Trial and Error

Chapter One EPOV

I was packing my stuff up in the guard's office. I was being transferred to Washington State Penitentiary. They needed more guards in this large co-ed prison. There was suppose to be a certain guard to prisoner ratio and they were under staffed at that prison. I was offered more money and I would be moving closer to home.

I lived in Forks, Washington but had to drive almost two hours every day to work. It was really starting to wear on me. This way I could be able to do more things with my family. I mainly worked five to six days a week and by the time my day off came around I was too exhausted from driving to do anything other than sit in my house and chill out.

As I was placing my paperwork and an extra uniform that I kept in the locker just in case of anything, I looked up and saw a few of the other guards pilling into the office. I would assume this is my going away goodbye. There were a bunch of slaps on the backs with the occasional handshake. They all ragged on me saying that I was going soft because I was moving to a co-ed prison. I just smiled and laughed it off. I really didn't give a flying fuck what these guys thought. All I knew was that I was leaving here and I would never have to drive this distance again.

After a few more minutes of ragging and goodbye's the guards left the office. I finished packing and gave the room one last look around. I sighed with relief that I was leaving this place. I turned and walked out the door without even looking back.

I walked through the parking lot and got in my new Lexus I S F09 which was one of the perks changing jobs. They offered me a hell of a lot more money to transfer. I revved the engine and it made the sound of a purring lion. I loved that sound. I peeled out of the parking lot and started the drive home.

I made the long drive home with a variety of thoughts. I thought how thankful I was to be leaving that shit hole and wondering what the new prison would be like. I never worked for a co-ed prison before. I wondered if I would be tempted by the female inmates. I shook my head with that thought because there was a reason why they were in there; they broke the law. I was not into the whole bad girl thing. Most of the woman I have dated were either your typical business woman who had to have control over everything or the typical bar whore who just really wanted to fuck. Mainly though none of my relationships, if that's what you want to call them, never lasted because of my job hours. I was never home enough for anyone. My family lived within five minutes of me and I rarely saw them.

By the time all these thoughts came crashing to a stop I was pulling into my driveway. I lived in the middle of the woods where no one could bother me. Ever since becoming a prison guard I became quite the hermit. I pulled into the garage and shut off the engine. I grabbed the box of things that I took from the office and headed inside.

I set the box of things down in the mud room off the garage and headed down the hall. Once I was approaching the kitchen I flipped the lights on.

"Surprise!" Everyone yelled. My heart almost skipped a beat. My whole family was standing in my kitchen with my mom Esme holding a cake that said Congrats on the New Job. I knew I should have never given them a spare key.

I smiled and said "Thank you." Esme was the first one to come over and give me a hug. She told me how proud she was of me and was thankful I would be working closer to home now. Once she stepped away my father Carlisle steeped up and shook my hand and smiled. I returned the gesture. Once Carlisle stepped aside I mad my way further into the kitchen where I then hugged my sister Alice and my brother Emmett. They were all excited that I was working closer to home. Before I took the job that was two hours away we use to get together all the time. This will be a great thing for all of us to reconnect.

Esme cut the cake into several smaller pieces and Alice helped her bring them to the kitchen table. I had a very large table. It could seat eight without the leaf in the table; with the leaf it sat twelve. Once the cake was divided out Esme poured everyone some coffee to go along with out cake. I forked a piece of the yellow cake with white icing and placed it in my mouth. It was so light and fluffy and it had a hint of amaretto flavor. I closed my eyes and savored the flavor; it was my favorite.

"Thanks mother, this is my favorite" I said aloud to let her know how much I appreciated it. She smiled and told me it was her pleasure. For the next ten minutes all you heard was forks hitting the plates and cups being placed back onto the table. After the last bite of cake was eaten I helped clear the table with Emmett. We all made small talk and then the family left.

It was Saturday evening so Alice probably had a date with Jasper like she normally did and Emmett was probably going home to watch his sports. Esme and Carlisle usually hung out on their porch reading or talking. Me on the other hand I will probably check my e-mail then go to bed.

That was exactly what I did. I checked my e-mail quickly, showered and then hit the sack. I closed my eyes and exhaled. Hopefully I would not be this exhausted ever again. With that thought I drifted off to sleep.

I woke up the next morning chipper as ever. I changed into my running clothes and headed to the kitchen. I grabbed a bottle of water and my ipod and headed out the back door. I lived on about twenty acres of woods. There are many trails in my back yard that I enjoy running through. I headed down my normal trail and hit play on my ipod. I never felt so free running through the trees feeling the breeze in my golden locks. My hair was messier than normal today since I showered before I went to bed; so it dried all crazy. I inhaled the outdoor air as my pace grew quicker. In no time I was sprinting so fast it was almost like I was flying. After my hour of running I slowed my pace and headed home.

Once I got home I took a shower and made myself some lunch. As I was eating my lunch I remembered I had a packet of information I needed to go over that the warden gave me when he hired me. I quickly finished eating and cleaned up. I then went to find the paperwork. I was in my study looking all over my desk. My study was not the most organized place in my house. There was paperwork, books, magazines, newspapers, you name it and I probably had it. Finally after pushing some papers around on the top of my desk I found the packet marked Washington State Penitentiary. I sat down on my leather chair and eased into it. The sound of the leather crackling on my legs made me comfortable. I unhooked the metal prongs on the packet and pulled out the paper work.

It was all your basic information of rules and regulations of the prison. It gave the itinerary of the whole prison, contacts, the layout and more. I am sure I needed to know most of this by heart so I started to study it.

I spent the next 6 hours just looking over the papers and re-reading them over and over again. Finally my concentration was broken with my stomach making noises that sounded like a monster. I was starving. I put down the paperwork and headed back into the kitchen. I heated up left over meatloaf that Esme made with some mashed potatoes. I poured myself a glass of Merlot to go with dinner.

I sat at my large kitchen table all alone. This was how it was every night. Me, myself and I sitting here all alone. It actually was really depressing to the average person but what was I suppose to do? All this would hopefully change though with me staying local now. I shoved another bite of the meatloaf into my mouth with the telephone rang. I quickly chewed the delicious bite and scurried over to the phone. I looked at the caller id to see it was Alice.

"Hey Alice" I greeted her.

"Hey big brother" she sounded chipper as always. "I just wanted to call and say good luck on the new job tomorrow. I know you will do great."

"Thanks. I appreciate it. I am just happy that I don't have to drive two fucking hours anymore." I said. She snorted on the phone and agreed. She then went on to telling me that this would help with my love life and that she was on the look out for her big brother. I sighed because this wasn't the first time and I sure it wouldn't be the last that Alice tries to find love for me. After that we said our goodbyes and hung up.

I cleaned up my plate and finished my wine in front of the TV in the living room. I watched the local news to see if anything interesting was going on in Forks. I watched the whole news program and of course there was nothing interesting going on in Forks, there never was. I sighed and shut the TV off. I rinsed my glass out and padded upstairs to my bedroom. I stripped down to nothing but my boxers and curled up into bed.

I closed my eyes and thought tomorrow is a new day. Tomorrow is a new start; a new life.

My alarm went off at 5am. I hit the off button and jumped out of bed. I lazily made my way into my bathroom which was located directly off my room. I turned the water on hot and let it heat up while I pulled out my uniform. The uniform that was required to wear was one of black or grey slacks with the white shirt they supplied. It had W.S.P Guard printed on it. I pulled out a pair of black boots that would be nicer on my feet than other shoes I had. I headed into the shower and started to get excited about the day that I was about to have. I think everyone had the same feeling when they started a new job. You are going into unknown territory and you can create a person of who you want people to think you are if you like.

I finished my shower and got dressed. I looked at myself in the mirror and messed my hair up the way I liked it and the way the ladies seemed to love it too. I smirked at myself before turning and heading downstairs. I made my way to the study and picked up my paperwork just in case I needed it and then walked into the kitchen. I pulled out my travel mug and poured the already brewed coffee into it. I had one of those automatic coffee machines where you just had to program the time and it brewed it. I also grabbed a granola bar to munch on the drive.

I looked at the time 5:30am; perfect timing. It took me about thirty minutes to get to work and we needed to be there for 6am for shift change. From 6-6:30am is where the over night guard's go over all the activity that happened over the night and then they leave and at 6:30am we are on the floor doing our shift. I work from 6am to 5pm with a sixty minute lunch and a thirty minute meeting for the next shift.

I found my keys and headed out into the garage. I got into my car and placed the paperwork on my leather passenger seat and the coffee in my cup holder and headed down the drive. The clouds were very dense this morning like usual but it had not started to rain yet. In my whole lifetime here in Forks I think I have seen maybe a total of a months worth of sun. I laughed at that thought as I sped down the road. I must be crazy to be staying here in Forks but it had a special quality about it.

After 25 minutes of driving threw the morning fog I pulled into the parking lot of the prison. I had to show my id badge to the security booth so I could park in the designated area for the staff of the prison. All the staff including myself had to park in the back of the prison in an open but gated parking lot. I pulled into a spot a few away from the other cars; I didn't want to get my new baby scratched just yet. I got out of my car leaving my coffee but bringing the papers and headed to the double doors leading into the prison. There was another security guard at that door to look at my id and then pointed me in the correct direction to the guard office.

As I was walking up the stairs to the second floor of a three story building I heard someone come up behind me. I turned to look and it was another man wearing the same uniform as me. I nodded in his direction.

"Hey man, you the new guard?" he asked as he held out his hand to shake mine. I took his hand and gave it a firm shake and introduced myself.

"Hello. My name is Edward Cullen and yes I am new here." I said.

"Finally, we are so understaffed here." He said. I looked at him waiting for him to introduce himself as well.

"Oh right sorry Eddie man, my name is Jacob." He replied.

"Nice to meet you Jacob." I said and we headed back up the stairs. On the way to office he blabbered on about the different guards, lunch, the men and the woman that were housed here.

Finally we arrived at the office. I entered to a room full of other guards just like me. I scanned the room to see who I would be working with. Then I was interrupted by the warden to tell all of us to have a seat. I took a seat next to Jacob since he was the only one I knew so far.

"Ladies and Gentleman I would like to introduce you to a new member of our staff and I hope you take him under your wings and treat him like any other employee here with respect" he said. "Mr. Edward Cullen." He said pointing his hand in my direction. Everyone in the room turned and looked at me. I had some smiles, some nods, one wink and a few eye rolls. I just smiled and nodded.

"Now time for shift change; James if you would please come up and start." The warden pointed for him to go to the front of the room and address us. As James stood and walked to the front you could tell he had major attitude. He was shorter than I was with blonde hair. You could see his tattoo's peaking through the thin material of the white shirt. From what I could see he was covered.

James stood in front of all of us and rambled off names, numbers and a few issues they had over the night. The warden asked a couple questions to the other night guards which included Laurent and Victoria. I was surprised when I saw Victoria at first. I was thinking there was no way a woman could be a prison guard but after looking at her closer I could tell she was one hard bitch. She had fire red hair that was pulled tight into a bun so the prisoner's could not pulled on it and her eyes looked like she could shoot fire from them.

The questioning seemed to stop and the night crew dispersed. Now there was just the warden, myself, Jacob and two other guards I haven't met yet. The warden came over to me and gave me a welcome and told me to follow Jacob for the day and then starting tomorrow I would be on my own since I had enough experience as a guard, this was more for learning the layout more than anything. I agreed and thanked him and then he left as well.

I felt a slap on my back and of course it was Jacob. "Your with me today then buddy." He smiled. I held back from rolling my eyes. Don't get me wrong I am thankful that someone is being friendly because most times prisons are not friendly but he was being overly nice.

"Let me introduce you to the day shift." He started. Then he pointed to the first guy and said, "This is Embry." We nodded at each other. "This is Sam." He said pointing to the other guy in the room. He just looked at me starring at me with anger. I just nodded again his way. Then Jacob whispered into my ear, "Don't worry about him; he just has some issues." Then I got another slap on the back. I winched; that was going to get old and quick.

We headed out of the office and I watched at Embry and Sam went upstairs. "They are going to the men's floor. We will take the woman's floor." Jacob said. I nodded in agreement. I started thinking though that I wasn't sure how I felt about guarding the woman's floor. I thought I would be handling the men but I guess I should have expected it since I am working at a co-ed prison. My thoughts were interrupted again my Jacob.

"Don't under estimate these women Eddie. They are some tough cookies." He said.

I huffed under my breath. "Could you please call me Edward? Thank you." I told him not really asking. His smile dropped off his face and nodded and he apologized.

We walked down the stairs and had to scan our id's threw the scanner to get into the ward. Once the steel metal doors opened the noise filled the air. There was screaming, crying, talking and more. Once Jacob walked through those doors he turned into another man it seemed. He slammed his night stick against one of the metal bars. The noise quieted down a bit. Jacob then gave me a tour of the floor. He showed me where the bathrooms, showers, and a room that was full of magazines, books and some crafts. He told me they got those things when they were good.

Then he went on to show me the three different parts of the actual cells. There were cells for prisoners that were in there for minor things and major things. Then there was a section for solitary confinement. Those cells were used for when a prisoner broke the rules or they were running out of room in the other cells or when a prisoner was going to harm herself.

After the tour Jacob went over the prisoner list with me; telling me who everyone was and what they were in there for. Just as he was getting to the bottom of the list he eyes grew wide and he moaned.

"Ooo, we are getting a new one today." He started out saying. I looked at him to continue. "Her name is Isabella Swan. She was charged with first degree murder." Those words sent chills down my spine. I met lots of male prisoners that have had killed but never a female.

"When is she arriving?" I asked. Jacob then told me any minute. He continued to tell me how this prison likes to have there intakes first thing in the morning and any releases last thing in the evening; that way there is no confusion.

Just as he was finishing explaining an intake to me we heard the buzzer go off for the intake door. Jacob and I walked over to the door where we met two other male guards were holding Isabella Swan. My first look at her was one of confusion. She did not look like a killer but then again I have met some gentle old men that look like they couldn't even walk and they committed the most horrible crimes I have heard off.

Jacob talked over with the other guards about the charges and how she was with the transfer and then he took on of her arms in his hand and instructed me to do the same with her other arm. The other two guards left and we started walking to the end of the hall.

"She will be going in the solitary confinement." Jacob said. I nodded with acknowledgement. As we walked holding her arms she walked with her head hanging low. Her long brown hair was draped over her shoulders and covering part of her face. She was short and petite. Whoever she killed must have either been extremely small or extremely stupid. Once we were at the end of the hall we turned and faced the cell. Jacob looked up to a booth were a guard sat with a bunch of buttons surrounding him. Jacob nodded and then there was another buzzer sound. The door to the cell opened. We walked Isabella into her cell and told her to stand still until the door shut. Then she was to back up to the door and place her wrists through the slot so we could un-cuff her. We backed out of the cell and she didn't move. I could hear something that sounded like sobbing. Was she crying? Jacob looked at the guard again and nodded. The buzzer went off and the door shut. Then Isabella backed up and placed her wrists through the slot in the door. Jacob asked me if I wanted to remove the cuffs. I nodded and took my keys out. I un-locked the cuffs and took them off her wrists. Her wrists had indentations of the cuffs. I watched as she pulled her arms back in and rubbed her aching wrists. Jacob then slapped me on the back and told me, "Great job." I grunted under my breath.

Jacob said we needed to file the paper work for her intake and asked if I wanted to do it. Again I nodded in agreement because I needed to get as hands on as I could.

As I was sitting at the small metal desk on the hard metal chair filling out the paper work the visual of Isabella Swan was burning in my head. There was something, I'm not sure what, but there was something about her and I needed to know more.