Life Inside: Part 1

Posted on Tue May 11th, 2021 @ 10:40pm by Unawakened Elliot Wren & Watch Leader Frederick Hollywood
Edited on on Fri May 14th, 2021 @ 2:57am

Mission: The Factions
Location: Kentucky Federal Prison
Timeline: Present

The noise was never ending. Even with the lights set on “Lockdown Mode” there was always some kind of commotion almost all through the night. The only days that people quieted down was when there was a late movie and only if there hadn’t been a fight or an O.D.

Suddenly someone started screaming inside Unit B-2. “Who the fuck took my blow dryer!” Then the sounds of chairs being tossed about. “I will fucken beat someone's ass if I don’t find that hair dryer.” Jimmy had been in a while. Not that Jimmy was normal on the best of days but tomorrow he had a date with a guy on B-1. Then the alarms began to sound. Anyone who had been in for more than a few days knew what this meant. The offender, if caught, would be dragged to a solitary cell, while the rest of the unit would be tossed as punishment.

Then the all too familiar voice of Officer Tombs came booming into the unit. “Okay you Mother Fuckers! Get the hell out here and line up. You know the drill.”

Elliot sighed. He had convinced the guards to let him bring a book into his cell - although it was a romance book, on account of the poor selection here, Elliot enjoyed the bit of peace and quiet. He set the book on his bunk and stepped out the hall. The man was used to lining up at this point. He had been in here for a while, and still had a while left. Unlike some of the others, Elliot never had an issue with authority. If only that meant the guards would treat him with respect.

“Tombs! Someone fucken stole my hair dryer!” The small shaking convict held his fists in the air.

This guy. Supposedly he killed a guy for throwing food at him in the cafeteria. This was one of those freaks ya hear about in the news.

Tombs drew his nightstick, “You better calm the fuck down Jimmy or you know whats gonna happen next right?”

Jimmy wasn’t even close to the Officer’s weight class, nor was he quite that far gone. He cowered back into his door frame waiting to be searched, still mumbling about someone paying for that hair dryer.

“Alright boys you know what to do, tear this shit up!” At his command six more officers came into the unit and began ransacking each and every cell looking for contraband. Still on a good note no hair dryer was found. That said Ben had two bags inside his mattress so he was dragged away.

Tombs walked to the door of the unit then turned back around. “I am guessing you boys know what to do about Jimmy. If I have to come back here again things are gonna get worse in a hurry. Now clean this shit up and go back to bed!”

-----

Next morning in the cafeteria Jimmy’s boyfriend walked up to him just after he sat down and put a box in front of him. When Jimmy opened the box he yelled out, “Oh my god, do you have any idea how much shit I got into because of that?” Andy whispered something in his ear that seemed to make everything okay. Then he reached under the table and into Jimmy’s pants before straightening back up. He then snapped his fingers and two other guys came to the table with three trays of food. One they handed to Andy.

Elliot arrived in the cafeteria, walking beside his cellmate Marco. Despite being the bigger of the two, Marco was new here. Elliot was not. While Elliot walked with a bit of jaded unconcern, Marco seemed more open. More happy. He smiled at all the men he passed, including Jimmy and his crowd. Elliot didn’t make eye contact.

Andy spoke to the two large goons at his table. They got up and walked over to Elliot and Marco. “Hey, The Commissioner wants to see you two.” The other guy simply nodded in the direction of Andy’s table.

Elliot looked up at the two. He glanced at Marco before looking back at them. Elliot was small, but he wasn’t weak. Still, he didn’t want to cause trouble. The man simply shrugged, standing up and walking over towards Andy’s table. Marco followed after a moment of hesitation.

When the two approached the table Andy got a serious look on his face. Of course he normally made this face for anyone but Jimmy. “I hear y'all had some problems in B-2 last night. Jimmy losing his shit and all. I just want you to know that it was my bad. I borrowed Jimmy’s hair dryer and I guess he forgot or something. Y'all know what I mean? Well to be fair and for ruining whatever grand plans you had last night I want you to know dinner is on me okay? I ordered pizzas for your whole unit. That make everything okay?” Andy waited for an answer but the look on his face spoke volumes.

Elliot shrugged. He was never sure whether or not Andy was being serious, and he didn’t want to offend the guy. Some of the guys here, well, you never knew what made them tick. “I like pizza,” the man said noncommittally.

“Oh, yeah,” Marco responded with less reserve. “Pizza is great, man. And no problem. I forget things all the time.” The man spoke with a friendliness and cheer that had yet to be burnt away by their surroundings and he was not, perhaps, the best at reading people.

Andy smiled at Marco in a somewhat unsencere way. Then looked over to Elliot and gave him a look. “Tell ya what. Why don’t I send Bob to go get you breakfast. You two sit down and we can get some things straight if ya know what I mean.” He tapped the table.

Elliot looked at the man with emotionless eyes. Then he sat down. The man had already been in this prison for three years. He knew how pecking orders worked.

“I’m all ears,” Marco said with a smile, sitting beside Elliot. If he had realized the insincerity of Andy’s smile, he didn’t mention it.

“One thing I want to make clear is if you ever answer me like that again Elliot we will talk in the yard. If it wasn’t for your friend here we would likely be meeting after lunch. Next time I ask you something, at least give me a yes or no. I am your Commissioner, not your friend and not your family.” Before working himself into a tangent Andy cut himself off he had other business with the boys. “That said, I do have something else to talk to you guys about in case you hadn’t guessed.” Bob came back with trays of food for the two. It looked like he just piled on a bit of everything, even cereal and milk. “So I do want to know if either of you want in. I am guessing Jimmy has been lacking in his recruitment but we let him slide a bit ya know?”

Elliot took in a breath. There was no winning, was there - quiet or loud, he’d still make fools mad. “Yes, sir,” he spoke without any sarcasm or resentment. Words were simply words. The man looked up at Andy as he spoke. Now, none of this was a moral question for Elliot. He had become quite skilled at setting morals aside. That being said, this was a practical decision. Prison gangs were against the rules. Elliot didn’t want to break the rules. But he doubted Andy here would take kindly to saying no. So the real question was who was more afraid of: the guards, or Andy’s gang. Well, in the long run it was the guards but one of them was right here and about to murder him if he disagreed, and this wasn’t Elliot’s hill to die on, not yet. Perhaps he could still talk his way out of this. “I’m afraid his recruitment has been lacking,” Elliot agreed.

Andy laughed. “Wow you Millenials as they say right boy? Anyway, for now as long as your in good standing with Jimmy you're alright with me. That said, I do want you to bring the word back to your unit about the pizza. Jimmy can get too high; he forgets shit. Now another thing.” He looked over at Marco this time smiling in a much more kindly way. “I need someone to replace someone who just got paroled out of your unit. Cause not only am I your Brotherhood Leader I am also your Peer Leader. That means I need to assign someone to head you people. I would have guessed it would be Elle here but he seems a bit short on words right? Do you think you can handle that Marco?” Again he tapped the top of the table like out of a nervous habit or maybe he was short on time.

“I, uh, yeah,” Marco said, only now becoming a bit nervous. “I can handle that.”

Elliot held in a sigh. That idiot. No doubt the man didn’t know what he was getting himself into. Elliot thought of Marco as a good kid, despite the man being older than he was. He had made honest mistakes, unlike Elliot, and still had a wife back home (also unlike Elliot). He didn’t need to be getting wrapped up in this mess. But Elliot was no hero. He wasn’t about to step in and protect his cellmate’s honor, or whatever. Perhaps it might be useful to know somebody in a position of influence. He didn’t speak up.

“Okay Marco just to be clear all you need to do is report any problems to me before they get to the top. Like stuff brewing ya know? That way I can deal with it before they become bigger issues. If that goes well, maybe there will be more parties in your future. Oh one last thing if you need something special for those parties, talk to Jimmy. In this case if you don’t know what I mean ask somebody for God’s sake.” After taking in a breath and another mouthful of food the big man stood up. Then after kissing Jimmy he walked off. The two big goons were not far behind.

“Uh. Yeah. Yeah, I can do that,” Marco said as the man walked off.

Elliot looked over at Marco, only now showing a touch of concern. He didn’t dare say anything yet, though, not with Jimmy right there to hear. Instead the man simply took the breakfast. He wasn’t above taking the extra food. Marco copied him, glancing up at Jimmy as Elliot began to eat.

Jimmy finished his breakfast. “Okay guys I am gonna go visit B-1 so I will catch you later bitches!” He stood up and with an extra wiggle wandered away from the table.

Elliot watched him leave, making sure he was well gone before turning towards Marco.

“Are you crazy?” Elliot asked in a whisper, leaning over towards his redheaded cellmate.

Marco gave a nearly apologetic grin. Not a happy grin - closer to a grimace. “Sorry. I know. I know. I just didn’t know what to say. I didn’t, like, recognize who they were until it was too late.”

Elliot raised a hand up to his temple. He should’ve been more responsive towards those people. Answered faster. More polite. Even if he didn’t want to join them, he wanted to keep a good, harmless reputation around here. A part of him felt guilty for worrying more about that than about Marco’s situation. “Just. Don’t do anything stupid,” he said. “Don’t do anything you’ll be ashamed to tell your wife about when you get out.” And he would get out. Marco had a short sentence. Elliot wondered just how many cellmates he’d go through himself.

Marco kept that apologetic look, now more bashful than frightened. He too turned toward his food.

“You’re a good man.” A better man than I, at least, Elliot thought. A happy man like Marco, now those were the people to bring positivity to this world. Perhaps this prison here was just a small simulation of said world. How much darker would it be if the world was full of Andy’s, and empty of Marco’s? He hoped Marco never became as jaded as him.

“Maybe I’ll find a way out of this?” Marco offered. Elliot just grunted. “Ways out of this” didn’t just appear. His first year here, he had spent his time imagining ways out of things, including out of this prison itself. After a year, when none of those hopes came true, Elliot realized imagining them was more depressing than it was helpful.

“Maybe you will,” Elliot said, quickly finishing off the food. That was another thing prison had taught him. How to eat quickly, when you were offered food, not when you were hungry. “If anybody will, it’s you. Not me.” Despite the words, Elliot seemed less than hopeful when he carried their trays back to the wash and walked alongside Marco back to their cells.

An all too familiar booming voice came from the door to Unit B-2. “Wren front and center! The Warden wants to see you!”

Elliot looked at Marco, his face a mixture of confusion and apology. Looks like Marco would have to face whatever happened alone. He gave the man a forced smile of a temporary goodbye as he made his way towards ‘front and center’. He couldn’t imagine what the Warden wanted. Elliot was a model prisoner. He had followed all the rules. Hadn’t he?

TBC

Frederick Hollywood
Lorde
The Findelian Watch

Elliot Wren
Unawakened