Lockjaw (Joshler)

29. Door

***Trigger warning for mentions of a pedophile.***

Start the song. It's Broken Bones by Kaleo.

As soon as Josh's three days of suicide watch were up, a gigantic guard who had never actually spoken around Josh was leading him back to his cell in the solitary block. Josh had never been more relieved to see that familiar steel door and barred window that usually formed a barrier between himself and the rest of the world.

"Shit," the guard commented, sounding surprised as he unlocked the door.

Josh didn't understand why until the door was opened, but then he saw it. He laughed out loud at the giant teddybear waiting for him on his bed, "I heart Ohio" emblazoned on its chest in red thread. It had to be at least three feet tall, and it was incredibly round.

"Inside joke," Josh explained when the guard gave him a worried look.

The guard offered a stiff nod as he unlocked Josh's cuffs. "Better hope you don't have to take that thing outta solitary," the man warned him.

"Leaving solitary isn't even an option," he reassured the guard.

"At least you got somebody to talk to now," the guard mused through a smirk, making Josh laugh again.

"Yeah, I guess," Josh replied amusedly as he headed back into his cell.

The guard chuckled before leaning into the cell and telling Josh quietly, "Hey, try not to hit anyone else, but if you gotta, I know a couple more pedos who deserve the have the shit knocked outta 'em. I wouldn't mind looking the other way on that."

"As much as I'd love to punch more pedophiles, I don't think that's a great idea if I ever want to get out of this place," Josh replied as he sat down on his bed, lifting the giant bear up and setting it on the ground beside his bed.

The guard hummed. "They should be reducing your sentence for breaking McCarthy's fucking nose. Hell, they should've let you out for it. He's a sick fuck, but you already know that. It takes everything in me not to let the other inmates kill that fucker."

"Yeah, I couldn't do your job," Josh replied simply, picking up the thick stack of letters on his bed and thumbing through them curiously. He smiled slightly when he saw that he had one from TJ.

The guard in the doorway smirked amusedly. "That a compliment? You're complimenting the guys who keep you locked in a box?"

"I'm the reason I'm locked in a box. You're the reason I'm still alive in this box," Josh replied, tucking TJ's letter behind all the others so he could have a good one to look forward to. He had another from Abbie that he tucked back there with it. "Sometimes I'm grateful for that. Sometimes I hate you guys for it. Take the compliment or don't, but it's out there."

The man chuckled. "You're a good one, Dun. Hoppus was right about you. You're gonna do alright when you get outta here. Prove all those other fuckers wrong, and punch as many pedophiles as you can while you do it."

Josh grinned. "I'll do my best," he promised.

"Yeah, you will," the guard agreed. "See you around, kid."

"Bye," Josh replied, hearing his cell door shut and lock when the man left.

Josh glanced at the door before pulling the teddybear back up onto his bed beside him and tearing open the first envelope. He couldn't help but laugh whenever he looked at the bear. He had no fucking clue how Frangipane had found a bear that big so quickly, but it was absolutely hilarious to him.

Reading the letters from strangers was mostly meant to kill time before Skye and Jack were supposed to come visit him today, but the words on the pages in front of him seemed much more violent and angry than they usually were. After reading six letters in a row telling him he should be executed or murderer or tortured or slowly burned alive, Josh took the letters from Abbie and TJ out of the pile and tossed the rest into the little garbage bin beside his desk. He opened Abbie's letter carefully, smiling as soon as he saw her familiar handwriting.