Inked Up & Laced Up

[maddog]

Pounding out aggression
Turns into obsession
Cannot kill the battery
Cannot kill the family
Battery is found in me

(The buzz of a tattoo machine rings through the ears of Daniel Wright, but how could it not as the needles pierce the flesh of his skull? Most men quiver in pain when their heads are tattooed, but not Daniel. This isn't his first rodeo, and it's not the worst pain he's ever experienced.

The sounds of Metallica blaring through his wireless earbuds helps to drown out the sound and pain. Listening to the G.O.A.T of metal not only takes his mind off of the needles that pierce his flesh but also helps him drift away in thought. The Demon's mind continues to drift further, and further back to his days in Mt. Olive. Mt. Olive is the male maximum security prison for the state of West Virginia. Its security level is equal to the federal level 5. Mt. Olive houses the most violent, high-risk, dangerous, and disruptive inmates in the state and has the most diverse inmate population in the state.

With this diversity comes gang segregation. The Aryan Brotherhood was the largest gang in the prison, but even the Demon didn't subscribe to racism, he hated all of humanity equally. Growing up, his best friend was black, and a Latino saved his life in Afghanistan. It was white cops that arrested him and a white judge that sentenced him, so why would he have a reason to be racist?

The Demon thinks about this because it was the first time his skull was inked. His celly Randall was an artist, serving time for trafficking coke, turns out an art degree wasn't paying the bills. Randall was also black, and like Daniel was not affiliated with a gang.

As Randall began outlining the flames on Daniels's head a member of the Aryans stepped into the doorway of his cell. "Aren't you afraid of getting those ni**er germs in your blood, letting a darkie tat you?" the Aryan asked.

For the life of him, Daniel could not remember this guy's name, but he did remember his response. "Aren't you worried about getting aids when you sucked your shot caller's dick so you could get your swastika tat?", Daniel replied with a smirk.

The next thing Daniel remembered was a kick to the side of his face from the Aryan. Daniel was seated on the floor and was knocked to the ground by the kick. The Aryan easily mounted Daniel and pummeled him from this position, but this would not be the end.

From the day of the assault at the hands of the Aryan, Daniel had been in medical and then solitary but had finally made his way back to general population. By this time Randall had joined the Black Guerilla Family, and while they had no love for Daniel, they did have respect for him.

The BGF helped orchestrate a one-on-one confrontation with Daniel and the Aryan. It was shower time, normally only one inmate at a time, but The Demon got his at the same time as the Aryan. The Demon didn't want any shortcuts, he wanted a straight-up fight.

Before the Aryan undressed Daniel stepped into the shower, laced up. "Motherf**ker" is all the Aryan said when he saw Daniel.

Daniel gave an evil smile and said "and that's how the rabbit gets f**ked".

The two men charged at each other, and much of the fight is a blur in Daniel's memory, but at the end, he stood over the bloody body of the Aryan and clutched the teeth that he had knocked out of the Aryan's head in his hand.

The Demon squatted down and looked into the eyes of the barely conscious Aryan. Daniel looked him in the eyes and made sure the Aryan made eye contact and understood him. "Today it's your teeth, next time, it's your head", Daniel said to him.

Daniel is brought out of his dreamstate by another buzzing and humming sound. Daniel lifts his eyes to see his phone buzzing on the table in front of him. The Tattoo artist lifts his machine, and Daniel grabs his phone. Daniels face morphs into a mask on confusuion as he sees the name on the caller ID, "Mark Wright". )

Hey, brother, long time. You sound, out of breath man, what's up?

DANIEL, IT'S DAD!

To be continued.