Locked Up

Chapter 3 (Revised)

Coxsackie Correctional Facility is one of the scariest places I've been to. The nights are dark and cold, with guards and creepy patients lurking around every corner. Every night since I have gotten here, I've been awoken by patients passing Ace and I's section that are screaming and shouting. To most people, the scariest situation they have been in is a haunted house at age seven, or getting lost in a corn maze by yourself.

I remember this little girl from a few years ago. She came by and visited my cafe. The little girl, her name was Eve. She told me several stories, but the one that I remember most was her biggest fear. She sat for almost half an hour explaining why clowns are so scary. At the time, that could be considered one of my fears, but now, clowns are the least of my worries.

Being here is nothing like what I have ever experienced before. Every night I am awoken by a guard and an angry patient that lurks past Ace and I's section of the prison. Every night, at least one criminal who refuses to do to sleep and throws a tantrum has to be sedated, and if that doesn't work they just put them completely under as if they are going to perform surgery. Instead of actually operating, they throw them back in their cell and hope they stay knocked out for at least a few more hours until morning.

There are two things that I cannot decide between as the scariest part of being here. The first one is being surrounded by a bunch of criminals during the day. I know that I am also here for being a criminal, but it is still intimidating. Because they are criminals, you know that they would not hesitate to hurt someone if they had the opportunity. The second one is night time at the facility. The dark corners of your cell make it almost impossible to see. The darkness casts an unknowing feeling, a feeling of fear. You have no idea of what is around you. There could be a crazy criminal that somehow escaped gazing into your cell and you wouldn't even know because of the black appearance.

My two biggest fears are the reason that caused my heart to stop when Ace started screaming in his sleep. Panic fills my bloodstream knowing what will happen if he continues screaming and doesn't wake up.

"No, don't kill Ace! Anyone but Ace!" He yells loudly. Why would he be yelling not to kill Ace? The way he yelled it too makes it sound like Ace is a different person. Either way, I have to wake him up before a guard hears him.

"Ace, Ace wake up!" I shout at him.

"Please, not him. Not Ace!" he shouts.

"Harry, please wake up!" I shout louder as I hear footsteps heading our way.

"I was hoping we wouldn't have to sedate anyone tonight," a guard sighs as two of them enter Ace and my section. One is tall, about 5'6, with short, curly blonde hair. In contrast, the other guard is only 5'11 with longer brown hair. The shorter one is Ace's escort, Evan I believe.

"Harry! Please, you need to wake up," I yell. Honestly, I don't know why I'm so panicked. All they are going to do is give him a bit of medicine and wait a few hours to make sure he is okay. I think I just feel bad for him; no one wants to get an IV because of a nightmare. Why are they going to sedate him over a bad dream anyways?

As two guards begin to unlock Ace's cell, I speak up.

"There is no need to sedate him," I tell the two. One of them jumps in shock, expecting me to be asleep.

"He is screaming and yelling. We could hear him from the cafeteria. We have no other choice," the taller one calmly explains to me.

"He is only dreaming, just wake him up," I tell them, making it sound as simple as it is.

"Why did you kill him?" Ace says in his sleep with a light sob. Harry crying? This is definitely the last thing I would expect him to be sedated for.

"See, it's just a bad dream he is having. If you just wake him up it will be over. I'm sure other patients have nightmares too. This is not a reason to waste you sedation medication," I tell them with an 'I told you so' attitude.

"Leo, just get him out of his cell so we can take him to the hospital wing. I don't want this to take all night," the guard, Evan tells his co-worker.

"Please, just wake him up. I don't want to be in here alone. I get lonely," I tell the pair of workers.

"You are a murderer, you deserve to be lonely," Leo says to me as they carry Ace out of the corridor.

My eyes follow the boy in Evan's arms. He's got a tall build, at least six foot. Ace has also has got a very slim figure, but also very muscular. The last thing I see before they walk out of the door us the back if his head, which is covered in curls.

I don't know why I made such a huge deal about them taking Ace. Maybe I need to be sedated too, I'm going insane. I mean, yeah, being here alone is somewhat scary, but not scary enough that I couldn't handle it for less than two hours. Not even an hour later, I hear Ace's guard enter the place. Although I couldn't see Harry I knew he was with him. As soon as I hear the cell door next to me slam, I knew I was correct. Moments later the guard exits and Ace releases his deep, raspy laugh.

"What's so funny?" I ask him, trying so hard to not laugh with him. There is just something about his laugh that almost forces you to join in.

"You," He says after his laugh settles.

"Oh, I-," I mumble before he cuts me off.

"That wasn't meant to be an insult," He says with a small laugh. "I meant, Evan told me all about you trying to keep them from sedating me. Honestly, I've been sedated so any times, I can't even feel anything anymore. And besides, I woke up after it was done" he explains to me.

"I was worried about you," the words slip out of my mouth before I realized what I was saying.

"No need to worry about me, I can take care of myself," he tells me. "You on the other hand, be careful. There are horrible people roaming around here and I need you to promise me you won't do anything dumb," He tells me.

"Of course I wo-"

I need you to promise me," Ace insists, his accent more intense than seconds before. "Promise me that you will be careful."

"I-I promise."

Revised 9/17/14

{Guys! The amount of response I got from you all was so amazing! Please keep it up , it means so so so much! A few of you were asking who I imagined as Shyla. I pictured her as Shailene Woodley. She was in the movie Divergent . Again, thanks for the response. Tell me, if YOU were writing this, what would you make happen? Or, what do you want to happen?

-Anna/@teendayslouis}