In These Walls - Laurroth

2

!!!WORD COUNT: 2634 WORDS!!!

Garroth POV

I woke up to a loud voice booming.
"All prisoners rise!" Boomed the warden. I hadn't seen him yet, but from his voice I could tell he wasn't kind.
Laurance was already out of bed, tying his shoes, so I did the same quietly.
"Follow me and keep you mouth shut" he whispered, and led me out and down the 2nd story to the first floor where role-call took place.
The warden was finally visible. He had short buzzed grey hair with a terrifyingly strong build and tall stature. He had piercing yellow eyes that could slice you in half from a single glance. His clipboard seemed to have a chart of everyone's names and they tally for all the days you are there and all the days you are not. I was one of the smallest prisoners here, and newest, so no doubt was I going to get picked on. I held my cuffed hands in front of me and looked down. The wardens steel toed shoes were tapping closer. And closer. And closer. Laurance quickly nudged me to look up, and as I did, the tapping stopped. There stood the warden, looking down right at me. I toughened up and attempted to glare up into his eyes.
"Hmm... So your the new one?" He looked at me up and down.
"Speak when you are spoken to. Did you not learn your manners from your mother? Oh wait... She's dead by your filthy hands." He whispered the last part to me. I ground my teeth together and clenched my fists.
"Don't ever speak to me again then, because I'm never going to respond." I said surprisingly without a stutter and with as much sass as I could muster. The warden slapped me so hard that I landed on my knees.
"Don't treat your warden like that again." He scoffed, kicking grime into my face and he walked off.
Laurance grabbed one of my arms and lifted me.
"You are real feisty for a newbie" he whispered.
Role-call finished and we were ordered to go and get breakfast from the cafeteria. I walked behind Laurance, him being the only person I somewhat trusted.
There were tall grey cement pillars supporting the ugly enclosed room. The tables were those you'd find at picnics, but instead they were iron and rusty. The trays from the prisoners were covered in brown muck, which seemed to be the food. From what I could see, behind the food counter, the lunch ladies were tallying down who ate what and when they did.
"Don't stand there to long or people are going to notice you." Laurance whispered and walked into the line. I followed behind him.
( is it bad I know the layout and how prisons work? Heheheheh... oops)
As we got up to the counter, the putrid stench of the hell sludge they were going to put on my plate smelled terrible. We walked single file down until it was my turn.
"Name?" One lunch lady asked.
"G-Garroth Ro'M-Meave" I stuttered.
They looked at me up and down, seeing my small figure, "Get some more damn food in your system."
I glared up at them as they put extra food on my plate. I walked over and saw Laurance sitting with the gang Gene lead. Of course.
Now where the hell was I going to sit?
I walked away from the line and looked around for an open table.
"Hey Garroth!" Gene called at me, and my gaze locked with his.
"Come over here." He smiled and made a motion for me to sit.
I hesitantly walked over, keeping my distance and stood on the other side of the table with laurance.
"What d-do you want?" I questioned.
"For you too sit down." The white haired boy. I still didn't know his name.
I slowly sat down next to Laurance and pushed my tray to the side. Knowing all of the information from highschool, it's not smart to sit across from someone who hates you with a full plate.
I glared up at Gene as everyone at the table was looking at me.
"You've got some courage, you know that?" Gene chuckled. I remained silent.
"I mean, fighting me in your first hour here, rooming with Laurance, standing up to the tough ass warden and getting hit, and now sitting across your worst enemy. But we don't have to be enemies, do we?" He tilted his head and smiled.
"I'm n-not joining your d-dumb group." I already knew what he was going to say.
"I see you've got some brains in that skull of yours," He chuckled, "but if you don't want to play nice, we won't either."
I stood up and mustered the courage to say (without stuttering), "I'm. Not. Scared. Of. You." And walked off with the most sass, throwing my still full tray into the trash. I walked to the other side of the lunchroom and sat in the empty corner table.
Ohhhh that felt good.
Oh really good.
I smiled slightly to myself and just started at the clock. Waiting for lunch to end and go to the courtyard. I would have to get there fast if I wanted to hide from Gene.
Tick, tick. A few more minutes go by. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. A few more seconds left.
Tick
Tick
"All prisoners to courtyard." The monotone voice spoke, and I dashed out of the lunchroom and straight for the courtyard. The courtyard had dead grass and gravel stretching all the way to the fences. After the fences were gates. And guard towers. This is really maximum security. The courtyard stretched 2 acres forwards with base ball bleachers near the entrance. I turned and ran along the side of the building and turned the corner and stayed near the back. I was hidden from eyes in the shadows. This side was only 1/4 an acre with fence lining the courtyard.
My back was against the rough wall. I looked up at the sky and sighed.
I wanted to be outside. I need to see my brothers. Make them know it wasn't me.
I saw Genes gang hanging out when I peeked my head around the corner. They were huddled up close to the entrance, looking around for someone. Hopefully not me. I slid back into the shadows and slowly sunk down the wall. I wanted to cry. I would rather be dead then have my family think I murdered someone. My mother. I wish I could wake up in her arms, and she would tell me that it was just a bad dream. That wasn't the case at all, because forever I'll be shoved around in this prison. I'll hopefully die of starvation so I don't have to deal with the shame.
"Well, here you are." said Gene, coming around the corner.
I got up and stuffed my hands in my pockets.
"Why do you hate us?" He asked, moving closer with the usual gang beside him. Laurance however, was not there.
"Get out of my life." I barked.
"That's not very nice, now is it?" He smirked and snapped his fingers, "Shawn (male Sasha), Zenix."
Shawn and Zenix quickly grabbed my arms. I thrashed and squirmed, trying to loosen their grip.
"You've really got to learn to give into us, Garroth." Gene whispered in a threatening tone. I used my core strength and lifted my legs up and kicked him in the stomach, sending him down onto the ground.
I used all of my strength to claw into Zenixs arm, which made him yelp and let go, holding his arm in pain.
I proceeded to punch Shawn in the stomach and started running.
I turned the corner and ducked beneath the bleachers, hiding in the pitch black darkness. I saw them turn the corner moments after. Their glances going right over me. Thank Irene they didn't see me. I waited under there for the rest of our courtyard time, which I now renamed, Hide from Gene .
After what felt like an hour, the announcer spoke: "All prisoners to proper work stations."
What the hell was the work station? I saw Sasha, gene, and Zenix walk in with the rest. As I got out of the bleachers, I felt a hand on my shoulder and jumped.
"Ro'Meave, do not choose metal sorting. Whatever you do." Laurance told me, a serious tone in his voice. I nodded nervously, also confused.
I followed the crowd still confused by Laurance, and was pulled aside by the head warden.
"Prisoner Ro'Meave." The warden glared down at me.
"Wh-what do you want, sir?" I spoke.
"You need to get a job here," he stated, "and it so happens we need someone in metal sorting."
I froze. Laurance told me I couldn't do metal sorting.
"Sir, are there any other jobs I may apply for?" I asked, trying my best not to sound desperate.
"Unless you want to do sewage clean up, I suggest you go with the job handed in front of you."
Yeah I don't think I want to clean up sewage...
"I'll take the metal sorting job." I sighed.
"It's not like you had a choice. Guards, lead him. He can learn from our best employees for the first day." The warden ordered, and walked off.
"You should've gone sewage cleanup." A guard muttered, and pointed a gun to my back, leading me past the courtyard and beyond the fence into a brick building.
The guard grabbed my arm tightly and unlocked the big black metal gates into the building.
There were prisoners with gloves and goggles on as they sorted out metals. I heard about this in the news: prisoners would sort metals, and shortly after they go to the furnace and get reformed for us to sort again. It's like a trap. After sometime, they would give the metals to wedding ring shops that claimed they mined the minerals and hand crafted them. It was all one big lie.
The guard clenched my arm so tight he was digging into my bones. He dragged me over to one of the corners of the room near the back. That's when I realized I should've joined sewage cleanup: Gene and Zenix were there, working the furnace.
"You'll be working next to Mitch, Gene, and Zenix." He spoke, and tossed me by my work station. The guard walked over and unlocked my cuffs, then kneed me in the stomach.
"If you attempt to steal any of these precious materials, you're going to pay." he glared, "Gene! You've got a newbie on the job!" He shouted, and with that, he left. ( I'm not over exaggerating they are really abusive and terrible in prisons so don't give me an eye roll for drama. If anything, I'm going light)
The furnace/Gene and Zenixs workplace was right behind me. This wasn't good.
"Oh hello, Ro'Meave." Gene smirked.
"Leave me alone, Gene." I glared.
"Don't treat a superior that way." Zenix smirked.
I just turned around and put on the gloves and goggles already set out.
"Hello~" Mitch said, the purple haired and olive skinned man said next to me. He was wearing a weird cat headband.
"Um... What am I supposed to do?" I asked nervously. Mitch was staring at me up and down. He seemed a little mental by the way he was shaking slightly with his eye twitching.
(Mitch is my twist on male Michi. He's kinda mentally insane and possessive in this. #prayforgarrothINW)
"Here, you are supposed to identify alike metals and throw them in the right basket. This one is yellow," he whispered, picking up a piece of a yellow mineral from my stack, "so you put it in with other yellows." He set it down in the yellow stack.
"Thanks..." I sighed, and began working.
I heard Zenix and Gene whispering about something to each other. I really hoped it wasn't a plan to kill me.
Luckily, they whispered for almost the full 5 hours we were in the room, and kept melting the metals. My fingers were sore from the loads of minerals set before me.
Finally, the monotone accouncer spoke: "all prisoners clean up."
I looked around as everyone swiped the rest of the unorganized minerals into the un sorted bag and threw their gloves and goggles on the table. I did the same. A few moments of waiting later, the announcer came back on: "all prisoners to afternoon supper."
I wiped the grime and sweat off my face from the hot dusty room and entered the cafeteria to smell something else. Absolute terrible food.
I flat out skipped the line and sat in the corner. I saw Laurance at the lunch line, glaring over at me. What did I do to make him mad?
He got his food and walked over to me, ignoring his normal table, and sat across from me.
"What job did you get?" He asked sternly.
"They forced me into metal sorting, Laurance, I couldn't do anythi-"
"Garroth do you realize how dangerous that is?" He gritted his teeth.
I flinched back a bit, scared of his reaction, "first off, Gene and Zenix left me alone, and second off, when did you care?"
Laurance scoffed and got up.
"Whatever. Go get your food or the prison will be at your throat. They see it as a hunger strike." And with that, he walked back over to where Gene and his buddies were.
I looked down at the table and sighed.
I do not belong here. My brothers need me. I need them. I need to prove that I'm innocent. I have to.
I sighed, knowing that my thoughts were pointless.
Maybe giving up should be my choice...
I rested my head in my palm, gazing down at the table in sadness.
After the 30 minutes of lunch, the announcer spoke: "all prisoners to courtyard."
And with that, to the courtyard I went.
My stomach was rumbling, for I hadn't eaten yesterday or today at all. I felt weak from all of the dust and smoke I had inhaled from working in metal sorting, and my body was collapsing within itself. I couldn't run or defend myself from Gene if he found me this time, so I immediately snuck to the opposite end corner of the courtyard on the other side of the bleachers.
My eye lids started dragging down, lulling me to go to sleep. I hugged myself and shivered.
I hated my worthless life.
I opened my eyes to see gene smiling wide in my face.
"Hello again." He chuckled darkly, and pried me out of the corner. My body was easily dragged around from its weak state.
"You look exhausted... You need a wake up call." Gene smirked and with that, proceeded to throw punches that left bruises on my jaw and arms.
Gene hit me in the stomach hard, causing me to collapse against the wall, barely holding myself up for support, wincing.
"I never though it'd be this easy to kill you, Ro'Meave." He said, as he used one hand to choke me. Gene started raising me off the ground. I tried to kick and pry his hands away, but it was useless. My legs barely moved and my hands fell to my sides.
I'll see you in heaven, mom.
I smiled weakly as tears slowly rolled down my cheeks.
But something happened.
Something else.
Something... Strange.