infidel (joshler)

Chapter 4

The yelling of the guards woke Tyler up. It was time to get up, to face the other inmates who were in here for way less than Tyler was. He was surprised that they let him near anyone else. What if the blurries took over? What if they killed again? Tyler couldn't watch that, hear the laughter come out of his own mouth, but it wasn't his laugh and it wasn't him in control and he was crying but still laughing and-

"Hey, Joseph. Breakfast. You're skinny enough as it is, don't skip meals." Maybe some of the guards in here were okay. Maybe. There were only a few that Tyler hadn't dreamed about killing in disturbing ways. No, not Tyler. It was the blurries showing him those ideas as he slept. He didn't ask for them. He didn't want that. He didn't.

He shuffled his way down the same dark hallway with several hundred other prisoners, some as dangerous, many not. He knew that half of these people were only in here for something silly like drug possession, or theft. Amateurs, a dark part of him whispered.

The cafeteria was just as dark as the rest of the prison, with ladies who looked like they could bite your arm off scooping what was apparently food onto plastic trays. Tyler gazed down at his, wondering if it was actually edible. No kind of food naturally came like the colour of death. He sat down at a table by himself. Josh came and sat next to him.

"That looks disgusting," Josh said, gagging as he did so. Tyler smiled.

"I told you. It's gross. I feel like just looking at it will give me some sort of flesh eating disease." Josh scooped some onto his finger, and tasted it before spitting it onto the floor. Tyler scowled at him.

"They'll get mad. I don't want them to get mad at me," Tyler said sadly as he wiped it up with one of the two napkins they were allowed. This prison had strict regulations as to how much of what each inmate got. Tyler didn't know whether it was because of money or safety. Another inmate walked over to him.

"Dude, there's nothing there. What are you doing?" Tyler looked up. The man was about his age, tall, with dark hair.

"Sorry, my friend spilled something." Tyler hastily stood up, crumpling the clean napkin in his fist. The man laughed.

"What friend?" Tyler glanced back at Josh, who avoided looking at him.

"I-I-I don't know, um, maybe he-he..." Tyler stumbled over his words, anxiety getting the best of him. The other inmate rolled his eyes and walked back to his table, leaving Tyler standing alone. He heard him say something about Tyler, but he was too focused on not tripping and making a fool of himself as he walked back to his table to notice.

"That guy is kind of a dick, isn't he?" Josh laughed. Tyler stared at his plate of food. For once, he didn't want to talk to Josh. If anyone saw him, that would just make things worse.

"Yeah. I guess," Tyler mumbled, still staring at the plate. The buzzer that signalled that all of the inmates had to return to their cells sounded, and everyone shuffled out of the cafeteria, voices loud, constantly bumping bodies. Tyler was overwhelmed. He hated prison. Although, he probably was supposed to, but it was probably worse for him than anyone else in here.

Every time he turned a corner, there was another blurry, with their red eyes and taunting smiles. They followed Tyler everywhere. The only thing that protected him from them was Josh. Josh was like the ray of sunshine cutting through the clouds, slicing through the blurries and keeping them at bay, at least for awhile.

Josh had been talking a lot more. For the first two weeks, there was nothing but silence, but lately he had been talking all the time, making sarcastic comments and laughing. Tyler had really missed him.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, psycho!" Some man Tyler didn't recognize grabbed his shoulder and pushed him. Tyler hit the ground. As he stood up, his hands balled up into fists. The bigger guy laughed. Tyler turned around, with menace in his eyes. The man wasn't laughing anymore.