incarcerated

18.

    as soon as the word had left his mouth, eddy wasn't quite sure that he meant it. in fact, he questioned for a moment whether or not it had actually been his lips that the two unfamiliar sounding syllables had passed through. surely, he was mistaken. had he just agreed to quit his job?

    the warden wasn't the only one dumbfounded by his words. brett stared at him with eyebrows raised and arms crossed, surprise evident on his tired face. the last thing he was expecting eddy to say was "okay." yet, he had.

    "what?" brett asked, pinching the bridge of his nose beneath his black glasses. the taller boy threw his hands up and jumped down off of the desk, his heavy shoes hitting the floor with a loud thump. the sound made brett flinch and he shushed the warden loudly, annoyed with his carelessness.

    "you told me to quit my job, and i said okay. it's simple, really," the younger man shrugged, wandering through the library and leaving brett alone at his desk for a moment. he huffed and stood up annoyedly, walking a bit too quickly for his comfort in order to keep up with eddy's long strides.

    "it's not simple, sir, it was never supposed to be," he argued. eddy stopped walking abruptly and put his large hand on brett's chest.

   "stop calling me sir, brett. you know we're past that," he commanded. confidence and power radiated off of him in waves that left the prisoner speechless. all he could do was nod. eddy smiled, satisfied, and continued to walk throughout the rows of short bookshelves. his strange behavior mystified brett and filled him with frustration.

    "eddy, would you stop walking and talk to me? we don't have that much time. dinner is almost over and i'm not planning on making any trips to your office any time soon," he said, clenching his teeth. eddy's footsteps ceased once more and he turned to face the other man.

    "why not?" he asked. brett rolled his eyes.

    "it's dangerous, si... eddy. i can't..."

    brett's explanatory sentence was cut short by the announcement that dinner was over. his eyes widened and he immediately turned away from eddy and headed towards the door of the library, not saying another word. eddy watched as the doors closed behind him.

    as soon as they'd shut, eddy plopped down in brett's chair and leaned his head back to stare at the yellowed ceiling.

    when brett had said it wasn't simple, he was right. deciding he was going to quit his job was the easy part. the problem was deciding when and how.

    he could quit now. he could get up and walk out the door without saying a word, leaving the prison in shambles. that was a possibility.

however, that wasn't his favorite option. brett still had a few more months on his sentence and leaving him alone in there did not sit well with eddy chen. thinking of the smaller man now, he found himself thinking that even a week without seeing him would be torture. so, no, he couldn't quit now.

   quitting after brett's sentence was over seemed like the best option, but wasn't that a bit suspicious?

    "oh, well," eddy said aloud to himself, spinning around in the worn chair. "doesn't matter."

    satisfied with himself, eddy stood up and made his way back to his office.

;

as the sun disappeared behind the grassy hills that could not be seen from where brett sat alone in the prison, he found himself wishing for eddy's company. the warden had been the only thing on his mind since they'd parted ways in the library and he couldn't help but miss him. after all, he was brett's only source of pleasant human interaction in that cursed place. everyone else was either out to get him or extremely suspicious of his... relationship, for lack of a better word, with the warden.