"Tobias Beecher, so this is the guy who has been a thorn in Vern's side," Chris mumbled to himself. "Vern wants him dead, but he wants him to off himself." Before he had even ridden through the front gates of Oswald Maximum Security Penitentiary (OZ), Christopher "Chris" Keller had been given a mission. An old cellmate, Vern Schillinger, had contacted Chris. Somehow Schillinger found out that Chris had been arrested and was to be put in Emerald City (EM City). Schillinger wanted to make a deal with Keller. If he could succeed in getting an inmate, Tobias "Toby" Beecher, to kill himself, Chris would have the protection of the Aryan Brotherhood. Chris, being a manipulative, smooth-talking charmer, agreed, mostly just for kicks. But Vern had failed to mention an important piece of information. Chris knew that there had to be bad blood between Vern and Tobias, but he didn't know the extent of the loathing between the two.

Here Chris was, his first night with his new "friend" Toby, and he already doubted if he could pull this off. How was he supposed to get close to someone that recites nursery rhymes when he feels threatened? How was he supposed to seduce someone who freaks out whenever you touch them? Without knowing it, Toby had crippled Chris' offence. He had disabled Chris' two main weapons: his extraordinary talent to make his prey feel comfortable by talking to them, and his ungodly sex appeal. Although Chris had discovered a temporary setback in his plan, he would not be deterred. The challenge actually made Chris more determined then ever. He was going to make Tobias fall in love with him, and then he was going to crush him like the bug he thought he was.

"If I'm ever going to get into Beecher's head I better start now," Chris muttered to himself. "Hey, Beecher, you awake? I want to ask you something." Toby had been trying to go back to sleep after waking up from his recurring nightmare. A night had not gone by, since the day Toby hit that little girl, without him being reminded of that horrible deed. But now the dreams had changed. Instead of hitting the girl, he now crashes into the man that OZ has made him.

Toby answered lethargically, "I'm trying to sleep." Toby still wasn't sure whether he could trust Chris.

But Keller had been prepared for that very response. "Just answer me this one question and I'll let you get back to your beauty sleep," he retorted.

"Fine, you can ask but that doesn't mean I'll answer you," Toby replied.

"Alright," Chris said, "but you've got to hear me out. We're going to be spending at least the next three years of our lives together, so I want to get a few things out in the open. Mainly I want to know what is the deal with the whole touching thing. Why did you freak out when I touched your arm earlier? Was it because of the nightmare?"

"You really want to know?" Toby remarked, adding, "And why do you care?"

"Why would I ask you if I didn't want to know? And it isn't that I care as much as I'm worried that you might snap one night and kill me," Chris said jokingly, giving Toby's bed a playful kick.

Toby was taken off guard by Chris' light hearted reply and could only manage a half-hearted, "Screw you," followed by a resigned, "Since you put it so eloquently I guess I'll tell you; knowing how news travels in OZ you would know by breakfast tomorrow anyway. From the second night that I arrived at OZ, Vern Schillinger made my life a living hell. The first night in his pod he branded me with a swastika on my butt. He made me rip up pictures of my family, made me lick his boots, and dressed me in drag and had me perform in front of the entire prison just to name a few things. You've been in prison before, so I'm sure you know he raped me as well . . ." here Toby's voice trailed off, as if he were remembering things too awful to mention. When he began speaking again, the empty, disinterested tone was gone from his voice, and Chris could hear the raw pain and shame replacing it. "I started using heroin on a daily basis to kill the physical and mental pain that Vern caused me. I also used drugs to piss off Vern—apparently there is some code in the Aryan charter against using drugs. It got so bad that I had to move up to more powerful drugs. A good friend of mine introduced me to PCP, but unfortunately he provided me with a bad batch. While I was tripping, I decided that I had enough of Vern and it was time to fight back. I threw a chair through the glass door of his pod, nearly causing him to loose an eye. Then I got to spend time in the Hole, where I went through withdrawals . . ." Again, a momentary silence, which Chris was beginning to understand signaled Toby's reluctance to describe events that had been too torturous. Skipping over that bit, Toby continued, "But to make a long story short, I don't like to be touched because it brings me back to a time where I had no control over myself and a time that I don't ever want to be reminded of."

After Toby had finished telling his story there was a long, awkward silence in the room. Toby was afraid that he had revealed too much of himself. He was afraid that he might have given this complete stranger the weapon that he could use to screw him over. Toby felt a fear that he hadn't felt since those first terrifying nights in Oz. For the first time in a year, Toby was afraid because he didn't know what might happen to him.

Now Chris, though not the brightest inmate intellectually, wasn't entirely without emotional intelligence, namely, he knew how to read people. He could tell that he had Toby at a critical point. Toby had revealed something very personal and he knew that the next words out of his mouth would determine if his plan would be a success or a complete failure. Chris understood that he had to offer some sort of comfort to Toby or he would have just wasted a golden opportunity to get closer to him. "Damn, man, I'm sorry for bringing up such bad memories," Chris said. "I just thought that you were still in freak-out mode because of the dream. But honestly, I'm so sorry for bring up that mess."

Toby was surprised at how sincere Chris was. He may have only known him for a few hours, but never in his life had Toby ever encountered someone this confident in themselves. Toby himself had been a bit of an egomaniac during his life before OZ. He came from a wealthy family, he graduated first in class at law school (which didn't matter because he was guaranteed a job with his father's law firm) he made more than enough money to spoil his wife and three kids, etc, etc, but even with all of this he didn't come close to ever having the confidence that Chris appeared to have. Ever since Chris's arrival, he'd had the most arrogant smile, and he walked like he owned all of EM City. But when Chris spoke, Toby felt that Chris really meant what he said. That he felt bad about what had happened to him, and he was sorry for bringing it up. "Don't worry about it, Chris," Toby answered, using his name for the first time since he'd met him. "In a strange way it makes me fell better having told someone how I really feel. But if you don't mind, I'm going back to sleep."

At the warm sound of Toby's voice, an evil smile appeared across Chris' face. His plan had worked. Toby would eventually be his. "Good night, Beecher," Chris said, more confident than ever that he was going to succeed.