowardly voice as he was trying to be brave. Everyone jumped and rushed towards him. He was going to scream,but they shut him up with a whack of a small pipe. He was still conscious,but he was dizzy. Quickly,Kavarious ordered his grunts to hold him up. Meanwhile,he took out his switchblade,aimed at his neck,and slit his throat. It didn't take long for him to collapse to the ground with the blood from his neck spewing onto the beige carpet. During all of this,I was in shock of what happened and how a bunch of near high-schoolers were capable of such crimes. We heard a scream from upstairs,and it was the mother and children. We would have to rid of them too,but the mother had a revolver,so we ran. Kavarious sent the call,and we bolted. It didn't take long until we were back to the hideout. Maybe it wasn't as shocking for them,but I just saw somebody get murdered in front of my own eyes.

Once we walked out,Kavarious pushed me against the brick walls. He told me aggressively "What the hell were you thinking? I thought we were clean!" He was seeming to crush my back,but all I came up with was a wheeze and "I didn't know there was an alarm!" I was let go as he patted me on the back and apologized. He never thought of it,and he let me go for the night. I got out lucky,because there wasn't even an alarm,we were probably just loud. I snuck back into my room,traumatized of what happened,it made me think of why David snitched or wanted out because of things like this. Maybe I was just replacing David,and didn't have anything special. Whatever the case,I still went along with this for a while,I was getting tougher,but also weaker. I would never know if I could escape forever or be stuck in this forever or until I mess up.

Like I stated,I went along with it for a while. The day after the incident,we were more careful,more successful. It didn't mean we weren't caught,we would just put the person who spotted us in critical danger and bolt. We still kept up with the news,and my mother has caught on to my interest of the news afterwards. She asked me why I was so interested in the case,and I just said that "I just want to know what monsters are capable of doing this." After Kavarious told me what to scout,he wanted to talk to me for a quick "lesson." He opened up a little door on the floor,which led to a cellar of sorts. He turned on the lights,which flickered at first,but then it began to work properly. As we walked,he reminded me of how snitching or wanting out is such a horrid thing. If they were to be found,what would make them to be feared? How would a pact be regained into society? As we walked,he wanted me to do a favor,a favor that tests my trust. After,he pointed to two dim,crimson colored people,and they were alive.

I cringed. It was Brenton and Ahijah,supposedly one of the most respected from the group,beaten to a pulp,gasping for air,and desperate for the pain to end. They were involved with attempting to get out. Kavarious wanted me to do the signature before he sends them off : stapling their mouths. I grabbed the stapler,just hoping it would be over quickly,I just wanted to go home now. I did Ahijah first,he looked up and softly weeped. I was trembling,but I managed to staple his mouth. He screamed,but he accepted his pain quickly. I then walked over to Brenton,who was less injured than the other. "Don't,please. I can't." He was nearly losing consciousness. I was on the verge of tears when I stapled him. It was over,and I wanted to get Kavarious,but I couldn't if I tried. He gave me a pat and allowed me to leave,and I ran as if I found something amazing,but it truly wasn't.

The group affected me,not only mentally,but educationally. My grades were sloping down. My As became Cs as my Bs became Ds. I tried to bring it back up,but I guess thinking about all of this torture is taking my head to a psychotic stage. I couldn't take much of it anymore. When I went back,Kavarious put up Brenton and Ahijah's corpses on display while he gave me a new route to make up for them,since the incident,we've made a lot of more members,we totaled around 40 or so at the time. That wasn't as important,though,for the next target made me almost faint. The target was my house.

I couldn't. Unacceptable! What would be of my mother? Would she be in a fallen fate as well? I just couldn't think of this coming to be. Speaking of which,the boys had guns now,so that could become a bigger issue for me. I was going to speak to Kavarious,but some guys blocked my way,saying I couldn't come in because he had business to work with. This meant I would have to rob my own house,which doesn't seem so bad at first,but there's an issue. My mother's an alcoholic,meaning she could be at gunpoint and have no idea what's going on,and wouldn't you guess it,she decided to get drunk that night.

Walking to the hideout,I hoped my fears were false,we could just rob my house and get it over with,not bad,right? I came over,and we drove to our address at the edge of the town. We broke in,took objects like our antiques and collectibles,and we were smooth with it. That was until a door creaked open. This can't happen now,it can't,my mother's safety is at risk! I heard stumbling,but I turned too late. As she stumbled in,one of the grunts loaded it up,and as she turned around to see the noise,she was hit. She fell back onto the wall,slowly sliding down onto the floor. I was at the edge of choking that man to death,but what difference would it make? I scuffled down towards her as they walked away to the getaway van. "Roy,get out! The cops are gonna come!" One of the boys was whisper-yelling at me. "I can get out on my own,I can make my own damn escape." I just wanted to be left alone until the ambulance came,the neighbors were yelling across the street,which signals that. "Fine,man. Kavarious is gonna beat your skinny self when you get back." he ran towards the van afterwards and it skidded off. She was going to die,she was shot in the chest. All I could do was watch as blood was coming out and soaking up her clothes and spitting out of her mouth. They were done,but I wasn't.

Clothes that could make me seem like a suspect were ridded of,and I got back dressed into casual clothing. By the time the police came, they asked me about what happened. By then,I made the worst mistake in my life : I snitched. All the rage inside of me towards Kavarious led me to this point. Afterwards,I was to be sent to school and brought back to the station. When school finished,we were close to the station when something caused havoc. While we were driving,someone shot at the car,and one shot hit the driver,which killed him. We crashed into a tree,and while I was looking around to get out,a door opened and dragged me out,all I could do was look at who got me out,but by then,I was hit with a hard object and lost my consciousness.

When I woke up,it was...the basement. I knew what happens next,someone will beat me to a pulp,staple me,and show me on display. I heard a door slam,and Kavarious stepped down from the small staircase. "You've been a good kid,Roy,but I told you so many times,but you went ahead and snitched." He kept rattling about how I could've done this or that,but I was too stupid to do it. I was expecting him to go on,but the next thing I know is that I hear a noise similar to a drawer full of utensils or tools.

He cut my arms slowly,as he then did so with my legs. He then grabbed a match and began to burn me. He kept torturing me with these objects,wheter he wanted to shock me,to stab me,or to crush me. Finally,he got out his stapler,and he placed it around the center of my mouth and pressed hard. The pains of the small pieces of metal was intense for a short object,but he kept pressing on the stapler. When he finally finished,he was ready to end me,but my snitching got the best of me when a door busted open and the words "Get down!" echoed in the room.

The police came by,and gunshots were heard throughout the building. Pains and screams came throughout the halls. Kavarious wasn't backing out,though,he was even trying to threaten about ending me,which was close nevertheless. A gunshot blared,but how would have I known that if it wasn't me who'd been shot? I looked up as much as I could and saw Kavarious down on the floor with his chest containing a bullet hole. The next thing I figure out is that I lay in a hospital bed,healing from all of my wounds.

All I can do know is just try to live out my life as much as I can,for it could end up like it was again. I was placed in an orphanage,and it's not far from graduating high school on my end. I am still traumatized from these events,either it's my mother dying or me becoming close at dying. My wounds are now scars,and those scars give me a warning : know what you're getting into,or else you will pay from your choice. 