Number 501 (Needs Editing)

Top Dog

Once I got there, I took out my identification card that I rarely use except for the rare times I go and eat. Anyways, I swiped it through the security center and the door unlocked. Apparently Reckt had inserted my new job into my file already or else that door would have denied my access. It knows I'm supposed to be in here. So don't think everyone's cards let's them in here. 

I walked in and made my way to the locked down room that was being guarded by one guard who I had never seen before. I walked up to him and told him I was the new food delivery guy for prisoner 500. 

"Okay, I was expecting you. You hand feed the food to him and you get five minutes. You're allowed to talk to him. Now come on." He said as he turned around and typed in a three digit code I managed to see from a distance. 3-1-7. He pressed enter and you could hear the door unlock, he twisted this large knob in the center of the door about three times and pulled it open. It resembled a bank vault if you know what I mean. Inside, there he stood. Chained up to both walls, mask across his face that I was allowed to take off once locked inside with him. Just me and him. My heart was beating so fast, let's just say I was pretty nervous that once in there. He wouldn't be that interested in the food. 

The guard gave me a little shove of motivation and I was in and the door closed behind me. It was so quiet that I could hear is muffled breathing underneath the mask. In each corner of the room there was a camera. They were not taking one chance on him getting out. But why? What was so dangerous about him? What makes 201 crime rated prisoners, less dangerous than a 500 crime rated prisoner. After all, this prison is made for the range between those numbers. If he is so dangerous, how come he hasn't been sent to a better prison? How come they haven't even made a prison dedicated to higher numbered prisoners? These were questions that I needed to find out and would do anything to know why. Because if things keep going the way they are, I felt like they were going to have to build and identical room to this one and lock me up in it. 

I took a small step and his face shot up at me and his blood shot eyes stared at me. Watching my every move. I set the plate of food down on the ground and got closer to be able to take off his mask. I unclipped the shackle that went across it from the back and unstrapped it from his face. He took in a huge deep breath and coughed. I never expected him to look like how he did. And now I had to reach my hand next to his face and put stuff in his mouth. I didn't want him to bite my hand off. I grabbed the plate very carefully while I kept my eyes on him. 

Then he spoke.

"There's no need to be scared by me." He said. 

I bent back up and asked him, "Why shouldn't I be?"

"Just because I'm cuffed, shackled, strapped, and a number of other things doesn't mean I'm any more dangerous than you are. Or they are. Or anyone else in this place. It just means I did more bad stuff."

"I would consider that more dangerous though. You wouldn't?" I asked.

"No. Not at all. Everyone, no matter how lovable or trusting someone is. At any moment, anyone has the power to kill, steal, rape. Yes, they lock up the ones who actually do it. And the ones who do worse things get locked up longer and face worse consequences. But think, what's the difference between an innocent man, and someone's who's locked up?"

I started to think, well, I'm both. But I'm sure that's not the answer he wants to here. After all, he has probably heard it one too many times. "The person locked up committed a crime. The innocent person didn't."

"But if you think, before the locked up person committed the crime, wasn't he innocent as well?"

"Yeah. What's your point? Are you saying all humans should be locked up because we're all capable of anything bad?" I asked him. He stopped and thought for a second and then replied. 

"No, I just think people need to start rethinking who they can trust in this world." He explained. Which, I can kinda understand. Everyone is capable of stabbing you in the back, so really, who can you trust?

"You must have plenty of time to think about all this."

"Well yeah, what else am I going to do with my day. Now if you mind, I'm pretty hungry." He reminded me about the reason I am here in the first place. To feed him. I looked down at the plate that included some meat, starch, a thing of milk, some vegetables, and random fruits. I began picking up random things off the plate and feeding it to him one by one until eventually it was all gone. 

"So why do they have you locked up in here? How come they 201 ranked prisoners can stay with prisoners all the way to 499. But a 500? No. You get locked up in a room where precautions are far more used."

"If a person steals once, and doesn't do it for a year. Do you expect that person to steal the next day?" 

"No." I added. 

"Exactly. So if I kill someone every day, then do it again the next, and the next, and the next. Will you expect me to do it the next?" 

"Of course."

"That's why I am in here. Gotta know who you can trust in here. Now you might feel like you can trust people out there, but when in reality, you have to remember why they're here. And why you're here. You also have to remember you are in ECO SEC, on planet Detnar. A planet specifically for prison types. The worst of the worst. The people you talk to every day, the people who you consider friends, are the kinds of people that the government would go out of their way to put on a whole different planet away from innocent people. That way they don't hurt them anymore. Those are the type of people you are dealing with. Remember that." 

This cell has given him more than enough time to think about everything in the world. And he was right about a lot. He was. And there were new questions I was presented with. What makes the people I am working with, able to be trusted? 

"Times up." I heard the guard yell from the other side. I placed back on the mask, locked it tight around his skull, and walked out of the room. Now for the laptops.