I didn't want to follow Abruzzi around the yard the entire time, but I didn't want to be alone either. Abruzzi said he didn't mind me walking with him, but I wasn't too sure what his crowd thought of me yet. They weren't used to having a girl around so I wasn't surprised to see their apprehension. Abruzzi, to my surprise, was being kind and almost protective over me. If any of the other inmates looked at me the wrong way, he would take care of it. I wasn't brought here so Abruzzi could act like my father, he was a criminal and he needed to be stopped.
Abruzzi and his crew made their way over to the table and I was left standing behind him. They started playing cards when the new inmate I saw the other day approached them.
"What do you want fish," Abruzzi said coldly continuing to deal the cards.
I watched the prisoner take a breath and continue with complete confidence.
"John Abruzzi my name is Michael Scofield and I need you to get me on PI," he said sticking his hands inside his pockets.
Abruzzi didn't seem fazed, which irritated me, so I started to look around the yard. It looked to me that most of the inmates were separated my race with the African Americans on one side and the Latinos on the other. I noticed though sitting by himself an older man petting what looked like a cat. I started to approach him and saw Michael reach into his pocket. I kept walking away from Abruzzi's table and heard him saying something about a duck.
"She's really beautiful," I spoke to the old man as I reached my hand down and brushed it against the cat's ear.
He looked up at me and gave me a warm smile.
"Why thank you, young lady," he spoke and gestured for me to sit down next to him.
"My name is Laney," I said taking a spot next to the man.
He reached his hand out and I accepted it shaking it very lightly.
"Charles Westmoreland."
I smiled and continued petting the cat. I learned over the next few minutes that the cat's name was Marilyn, and that Charles has been in Fox River for many years. He genuinely seemed like a nice guy who made some mistakes that caused him to hit a pedestrian driving and he was arrested for reckless homicide.
"Alright Charles I need you to help me stay alive while I am here so I need to know the inmates to avoid," I said glancing back towards Abruzzi.
Charles smiled and stroked the back of Marilyn.
"Clearly you have met Abruzzi and his crew," Charles chuckled, "you should be careful on crossing them. You seem like a nice girl so I will help you out with all the inmates you should watch your back around."
"Thank you Charles," I said shaking his hand one last time.
I gave him a warm smile and made my way back to Abruzzi. He must have noticed my absence because when I returned he pulled on my wrist and drug me to the table.
"Did you have a nice conversation with oldie over there?" He laughed and his cronies soon joined him.
I didn't get the joke because I thought that Charles was a nice man.
"Yes I did actually, Charles is a good person who bad things have happened to," I defended getting back up off the table.
"I bet he didn't tell you the whole story did he Bella?" Abruzzi said.
When I gave him a look of confusion he smiled a satisfactory smile and continued,
"His real name is not Charles Westmoreland. The rumor is that the old man you see over there is the one and only D.B. Cooper. He hit that woman with his car because he was trying to escape the police after stealing over 1 million dollars. When he was brought in, though, he wouldn't tell where he hid the money and denied ever since that he is not D.B. Cooper."
My jaw had dropped after hearing Abruzzi's tale. He of course didn't know this but I already knew everything about D.B. Cooper. My father would tell me the stories about how he would evade the police and that he ended up hijacking a plane. When the plane went down, he took off and stole a car, the car that ended up hitting the pedestrian. I turned back to face Charles and watched him pet his cat so gently. I would have never guessed that the man sitting across the yard could be the famous D.B. Cooper.
Abruzzi laughed at my reaction and then returned back to his crew. I ignored them and saw that inmate called Michael leaning against the fence talking to his "cellie". Once more I ventured off from Abruzzi and made my way over to the two men.
"You're the fish right?" I joked but neither of them seemed to enjoy the humor very much,
"I'm Laney."
At that, their expressions softened up a bit.
"Laney, I am Michael Scofield." He said reaching out to take my hand.
I grabbed and it was a very warm touch.
"Hola chica my name is Fernando Sucre." He had a very warm smile and I could tell they were both nice people.
"I am not even going to ask how you ended up in Fox River, aye mami," spoke Sucre shaking his head.
I smirked and I knew that he was going to keep my entertained.
I noticed Michael was watching through the fence across the yard a ways. My eyes followed to where he was watching and some other inmates were let out into a separate part in the yard. I watched Michael's eyes change from intense to sincere as one inmate made his way onto the yard.
"That is Linc the Sink," said Sucre.
I stood there shocked as I watched the infamous Lincoln Burrows stroll across the yard. Lincoln Burrows was charged with killing Vice President Reynolds' brother. To this day he claims his innocence, but the evidence was not is his favor. I watched him walk along and he looked almost sad. That is when I realized that I would be sad too if I received the death penalty and my time was almost up,
Michael turned away from the fence, "I know who Lincoln Burrows is; he is my brother."
Sucre and I both turned our attention to face Michael. I couldn't believe that Lincoln and Michael were brothers, but I also thought it was a strange coincidence that Michael and Lincoln were in the same prison so close to Lincoln's execution date.
I chatted with Sucre and Michael for a little longer, and while I did I was more convinced that Michael robbed a bank so he could be sent to Fox River. The question was why?
I headed back to where I first was, but I noticed that Abruzzi and his crew were nowhere to be seen. Impatiently, I stomped around the yard for a little while, but was unable to find them when an officer yelled that yard time was over. I figured that Abruzzi must have headed back to the cell so I started making my way with the rest of the prisoners. So far I couldn't think of anything that I could write down in my journal that Abruzzi was doing anything suspicious. I hung my head in defeat, but I felt something grab me by the hair and yank me backwards.
I was dragged into a storage room and thrown against a wall. I struggled to fight them off, knowing very well that I could take any one of them, but I had to remember Pope's warning. Not trying to hard I kicked my leg back, hoping to make contact. When I felt my foot hit something solid I smiled to myself, but not for very long, because someone pulled me back by my hair and slammed my face hard into the wall. I let out a small whimper as I felt warm liquid stream down my face. The other men quickly pinned my arms and I was stuck with nowhere else to go. I could hear the men behind me laughing and I was fighting the tears when I heard a familiar voice behind me.
"Just relax Bella, no need to be frightened," Abruzzi said from behind.
I couldn't see him but I recognized his crew holding down my arms.
"What are you doing?" I asked attempting to break free of their hold, but they only squeezed tighter.
"Well, I can't just have anyone hanging around with my crew, and I need to know that you can be trusted. We have to put you through this little test and if you pass then you will be just fine Bella."
I swallowed and my heart started to race. I looked over and saw one of the men reach into his shirt and pull out a shank. At the sight of that I started to panic.
"Please no, no I can be trusted, you don't have to do this, please no!"
The man just laughed as one of them started pulling up the back of my shirt so my lower back was exposed. I wiggled and squirmed with all of my might, but it was no use.
Abruzzi came in right behind with the shank in his hand.
"Scusa Bella," he whispered in my ear.
I clenched my teeth together hard and when the blade made contact with my skin, I let out one giant scream begging him to stop, but he just whispered in my ear and kept carving. It didn't take long before I slipped away into unconsciousness.