I Guess Jails My Thing

6.

I had been at this prison for almost a year now. The ceilings all different by the slightest of cracks and the walls direct from their various scuffs and stains.

This was the place I had grown accustomed to. The place where I had met Max, my only friend.

I smiled slightly as I pushed myself up on my mattress and waited until the doors opened for breakfast.

I happily left my cell and made me way to the mess hall. The doors were pushed open and I looked around, but there were no men in the room.

I looked around confused when a scary looking woman with tattoos up her back and down her arms put a hand on my shoulder. "Men's cafeteria was finally fixed. We're back to being separated."

I looked up at her confused. Her jet black hair made her eyes look darker as they turned to look at me, making me want to shrink away in fear.

"They've been fixing it for about a year and  a half now. You got here maybe a few weeks or so after they started so this will take some getting used to." She said as she patted my shoulder again as she walked away from me and towards the food line.

Of course they would have been under construction. Of course I never noticed how there was desperation everywhere else but here. Of course they took him away from me when I finally had made a friend instead of before.

Life is a cruel joke that way.

I looked at the line and decided to skip over it and instead just grab some water. Eating wasn't worth the trouble today.

~*~

I leaned against the wall that sat next to the fence and Max was on the other side. We sat in silence, I only twiddled my thumbs as I stared down at my lap while Max just looked up at the sky.

"I finally got you to talk yet you return to your shell." Max finally said as he smiled.

"Sorry." I replied as I looked over at him.

"I know it was hard for you not to see me, I'm just that special aren't I?" He said as he smiled over at me.

I smiled slightly as I looked down at the ground next to the fence.

"Can I ask you something?"

I nodded.

"How did you end up in here?" He asked. "A girl like you doesn't seem like she could hurt a fly."

"I was accused by my father for my mothers death. He killed her. I was tried and convicted of second degree." I whispered. My eyes felt teary and I rubbed the tears away.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered. "I wish I could help. Give you a hug or something." I laughed quietly as I shook my head, continuing to wipe tears away.

I smiled slightly, as if telling him that it was okay. He didn't look convinced but he nodded anyways.

"Can I tell you something?" He asked. I nodded, as I looked at the side of his face. "I was arrested for voluntary manslaughter. I punched the guy in the head pretty hard." He chuckled slightly, darkly and sad. "He fell hard on the cement and just, died."

"Why?"

"What?" He asked as he turned his eyes from the bottom of the fence that sat between us to my eyes.

"Why did you do it?" I asked, clarifying the question.

"A friend of mine, Samuel Minster was arrested for a murder that he didn't commit. He was going to appeal in court and with the evidence he gathered it looked like he was going to win and be freed. But in jail a man named Chase Hanson had him killed. He was severely stabbed to death, left to bleed out on the concrete floor of a corridor as they tried to track down the attackers. I was so angry when I found out." He shook his head. "I couldn't find chase but I found one of his buddies. So I went at him. And then he died."

He looked away from my eyes and looked to his hands. "He was the closest friend I had, and I let him down."

I shook my head. "No you didn't." I smiled slightly when he looked up at me. "You tried."

"Thank you Theresa." He said as he smiled back, tears filling his eyes. "You have no idea how much that means to me."

And you have no idea how much it means to me to have a friend.