The Fear Of Faith [2]

17. Bethan

It was Saturday morning and I was in my Dad's car that he had given to Cal when we'd left for New York, making my way home for the weekend.

Cal had decided to go to work early this morning, even though he never worked a Saturday. He was obviously enjoying spending all of his precious time with Tori.

He'd left the car key on the counter for me so I had no idea how he had gotten to work; maybe he had caught a cab or maybe she had picked him up. Either way, I didn't give a shit. My mind was focused on spending the weekend with my family and enjoying the well needed space from New York. Before that though, I had a detour on the way.

I had been driving for around an hour and a half and had been honked at repeatedly for my terribly slow driving. It was another hour until I arrived in Philadelphia to visit Archie. The fact that I was passing by on the way home had made my mind up and I was intrigued to see him after all this time. I wanted to see if prison had changed him at all; to see if he seemed a better person or if he was remorseful for what he did. I also wanted to know what the fuck he wanted from me and he wasn't going to tell me over the phone.

As time went on, I grew a lot more nervous as I finally arrived in Philadelphia and followed my GPS to the prison. When I arrived, I pulled into the side street and glanced over at the building with its tall American flags and dull maroon pointed rooftops. It was not a place I wanted to really be on a Saturday morning but it would be over in half an hour and I could leave before that if he pissed me off.

I took my phone and purse and hid them in the glove compartment before stepping out and heading across the street towards the prison.

Inside, it was as dull as it was on the outside. The walls and floors were equally beige and the smell was like an overuse of strong chemicals. The staff had sullen faces and eyed the visitors up as they entered like we were criminals too and I could even hear the shouts of prisoners that were being held in the cell rooms here out front.

I eventually got to the front of the line and showed my visiting order and identification before signing in and taking my visitor pass, moving to step through the metal detector. Once through, a guard signalled me to continue down a corridor and I walked, biting down so hard on my bottom lip as nerves built up inside of me. A guard was stationed at the door at the end of the corridor and he opened it, signalling me inside and as I entered I looked up to take in the visiting room. It was as bland as the reception with lots of blue circular tables spread out amongst the room. The visitors were all sat patiently waiting and I moved in quickly, grabbing the table closest to the door.

A little time passed by as visitors entered the room and eventually, every table was full up. It was silent, only disturbed by the odd cough or grunt and I jumped in my chair as a screeching buzzer sounded through the room. I heard the click of a door opening and my anxiety grew as the flood of orange jumpsuits moved into the room, glancing around for their family before heading quickly to their visitor.

Prisoners hugged their visitors and chatter erupted in the room automatically before it started to lower to a hushed sound as the guard reminded people to be quiet. I continued to watch the open door for my prisoner and eventually, he came.

At first I noticed his hair; it was long and un-styled around his face which was thinner with his cheekbones appearing oddly defined and his eyes seemed sunken in a little. He looked unwell. I watched as he entered, his eyes flickering around the room and I could see that he had been clearly having a hard time in here. He deserved it; maybe he was getting treated as badly as he treated me. I wasn't sure if I felt sorry for him but I did pity him in the sense that I wished he had chosen a better path in life for himself. I'd been here five minutes and I knew already that prison was the last place I would ever want to end up in my life.