Carey had the cab driver drop her off two blocks away from the prison. She slowly walked towards the prison that held her son. She knew that she needed to visit him, 'He's my son,' She thought, 'I should be there for him.'
She stopped as she neared the prison gates. It was as if she were frozen or that there was a glass wall in front of her, keeping her from moving forward. 'Come on, you can do it. He needs you.' She tried to convince herself but it didn't help. Tears streamed down her face as she turned her back to the prison- turned her back on her son- and walked away.
Zack had been back at the S.S. Tipton for three weeks. London had only spoken to him once, and Woody twice, but that was more Zack's fault then theirs.
Every day he got up, went to school, came back to his room, did some homework, and slept. On weekends he stayed in his room and either slept or read the letters he had gotten from Cody.
The only time things seemed close to okay was when he would receive a letter from Cody. That didn't happen often enough. So far he had only gotten two letters from Cody and he had sent six. He understood though. It's difficult to receive letters when you're out in the middle of the ocean.
Zack sat at his desk re-reading the two letters for the thirty-second time. There was a knock at his door.
"Come in."
London entered carrying a tray of food, "Mosbey wanted me to bring this to you. He said its been a while since you last ate."
"Just sit it on my bed," Zack replied without moving his eyes from the letters.
London sat the food down and walked closer to Zack, "You don't wanna to be here do you?"
Zack looked up at her, "That obvious?"
"Hey, you don't have to be smart to realize you aren't happy."
"I hate being so far away from Cody. I know that Mom hasn't visited him at all and he has no one. When I went to see him he looked horrible. Like he was wasting away. I know what happened to Bailey was horrible, but Cody's still my brother."
"My room's weird." London said randomly, "All I ever wanted here was to have my own room, but now that I do, I kinda hate it."
Zack put his head in his hands, "Everything that happened just seems so wrong. Nothing makes sense anymore."
"I miss Cody too," London said with a sigh, "Without him here there is no one to do my homework."
That comment made Zack laugh. Something he hadn't done in a very long time.
"I tell you what," London continued, "I'm gonna give my Daddy a call and I can promise that our next stop will be Boston."
"Wha... Are you serious?"
"Why not? It'll take over a week to get there but once we do we can dock over night and you can visit Cody. How does that sound?"
Zack stood up from his desk chair and gave London a hug, "Thank you."
"Stop! Stop it!" Cody cried out in pain. He knew the screaming wouldn't help, but he couldn't remain quiet. It was too painful. "Please, stop," He continued, his voice becoming weaker. He could feel the cold pool of blood around his body, mixing with the water that poured from the shower heads. He felt the weight of one man lift off of him. He hoped it was over, but soon enough more weight was on him and the searing pain shot through his body again.
"No, no, no, no, n-" His voice was barely a whisper now, and soon enough he had no voice left at all. His eyes closed as he fell unconscious.
"What the hell took the guards so damn long to get there?"
"I don't know, sir."
"It's disgusting! This boy is seventeen years old! Three men had their way with him before anyone stopped it! Three!"
"I know, sir. But, he's gonna make it."
"Yeah, just barely."
Cody's eyes flickered open at the sound of Dr. Marcs and one of the nurses conversation but they didn't notice.
"There is only so much a person can deal with," Dr. Marcs continued, "What about when he gets out of here?... If he makes it out of here. He's gonna be so traumatized. It's just... It's sick! Those guards are paid to guard, but they just stand around and do nothing!"
"They don't all just stand around, sir. The ones who helped him are very good men."
"Yes. Very good men who had to go from one side of the prison to the other to help because the guards who were supposed to be at the showers weren't there!"
Cody tried to remain silent, but he had to cough. The sound of his cough made the nurse and the doctor slightly jump in surprise. "I'm going to make my rounds," The nurse said as she left the room.
Dr. Marcs walked over to Cody, "How long were you awake?"
"Long enough. How long was I asleep?"
"Four days. That was mostly my fault though. I gave you sedatives through your IV. Just stopped them this morning. How do you feel?"
"Foggy... and thirsty."
Dr. Marcs picked up a cup of water off of the tray that was by Cody's bed, "Here you go. It's new water, I promise." Cody tried to hold the cup by himself but his hands were shaking, so Dr. Marcs helped him. After Cody took a few sips of the water Dr. Marcs took the cup and placed it back on the tray.
"Three men?" Cody questioned, "I only remember two."
"You passed out."
"I guess that's a good thing then."
"Would you like me to bring the phone in here?" Dr. Marcs asked, "So you can call your attorney."
"Call her for what?"
"To tell her what happened."
Cody laughed a sad laugh, "What can she do? Get the men thrown in solitary for a few weeks? I don't think so. They just come out angrier than when they went in."
"Cody, you can't just let them get away with it."
"Dr. Marcs, most of the men here are here for twenty-five to life. They aren't afraid of anything. There is nothing my attorney can do. There is nothing anyone can do."
Dr. Marcs didn't know what to say. There really wasn't anything he could say. As hard as it was to admit it, Cody was right.
It took ten days for the S.S. Tipton to get to Massachusetts, docking in Salem. And thirty minutes for Zack to get from Salem to Boston.
"Who are you here to visit?" The officer behind the desk asked in a monotone voice.
"Cody Martin."
"Alright." He typed Cody's name into the computer, "He was discharged from the hospital today. I'll tell the guard to get him."
"Wait!" Zack called out, "Discharged from the hospital? What for?"
The officer sighed, "It's better to hear it from him, kid."
Ten minutes later Cody was walking down to where Zack was seated in the visitor's area. Cody had to walk slow because he was still healing. Under his eyes were dark from lack of sleep and he felt as though his insides were burning. Dr. Marcs fought to keep him in the hospital for a few more days, but he lost the battle and they made Cody go back to his cell.
Cody slowly sat down and looked at Zack, who was speechless.
"How did you get here?" Cody asked.
"I... uh, we docked in Salem not long ago. Just for the night."
"Oh, that's nice."
"Cody, what happ-"
"Have you seen Mom?" Cody asked, not letting Zack finish the sentence.
"No. The second we docked I came here. Cody, the officer out front told me you just got out of the hospital today. What happened?"
Cody shook his head, "It's no big deal. Just wasn't eating enough I guess."
"But you can barely walk or sit down."
"I... I'm just a little weak, that's all. I promise, I'm fine. So, how are you?"
Zack sighed. He knew Cody was lying, "I'm fine too."
"Is school going okay? No one is giving you a hard time, right?"
"It was tough at first, but it's okay now. They just ignore me."
"Ignoring is good. It's better than the alternative. Believe me."
"Cody, are you sure you're okay?"
"As good as I'm gonna be considering..."
Zack felt his eyes tearing up, "It's bad isn't it?"
Cody stared into Zack's eyes, "It's not good."
Got my SAT scores back today... UGH! Let's just say I'm taking it again in March. The thing I don't get is that I get straight A's yet somehow I suck at the SAT's. Anyway... Please review and make me feel better :)
Also, when I write London, I don't write her as dumb as they have her on the show. I sometimes think they go way overboard (no pun intended) with that.