Prisoner

Two

Grayson, followed by her father, slowly walks down the long beige painted hallway, lit by headache inducing fluorescent lights. Cells line each side of the hall, all of them containing at least one person.

As she makes her way to Noah's cell, Grayson makes eye contact with several other prisoners. Most just glare or give a smirk, some just barely acknowledge her, and others seem to not ever take their eyes off of her. She just ignores them and tries to keep looking straight ahead.

She thought she'd feel a lot more safe, but looking at all of the faces of these men, the pure hatred or general lack of emotion in their eyes, it's making him uneasy. She couldn't imagine being locked up like this. Barely any sunlight, no privacy, little respect, constant judgement, it'd drive her crazy.

It's not so much that she's scared of the men themselves, it's just the energy that's engulfing the entire hall. It'd make anyone uneasy.

She finally makes it to the second to last cell on the right side of the hall, she stops and looks at the curly haired man sitting on the floor against the wall. His legs are bent up and his arms rest on his knees, stretched out. His hands are clasped together and his chin is pointed down. Grayson can tell that this man is generally attractive, and clearly is the age his dad said he was. It's a weird feeling to see someone that's around his own age locked up like this.

"Let's go White," Grayson's dad says, causing Noah to look up which is when Grayson notices his piercing green eyes.

They lack any sort of emotion, almost as if they're not real. As if there's not anyone inside of Noah's body. As if he's dead, on the inside at least.

"Where?" Noah asks, his voice low and rough, still remaining to sit.

"Doesn't matter, I said let's go," Mr. Rowling demands, holding out the handcuffs he's been carrying the whole time. Grayson finds it odd to see her dad being so authoritative.

Noah rolls his eyes and starts to stand up. He doesn't seem to be in any sort of hurry, clearly not threatened by Grayson's dad. Noah makes it to the bars, turning around and letting Grayson's dad open the gate and cuff him. The whole time Noah doesn't question why Grayson's there. He gives her a quick glance, but then doesn't seem to look again.

"Where are we going?" Noah asks again, as Grayson's and her dad lead him down the hall.

"It's Thursday."

"Oh," is all he replies, sounding unhappy about the answer.

Once they make it to the door that Grayson assumes leads to the counseling room, she stands to the side as its opened and her dad leads Noah in. The inmate is sits down in a uncomfortable looking chair that's in front of a metal table. One of his cuffs is taken off of his right wrist and then hooked on to the loop sticking out from the table, keeping him in place.

"Where's Lisa?" Noah asks, after he's situated.

"Change of plans. This is Grayson, she'll be filling in for Lisa for a while."

Noah looks over to Grayson with furrowed brows. He looks her up and down, lingering on her eyes. She's intimidating that's for sure. Grayson can barely hold eye contact, but she forces herself too, not wanting to seem scared.

"Why?" is all Noah replies with, still looking at Grayson.

"Doesn't matter. I'm going to leave you two alone, Noah I trust you enough not to do anything but if you do, there will be severe consequences."

Noah doesn't say anything so Mr. Rowling gives Grayson a glance to which she nods in response. Once they're alone, Grayson walks over to the chair that's sat across from Noah at the table.