Behind Bars Lies the Truth

Chapter 2

It is Bellamy Blake's first day working in Arkadia Penitentiary, and while it was his first time working in this prison, he had prior experience with handling deadly inmates, which is why he was assigned to cell block D. The very place every dangerous and out of control criminals were placed- solitary confinement. In a weeks time he will not only be done with his training handling the new inmates, but handle them himself moving forward. His commanding officer, Charles Pike, runs the entire facility and will be handling Bellamy's training for the week.

Most officers handle these inmates in particular in pairs, but given Bellamy's history Pike believes he will be able to deal with them himself, leaving more guards on the other levels to deal with their assigned duties. Because of the lack of government funds given to facilities such as this one, there are not as many guards as Pike would like there to be; which leaves him to run a tight ship. But with Bellamy Blake on his team, an ex Army solider and prison guard for nearly six years, Pike knew Blake would be one of the best additions to his team. Which is why he is assigned to one of the most difficult blocks of the prison.

"Prisoner 319! On your feet with your hands in the air!" Bellamy flinches at the sharp tone and loud shouting Pike screams in his ear, but doesn't say anything as he watches his boss closely. "Step back a little, Blake. This is the one to keep a special eye on."

As Pike mutters this to Bellamy the cell door unlocks and Pike opens it quickly, his baton ready in one hand with the cuffs in the other. Bellamy follows in his footsteps as he enters the room. He keeps his cuffs at his side but places his hand on the baton just in case, but when he enters the room and his eyes fall on the inmate, every ounce of anxiety that built in his chest deflates. He was expecting a large man built and ready for a fight, but what he sees is the complete opposite. There standing in the middle of the room with their arms held high and legs spread apart was a small young woman no older than twenty. Her blonde hair falling over her shoulders with her head held high, her skin as pale as ice. How long has she been in solitary? She looks familiar, too familiar, but he can't quite put a name to her face. Not yet.

Pike steps forward and grabs her arms quickly, chaining her wrists and legs together. Even with the roughness that Pike pushes the inmate doesn't so much as flinch. While Bellamy understood there was a reason she was here, she was the most cooperative inmate he's seen so far, and really there was no point for his commanding officer to be this hard on her. Small or not she was cooperating and quiet.

As Pike forces the inmate out of her cell, she nearly trips and grimaces over the threshold, but the expression was gone as quickly as it appeared. Bellamy wanted to say something, anything, but he had no place to do so. Not yet. Besides, next week he would be handling inmate 319 by himself and he knew he wouldn't be so rough unless absolutely necessary. He understood people make mistakes, that they do what they have to to survive and defend themselves, its why some of the inmates were in solitary to begin with; but there is no reason to treat them like monsters- they're just as human as he himself is. Most of them anyway. And by the looks of prisoner 319 she's no more a threat to Pike than a mouse. Whatever reason she was put in solitary couldn't have been that horrible could it? Bellamy's seen his fair share of psycho paths and dangerous criminals who deserve to live in confinement for all eternity, but this woman? The most he could guess she's done is steal from a candy store because her best friend dared her too.

The women in Arkadia Penitentiary were far from a pleasant crowd to be around, and from the looks of prisoner 319 she would be an easy target for theft, beatings, or worse. If anything she could have tried to defend herself in a fight and ended up here. Looking at her as she walks through the halls of cell block D, Bellamy couldn't fathom what this woman could have done to deserve being here. From the walk though the building to outside he still could come up with an idea of who she is or what she's done.