The Inmates Mate

Chapter One

The Inmates Mate

Chapter One

Ebony ... eb-a-nee

   I finally had a day off work after working two shifts in a row. They were 12 hour shifts so needless to say I was exhausted. It didn't matter how many layers of compression socks I could put on my legs, it could not reduce the aching and swelling that I felt in my feet right now.

I was dragging my legs up each step as I rose towards my small apartment. I rented one apartment of eight in a unit making the building solid but also nosey at times. I gripped the wooden side rail tightly, not feeling the scratches that it left behind as I relayed on it for support.

The state prison had been working me constantly since one of the other nurses quit and I had to take over two of her shifts. I was off tomorrow, knowing fully well I will sleep until the late afternoon because of my tiredness.

I am a nurse in Michigan Reformatory, there were about fifteen hundred inmates in the facility. I am usually in the trauma center of the hospital wing since it pays the best but these past few days have been different. The nurse that quit, administered medications to one hundred inmates; handing them all out in just half a day. I had to pick up the slack and it was hard for me to do it as quickly as her since there are so many medications to be given, but I have managed so far surprisingly.

It wasn't my first choice to work at a prisons infirmary but they pay graduate nurses really well, starting at $40 an hour. Compared to other hospitals that offered me sometimes less than $25 an hour to work for them.

I graduated and passed my boards about five months ago and have been working with the prison since. There weren't as many bad experiences as one would think except you deal with a lot of mental health patients and sudden stab wounds. We still receive a few gang members from Detroit occasionally and they sometimes cause a bit of trouble.

But I try to just treat every patient like a human being, and as long as they are not violent with me then I won't be towards them.

My fingers tightly gripped my keys while opening my locked door hearing the neighbors dog across the hallway bark at me. As I shut the door behind me with a exhausted sigh I locked my door immediately, dead bolt included.

Diego, my black and white spotted cat came up to me meowing at my prescience again. I chuckled and bent down to pick him up, my back cracking three times on the way down. I held him tight in my arms as I scratched the side of his face.

"Hey buddy, how are you doin'?" I questioned while kissing Diego's head.

He purred loudly as I walked to the kitchen. I set him down on the ground next to his food bowl. Diego now at my feet meowing at me incessantly as I retrieved his canned cat food.

"Are you hungry, big guy?" I asked as I opened the can making Diego rub up against me, like he was buying my love for him to get his canned cat food.

I chuckled and placed the metal container in the glass bowl for him. He started eating, stopping his meowing at me now too distracted to talk shit.

My phone rang loudly from my pocket making my heart drop as I sighed. I knew who it was, I knew it was my mother calling but my tiredness was overwhelming and I didn't know if I had the energy to speak to her after such a long shift.

"Osiyo mama," I greeted her with as much excitement as I could muster at the moment.

"Ebony, it's such a relief to hear your voice! How are you baby?" she cooed at me, her mothering voice making my shoulders slack in relaxation.

"I am very tired mama, I just finished a 12 hour shift and it was a difficult day," I confessed into the phone.

"Aw baby, I am sorry to hear that. I will pray your day tomorrow is better," she reassured me.