incarcerated

1.

linoleum floors had never been brett yang's favorite. he'd never looked at a concrete wall and thought "mm, yes. i love it." and orange was definitely not his color.

    yet, here he was.

   it wasn't like he killed anyone. he was barely 5 foot 7 and couldn't watch horror movies because he got too scared, even when watching with someone else. no, he could never be a murderer.

   as his lawyer had put it, brett yang had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

   he'd gone home with a stranger after a concert. the man had been eyeing him all night and made his move when brett was almost to his car. he'd been tall and dark, too convincing for brett to resist. he'd followed the other man home.

    at this man's home, the first thing they did was make out for hours. brett found the other man to be extremely aggressive to the point of discomfort, but kept his mouth shut (figuratively speaking.)

brett hadn't wanted to do drugs. he wasn't even sure what he'd done, he just knew that it made him feel really shitty for a long time and that he was too intoxicated to even utter a word whenever the policemen barged into the house. there was nowhere for him to go and nothing he could've done to save himself.

he sat silently in a van headed to the facility, hands cuffed together. there were three other prisoners on the bus and he prayed that the attention would be drawn to them, but he also knew better. his size and stature were bound to catch someone's eye and become the butt of a joke sooner or later. the man sitting across from him had already made a comment about his height during the strip search.

the officers in the van got out as soon as it stopped, herding brett and the others into a building. brett craned his neck to get a view of the other prisoners in the yard. there were a lot of them.

"go on, inmate. can't keep the warden waiting," a guard barked in brett's ear, pushing him. his cheeks reddened and the other inmates made not attempt to hold back their snickers as they walked towards the door.

the inside of the building was even worse than brett imagined. there was no color in anything and everyone they passed looked dead inside. the walls were gray and obviously hadn't been cleaned in forever, judging by the assortment of dried substances on them. another prisoner approached their group and laughed loudly.

"bunch of fuckin' pussies you've got there, officer," he hissed. brett refused to look up.

"quiet, rodriguez. mind your business," an officer replied sternly. the inmate chuckled again.

brett did not look up from his feet until he and the other inmates were moved into a hallway in front of the door. he raised his head to find three guards staring at the four of them, arms crossed.

"alright, gentlemen. we're heading into the warden's office. he always wants to meet with new arrivals first thing. don't speak unless spoken to, got it?" the one in the middle instructed. brett and the other inmates nodded.

as the door opened, brett found himself staring at the floor again. he watched the floor change from linoleum to soft carpet as the guards led them into the office. the air was cool and it smelled way too nice to be part of any prison. brett's eyes were glued to the blue carpet when they stopped walking.

"warden chen, these are the new arrivals for today. just got here about ten minutes ago, sir," brett heard. his heart was pounding. he knew that somewhere in front of him was the very man in charge of this prison, but he was too terrified to look up. he stared at the laces on his black shoes and took a deep breath.

"thank you. you can stand outside, it'll just be a minute," came the warden's voice, deep and sultry. brett shivered as the door shut.

"well, gentlemen, my name is eddy chen. you are to call me warden chen and only warden chen, unless you want to find out what solitary confinement looks like. i don't fuck around and i don't expect you to, either. you're here to serve your time because you did something wrong. i'm here to keep you safe and clean and deal with all the bullshit that gets thrown at me. i'd say a do a pretty good job at it, but that doesn't happen easily. and it definitely doesn't happen because i let people walk all over me. does that sound good to everyone?"

brett felt like he was going to pass out. he hadn't even seen this man, but the power that he radiated made brett's knees weak. he was already terrified and the warden's semi-threatening speech made it worse. he found himself at a loss for words and could only nod as an answer to eddy's last question.

    "use your words," eddy said sternly.

    "yes, sir," brett mumbled, his quiet voice being drowned out by the loudness of his peers'. he could feel the warden's eyes burning holes in the top of his head without even looking up.

    "and look at me when i'm speaking to you," eddy scolded, obviously speaking to brett. the smaller man took a deep breath and raised his head.

    warden chen was the most beautifully terrifying man brett had ever seen. thick locks of brown hair laid perfectly atop his head and framed his handsome face, accenting his sharp jaw. his eyes were deep pools of dark honey and brett could feel himself getting lost in them as they made eye contact for the first time. he sat at his desk with his hands clasped together, veiny hands sticking out of a black suit jacket. his button up clung to his muscular chest in a way that made brett's stomach flip. the look of annoyance on his face made it hard to breathe.

    "good. do you all think you're ready to go?" the warden asked, raising his thick eyebrows. the prisoners nodded.

    "yes, sir," brett repeated, intimidated by eddy's unwavering gaze directly into his eyes.

    "mm. alright then," eddy sighed.

    he stood up and walked past brett to the door, the edge of his jacket brushing against the smaller man's arm. brett's cheeks reddened and he ducked his head again as eddy opened the door.

    "alright, officers. thank you," eddy nodded at his subordinates with an obligatory smile.

    "no problem, sir."

    brett took one last look up at eddy's face before he and the others were led out of the room. the taller man hadn't stopped staring at him. he smirked slightly as he watched brett walk out of his line of sight, body visibly shaking. he chuckled a bit after he shut the door and sat down in his chair.

    "brett yang," he mumbled to himself, "welcome to my prison."