Donny looked at him. ‘So, you’ve been in here before then?’
‘Yes, pal. It’s like home from home, this place to me. I’m in and out all the time. You’d think I’d learn, wouldn’t you?’
‘How long you in for this time then?’ Donny asked.
‘Not a big one this time. I just got three years shoved up my arse. I swam the channel really; I was looking at a five stretch. It’s a shit and shave sentence.’
After they’d sorted out the various formalities, it was time to go to the wing. Donny shuddered as he walked through the prison. Men were shouting and screaming, banging things.
The screw stopped and unlocked a door with a long brass key. As it opened, Donny could see his cell for the first time. He couldn’t handle it, it was a small confined space, he was scared of being closed in. He put his hand against the cold wall and looked at the screw, panicking. ‘I can’t go in there. I need something bigger. I’m claustrophobic.’
The guard looked at his colleague and sniggered. ‘Oi, Ryan. Mr Fucking Golden Balls here wants a bigger apartment with an en suite. Can he be booked into the VIP lounge?’
Ryan doubled over laughing, his shoulders were shaking. He loved the banter in this place. ‘I can check the waiting list if you want?’
The screw used the flat of his hand to push Donny through the door. ‘Do yourself a favour, mate, and get your head down. This is a jail, not the bleeding Hilton. Nobody likes being locked up. I’ve never met a prisoner who did, so, join the bloody club, mate.’
Donny watched the door slam shut. He pummelled the back of the door. ‘Let me out, please, I can’t do this. Can you hear me, let me out?’
But his words fell on deaf ears, one more angry guy in a jail full of them. You live by the sword, you die by it.
Donny sank to the floor. Shit just got real. Welcome to the pen, Donny Knight.
Epilogue
The new headteacher at Second Chance was strict, authoritarian. It was his way or the highway. The students piled off the minibus and started to make their way into school. There was no laughter today, no shouting and screaming, no banter. Dan was the last student off the bus. As he walked slowly across the car park, a voice called to him from outside the gates. He was confused, did the man want him? He pointed at himself. ‘Me?’
‘Yes, you. Can I talk to you for a minute?’
‘What’s up?’ Dan was puzzled. He hadn’t been at Second Chance long enough to know many people, but this guy was familiar.
Tony the postman looked uncomfortable and didn’t say anything immediately. What Donny had done had shocked him to the core, pained him. He’d lost his brother to drugs a few years back and he hated everything to do with the scene. So maybe this was his payback.
Dan was getting impatient and started to walk back towards the school. Tony called him back.
‘Hold on, I need to get something off my chest.’ He dug inside his coat pocket and pulled out a white envelope. ‘Don’t ask me how I got this, but I think you should know the truth.’
Danny held the letter in his hand as Tony walked away. Slowly, he opened the envelope. His eyes scanned the headed paper and his jaw dropped. This was a game-changer.
He punched his fist into the air and grinned.
‘So, Daddy. I think you need me now, don’t you?’
Acknowledgements
Thank you to all my readers for their support.
Thank you to John and Ashley at Empire publications for publishing my first 20 novels.
Thank you to my husband James and my children: Ashley, Blake, Declan and Darcy for all your support, also my mother Margaret.
To my angel in Heaven, Dale, good night God bless x
Thanks to Gen, Alice and Megan at HarperNorth for believing in me and my stories from the start.
Thank you to Teenage Works and to all the students who have inspired me to write my stories.
Love, Karen xxx
About the Author
Karen Woods was born and raised in Manchester, where she still lives. Karen left school without any formal qualifications and obtained her inspiration from attending an adult literacy course. Since then she’s written twenty novels as well as adapting some of them for the stage. Karen works in education and is passionate about introducing people of all ages to the power of storytelling.
Book Credits
HarperNorth would like to thank the following staff and contributors for their involvement in making this book a reality:
Hannah Avery
Fionnuala Barrett
Claire Boal
Charlotte Brown
Sarah Burke
Alan Cracknell
Jonathan de Peyer
Anna Derkacz
Tom Dunstan
Kate Elton
Mick Fawcett
Laura Gerrard
Simon Gerratt
Monica Green
Graham Holmes
Megan Jones
Jean-Marie Kelly
Oliver Malcolm
Simon Moore
Ben Murphy
Alice Murphy-Pyle
Adam Murray
Melissa Okusanya
Genevieve Pegg
Agnes Rigou
Cari Rosen
Florence Shepherd
Hannah Stamp
Emma Sullivan
Katrina Troy
Sarah Whittaker
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