Kenny had been right; it did get easier as it went along. Pip quickly fell into a schedule of waking up early every morning to shower, eating breakfast with everyone, going to the chapel, going for a run, resting in his bunk, going to lunch, going to the chapel again and then going to dinner. The free periods between were usually filled with more showers and wandering around the building. After finally becoming comfortable in his schedule and feeling at peace, something new showed up after lunch one weekend.
"Pirrup! Report to your counselor." Pip nearly jumped out of his skin when the guard bellowed loudly behind him, nasal voice gritting against his ear drums. A glance over his shoulder verified the suspicion that it was Cartman who was yelling his name. He quickly vacated the hallway and headed towards Mackey's office, finding a line waiting for him. "What's going on?" he asked the boy in front of him, who he recognized as being one of Tucker's friends, Black. "Job assignments, guess they finally got around to it." he replied before stepping up as another person left the office. Finally it was Phillips turn, walking out of the office with a slip of paper between his fingers reading 'Library' and instructions of when and where to report to his supervisor. He quickly found the small room, walking inside and instantly being hit with the smell of worn paper and disinfectant. The room was almost entirely empty, minus the man in guard uniform standing by the front counter and the inmate sitting at a table near the back of the room with his feet on the desk and a book hiding his face.
"Excuse me, I've been assigned a job here?" Pip asked softly, standing in front of the guard with the paper held out in front of him. He stopped scrolling through the computer in front of him before looking up, pushing his glasses up on his nose. "Well, if it isn't a newbie? Give it here." He said, his loud voice causing Pip to jump a bit before handing him the paper. "Pirrup, number 1147513, library. Look's like you are stuck in this hell after all." He said, sighing loudly before sliding the paper into a folder behind the counter. "You can work restock, Stone takes inventory so if you fuck anything up you'll be in trouble with him. Thorn gets off his lazy ass and works the desk when people come in."
"What they give us this time?" the monotone caused Pip to jump turning sharply to look at the man who had appeared behind him. "One of the new arrivals, Pirrup that's Stone." "Pleased to meet you." Pip replied softly. The other inmate only looked him over, dark rimmed eyes peeking out from under thick wild curls and looking down a large nose at him. "Brilliant." Was all he said before turning on his heel and stalking to the back of the room again, disappearing behind the bookcases. Everything was still for a moment before anyone moved or said anything. Finally a loud voice echoed through the room. "Come on!" Pip nearly jumped out of his skin and scurried back to the bookcase where the voice came from.
After what felt like hours Stone had finally finished giving Pip the run-down on how the library worked, information littered with underhanded comments about the establishment and the capitalist nature of it all. When he was done, Pip was directed towards a cart full of books. Pushing the rickety books down the aisle, he was quick to catch on to the order of things and began re-shelving books. He thought he was working swiftly, but a loud bell signaling the end of the workday caused him to jump and knock his almost full cart of books over. Pip quickly tried to clean them up and place them back on the cart. Reaching for a dark covered book his fingers were almost crushed under the rubber soles of boots, his bangs falling into his face when he quickly looked up to see whom the shoe belonged to.
"Leave em, you can pick them up tomorrow. They'll still be there." Thorn said, slipping a book back onto the shelf and removing his foot. Glancing back down at the book before slowly retracting his fingers one by one into the safety of his palm, Pip felt him frozen in fear. The only person Pip had heard nothing about was Thorn, many of his new companions only shaking their heads when he posed questions or answering with vague comments. The only people who spoke to the dark haired boy were McCormick and Tucker, the rest of the table going stiff whenever he joined them for the last few minutes of the lunch and dinner hours.
"He's the fucking anti-Christ." Broflovski had muttered when Pip had questioned him why everyone seemed afraid of Thorn. "You don't even believe in Christ!" McCormick had bantered back, laughing loudly in an attempt to close the conversation. "He's just bad news." Marsh added, slowly pouring his milk over the leftovers of his porridge. "Why is he in here?" "Why do you care?" Tucker interrupted the conversation, obviously annoyed. "No one knows for sure." McCormick answered before he and the rest of the table departed. Pip didn't know what to think about Thorn, but he was definitely intimidated by him. Questionable reputation aside, the boy towered over Pip, dark ink peeked out from the long sleeves he always wore, his skin was marked with scars, new injuries always marred his skin, and he always seemed to be in a bad or implacable mood.
Pip almost jumped out of his skin when a loud bang rang through the room, the door bouncing in its frame after being slammed. "Hey, welcome back to earth. Hopefully you didn't hit a branch on the way down." "I-uhm, I'm sorry." Pip stuttered as sat back on his knees, hand reaching for the bookshelf to help himself up. He paused when he noticed the hand being held out to him, hesitant to take it as he followed the arm up to the person who he knew it belonged to. "Thank you." His voice cracked as he spoke, hand shaking slightly as he took Thorn's and was abruptly pulled up. "Don't mention it."
Thorn quickly stalked off, disappearing around the bookshelves and slamming the door behind him as he left the library. Pip stood there, stuck to the floor as he stared at where the inmate had been standing, his hand still in front of him. His skin burned, tingling spreading from finger tips to his cheeks as he shook his head before clearing his throat to ask to empty air.
"What in heavens name WAS that?"
