Degeneracy♡

chapter 6: RESCUE

Apart from the little incident that happened with Luca in the corridor, today has been extremely boring. I've been doing paperwork all day and it is sending me mad. Because I arrived at the prison at midday, I am not allowed to go home until 10 o'clock today. Usually, I am not allowed to work for longer than 9 o'clock which means I work 12 hour days, but because I wasn't allowed to go home until 11 o'clock last night, they are letting me off. 

I only have half an hour of work left and then I am finished. 

"Miss Shelby, Mr Broughton needs your help." Vera huffs as she dumps her folder on her desk. I think she is trying to warm to me.

"Do you know what with?" I ask as I get up from my chair.

"The new prisoner that was supposed to arrive about 48 hours ago is finally being transferred here. He's a right troublemaker, mind. His crimes are floor three in severity but his previous behaviour is enough for him to be put on floor four." She tells me.

"So am I going to have to deal with him?" I ask, fear evident in my voice.

"No! Of course not. You'll probably just have to help with some paperwork regarding him or something." She reassures. 

I nod quickly and leave the office. I really hope this won't take long. I need to get back home before Sebastian breaks into my house again and finds that I am not there. God knows what he would do if things didn't go to plan.

"Izzy, I need you to sort out the cell for the new prisoner," Tom says, looking very stressed as he is filling out some forms. "You only need to put a new mattress on the bed and put the bare necessities in his room, it's cell 14 on the fourth floor."

"I thought he was a third-floor prisoner?" I ask.

"He was until he took one of the prisoners hostage just before he transferred." 

Why didn't Vera tell me that? Did it just slip her mind or was she worried I couldn't handle the idea of me being susceptible to a person like that?

The walk to floor 4 feels like the longest walk of my life. There is an eery silence in all the corridors. It is past lights out so it feels like there is no one else in the prison except me. I unlock the door that holds the floor four prisoners. There are very few reading lights to be seen through the small box on their doors. 

I reach cell 14 and unlock it. It is absolutely freezing. No one has been living in here for at least 3 months. I start to take the fold up mattress out of the plastic and put it on the bed. I hear a door slam. That doesn't sound good. I tiptoe out of the cell and into the corridor. I can't see anyone here. 

I turn my back to go back into the cell but I hear heavy footsteps this time.

"Hello?" I croak, absolutely terrified.

Suddenly, I feel an arm wrap around my neck and put me into a headlock. I am shoved into the cell and the door is slammed shut. The arm tightens around me and I start to groan in his grip. He shoves me onto the bed and I recognise that it's the new prisoner. Oh my God! He's taken me, hostage, too.

He starts to barricade the door. He's actually going to kill me. 

Abruptly, there are several harsh shoves coming from the other side of the door. Shoves much stronger than the pathetic attempts from the new prisoner. Finally, he is pushed to the side and in comes a rageful looking Luca.

"What the fuck are you doing?" He shouts, veins popping out of his neck and forehead. 

The new prisoner tries to get up from the floor but is pushed back down by a very harsh blow to the stomach.

"I asked you a fucking question!" Luca roars. 

I try to leave the room, but Luca grabs my wrist. 

"If you ever mess with anything that's mine on my turf again, I swear to God I will fucking kill you." He threatens before kicking the prisoner several times in the stomach.

"Stop!" I whimper. 

Luca gives one final kick before spitting onto the floor where the prisoner is lying. He then leads me out of the cell. 

"Are you okay?" He asks, urgently.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine," I answer shakily. 

He looks at me with a look of compassion and thought. One that I'd never seen from Luca. He notices that I have a small cut on my cheek from where the prisoner had scratched me whilst trying to get me into the cell. He rubs it gently as we stare into each other's eyes. We both feel something. 

"What happened?!" A shrill voice sounds from the end of the corridor. We both quickly separate. 

Vera and Hewitt come running in. Both looking very stressed and worried. They look inside the cell to see the new prisoner spread across the floor with what looks to be a broken nose and concussion. 

"What happened?" Vera asks, but much more sternly. I try to answer but no words will come out of my mouth. 

"This jumped up dickhead just tried to take this young lady hostage." Luca rapidly answers for me. He is acting as if he knows nothing about me. 

"How did you get out of your cell, Mr King?" Vera questions. 

"Some idiot left it unlocked." Luca lies. 

"We'll have a look at the CCTV." Vera grimaces. "Isobel, are you okay?" She asks, kindness evident in her voice. This is the first time she hasn't called me 'Miss Shelby' which makes her sound much more sincere. 

"Fine." I almost whisper. 

"Mr Hewitt, please sort this mess out whilst I take Miss Shelby downstairs." Vera orders before she leads me out of the door and back to the office. 

She puts the kettle on and sits down.

"What happened?" She asks for the third time, whilst pouring a cup of tea for both of us.

"I was sorting out... that prisoners room.. and h-he just g-grabbed me and he w-was going to barricade the d-door," I say, still incredibly shaken up. 

"We'll talk about this in the morning. Don't get too worked up over it, just be thankful Mr King was there in time." Vera tries to comfort me but it doesn't particularly work. 

All I want to do right now is go home.