This is Fire

A CONVERSATION

CARINA POV

It's been hard recently, Maya has been flying off of the rails with her mental health and hasn't been wanting any help. She's starting to understand that she was abused by her dad but can't see

Sitting on the tables in the corner, I can see nearly the whole environment around me. Some people are dotted around playing cards, others are reading, and there's a select few doing exactly what I am doing.

MAYA POV
You know how sometimes something happens and you're astonished by it. You can't explain it and every possible explanation doesn't truly make sense of it? That's how I felt when Mason sent a letter back, a letter full of words I needed to read but also filled with words that didn't make sense.

Dear Maya,

I've been doing a lot of thinking in here. There isn't much else to do, I'm surrounded by people I know from the streets so I'm feeling quite at home. I'm feeling weirdly at home, the daily routine is exactly what I've been needing. I probably shouldn't be praising prison.

From your letter, I know that you've been annoyed at yourself for being ignorant to your own trauma and that's okay. I accept that, and I need you to hear it. Trauma is a hard thing to deal with, I think everyone knows that on some level. I hope you are working through everything.

I also hope you understand that space is what I need, I need you to work on yourself. You need to find a version of yourself where you can trust yourself and the others around you, not everyone is like dad. You are not like Lane.

Going back to needing space, I've added Carina to my visitation list. I can't really explain why I want to talk to her. I'm sure it is a shock to the both of you. I also want to ask for a favour, there's a guy from my old camp, he's called Chris. He's trying to get off of the streets and I called my manager to see if he could work there, I haven't got an answer yet. Can you find out?

I really hope you can take some time to work through the past with a good support system around you. Your support system doesn't need to be family, and it doesn't need to be only based on one person. I've heard therapy is pretty good and meditation, but I'm sure you aren't anywhere near thinking about either of those opportunities.

I hope you learn about yourself and become better because of it

I love you,

Mason

A lot of information in one letter. So, he loves me and wants me to work through everything and heal myself which is exactly what I have planned on doing. I don't want to disappoint him. I wonder why he wants to add Carina to his list.

CARINA POV

Getting told that Mason wanted me on his visit list was unexpected to say the least. Maya seemed irritated that I made it on the list before she did. So that leads to today, where I'm going to the correctional facility to see Mason. It's been a weird few days where I've caught Maya giving me a curious look, probably wondering if I have an inkling to why Mason wants me to turn up.

It wasn't long before I had to take the multiple buses to his specific meeting room across the facility. Everything looked new, like a college campus with a few more gates and a lot more security. The buses were new too, the leather seats were almost pristine with a few small scratches breaking the surface. I don't know why I was surprised by the amount of different security checks, getting a pat-down several times seems a little excessive.

The meeting room was filled with different metal tables and chairs hammered into the floor, I guess for safety reasons. Nervously waiting for Mason to appear, I looked around to see the families reconnecting, the mothers begging for their sons to behave themselves, and the single women waiting to meet their possible prison boyfriend.