Kickdrum Beating in My Chest Again (Alternate Version)

Chapter 57

Chapter 57

********Trigger Warning for Drug Use and Mentions of Graphic Violence and Rape********

Joe was escorted back to his cell after he met with Alex. He was so excited to see his family that he could barely keep it under wraps. Ruby has been growing like a weed for the past two years. She's twelve now and he can't wait to hear all about her life. It's hard to believe that she will be a teenager next year. He still feels very guilty for missing all of Ruby's milestones and knows that he will continue to miss out on everything until he is released. By then, Ruby will be nineteen and he will have missed everything. There are days that he curses the Garibaldi family for using their money and social standing to make sure that Joe was charged with murder. If he had to do it again though, he would do the same thing. Joe would do anything for his family. Marie and Ruby get more beautiful each time they visit. He's not going to lie; he is definitely looking forward to his conjugal visit with his wife. It's been a while since the last one due to scheduling conflicts and Joe feels like he really needs this, with everything that has happened recently. Of course, he makes do with his hand when he's starting to go nuts, but nothing beats the real thing.

He wonders if he should tell Marie and Ruby about everything with Patrick. He's still pretty upset about all of it. It might be good for him to unload on someone safe so that he can try to help his best and move past it. If he bottles it all up, he knows he's going to eventually explode his anger on someone, which depending on the someone, could make his life much worse. He thought about talking to one of the therapists right after it happened, but he wasn't ready to talk about it then. He was still too angry. Maybe he should try to make an appointment now that he's had time to process everything.

Joe looks at the clock and sees that it is almost time for lunch. He really hopes Alex was able to find out the information that he and Dan needed to show Dan's friends what they are in for. He does trust Alex and believes him when he says he can get the information. He's just really hoping that Alex had enough time to get it. He doesn't have much time before lunch to get anything done, so he grabs his book and reads for about half an hour when Clark shows up to take him to lunch.

"Hey Joe! It's time for lunch!" Clark calls.

Joe makes his way to the front of the cell where Clark presses the button to open the door. Joe steps out, and Clark closes the cell door. They begin walking toward the mess hall.

"Hello, Clark." Joe says with a big smile on his face.

"You look pretty happy. What's that all about?" Clark asks, happy to see that Joe is happy.

"My family is visiting me today and I'm so happy to see them!" Joe exclaims.

"That's wonderful! When are you doing that?" Clark asks.

"Right after lunch, so you won't need to take me to my cell. You will need to escort me to the visiting area instead." Joe shares.

"Ok. Sounds good. You seem very excited about this visit. Tell me, will this visit include intimate time with your wife by chance?" Clark asks.

"Hell yeah, it does." Joe answers.

"I understand your level of excitement then. I would be excited if it were for me! That's great, Joe! After everything that has happened lately, you probably need a nice distraction." Clark states.

"Yeah. These past few days have been very hard on me. It's so frustrating when you see abusive, bad things happening to someone as pure as Patrick. He's done nothing to deserve any of the treatment he has received on the inside. It is also incredibly frustrating when you know who the abuser is, but you can't do anything to stop it because it would make it a million times worse for Patrick. He's the collateral damage that is stuck between the crosshairs. Every time he tells me about an experience with his abuser, a small part of me dies a little inside. Patrick is getting really tough though, and his abuser hasn't broken him yet, so I encourage him to keep fighting another day, even though I know it is only a matter of time before his abuser finally breaks him." Joe explains.