Story of Bob

8

Life in prison was still the same. Bob was struggling to live and day by day dreaded to be in contact with any of the prison gang leaders, after hearing the news amongst other prisoners who suffered under their oppression and had their lives under their mercies.

It was a Friday morning on the 24 of August,  the morning which prisoners have to do strenuous exercise or else they will get whipped. At nine' o clock , the warden called out on the megaphone, ' All prisoners must come to the dining hall by 5 minutes. Failure to do so shall result in 40 slashes of the cat o' nine tails!'

All prisoners rose up from their matresses, hammocks and beds, washed their faces and did their self care routines as fast as possible to evade the dreadful punishment.

'Two minutes left!'

All prisoners rushed out of the prison showers and sprinted towards the hall. There were so many that it resulted in a stampede, which led to some prisoners getting injured but none of them cared one bit about what happened.

When the clock struck five minutes past nine, the guards who stood at the doors of the dining hall dragged the latecomers by the collars, waiting for the warden to arrive with the dreadful weapon of punishment.

The others sat at their respective table places with their plates in front of them.

As for Bob, the protagonist of the story, he was opposite one of the gang leaders of the male prison cells whose arms were covered in tatoos , hair was in a dreadlock fashion and his prison shirt has half unbuttoned, revealing a bit of his chest.

'So, what is your name?', the gang leader asked.

Bob, struggling to form a word took two minutes then answered, 'Bob'

'I have heard so much about you'

'So have I. What's your name?'

'Focus on your food and stop talking!', the prison chef yelled.

The prisoners ignored the yelling and continued their matters.

'As for me, my name is Winston. Winston Blackstone'

'Good to know. So how did you land yourself in prison?'

'I landed in this prison fifteen years ago because I got involved in drug trafficking. I was an expert in martial arts but I was stuck in the addiction to cigarettes and heroin. I tried smuggling a packet of drug powders in my car to another state in the US but I unfortunately got caught. None of my friends were there to save me from the cops and life became a dystopia.'

'Sorry for what happened to you'

'No need for a pity party. Life's cold and you gotta deal with the fruits of your folly, you know'

'I get you. The reason why I am here is because..'

'I know. Your whole crime case was documented on TV. I heard it on radio while I was busy doing my reps'

As the conversation between Bob and Winston progressed, suddenly the bell rang and the prisoners rose from their seats and where escorted to the gym by guards.

At eleven sharp, the inmates where seperated into groups and were assigned different places to exercise and were monitored by different people.