Petals For Armour | r.r

8

It's been two weeks since I've seen Ronnie. I've come to accept that he was released. I looked down at his initials on my wall. I noticed that they were not only written, but scratched into the brick. I pulled out the small piece of paper that Ronnie gave me and held it up to the wall. I grabbed the pencil on my small desk and began shading over the scratches. 'R.R' appeared on the paper as I coloured. I put the pencil away and slid the paper back into my pocket.

"Inmate 1303!" A guard yelled.

My head snapped up. I got to my feet and walked to the door.

"The warden wants to talk to you." He was smirking. Why was he smirking?

I copied Ronnie's actions as he did when he left and they cuffed me. The loud metal door slid open and I was escorted through the smaller door and back down the white hallway.

We entered through a different door and was met with silence. The floor was carpeted and the walls were painted a light brown. We approached an office door. The guard knocked before entering.

"Come in!" A voice called.

He opened the door and pushed me inside. A fat man with glasses sat at a large wooden desk. I was sat down in a chair against the wall. I looked ahead of mf to see Ronnie. He sat across the office from me in a chair similar to mine in his regular civilian clothes. He wore a grey hoodie and black jeans. I wanted to call to him but his head hung low. He wouldn't look at me.

Although he didn't show my his entire face, I could tell something was off about it. His hair was a bit fluffed up, his lip was cut and had bruising around his jaw and eye. I began to grow worried.

"You're who they call A.J, correct?" The Warden spoke to me.

I nodded my head at him.

"I'm Mr. Polk. I am the Warden of this fine establishment."

I sat and stared blankly. A million thoughts rushed into my head about why we could be in here. Could it finally be happening? He pulled out a vanilla folder and opened it. I immediately saw my in-processing picture. He's going to read my file. My heart raced fast. I didn't want Ronnie knowing what they say I did. He'll never talk to me again.

He began to read. "Attempted first degree murder."

I could see Ronnie's head snap up to look at me. I met his gaze. His face was worse than I thought. He had bruises and cuts all over. His eyes searched mine quizzically.

"Sentenced to the death penalty.."

Ronnie's eyes opened even wider. "You're on death row!?"

The guard snapped his head to him but realised that he couldn't yell at him anymore. Ronnie scowled at him but returned to his worried state and looked back at me.

Mr. Polk began speaking again. "Scheduled for October twelfth by lethal injection."

My eyes scanned the room for a clock or calendar. I found a small calendar with tractors on it. All of the days were crossed off until the tenth. Holy shit.

Ronnie's leg began bouncing up and down. I could tell he wanted to scream out but couldn't. I felt like I could do the same. I wanted to bust out of this chair and run into his arms.

Mr. Polk put the folder down. "I'm assuming you're wondering why he's here. I've heard you two have gotten very close. That's why he will have the honour to attend your viewing."

My heart sunk. They weren't doing him a favour.  This whole place is corrupt. Ronnie looked like he was about to pass out and then punch Mr. Polk in the head once he came to his senses.