Daniel waited patiently in his cell for the guard to come and get him. He wanted to hear that his girlfriend was here, he wanted to hear that his child was coming. Daniel knew that Jasmine hated him for the past year but all Daniel could do was look at the ground and mumble sorry over and over again.

"Please," Daniel begged into the phone, "Please tell me how he is."

But the only answer would be, "You'll see him in a few days." Then the haunting sound of the dial tone.

Three days were up and Daniel was anxiously waiting for the clock to hit two indicating visitation. As he waited his mind raced around thinking of ways to apologize.

Daniel Theribin is a seventeen year old troubled boy who is condemned to eternal torment for the rest of his life. He was a healthy 5'9 boy with a medium build that gave him some of a dominant lead over the other frail boys in the detention center. Daniel's as a boy of two sides, one side was his rebellion and the other side held an IQ of 204. He had received invitations at a young age to attend night classes at Universities and Colleges. But Daniel wasn't like any normal genius though, instead of staying inside and studying theories or case studies he was outside exploring the city. At the age of ten Daniel started to become crafty and devious like his father, running around town discovering the underground tunnels and secrets the city held and all at his disposal. It only took him one month to discover every secret passage, tunnel, and shortcuts giving him a much higher advantage over authority including his father.

Daniel had lost his mother in a car accident with him coming out as the only survivor at the age of two. The doctor examined him and told his mourning father that Daniel was lucky to survive such an impact at such an age. His 'luck' didn't stop there though. When he was six he got into his first fist-fight with an eight year old who kept calling him a 'stuck up genius' and broke the boy's nose by shoving him face first into a dumpster. His father didn't get mad like Daniel had thought he would, instead his father praised him for sticking up for himself instead of being what his father liked to call a bitch.

Daniel's father started to have problems himself after Daniel's mother passed away. He went to bars and brought home women that scared the living shit out of Daniel sometimes. He had gotten in trouble with the police on countless times and would use his one call to phone up the land lord to tell him to look after Daniel for a while.

The first invitation he had received was from Westward University for medical courses. He had taken it at the age of fifteen and dropped high school all together to concentrate on the courses. His course was taught by a Dr Lloyd Lowery who Daniel had come to somewhat admire since the good doctor was a genius with an IQ of 210. Daniel transferred all his transcripts and went to Westward year-round taking the courses on Dr Lowery's advice. But what no one knew were the walls inside Daniel that had collected and grown throughout the years ever since he was four.

The two slowly but surely got to know each other more. Dr. Lowery knew the hardships that came with being a genius and being brilliant so they had a basic understanding of each other. Daniel had still kept up the fortress around him in case anything was too change...And it did. Through Daniel's second year of University he had discovered that Dr Lowery was arrested for reasons not revealed but the fact that Lloyd had a major gambling problem. At first it didn't affect Daniel but slowly it had broke through the carefully made fortress and laid in the center of everything. Daniel would get angry and lash out at teachers he dropped all his psychology and behaviorism courses as he tried to steer away from the medical field but everything he did brought him back.

A few months after Lowery's incarceration, Daniel had decided to go on a night out of town. He and his friends had gone to a bush party for a while until they were almost to the point of drunkenness when Daniel decided to go trash his previous high school. His friends didn't stop him. At the high school Daniel and his friends had gotten into the files easily and erased, burned and destroyed everything leaving the office, computer and science labs and a few classrooms in a mess making it look like a tornado had gone though. It didn't take the police long to find out who did it though and all Daniel's supposed friends pointed fingers in his direction leading to a strict sentence of 13 years.

Now in the present Daniel leaning against the bars, the scene of him watching his favorite professor being dragged out of the university in cuffs ran in his head as if his brain was on replay. Daniel shook his head that was the past it was just another stupid layer to his fortress but he still couldn't figure out why Dr Lowery never asked him about his problem. Was it because the professor was playing cautious? Or was he just waiting for the right moment? Daniel wouldn't have blamed him, the boy knew he was a ticking-time bomb and he admitted it. But along with the explosive behaviour he was also ADHD.

"Theribin."

Daniel automatically perked up and saw the guard come to his door.

"Are they here?"

The guard shook his head and Daniel sucked in a painful breath. His mind grew numb and his fortress grew strong.

"Time for class," the guard said taking out the handcuffs. Daniel backed up as another guard appeared and unlocked the door. The boy turned and placed his hands out in front of him as the handcuffs were opened. Once they were snapped onto his wrists the two guards marched him to the classrooms. A booklet filled with complex mathematic equations and another booklet with medical terminology and problem solving.

"I don't want this," Daniel muttered in his shallow voice holding up the medical booklet.

The guard shrugged, "Can't do anything about it."

Around Daniel were two other boys who were in deep thought in their books. Daniel didn't pay attention to them as he placed the medical booklet on the ground. You couldn't store anything in the desks as they were sealed up by prison standards in case any delinquent decided to get any smart ideas. The guard on glanced up once to see the booklet hit the floor then went back to reading a book. As Daniel opened up his math booklet he opened the calculator to see that all the numbers and commands were whited out. He sighed as Daniel knew that this was another prank pulled on the other kids which was practically the whole detention center.

"Suck up."

The insult rang like thick syrup though the room and Daniel almost broke his pencil against the desk as it reached his ears within the 0.05 seconds it was said. Daniel looked up at the guard who didn't move a muscle to do anything. He turned to the two inmates behind him to see that they were bent over their work but Daniel knew that it was one of those boys who had called him the name.

"Hand licker."

A hand licker was someone who toed the line, who had obeyed every order and command given to them. It was an insult higher then a goody-two-shoes. Daniel wanted to pick up the desk and throw it at one of the boys but he knew that was exactly what they wanted. His counselors had told him to take in deep breath holding each for ten seconds before expelling it. But that never worked for him.

One of the boys looked up and then back at his paper. Daniel tried to concentrate scratching out the white out but to no prevail. Then the guard from before came in to release the one already there. They spoke low so that the three boys wouldn't hear then the one who had watched them for the past few minutes left. Daniel looked up at the guard who had taken over and saw that he had a newspaper and a coffee in each hand. The boy looked back to see the other two still in deep work with their own booklets to be completed. Daniel went back to scratching off the white out, just then a small paper ball hit him in the back of the head. Daniel wanted to throw it back but he noticed that there were pencil markings on it: READ. Daniel looked back to see only one boy looking at him with intense eyes as if he were silently telling him to obey what was written on the paper. He picked it up and then opened it carefully.

YOU HAVE 15 MINUTES.

Fifteen minutes? Daniel thought, to do what exactly? Were the other two going to jump him in fifteen? Daniel looked back to now see both boys looking forward. This was getting creepy for Daniel's liking. He turned forward and saw the guard take a drink from his coffee cup. The guard saw the three delinquents looking at him.

"Back to work," the guard demanded.

Immediately all three bowed their heads and went back to what they were doing. Daniel stole a quick glance and saw that the guard now seemed droopy. Fuck! Daniel thought, he knew immediately what everything meant. He tired to not to turn but he felt his weight shift in his seat to face the two boys who were now looking at him with dead eyes.

Don't do anything, the eyes seemed to tell him, you have fifteen minutes after he passes out to get the fuck out.

Daniel turned back, did he have the guts to escape? He was a genius a boy with the IQ of 204 and here he was thinking about whether to escape or not. He yearned to be free and he knew that he couldn't be transferred to a maximum prison for the remainder of his sentence. But where would he go? To Jasmine's? No, screw her. She didn't show up with his kid, but Daniel couldn't just jump out of the kid's life. Yet he hardly even knew he had a child until two months ago. Daniel ran his hand through his hair and sighed. He had too when would he have the chance to taste freedom again? No, Daniel won't go back to Jasmine, he would have to without due his own flesh and blood but maybe he would be able to go back to them…someday. No, Daniel won't escape for anyone but his own self and the yearning to be free. He looked up to see the guard trying to get up but stumbled back cracking his head painfully against the desk, an immediate knockout.

"Let's go hand licker," the boy whispered grabbing Daniel by the upper arm. Daniel got up and ignored the insult. He followed them down the corridors and then one boy took out and elastic band and a few paper clips sharpened down.

"Get back," one boy hissed, he looked to be of thirteen. He placed the elastic around his thumb and forefinger and placed a clip on waiting until the camera was veered in the other direction then released. The paper clip sliced through the wire and Daniel had to silently comment on the boy's accuracy.

"Go!"

The three stealthy moved along the hallways and down to the ground floor. They knocked out at least fifteen cameras on the way and the other delinquent led the way. Then they took a sharp left turn to the garbage chute. Daniel wondered what they were doing here when he noticed the two immediately ganging up on him.

"Sorry hand licker," the thirteen -year old said.

"Jump." Daniel looked from one to the other and realized that they were dead serious. The possibilities of Daniel actually landing in a filled dumpster was slim and if he landed in an empty one, the possibility of him climbing out alive was slim too.

"Come on," Daniel said, "You can't be serious."

Daniel then realized that the two were dead serious as the thirteen -year old fingered a paper clip and got the elastic band in place. Just as Daniel was ready to try to talk again, a loud ear piercing bell rang out. They had been found.

"Fuck!" the other boy cursed and the thirteen-year old now dropped the façade and revealed a terrified face. Daniel took the moment and dived head first into the garbage chute. A string of curses followed but they were all muffled by the wind whipping at Daniel's face and almost deafening him. Streams of bright light told Daniel that fate was just up ahead and Daniel braced himself for impact of either metal or pieces of shit.

Daniel shot out of the chute as if he had been blown out of a cannon. He landed in the dumpster but the smell of rotten food and other nasty scents made him gag. Daniel then felt the dumpster rise and he quickly buried himself in the garbage. The smell a few inches below the surface was even worse than above, Daniel made a small peep hole in the garbage big enough for fresh air to fill his lungs. He knew that he would have to change, that he would have to strip of his detention center clothes for civilian clothing. But Daniel would worry about that later, right now as he was been tossed into the back of the truck with all the other trash ready to be taken to the landfill, he worried about the punishment for a successful escape.