the whining of jericho
“You’ll rot in here!” The fuming voice of a sheriff echoed through Jericho’s ears as he leaned against the wall near the metallic bars.
Jericho watched himself in the orange suit and was subdued by this. He looked through the eyes of his fellow prisoners and cried in silence.
“What’s up, mate?” The man in countless tattoos poked him. “Why are you here?”
The way the man looked, Jericho already knew he’d spent too many years in prison. His behavior, his long goatee, and his manner of speaking—all gave him the hint.
“Hey, leave my man alone!” Vince, Jericho’s only fella inside the prison, defended him.
“Are you his homey?” The tattooed man then made fun of them, and the rest of the inmates homed in on them.
The cops heard the uproar within the bars and made a banging noise, then decided to isolate Jericho.
For hours, silence took over the jail.
Jericho lay down on his bed that night and watched the moon through the grilled small window. Bursting with mixed emotions, he sang some lines out of his boyhood gushes.
“Centuries had gone by.”
This is what my forlorn heart wept for.
Splendid it is for fate to be cruel.
I had witnessed nothing but tussles.
I miss you, Sophia, Jericho sobbed. Then, he drowned into the hallucination—of him and her, sitting on the green grasses in front of the lake house, just like the old days back when they were young—when they were almost inseparable.
Jericho gripped his hands to the utmost, wishing for a life with Sophia endlessly.
He wanted nothing but her. Only her.
The next day, a familiar voice stirred Jericho’s senses. Through the metallic bars, he could see Grandma Lucy talking to the police men.
It felt like a knot laced in his heart. He longed to know why Grandma Lucy was there, why she was signing papers and talking to the chief, and why an agreement was being conducted.
Shortly, Grandma Lucy came to him, with the look of an executioner. “I promised my granddaughter that I will free you but in return, she will go back to Orlando and forget all about you. Your relationship with my dearest Sophia is over.” Grandma Lucy stressed it hard on Jericho, and it felt like he would die at any moment. “Now, if you allow me, let go of her already! You just don’t belong to her world and she doesn’t belong to your own pathetic one!”
Jericho was brusquely submerged into a stream of blistering hate. What else was left of him? The only reason he was still holding on to life was… Sophia. And now, she was out of his life again!
Grandma Lucy spun away from him and left, with her endless warnings ringing in her ears.
Subdued by the tumult of emotions, Jericho struggled to breathe, to think, to hope for another chance. All he ever wanted was Sophia. He had dreamed countless dreams about her. He had planned countless plans for her—for their future together. He just refused to believe that it was all over, so soon.
The cops cleared Jericho, with some derisive look, but he didn’t mind it. All he ever thought of was… how he was going to take Sophia back, again. He would never give up on her. Never.
Jericho already exited the precinct, but he was completely drawn into this vision of Sophia, who was smiling at him, coming to him, coming back to his loving arms. Again.