Chapter Ten

Spades

Richard is having a good time out in the ocean today, panning for black pearls. He actually enjoys it for once. It gets him out of the prison and away from the clutches of Doc and his medical team. He never has forgiven the doctor for what he did to him all those months ago. He feels betrayed. He feels worthless. He's an orphan and a nobody in a prison full of nobodies. It doesn't matter what he wants, or says, or thinks. He's just a psycho that needs to be rehabilitated.

Life in the prison has been on a downward spiral ever since his surgery several months ago. Peter and Eli were scared that they might be next. Soon enough one of the other boys was next to skip out on panning one day and wasn't seen for another few days. A week or two later another boy would disappear and then reappear with a scar to show for it.

Richard rocks the shifter back and forth and uncovers several black pearls and a rather odd looking object. Looking from side to side, he notices that the guards out today are rather slack about their work today. Probably because they realize that the inmates' spirits are broken and they won't try anything stupid.

He pauses in his work and picks up the object he discovered in the shifter. It is a knife. An emerald knife to be more precise. It is a short knife, the kind someone could use to cut fish. The blade is thin and yet so sharp looking. He stuffs the weapon into the sack filled with black pearls, meaning to sneak it into his cell. Once that is complete, he continues to dull pattern of panning once again.

He is summoned to Doc's office as soon as he breaches the moon pool. The guard gives him a few minutes to get showered and dressed up for his meeting with the Doc. He carefully wraps up the emerald knife in towel and hides it at the bottom of his locker, underneath his dive gear. He does what he's instructed to do and makes his way to Doc's office. Hopefully this time he will be leaving awake.

"Hello, Richard," Doc says in an eerily calm tone. Richard says nothing and just stands there until he's told to do something. "And how are you doing?"

"Well enough," he answers gruffly and crosses his arms over his chest.

"Good. Well, enough talk, please follow me into the next room." Doc leads Richard into a darkened room with a short, dark tunnel in the center of the room. A narrow looking bed sticks out beyond the tunnel. "If you could lie down on the bed, we could get this started and you can be on your way to dinner." Richard obeys and goes to lie down on the bed. He gets into a comfortable position and waits silently.

Doc appears above him and starts to apply these white circles on his body. Richard unzips his prison jumpers and eases off the t-shirt underneath, like it's all routine. He lies still and allows Doc to apply the electrodes to his body. Two are on his chest and another two are on his temples. Doc pushes a button and the bed slides into the narrow tunnel.

His eyes adjust to the darkness and he waits for all of this to be over. This is just another one of Doc's tests. Something he isn't too excited about.

Doc's voice crackles over a signal that is broadcasted in the tunnel. "This is an MRI scanner. I'll be looking at activity in the brain when you display your Gift and when you don't. Just lie still and don't do anything. This won't hurt a bit."

Richard does what he's told and lies still, doing absolutely nothing. A red light appeared and began to scan up and down his body. He closes his eyes from the harsh light and waits for this to be over.

A few minutes later and Doc's voice came up again. "This time I want you to display your Gift. Keep going until I say stop."

Richard sighs. He makes a black snake appear on his chest and begins to let it move at random. No specific pattern just wherever the snake wants to go. The red light appears again and begins to scan his body. He closes his eyes. Soon this will all be over.

"Okay, Richard," the doctor says. "That's all I need from you today." The bed automatically begins to move out of the tunnel. Soon Richard is able to sit up and yank off the electrodes. He does so roughly and puts his clothes back on. He leaves the room quickly, eager to get out of the darkness and as far away from Doc as possible.

There's still an hour until dinner time. He walks into his cell and into the bathroom. As usual he runs his hand over the place where the scar is. He can feel the raised skin underneath his hair. A permanent souvenir from Seablite. Something that marks him as a freak.

Dinner rolls around and he is slow to make his way to the line to collect his tray. Nothing exciting ever happens anymore. The conversations are quieter. They often look over their shoulders at the guards, wondering if they are to be next.

Richard finally slumps down onto the bench and focuses on his meal. Food is one of the things that keep him going. At least he still gets a good meal every day.

"Where's Peter?" he hears Henry ask.

"Don't know," Eli answers. "The guards took him away 'bout an hour ago. I suspect he should be back soon."

"What if they took him?" Matt asks quickly.

"The guards?" Richard asks then shakes his head. "They always take them after or before lunch. It's probably just a checkup." He hopes that it's a checkup. He doesn't want either of his cellmates to be placed on the medical bed.

Eli takes his empty tray back to the line. Richard notices a new group of inmates being led into the cafeteria. It's a small group of five boys, racking the total number of prisoners to around forty. It's been Richard's second year in Seablite and so far and it's been a boring two years. Inmates come in but they never leave. They eventually get a Dark Gift and soon they are operated on and tested until the day they leave, and who knows when that will be.

Eli returns with another inmate walking beside him. "-and this is where our table is. That's Henry and Matt, they're in cell two. And that's Richard. We stay in cell one. There's another cellmate as well that lives with us but he's not here right now. His name is Peter but don't try and call him anything but Peter. He doesn't like it. Sit on either side of the table," he says and slides down beside Richard. "It doesn't really matter."

Richard continues to enjoy his meal in peace. The new inmate sits down across from him. "Guys," Eli announces, "this is, um, I never did catch your name. He's in our cell, Richard."

He nods and looks up from his tray and takes a gulp from his whale milk box. He is shocked by the appearance of the new inmate that he coughs and sputters on the milk.

"Don't die now, Richard," Henry says.

He nods and coughs the remaining milk out of his lungs. Not even a flicker of amusement shows upon the inmate's face. He just sits there, fiddling with his utensils.

The boy is around Richard's age, sixteen. His inky black hair falls to his eyes. The thing that shocks Richard the most is the piercings the boy has. He has two lip rings on the corners of his lower lip. Three more earrings are pierced on the cartilage part of his left ear. His other ear as only one piercing on the lobe. His sleeves are rolled up to his elbows, exposing a tattoo of a game card, an ace of spades. How the boy got the piercings and tattoo, Richard will probably never find out.

"What's your name?" he asks the boy after the coughing passes. The boy remains quiet and looks down at his arm. Richard follows his gaze to the tattoo. "Is it 'Ace'?" Again the boy stays quiet and pushes the food around with his fork. Richard looks to Eli for help. He doesn't offer any and just shrugs his shoulders. "Would you like to be called 'Ace'?" The boy looks up at Richard and nods ever so slightly. "Ace it is."

"Have you been to the cell yet?" Richard asks the new cellmate as they step in. Ace nods. "Well the only bed left is the one under mine. Is that alright with you?" Again he nods and sits down on the bed with his hands folded.

Ace is very quiet. He doesn't say a word during the whole night and keeps to himself. Richard can understand why. It's scary the first night someone stays here. He remembers his first night all too well. The inability to sleep because of the creaking prison, the fear of the unknown for what might happen tomorrow. But Ace looks like a strong one. He should be able to do well here.

Peter returns finally but it seems as if he's in shock. Richard sees why. They cut his hair away, making it short against his head. "They cut your hair," he says.

"You think?" he says, his voice quivering. "I'm going to be next."

"Did they tell you that?" Eli asks.

He shakes his head. "But why would they cut my hair now? I'm probably going to be gone tomorrow."

Richard leaves Peter alone, knowing that it isn't the boy's style to be comforted. He's better off on his own and dealing with his own problems.

The inmates in cell one settled down for the night. Eli is the first to fall asleep. Peter takes a little while longer but soon he is resting easy. Richard, as usual, can't sleep and stares up at the ceiling, waiting for the moment when everyone is asleep and he can do what he normally does at night, sit-ups and push-ups. He no longer takes the sleeping medication Doc gave him. A few days after his surgery, he got rid of the medication, no longer trusting anything that he got from Doc.

The inmate underneath him doesn't sleep well either. Richard sees his feet still planted on the floor. He hasn't yet moved from his position. That means he'll have to wait until Ace is asleep. Then he'll be able to fall into his usual nightly routine.

Eventually Ace moves his feet up onto his bed and goes still. Richard drops down to the ground and begins a series of push-ups. Half way through the set he hears a voice. "What did Peter mean by 'he's next'?" he heard Ace whisper.

"So you do talk," Richard says and continued his set.

"Just because I'm quiet doesn't mean I don't talk. Do you always do this at night?"

"Pretty much," he answers as he lifts himself off the ground again.

"So?" he questions, "what did Peter mean?"

"I don't think I should tell you," Richard says truthfully.

"Why not?"

He grunts and lifts himself off the ground. "Do you really want to know what type of prison this is?"

"Yes."

Richard stops and stands up, stretching his sore muscles. He steps towards the cell bars that keep him in the cell. "After a few months, you'll start to notice something happening to your body. I was the first to find out that I had a Dark Gift."

"And what's that?" Ace asks quietly behind him.

"This," he answers and pushes up his sleeves to expose bare skin. He makes the black snake appear on his skin and makes whirl on one arm to the next. Ace doesn't say anything, but just looks at the snake with mild fascination. "It comes in different forms though," he explains and slides down against the wall. "Eli has what they call electromagnetic pulse. Anything electrical he touches will short circuit. Peter can hypnotize people so watch out for him. Henry in cell two is starting to show something as well. Not sure about Matt though."

"Does this happen to everyone here?"

"Just the inmates. It's because our brains aren't fully developed. So if you start to display something out of the ordinary then keep it to yourself for as long as you can. It'll save you in the long run."

"What if the guards find out about it?" he asks. "What do I do then?"

"There's nothing you can do," Richard says simply. "They'll find out about it. They always do. They'll take you to see Doc. His medical team will take a look at you and then decide the day when you'll be cut open."

That grabs Ace's attention quickly. His dark eyes look up at Richard. "They operate on the inmates?"

Richard nods and rubs the scar on his head. "I was the first one. They act so nice about it and then they go ahead and cut you open. Peter thinks he's next because they cut his hair away without his consent. Get used to your life here, Ace. They control everything."

"I'm sure I'll be able to make it fairly well here," he says. "Thanks for the information."

"What can I say, the inmates look after each other here. We haven't got anyone but each other."