"Prisoner" - Bastille/Dan Smith Fanfiction

Jamie

Tuesday, 27th October 2009

After my session with Dr. Will Farquarson today I went to the yard on my own since I wasn't able to find Alex. He was probably hanging with Woody again. I walked over to the table tennis tables and watched some other guys playing their matches, trying not to seem curious or suspicious. Suddenly my look captured a young girl on a bench aside from everything. She was hardly older than 20 and she had black short cut hair like my sister Brooklyn, she reminded me a lot of her, although she didn't look as much as a punk as my sister. She looked more normal with no makeup and she also looked sad. She was observing everything going on at the yard and simultaneously listening to music, which I could tell from her headphones inside her ears. I suddenly felt something strange deep inside me, the wish of going over to her and start a conversation, a feeling I've never had before. She must be new, I thought and she also seems like she could need a companion in here. Why did I feel like this? I actually avoided any contact to strangers, especially in here, it was utterly surprising I had such a good relationship to Alex and now this? I was confused, but I brushed my thoughts aside and moved my legs.

The girl saw me and obviously tried to ignore me at first but when I was about to take a seat next to her she took one headphone out of her ear and made a space for me. This gesture told me she wasn't unfriendly and I could go one step further. I looked at her and she looked back and smiled. "Hey" I said shyly. "You must be new here. I haven't seen you before." She nodded her head. "I came here last night. I don't even know why I'm here but well, I'll have to stay." Her voice sounded kinda apathetically. She was nervously playing with her hands. "How long have you been here?" she went on. My heart was still beating in my mouth. " Four years" I replied narrowly. Her eyes widened. "Jeez, how can you take being here for so long?!" I shrugged my shoulders. "I think there are things in life you can get used to" was my answer and I thought that was a dumb answer. "What's your name?", the girl really got into the conversation now which made me even more nervous since I didn't expect her to be so frankly. "I'm Daniel, but I prefer to simply be called Dan." She wanted to shake hands with me. "I'm Jamie. Nice to meet you, Dan!" I just wasn't able to say why but I felt 'good' in her presence and forgot about all the negative things in my life, I could even turn off the surrounding of us and just concentrate on her. Anyway I didn't touch her I just said: "Thanks, nice to meet you, too" and hoped to not sound unfriendly. "In which block is your room?", she asked to keep the conversation going. "I'm sharing a room with someone in block three" I answered very pleased she wasn't offended because I didn't shake hands with her." I hope I don't have to stay here as long as you did" she added mournfully and with a sad undertone in her voice. I could absolutely share her worries and thought of anything right to say to comfort her but she had the drop on me. "How do you feel since you're living here?" she asked seriously. I was caught off guard by this question and needed some time to think about what to answer. Jamie waited patiently. "Well...", I began slowly. " I reckon nobody knows that my disease isn't that worse anymore and I'm recovered enough to be dismissed. I'm agonising through the sessions with my psychiatrist and he never tells me something new. In my opinion it doesn't make sense anymore to keep me in the institution but on the other hand I'm quite used to it so I'm also feeling 'comfortable' in here-if that's the right word- nevertheless I don't want to stay here for the rest of my life". This was the most honest answer I could've given. She nodded slightly and said: "I get you". For a terrible moment of time we didn't say anything and this was more than unpleasant. My mind was desperately searching for anything to say.

Somehow the clock struck 6pm which meant we had to go to supper .Twenty minutes later I met Jamie at the doors of the cafeteria and she smiled. "Nice to see you". I smiled back and we both grabbed our trays with supper and sat down at a table. "I hate chips, would you like to have mine?", she asked and I nodded. So she only ate the salad. "The chicken nuggets taste like rubbish" she said in disgust and I had to agree with her, although I am a big chicken lover. After we had finished our meal she asked: "Would you like to hang with me? We could go to the common room and play some table tennis?" I nodded straight away and as fast as possible we left the cafeteria and went to the common room. "Watch out Dan, get prepared for a defeat!", Jamie shouted excitedly as she held the racket in her hands. We played a couple of matches with lots of laughter, triumph and fun without noticing the few people watching our matches. Jamie was the best table tennis player I've ever met and it was only good she had warned me about her strength in table tennis before. It was late evening soon enough and we made our way back to our corridors. When Jamies and my corridor divided we paused for a moment and said goodbye to each other. "Good night Jamie", I whispered and tried to give her the best smile to show her how happy I was to be with her. "Good night Dan", she replied with a soft and happy voice. "See you tomorrow."