Page 15 of Butterfly

If he could turn back time, he’d kill him all over again, but he knew Teddy wouldn’t.

Which surely made Ollie more monstrous.

“Okay,” he said softly.

Teddy exhaled, sinking down to rest his forehead on the edge of the bed. He stayed like that, just breathing until Ollie stretched out his legs and shuffled closer. Teddy wrapped his arms around Ollie’s middle, hugging him while resting his head in Ollie’s lap.

Shouts of ‘lock-up’ went around the wing, and cell doors began banging shut.

“Let’s get ready for bed,” Ollie whispered. “I fancy an early night.”

Teddy lifted his head and took a long moment just to look at Ollie, taking him in fully, before nodding.

That night Ollie lay on the top bunk, the day and all the revelations on repeat in his head. He missed Rory. If Rory was still there, it would’ve been him he’d go to the next morning, him he’d try to work things out with.

He had Green, Jack, and Captain, but it was easier to bare his heart to Rory.

What would Rory say?

Trust your gut…

Up until that day, Ollie’s gut had trusted Teddy.

He still did trust him.

But what did that make Ollie?

A killer sympathiser?

A horrible person?

He knew that about himself anyway.

Teddy had said the murders were an accident. It felt like a lie, but Ollie couldn’t judge… He’d wanted to kill his father.

He’d planned it.

He’d lived it a hundred times in his twisted head.

There was a darkness inside him he’d called on that day.

It was still there.

The bed shifted as Teddy got to his feet. Ollie could barely see the cell with the lights out, and only a faint glow from the window shone on Teddy’s face as he stood by the side of Ollie’s bed.

Teddy exhaled, then reached out a hand. He stroked Ollie’s forehead like one might pet an animal. It was odd, strange, but Ollie didn’t tell him to stop, and sure enough his eyes, which had been staring up into darkness for hours, slid shut.

He drifted off and dreamed of fire—skin-melting, bone-burning—fire.

3

Olliehadwitnessedafew arguments, many disagreements, and the occasional fight on the wing. The day after, it was as if they’d never happened. Sure, there were ongoing grudges, but once they’d flared into a full-grown row, they tended to disappear for a while, brewing until they reached boiling point once again.

Teddy hadn’t attacked Jonesy, and during afternoon association the next day, Green invited Ollie to the pool table as usual. Jonesy didn’t make eye contact, and he was quieter than normal, but that soon changed when he and Ollie won against Green and Jack.

Ollie suspected they’d lost on purpose, but a whooping Jonesy didn’t care.

“I need some air,” Jack announced, laying his cue down on the table.

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