Title: Another prison another town or Out of Oz, into Kansas Series: Oz
Author: Nina F.
E-mail address: PG-13 for swearing.
Feedback: Would love it! Can be done at my mail, or to list-mail if allowed. But please be gentle, this is my first fic.
Pairing: none
Archive: Would love it, but please let me know first )
Disclaimers: Some of these characters are the property of Tom Fontana and his people, others belong to Javier Gillo- Marxuach and his people, some are completely my own. What they have in common? I use them all for my evil purposes moahahahaha!
(Sorry folks, getting side-tracked, what I mean is I'm just having fun!)
Warnings: A bit of swearing, and a bit dark, Later chapters will include stuff such as physical violence and punishment.
Summary: Ryan O´reily has just been moved to a new prison, and is having slight difficulties settling in.
Lots of thanks and hugs to: My two beta-girls Zyre and Ahavia, Katta for finding Zyre for me, Athelda for inspiration, the Dean Winters group, Coolestchick 8000 and the Ryan O´reily fanfic group for support and help with facts. And Tom Fontana, Dean Winters, Javier Gillo- Marxuach and Edward Atterton without whom I would have to waste my spare-time on other seemingly far more important things, and would actually be getting some sleep at night.
Another prison another town or out of Oz, into Kansas. (Part 1?) -"Getting to know you."
As the bus pulled up to the grey, drab, concrete building, O´ Reily sighed, heavily.
So here they were again, another prison, another town.
He hated it; of course he hated it. But at least by this move, he might gain his possibility of parole back, or at least Mc Manus had told him so.
But there was much to loose as well...
Not that he had been given a choice about leaving Oz. The last time he had been called into the office of the new warden, he had been give the choice of spending the rest of the year ( this being January the 4) in the hole, NOT an alluring prospect, or moving to another prison.
Besides, he would do fine here.
I ALWAYS wind up on top, he thought, one way or the other. Still you have to careful...
While he was thinking this, the hack had requested permission to drive the bus into the yard, and been granted.
The yard was equally as dark and depressing as the building and so was the weather.
He hated these little towns, this one being in the middle of nowhere, Kansas, or so he was told.
How would he know? He had read the signs along the road, but had been overcome by the feeling of seeing the outside, and had started to look at the landscape, forgetting the road. Sure if he was going to run, it would come in handy knowing where this place actually was, until then, who cared.
The bus had stopped, and the chains around his hands and feet were being loosened from the iron bar running along the floor of the bus.
Finally, he could move around some!
The hack told him to go up in the front of the bus, and he did as he was told. Another hack was standing outside the front door of the bus, ready do lay his disgusting hands on Ryan, to stop him from going anywhere they didn't want him to.
Ryan stepped out, and the second hack took him by the arm in a harsh grip. Ryan wrenched loose, thinking that if he was going in to a prison again he would do it with at least some sense of pride. The hack griped him tightly by the back of his neck instead, forcing him to bow his head forward, looking onto the ground, and drove him forward to, and in through the front door.
So much for entering with pride.
Ryan was furious, but managed to keep still, anger boiling underneath the surface of his now very sullen face.
"So you're the new one? Ryan O´Reily?" said the prison officer who had greeted them in the door, Looking Ryan up and down.
"So, what if I am!" He answered, looking as cocky as he possible could, which made for quite an impressing expressiveness.
" I hear you're a bit mouthy," the officer said. "Never mind, that's something I think we'll be able to fix".
"Good luck," Ryan snorted.
The guard from the bus loosened his grip, but since the new guard took a new and tighter grip in the same place, Ryan wasn't much helped by it. He found himself very humiliatingly being steered past some guards and inmates into a small room next to the shower area.
He already hated the place intensely, and he had a feeling it would get worse.
It did.
He was told to strip, in front of four hacks, with snooping eyes.
Then they ordered him to spread his legs, put his arms out from his sides, palms towards the floor, open his mouth and lift his tongue up. He knew it was all part of the routine, and simply felt too tired to put up a fight, so he did what he was told. He made sure though, not to let the expression on his face go. They might as well know who he was and how he felt about being treated this way. They checked his mouth for drugs or other things, and felt all over his body, their sweaty hands exploring.
"Underwear too," one of the hacks said.
"What!" Ryan replied.
"Take of your briefs," the guard said.
"Why?" said Ryan, "I ain't got nothing on me".
"Just do it," the guard said.
"No," Ryan replied.
"What!" The guard barked.
"I won't do it," Ryan said, standing his ground, figuring this would be the first test of his new 'home'.
"All right", the guard said and signaled the other guards, who had all backed of a bit. They positioned themselves around him, on his left, right and behind him. Ryan, who could sense what might happen, started to conjure up some strength.
"In that case we'll do it for you" the hack issued.
The other guards quickly grabbed hold of him at all angles, moving him, struggling for his life and pride, to a table a few feet ahead.
They forced him to bend down over it, clasping his head, hands, legs and back in a forceful grip. They then pulled down his briefs and made him step out of them. Ryan could see some of the inmates looking in through the windows of the 'stripping room', laughing, and there was no end to the humiliation he felt!
"You see, 'mister O´reily'," the hack said, standing so that O´reily could see only him, while the others were still holding on to O´reily.
"In here we take a serious approach to disobedience, and although it is not in my place to punish you without orders from one of my superiors, I can still do my best to make your life a hell."
He was now smiling.
He stepped out of O´reily´s view, and went up behind him.
Oreily heard the sound of a rubber glove being pulled onto something, and then felt the pain.
It wasn't very painful, but bad enough to make him writhe his face as the guard stuck part of his hand in there. But the worst thing was still the humiliation; they hadn't closed the curtains on the windows out to the other room, and so the whole thing was watched by 10 or 15 very amused inmates.
The guard grouped and prodded and felt inside him for a long time. To Ryan it felt like at least an hour.
When he was finally let up, after the guard had given him a not too hard but still rather sharp smack on his bum, Ryan could see that the whole thing had taken just over 15 minutes, from the time he had been seized and there after.
Still they where some of the most awful minutes of his life!
He tried to keep his dignity about him (what little he still had,) and put on a proud face as he straightened up after being let loose.
His bottom still stung as he was lead, still by the neck, into the showers.
"Ten minutes," the guard said. "That's what you've got. Enjoy them. It might be the last time for quite a while you get to wash in hot water, and it's most certainly the last time for a while you do it alone. Scrub down with this."
O´reily was given a pack with something runny in it, rather like the shampoo or shower gel you received in hotels only a bit larger in size, and a sponge that mostly reminded him of the sharp side of a scotch brite.
" Oh, and, O´reily, don't forget to wash your mouth out with the soap, and dry yourself behind the ears, you're gonna need it," the guard said with a smile.
He then turned to one of the other guards, said "Watch this one, closely." And left.
As he turned on the water, O´reily felt that he could finally for the first time that day, relax a bit.
Still, he was disturbingly aware of being eyed carefully by the hacks.
As he opened the little container he had been given, a sharp smell, like that of some detergent, hit him.
He turned the package over and read 'for delousing', on it.
So that's what they think of prisoners here. Oh well, I might as well oblige them as much as I can, he thought.
He poured some of the fluid into his hand and moved it over his body.
"Use the sponge," he heard someone say, and as he turned around he saw that it had been one of the hacks.
"I think I'm fine the way things are, thank you," Ryan replied, with sarcasm in his voice.
"Oh I'm sure you are" said the guard. "But the prison regulations state that upon arrival the intern will scrub down with the provided sponge."
"Fine," Ryan said, pouring some more of the foul-smelling fluid onto the sponge, carefully letting it slip over his body, so as to not scratch himself.
"Oh come on, you can do better than that," the guard said, stepping forward, and griping his arm. "Lets help him, shall we boys?"
One of the other guards stepped up behind him and held him in a tight grip. Ryan was just ready to put up some resistance when he heard a voice from the doorway, leading out to the locker room.
"I think he's got the point Johnson. Let him do it himself."
Standing there was a rather old and corpulent man, but with a great shine of power to him.
"Yes, sir," said the hack with his hand around Ryan's arm, and he and the other guard that had been standing behind Ryan backed off.
"Now, son," the guard said. "You can scrub yourself clean can't you?"
"Yeah, of course I can!" Ryan said with as much attitude as he could.
"That's 'yes sir' to you, boy," the hack said. "And you do it properly this time, right !" The guard voice was stern and demanding.
Ryan wouldn't answer.
"All right, get to it!" the hack shouted. "And do a good job! You won't get out of here until your skin is as red as a crayfish!" Ryan started rubbing the sponge round his skin again, carefully.
"He's right," the hack said. "You really can't do it, can you?" voice filled with irony.
He quickly took the sponge from Ryan, adding another grip around his neck, turning him round. He then started scrubbing him, HARD!
"OUCH! YOU FUCKING CUNT!" Ryan yelled
" That won't help much, I've heard worse before," the guard said in a joyful tone, and continued to scrub Ryan, who did his best to turn out of the mans grip, but the man was too strong.
"See, this is the way it's supposed to be done. Now that I've shown you, do you think you can do it yourself!" the guard issued sharply.
" Yeah" Ryan said in a half-tormented, low tone of voice.
"What was that?" the hack asked. "You can do it you self, did you say?"
"Yes," Ryan stated again.
"Louder!" the hack barked at him
"YES, I CAN DO IT MYSELF! " Ryan yelled, twisting and turning in the grip of the guard.
"AND YOU´LL DO IT PROPERLY!" the man yelled.
Ryan didn't answer.
"WELL! WILL YOU!" the guard yelled as he stopped scrubbing for a moment, turned Ryan around and stared him in the face.
"Yes, I'll do it 'properly'," Ryan said in an angered, sarcastic voice, his eyes narrowing.
He knew he was overpowered, and had to admit it now, no matter how much it hurt his pride, and it reallydid!
"Very well," the guard said, letting go of Ryan and giving him the sponge. "Now, as I said, do it properly, or else!"
Ryan started scrubbing, slightly harder than before, just for show, but not so much that it hurt him.
"Harder," the guard said.
Ryan put the sponge down a bit harder on his skin, and felt how it started to sting a bit.
"HARDER!" the guard yelled, and Ryan was yet again forced to put the sponge down even harder on his skin as he moved the sponge, turning the skin red.
The water was cold by now.
When he was finally let out of the shower, Ryan's skin was indeed as red as a crayfish.
It had a sharp burning feeling to it, but since the water in the shower had been freezing for most of the time, so was Ryan.
He wanted nothing else now but to be "home" in Oz, even if it did mean spending eternity in the hole!
He was lead out, in the usual fashion, by his neck, and still completely naked, from the showers and out into the corridor.
The older guard then lead him a few yards down the same corridor, stopped him in front of a door and yelled: "Open up number 37!"
A signal issued and the hack jerked the door open.
He pushed Ryan through the door, and then entered, himself, closing the door behind him.
"Welcome home, Mister O´reily." He said. " You'll find the clothes issued for you in the paper bag, on your bed.
Ryan looked over by the bed, and sure enough there was a big paper bag on it.
"In the bag," the guard continued, " you'll find 10 pair of underwear, 5 long-sleeved shirts, 5 T- shirts, 5 pairs of trousers, 3 sets of pyjamas, 10 pair of socks and one pair of indoor slippers. That's your 'starting set'. If you do well in here, you can ask for a bathrobe and a thick sweater. If you are allowed at some point to go outside, you'll be issued a pair of outdoor shoes. At no point will you wear clothes other than those issued to you, unless you have been given permission to do so." The guard said sternly.
"We expect you to have unpacked the bag by tomorrow morning, and that you will have put each garment on it's place in the locker." He pointed to one of the corners of the cell. "You'll find markings in the locker where as to put everything."
Ryan sighed. All this nagging, and his skin burning and the cold just made him want to go to sleep and never wake up again!
"I suggest you put on your pyjamas at this point, since all the others have already been locked in their cells. There is a basin with water over there." The hack pointed to an old basin made of enamel, the kind they had before they invented ways to have running water. Besides it was a pitcher containing some water. " Besides the basin, you'll find your toothbrush and toothpaste." The guard said.
"I usually don't wear anything at night," Ryan said, using his last powers in a final protest.
"Well, that's your problem!" the hack yelled. "In here you will wear a pair of pyjamas, and that is final! Get cracking!"
Ryan almost jumped at the sound of the hack's voice.
He got dressed under the watchful eyes of the guard.
When he was fully dressed, and had brushed his teeth, the guard said: "Since you showed such disobedience while we where booking you, we don't feel we can trust you."
Damn right You can't, Ryan thought.
"Therefore, we decided that you should be wearing shackles and cuffs during the night as well. Please step forward so I can put them on!"
Ryan was too tired to argue. He just wanted to sleep; to forget this place for at least a few hours.
And so he drew a huge sigh, stepped forwards and held out his arms as the guard shackled his feet and cuffed his hands.
"Very well," the guard issued. " Light's out in five minutes, good night!"
Ryan said nothing, but sat down on his bed as the guard stepped out and slammed the door shut. He unmade his bed with some difficulty due to the cuffs. Laid down in it, not being able to lie comfortably, due to the cuffs and shackles just as much as to the stinging, burning feeling in his skin, all over his body. He pulled the smelly quilt over his head, and for the first time in a long while, cried.
The lights went out.
He heard the sharp buzz of the door and someone jerking it open. Fuck! Is that the time already?
Come to think of it, he didn't know what that time would be. He hadn't been told when they'd be let out in the mornings.
Whilst he was thinking this, the guard had opened the door and entered.
"Oh my!" The guard said.
Ryan recognised the sound of the old, cruel hack's voice and his heart sank.
Not that bloody cock sucker again!
"Well I knew I should have expected something like this from you!"
Ryan opened his eyes and tried to rub the sleep out of them, to see what the man was making such a bloody fuss about.
He forced himself to sit up, looking at himself and the room.
It wasn't so much Ryan's half naked body, (he had apparently got warm in his sleep and tried to take off the pyjamas that the hack had forced him to wear. He had no blanket on either.) As the state of the rest of the room that had, quite justly, Ryan was forced to admit, caused the guards dismay.
In his eagerness to get to sleep last night, Ryan had not only forgotten to lay all his newly issued clothes in the closet, as the guard had ordered him. He had forgotten to take the open paper bag from the end of his bed before going to bed.
His tossing and turning during the course of the night had caused the bag to fall onto the floor, letting all the socks, underwear and things in it roll or fall out of it, and onto the floor.
Furthermore the bedspread and blanket that used to be on the bed, had been thrown off and had landed in two separate heaps by the bed. In short, the place looked like world war three.
Ryan laid down again.
"SIT UP!" the hack brawled on top of his lungs.
Ryan sat up like he was told and pulled his trousers that were hanging by his feet, stopped from being pulled off by the shackles, up. He also straightened his shirt, and buttoned it.
This might not be the best of times to get in a row with the hack. Not that I'm scared, he told him self, but it might be nice to stay out of trouble for at least one day.
"Hold out your arms," the guard said, and got the key to the shackles out.
Finally Ryan could move freely again.
"Well, you won't be getting breakfast, that's for sure!" the hack said. "And don't think you'll be out of those shackles all day! I´ll give you an hour before I come back and put them on again."
Ryan drew a very heavy sigh.
Why can't they just give me ONE FUCKING BREAK.
The hack continued his nagging. "When I come back, you will have got yourself into a decent state and have cleaned up this mess!" Voice filled with disgust.
"You'll spend the rest of the day in the cell, cleaning it, and finally I might add, put your new set of clothes on their appointed places in the closet! That means you won't get any lunch either. The warden wants to see you this afternoon as well. And all of this, as well as your behaviour last night, will be in a report on his desk shortly!"
"What time is it? " Ryan asked, his mind still blurred.
"It's 6 o'clock already!" The hack said. " NOW GET CRACKING!"
The sharp sound of the hack's voice made Ryan involuntarily jump.
The guard walked out and slammed the door hard.
Ryan laid back down. Then he remembered that the hack said he'd come back.
In an hour did he say! Fuck!
Ryan realised he'd have to hurry if he was going to pick up the mess he had created during the night by then.
He got out of bed, realising that at least his skin wasn't hurting too bad today.
First bloody good thing happening this lousy day, he thought to himself.
He got out of the ugly light blue pyjamas, peed, and washed himself as best he could in the icy cold water left from yesterday.
How on earth can anyone keep up their hygiene in here, when you don't even get fresh water! He thought, disgusted.
Come to think of it, Jugding by the complete lack of a luxury such as as sink with runing water, the place this had to be either a holding cell or an isolation cell, not that there was much difference between them.
He thanked the lord that, strage as it may seem, at least the toilet seemed to be working.
He brushed his teeth, and was just about to shave when he realised that he hadn't been issued a razor.
He swore over this a bit, but then considered that it wasn't the end of the world. Besides, there was no time to obsess over any of this now. He didn't know what time it was, but he knew that either way he was in a hurry.
He picked up the paper bag from the floor and put it on his unmade bed. He took a pair of trousers and a shirt of the floor.
They were denim.
Thick, unforgiving, starched denim, with the usual number printed on the back and over the right side of the chest.
He got dressed, and the clothes were just as uncomfortable as they looked.
He was surprised at how uncomfortable a pair of trousers and a shirt could be compared to the clothes he was allowed to wear in Oz. He wondered what time it was.
He picked up the rest of the clothes from the floor, and put the on the unmade bed in a big pile. He then opened the locker.
In the locker he found 5 shelves, all with tags under them, saying 'trousers", 'shirts' and so on.
Nothing left to imagination.
They really are control freaks in this place, he though to himself.
He folded the clothes as best he could; he never had been very good at household duties.
He then put them at their assigned places.
He was just finished when he heard the door buzzing.
Shit! he thought. Just made it.
The hack entered.
"Well, let's see what you have accomplished. At least you are dressed, that's something," he said, voice filled with sarcasm. "However you need to tuck your shirt in, and button the last two buttons!" he said dryly.
Ryan sighed, but did as he was told, feeling even more constricted in his uniform afterwards.
"The room is still a disgrace, you'll have to clean the rest of it with cuffs on. The clothes, you might as well take out again, they're a mess! Didn't they teach you how to fold clothes at Oswald? The bed is still unmade, and for heavens sake pick up the blanket and bedspread off the floor! I'll have to inform you of the fact that all of this will be in the report to the warden as well," he stated. "Now, hold out your hands so I can put the cuffs on."
"But I haven't had a chance to shave yet," Ryan said, realising afterwards how stupid he had sounded, adding in an as rebellious voice as he could, "I have no razor."
"Prisoners are not given a razor to keep in their cell automatically; you will have to earn one. They keep them locked up and you'll have to ask for one every morning," the hack said. "Now hold you hands out so I can cuff them!"
Ryan did, reluctantly and got cuffed.
"You know, the way you behave yourself, you should be very grateful that we haven't put you in the hole yet!" The guard continued.
Ryan listened to the hack's endless nagging. The hole would be a refreshing rest compared to this!
He was forced to tear out the clothes from the closet again, and spent most of his morning folding and refolding them, cuffs and shackles on, under the supervision and critique of the guard.
He then made his bed while the hack was still watching.
He felt as if he would die of boredom.
The guard finally left him alone at 2 o'clock.
Ryan was, by then exhausted.
I´ll be happy if I never meet that bloody cocksucker again, he thought.
He sat down, and realised how awfully tired he was.
It had been very late (about 2 o'clock Ryan guessed,) when he had finally been able to fall asleep, in spite of the pain and all his frustration, and he had only slept for what felt like and awfully short time.
He laid down on the bed, not caring that he was wrinkling it all again, and fell asleep.
He woke up hearing the hack yelling, he hadn't even heard the buzz of the door.
"GET UP!" the guard shouted, making Ryan's head hurt.
"You just made your bed, and now look at it! Straighten it out! When you are done, the warden wants to se you. I'll be back in five minutes!"
The hack slammed the door on his way out.
Ryan shoved to his feet after the hack had left. He straightened the bedspread and then carefully sat down on it, not taking any chances, thinking: If that fucking hack tells me to do ANYTHING more today I´ll fucking kill him!
The guard came back.
"All right, finally, that's better." Ryan took no notice.
"O.K, let's get to the wardens office then. I also talked to Mister Mc Manus, he wants to see you tomorrow."
"I don't want to see him !" Ryan protested loudly.
Even though Mc manus was the one who had to told him about the program they had in here, where you could get your parole back, he had agreed to have Ryan tranfer here as a service to the new warden at Oz, not as a favour to Ryan.
There was was no love lost between the two of them, not that there had ever been.
"Seeing Mc Manus or not is not your choice to make, as I have tried to tell you. In here you have no say in what you do or don't, until we say you do so. But since my words are so obviously lost on you, I hope the warden can teach you a thing or two, or that is to say, I know he will, one way or the other. I jst hope, for your own sake that it will be sooner than later."
Yeah, yeah, big fucking deal! Ryan thought.
Still he couldn't stop that eerie feeling running down his spine...
The hack lead him, in the usual fashion, still by the neck, down the corridor and into another.
They passed some inmates who took a long curios look at Ryan.
Ryan turned and twisted in the hacks grip, cussing at the inmates as they walked past.
" See you later, cocksuckers!"
"BE QUIET!" the guard yelled harshly. "I can't believe you seem so eager to get into trouble! By the looks of you, if you just sit still in here for a few minutes, it'll surely come to you!"
Ryan didn't answer.
He was told to wait outside the wardens office, (not that he had much choice, as the hack fastened his cuffs to a bench there,) and a guard would come and let him loose when the warden was ready for him.
The old hack left him with the words :"Well, good luck with the warden, you're sure going to need it!"
Ryan wasn't too nervous over his words, but still felt a bit uncomfortable as he waited, and waited, and waited..
Much later, a guard came out from the wardens office, said: "the warden wants to see you now," and loosened the cuffs from the bench.
"Ryan O´reily, is it?" the warden said.
"What if it is!" Ryan was quick to answer.
"Well, well, well, that's quite a mouth you've got on you.." the warden replied. "Too bad. It certainly won't do you any good in here! Now, let's get to work then, shall we. State your full name, date of birth and convictions please!"
Ryan sighed; the warden quite obviously knew who he was and what he had done, so basically he just wanted to fuck with Ryan. Ryan felt tired though, and decided on not picking a fight with the warden.
" Ryan Patrick O´reily , born on August 12, 1968. Convicted on July twelfth, 1997 for two counts vehicular man slaughter, 5 counts reckless endangerment, possession of controlled substances, criminal possession of a weapon and parole violation. They sentenced me to life imprisonment, with the possibility of parole in 12 years, but they took the parole away when I got my conviction of 40 years for murder while I was in Oz."
It felt strange calling his convictions out loud like that.
Of course I'm aware of them, he thought to himself, but still it's uncomfortable...
But he didn't want to get too philosophical, not now, in fact not ever, it never did you any good!
He was awakened from thought by the warden.
"I can see from the report that officer Jones, whom you met both last night and this morning, handed in, that you haven't done very well since arriving here." the warden said and took a long harsh look at Ryan.
Ryan wasn't too bothered though.
They will have to do a lot worse than that to scare me! he thought.
" I won't say much about it, except that if you want to get treated well in here, you'd better sharpen up, a lot." The warden continued, "I know that new prisoners sometimes have a hard time adjusting to our rules, but most of the rules you have managed to go against since coming here should be quite obvious, are they not?"
The wardens tone of voice was purely sarcastic. Ryan didn't feel like answering. Opening his mouth right would most certainly do him no good!
"All right , I won't tell you about the rules and regulations of the facility. You can, and will read about them in here." The warden gave him a rather thick booklet. "We expect you to have read this by tomorrow! I won't punish you for he things you have done so far..."
Ryan, although he told himself he wasn't scared, was actually very relived.
"...But if, from tomorrow morning and on, you manage to get yourself into trouble, you will be duly punished. You can read a bit of what kind of punishment to expect in the booklet, even though that is quite individual."
Fuck! Ryan thought. They really are trying to scare you with this shit!
"All right that will be all. Dismissed!" the warden said.
"But I want to do this thing that Mc Manus told me about!" O´reily said quickly. "Something about getting the possibility of parole back."
"Oh, our newly developed CP- program. Well, the way you have behaved, I doubt that you are welcome into it. I´ll ask the board and Mc Manus who is the supervisor of the program though. Here is a folder about how the program works and what's going to be expected of you when you enter into it," the warden said. " Now if that was all, you're dismissed. GUARD!"
A hack entered.
"Take him back to his cell. He stays there for the rest of the day, and no lunch, or dinner!"
Ryan's heart sank.
Fuck that's cruel! He thought. I haven't fucking eaten since lunch, yesterday!
He had started to feel a bit light-headed.
I'll be damned before I confessed any weakness to these cocksuckers though! he thought
He was taken back to his cell, and the hack slammed the door shut.
Ryan, still not feeling very well, threw the folder he had got from the warden by the basin and was just about to lie down on the bed when the old hack entered.
"Oh no you won't! " he told O´reily. " I told you this morning that you would spend the rest of the day cleaning your cell, and that is exactly what you are going to do!"
" Here is a bucket of water, and a brush. Now get down on your hand and knees and scrub everything in here!" The guard yelled, leaning over Ryan who was sitting on the bed.
"On my hands and knees!" Ryan protested.
"Yes, on your hands and knees. The exercise will do you good. Maybe if we take some of that adrenaline out of your system, you might even be able to keep that big mouth of yours shut! I´ll be back in a few hours and I expect the whole cell to be shining! Toilet, closet, floor, cell door, everything! Is that understood?"
"Yeah, yeah." Ryan let out in a disappointed tone, forgetting that he was supposed to be calling the man 'sir', or at least be polite!
"What was that! Don't you get fresh with me! You had better straighten up your act quickly if you want to ever get out of here! Now give me a proper answer, DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE TO DO!"
"Yes, I understand!" Ryan answered, feeling more and more sick by the minute.
"Hrmf." The guard said. "All right, since I can't be standing here arguing with you all day, I´ll forget the fact that you neglected to call me 'sir', again."
Ryan made no attempt to apologise.
"Now, give me you wrists so I can take off the cuffs." Ryan did .
"I´ll come back in 3 or 4 hours," the guard said. "And by then this place will be spotless or you will be in trouble!"
He walked out and slammed the door shut with a bang.
Ryan looked at the bucket of water and the brush. He considered sleeping a while before getting to work.
Unfortunately though, he supposed he would have to scrub the place, sooner or later. He opted for sooner, and got to work. After all, he had no way of knowing what time it was and when the hack would be back; and he knew that if he didn't get the cell in a well enough order before the hack got back, he would be in deep shit!
He got down on his hands and knees, the denim clothes stale and uncomfortable, got hold of the brush and stuck his hand in the bucket.
The water was freezing!
That figures; he thought, not only am I stuck in a tiny, dark, draughty cell with no window, I now have to scrub the fucking place inside and out, and end up freezing my hands stiff in the process. And I'm soooo FUCKING hungry!
After he had started scrubbing, he quickly realised that it was indeed going to take the full 3 or 4 hours that the hack had given him.
The floor was grimy as though it had never been cleaned, and he himself got more and more dizzy by the minute; like being high, but without the pleasurable feelings, only the dizziness left.
By now his hands were freezing cold and starting to feel stiff.
As he was walking the corridor on one of his endless rounds to see that everything was in order, Officer Jones, or Thomas as he was called by people who knew him, couldn't stop thinking about the boy, or man if you like.
He seemed like one of those types who were too smart for his own good.
He was probably the type of boy that, having nothing to do with his cleverness, put it all into getting into trouble.
Pity though, he seems like someone that could lead a decent life on the outside, if he only gave giving up his attitude half a try. Apparently he's got some feelings left in him too, at least it seems so if you think about him crying yesterday when I had left the cell, Jones thought.
He had asked Mc Manus about the boy, background and such.
Apparently the guy went berserk after his brother had been hit on the head and left brain damaged and retarded. Who wouldn't though...
It also seemed that in a way it had been the boy's fault that his brother had got hit, or at least the boy felt it was. That must be pretty hard to live with.
Of course he has quite a lot of obvious dark sides to him as well, like getting his brother, who he claims to have loved so dearly, to kill the husband of a woman he had a crush on, Jones thought
Also, anyone that had ever seemed to have annoyed him has ended up dead sooner or later with, of course, nothing to tie him to their deaths most of the time.
Mc Manus had warned him not to swallow everything O´reily delivered.
I can see why... So it is all a game of chance, still I would like to try to get to the boy, in one way or the other. Maybe I should ask the warden if the boy is going to make the CP-program, and if not, if I can mould out a program for him. Yup, I´ll go do that right away.
" ...See the way I see it, sir, if I may, is that maybe he needs part of the CP- program, most likely the real CP-part of it, but there are other things he needs too, I feel. I don't think he'll do very well with the CP-program, he'll just get into trouble again and again, until he can't be managed anymore. I think, and this is just my humble idea, that what he needs is a mentor, to be with him almost all the time. He needs to have one person with him that he can't mess around with, not 5 or 6 like in the CP- program. I´d like to see him sent to the shrink too, if costs allows it, and also to have him meet some of the people he's hurt. I know, I know they did that in Oz and it didn't work, but sometimes you need someone to push you harder than what I think they did."
"Well, you seem to know what you are talking about, Thomas. All right, you can have him, but if he gets into too much trouble we'll discuss an appropriate punishment and then you will send him to me and I´ll deal with him. Also, I´ll need to be notified of the decisions on the heavier CP-parts of whatever program you build up, and approve of those parts of the program. It has to do with the law and such. In most cases I´ll let you decide on an appropriate punishment for him. Smaller issues you can deal with by yourself directly, and I give you free hands and resources to do as you please with him. But when it comes to serious crimes, fights or other severe violations of prison- rules and regulations, I want you to report to me, we'll discuss it, and then I or Mc Manus deal with him. As far as counselling and the likes, you can set up what you want, just report what you have decided to me. When it comes to the parole issue, I think we both need to work together on that; if he ever gets his act together that much, which I seriously doubt. Also we need to let Tim in on all of this and let him have his say and part in it, since he knows O´reily from Oz. Would that be ok with you? Don't get me wrong, it's a great plan, I just need to have some control of the legal stuff."
"It sounds like a great deal, sir!" Jones said.
Ryan had scrubbed for what felt like an eternity, he had a headache the size of New York city, he could barely feel his hands, and the floor still didn't look much better.
He started on the toilet anyway though, and he was disgusted by what he found when looking into it.
He contemplated not doing it, but he knew that the guard had it in for him and that he really needed to focus on getting his chances of parole back.
Not at any fucking cost though...he thought.
He was startled when he heard the buzz of the door.
Fuck! I'm not finished and the cocksucker is back already!
"Well, well, well... I thought so. You just can't do anything properly, can you?" the guard said after taking a look at the floor, which almost looked dirtier than when Ryan had started on it.
Ryan, still on his hands and knees, pushed himself up into standing position and tried to say something rude, but the words wouldn't come out.
Instead the whole room started spinning.
The guard helped him sit down on the bed.
"You fucking cocksuckers, you're all trying to kill me with this shit!" Ryan yelled as loud as he had strength to, which wasn't very loud... " You have me working like a fucking slave, and I haven't eaten since lunch, yesterday!"
"BE QUIET!" the guard yelled. "Now just lie down, I´ll be back in a minute. Don't you try any funny business!"
Ryan couldn't have, even if he had wanted to.
He couldn't sit up or he'd pass out, and so he opted for shutting up and staying down.
After all, I am getting that well deserved rest I need, he thought.
Jones shut the cell door behind him, went into the prison kitchen and got a tray, a pitcher of water, a glass, and a piece of yesterday's stale old bread.
I´ll feed him, but I sure as hell won't give him any gourmet food! He thought.
Then he remembered that the warden had said: 'no lunch and no dinner either'...
Never mind, he thought, I´ll take that fight later. The boy needs something to eat if he is to make it through the day!
At the last minute he poured some dextrose he knew was in one of the medicine cabinets into the water. He knew from his own experience that it tasted horrible, but the boy was probably going to need it.
When he got back, he was pleased to see that for once the boy had done what he had told him to do,; stayed down on the bed.
Ryan was lying on top of the freshly made bed, holding his forehead, looking sullen and rebellious.
"Now, I'm going to make an exception to all the rules for once, and go against the warden's orders. Here is some dinner."
He put the tray with the water and bread on the table where the basin was standing, pulled Ryan into a sitting position and held him there for a while.
Eventually the boy fought off the supportive hold on his arm, took the bread, bit off a piece, chewed, and said: "Fuck, stale old bread and water huh? It's worse than in old fucking movies! It sucks!"
The guard sat quietly and secretively supported the prisoners back. He didn't really need more nagging, it wouldn't do any good now, not that it had ever seemed to...
He handed O´reily the glass of water. "Drink," he said "you need it!"
The prisoner took some of the water into his mouth but immediately spit it out, on the freshly scoured floor...
"The FUCK is this?" he yelled.
"It's dextrose" the guard said calmly, " I'm not trying to drug you if that's what you thought, it's just to get your blood sugar up. Now drink it."
"I don't want to," the boy protested.
Thomas got tired.
" I SAID DRINK! " he yelled, and held the glass to the boy's mouth, making him drink some of it. " I'm tired of your nonsense! I'm trying to help you, now DO AS YOU ARE TOLD!"
Ryan, partly in shock, and partly having been guilt stricken by the guard's words, finished the whole glass in one sweep.
The guard poured him another glass, handed him the bread and said: "Now whether or not this tastes very good you'll eat it! The last thing we need from you is that you pass out and hit your head and die or something, not that it matters to us..."
It would be a pity though he thought.
" ...If you do, we'll have all sorts of papers to fill in and investigations to do, and we just don't want the trouble!"
Ryan couldn't help himself from smiling. He remembered a similar situation taking place in Mc Manus´s office a few years back, when instead of getting sent to the hole, he was returned to the infirmary. It seemed he was always lucky that way.
"WHAT ARE YOU SMILING AT!"
He was awakened from his thoughts by the hack.
"Nothing that's any of your business!" he quickly replied.
He then looked at the hack, who by now had an expression on his face that revealed that the one thing he would like more than anything now, was to give Ryan a good thrashing. Ryan again smiled at him, snidely. He saw the hack get up, move his hand and then he felt the burning over his ear and cheek.
" THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?" Ryan yelled in a hurt, humiliated tone.
"TEACHING YOU SOME RESPECT OF YOUR SUPERIORS!" the guard answered sharply. " NOW, SINCE YOU ARE WELL ENOUGH TO GET SMART WITH ME, I SHOULD MAKE YOU GO BACK TO SCOURING YOUR CELL, BUT SINCE I KNOW THAT YOU STAYED UP ALL NIGHT CRYING YOU EYES OUT OVER SOMETHING, AND THAT YOU ARE PROBABLY EXHAUSTED, I WON'T! SO EAT YOUR BLOODY DINNER, LIE DOWN, AND COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS, YOU INSOLENT BOY!"
Fuck, he knows about me crying last night Ryan thought, knowing that any knowledge the hacks had about his weaknesses they'd use. And while the hack stormed out, slamming the door behind him so hard that Ryan's ears ached from the sound, Ryan realised that since the hack had yelled out what he knew about Ryan crying, the whole prison would know of his weakness by tomorrow, and there was nothing he could do about it.
He reluctantly did as the hack had told him, finished the stale, old bread and drank the awful concoction that the hack had brought him in the pitcher, the right side of his face still aching from the cuff he had received.
He then lied down, on his left side, and fell asleep.
When he woke up from the door buzzing, he did actually feel a lot better. He was still pissed at the old hack for slapping his face though, the fucker!
" So you are still asleep huh! Well, well, some are lucky." His tone was harsh and dry. " It's late, light's out in 30 minutes. I suggest you get a move on and get ready so I can put your cuffs on for the night!"
Ryan sighed.
"Tonight as well?" he said, trying to sound sweet and credible so that he would get out of wearing them.
"Yes. Tonight, tomorrow and next month or until whenever warden Hughes decides you are trustworthy enough to sleep without them. Now get cracking!"
I'm really starting to understand what Mc Manus said, Jones thought. The boy won't fool me though; not yet; he'll have to do a lot better than that!
Ryan shrugged, got out of bed, reluctantly, and headed towards the basin.
"Hey! I haven't gotten any fresh water in this thing since yesterday, and now there is not much left, and the little that is, is disgusting! How about getting someone to look over the fucking hygiene routines in this fucking place!" Ryan complained.
" WATCH YOUR MOUTH!" the hack yelled.
Ryan gave him another one of his 'charming', snide smiles.
Before Ryan knew it, the hack had taken the pitcher that belonged to the basin, grabbed a hold of the outer part of Ryan's left ear and was pulling him towards the door.
"YOU FUCK! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" Ryan yelled, trying to twist out of the guard's grip. He was forced to give up though, because the more he twisted, the harder the guard's grip around his ear became, and the more it hurt!
"Like I told you before, I'm just trying to teach you some respect for your superiors, and you will learn," the guard said, quite effortlessly and happily.
He led Ryan out through the corridor and into a room which to Ryan looked like a urinal with some sinks in it.
"Here! Have your fresh water then!"
The guard let go of Ryan's ear gave him the pitcher and pushed him towards one of the sinks. Ryan turned on the water, filled the pitcher, took a quick glance at the guard without him seeing it, and saw that he had turned away for a moment.
He held out his hand and drank some water from the tap. The fresh cold water made him feel a bit better. He also managed to get a splash of fresh water on his face, without the guard seeing it. He dried his face on his already soaked shirt, so the guard wouldn't notice. You had be careful!
Jones smiled behind O´reilys back. The boy was pretty smart, taking advantage of every chance to get some pleasure, rest, or whatever it was he wanted at that moment. Jones pretended he didn't see anything though. When he saw that the boy had had enough water, and had washed his face, he turned around again and sharply said: "Allright, that's enough; we don't have all night, come here."
Ryan sighed and dragging his feet, delayed the moment he got back as much as possible.
It almost made Jones smile again, but he contained himself and said: "I said come here!"
He stepped towards Ryan, took the pitcher from him and with the other hand grabbed his ear again.
Ryan's face writhed, but he knew better than to put up a fight this time, and so he simply went along with the hack and tried to look as if he was no worse for wear.
It was hard!
The hack led him down the corridor to his cell. It occurred to Ryan that he hadn't had the chance to get much of a look around the prison's facilities. It was a pity that all the 'trips' outside his small and un- homelike cell had to be so painful! It also occurred to him that all that pain had basically been self-induced, but he quickly knocked that thought out of his head! He brushed his teeth and put on his ugly, and very smelly pyjamas thinking: when were they going to let me change clothes in this place, or HAVE A SHOWER?
The hack then said "All right, I think you know the routine by now. "
Ryan acted as if he didn't understand what on earth the hack was talking about.
" You know full well what I mean, now give me your wrists so I can cuff you."
Ryan moved towards the hack extremely slowly, shuffling his feet.
"Give me your wrists so I can cuff them !" The hack said with suppressed anger, not looking at all amused.
Ryan was happy. He loooved making life difficult for people of authority, wherever he was. Always had.
This time he held out his hands though, and the hack cuffed them.
"Light's out in two minutes! You're lucky you didn't have to undress in the dark," the guard said, smiling quite snidely himself this time.
Ryan mumbled some not so well chosen insults under his breath.
"What was that !" the guard said and raised his hand in a threatening way.
"Nothing," Ryan said, arrogantly, feeling it wasn't worth another box on the ear.
" I thought so!" the guard said with a warning in his eyes and tone of voice, but a superior, satisfied look on his face." Good night!" he said sharply. "I suggest you get some more sleep than yesterday, because since you were not ready in time this morning, I'll be waking you up at 5.30, half an hour before everyone else, so that you can get ready for your morning meeting with Mister Mc Manus."
Ryan let out a massive sigh.
"What!" the guard said. Ryan didn't answer but walked over to his bed, unmade it and got down beneath the smelly covers.
The guard let himself out of Ryan's cell, and slammed the door with an effective 'BOOM' that made Ryan's headache return.
All of a sudden he was back at Oz, on the night of Cyril's execution. He was standing in the witness-room as Cyril was strapped in the chair and the hood with its electric cords was placed on his head.
"Cyril O´reily, you have been convicted of the murder of Li Chien, and sentenced to die in the electric chair."
He heard Cyril screaming, 'IT WASN'T MY FAULT, TELL THEM RYAN, TELL THEM!'
He opened his mouth to scream, but not a sound would come out, and then the hacks came from all angles seizing him, while he was struggling for his and Cyril's lives, desperately trying to say something, crying.
He woke up with a jerk, and found himself wrapped tightly, like a mummy, in his quilt.
Fuck, it was all a dream!
Cyril was dead, and there was nothing, nothing at all that he could do about it.
He missed him awfully!
He missed having someone to turn to with his secrets as a kid, someone to tell how hot that chick in 6th grade was.
He missed having someone to comfort him when he was afraid of what their father would say, or even worse do, when he had gotten in trouble. Someone who loyally stood by his side in the Irish gangs, the only one he could REALLY FUCKING TRUST.
He even missed the Cyril that was, after the wedding fight. The sweet ever-trusting Cyril with his stupid and never ending questions that had bugged the hell out of Ryan at the time.
"Rise and shine O´reily."
He heard the voice of the old guard. 'Officer Jones' was it ? He wasn't in the mood for having anyone around right now, much less a fucking hack!
"All right O´reily, get up! You have an important meeting today with Mister Mc Manus, and since I'm in charge of getting you up this morning, I intend to make absolutely sure that you are not late!"
"Fuck off," O´reily said, still lying down.
"Excuse me! What was that! " the guard said.
"I said fuck off!" O´reily issued once again, not caring that the guard could very well have him thrown in the hole for a thing like this. In fact, not caring very much about anything right now.
"I thought so..." The guard said and sighed.
He bent forward over Ryan who was still lying in bed and grabbed a strong hold of his ear. He twisted it until Ryan screamed "AOU!", and more or less pulled Ryan up by it, into a standing position.
"NOW DO I HAVE YOU ATTENTION!" He yelled.
"Yes!" Ryan whined as he twisted and turned trying to get the hack to let go.
"All right then," finally."
The hack let go of his ear, and Ryan tried to relax again.
"Let's get you into shape for your meeting with Mr. Mc Manus. You can have a shower today, cold of course, but you're not allowed to be near a razor yet, so you'll have to make your apologies to Mr. Mc Manus for not having shaved! You will also be getting a bottle of the deodorant that's been pre-approved for prisoners by the safety-board."
Shit! O'reily thought. Pre-approved deodorant! Why don't you just take away the entire right to my own opinions right away, while you're at it! Oh well, fuck it! At least I get to shower today! He thought to himself.
Ryan was forced to get up, pee and brush his teeth, all with the hack watching him closely. He was then escorted by the hack, in usual the fashion, into the shower area and got placed in one of the showers. He was surprised at the lack of people in the hallway and the shower, but then remembered that the guard had said that wake up call wasn't for another half an hour.
The hack uncuffed him and let him take off the pyjamas.
He got his shower, ( it was short, just 5 minutes, and cold,) and was escorted back to his cell.
"I'll be back in 10 minutes. You will be dressed and ready to go by then!" The hack said and then left him.
He heard the buzzing of the other doors and the yawning and moaning of the other prisoners as they were let out of their cells. All of a sudden he felt awfully lonely!
He got dressed, changing his clothes today, wanting to feel somewhat fresh even if it was just for a day or so. The outcome was pretty much the same though, same old stale, uncomfortable, fucking feeling!
The door buzzed.
"All right! Ready to go then? "
"How about that deodorant?" Ryan said grumpily.
"Oh! Yes that's right. Here you are." the hack gave him the bottle.
It was some Cheap disgusting stuff. Smelled like the junk you could buy down in those obscure little one dollar markets in downtown New York.
Still it's nice to smell fresh.
Hesprayed some on himself.
It will have to do for now, he thought, thinking that he could always have something else smuggled in at a later time. Maybe there was even a market for some alternative brands...
"All right!" the guard said harshly, interrupting Ryan's thoughts, "Tuck that shirt in, and button the last buttons!"
He did it, sighing.
"Wrists!"
Ryan still remembering yesterday, not particularly wanting a day like that today, held out his wrists voluntarily this time, and got cuffed again. It was only then he realised that he hadn't combed his hair for several days.
"Can I have a comb!" He asked rudely.
" 'May I have a comb, please'!" The guard corrected him sternly.
Ryan gave him a smug smile.
"Watch it O´reily," The hack said in a warning tone. "Now, wipe that smile of your face and let's go!"
Apparently not. Ryan thought in regards to the comb, and instead shook his head in order to get his hair to lay in a way that at least somewhat resembled a proper hairdo, splashing all the water in it onto the not very amused hack in the process.
"You asked for it," the hack issued and sighed.
Before Ryan could do anything about it, the hack grabbed his ear. And so of they went into the corridor, the guard two steps ahead and Ryan, twisting, turning and quietly cursing in the guards grip.
Mc Manus was highly amused when they showed up!
"Found a new friend, have you, O´reily?" he said cheerfully.
"Fuck you, Mc Manus!" Ryan said, far less cheerily!
The guard tightened his grip around Ryan's ear and twisted it so Ryan was forced to grimace heavily in order not to scream. Mc Manus couldn´t help but smile a bit.
"It's all right, Jones," He said. "You can let him go now."
The hack did so, gestured a goodbye to Mc Manus, and left.
Ryan was lead, by the cuffs this time, into Mc Manus´s office.
"O´reily, O´reily, O´reily. " Mc Manus sighed, Pacing back forth around Ryan. "Still as cocky as ever I see. Well, let's be honest, I didn't expect anything else from you, but I was hoping for a nice surprise. Oh well, never mind; they'll have you moulded into prison-shape in no time in here. See, in here, people are more efficient than in Em city, and although I sometimes have a problem with their harsh treatment of prisoners, I think this could be just the thing for you; in fact I'm sure of it."
Ryan hadn't exactly expected their reunion to be all fun and jokes; in fact he hadn't expected it to be very fun at all, but he was a bit surprised by the acidity in Mc Manus´s voice and his cockiness. Still he had always known that Mc Manus was a real jerk, and now it was clear to see that he was right.
"So how do you find you new home then, O´reily? Settled in O.K?"
"Fuck you, Mc Manus!"
"Yes, you've said that already. What I'm trying to say here, Ryan, is that in here, you get treated after how you treat people yourself, and the progress you make. If you are good, they reward your behaviour with, say, visitation rights. If you're disobedient they send you to the hole. "
"Oh yeah!" O´reily said. "Well it can't get much worse than the shithole of a cell I'm in now."
"Oh, it most certainly can, O´reily... In fact, why don't we let you see for yourself. GUARD!"
Before Ryan knew it, a guard was standing in the doorway.
"Take him to the hole, and let him stay there!"
I can't fucking believe what just happened! Ryan thought as he was led to the hole by a hack he had never met before. That fucking cocksucking bastard!
They stopped before an iron door, the guard took his cuffs off, and Ryan was told to strip.
(Apparently Mc Manus had brought quite a few of his stupid ass routines to his new place of work.)
When he didn't, the hack called for some of his 'colleagues' and while they were holding Ryan, he striped him of all his clothes. They then pushed him in through the door so harshly that he fell and cut his knee.
Fuck that's gonna scar Ryan thought.
Then he was alone...
Several hours later he heard the door open.
He got up, thinking that maybe that cocksucker Mc Manus had changed his mind and would let him out now.
No such luck. It was the old guard, 'Officer Jones'.
" So, you get out of you cell for 15 minutes and manage to get yourself thrown in the hole! Good job O´reily."
Ryan sat down quietly and sullen, not wanting to say anything until he knew where this was going.
"Well, since there is nothing I can do about the situation, and I wouldn't even if I could, since I agree with Mr. Mc Manus that you do need this, I just came by to tell you that you didn't make the CP-program and therefore, will not have the opportunity to gain your chance of parole back."
Ryan couldn't hide his disappointment and worry, as he groaned and put his head in his hands.
"On a more personal note I suggest that you take this time out to think, O´reily. For once in your life, sit down and think about what got you here, and I don't mean Mr. Mc Manus," feeling sorry for the boy who really hadn't done anything this time besides been very cocky, Jones added: "granted though, that he is a rather handsome man."
Ryan caught himself almost smiling at the hack's joke, but managed to keep a straight face.
" What I'm saying O´reily is that you need to think about what you are indeeddoing in here and more importantly, what in your behaviour got you here!"
Ryan issued the guard a: "fuck off, you cocksucker!"
The guard gave up, the boy obviously wasn't ready to listen.
"Very well, I hope you have a pleasant time with yourself then, whether it be a week, a month, or a year. Have fun!" He said harshly.
Ryan saw him close the door, and jumped a bit at the 'BOOOM' it issued as it closed.
The sound echoed trough the room, and then there was just him and the emptiness.