One thing I've learnt about prison is it's the waking up that's the hardest. For a short few seconds between dreams and reality you can kid yourself where you are. I like to pretend I'm visiting my grandparents farmhouse in the english countryside. Where you can hear the chickens outside the cottage and the sun is streaming through the gap in the curtains. And then I open my eyes and have to face the reality I'm in Litchfield prison. My mood sinks.
As I get up early I manage to get dressed slowly, take my time and moving my tired muscles. I know I need my daily dose of antidepressants to help balance the chemicals in my brain. I know once I have them, no more headaches and it'll be easier to face the day instead of wanting to curl up under the covers and not want to move.
When everyone wakes up, I'm already sat with my reading glasses on taking in the wonderful Stephen King novel IT.
"Morning kid, since when did you wear glasses?" I heard Nicky's voice ask from above my head. I looked up to see her wiping the sleep from her eyes.
"Oh since I was 11, I only wear them for reading though" She nodded her head and looked around the room to see the other inmates waking up too. She starts to get change and I quickly duck my head back into my book.
By the time Piper gets changed, it's nearly time for breakfast and everyone is doing their own thing in the room. Existing in each others space. She turns her head to see pornstache looking into the room, watching as she puts her bra on.
Nicky starts to making a snorting sound, trying to clear her throat hilts putting her black boat on. DeMarco and I exchange glances and roll our eyes.
"Nichols, you sound like a broken hover. Shut the fuck up" I shouted up to her. She just continued to make the noise louder. She looks over to Miss Rosa's bunk who was plucking hairs from her chest.
"Ew. You sick fuck, do that in the bathroom" Nicky complained
"She's got cancer" I defended the older woman.
"Is he allowed to watch us like that?" Piper asked once she finished getting dressed.
"Pornstache?" Nicky jumped down from the top bunk on to the concrete floor before continuing "He does whatever he wants" I flipped over a page to try to start the next chapter "One of these days, you're going to have to change your panties, Chapman. That shit's gotta be getting ripe"
She then made her way over to the mirror "Look at this" pointing to her roots turning around to face us "I asked Sophia to do my roots and she says there's a two week waiting list"
I folded the page I was on and gave Nicky a bored look. DeMarco removed her mask and chuckled to the red head.
"I wouldn't let that he-she touch my hair with a 10 foot pole" the older woman commented.
Nicky frowned at her. "Well, hey, maybe you'll get lucky and go bald everywhere but in the tits like Rosa. And Sophia's pole in now a hole." DeMarco made the okay sign with her thumb and finger as she pulled her mask back on her face to help her breathing.
A man over the speakers suddenly announced names that would be getting assigned bunks in the cube. My name being on the list. Finally I was getting out of here and into the beige uniforms with a little bit more space.
"Wait, you got assigned?" Piper looked at me.
"Yeah, yesterday morning whilst you was in the shower. I'm bunking with Jones. You know? The Yoga instructor"
"You know, I did my time in SHU. How much longer are they gonna keep me in here with Darth Vader and Mr Clean?" Nicky asked. She walked across the room and flopped on to my bed in the space next to me picking up the heavy book thumbing the pages.
"Fuck you" DeMarco's croaky voice said.
"Why didn't I get assigned?" The blonde asked pulling the orange top over her head.
"They're probably sending her to Spanish Harlem" Nicky pointed to Daya. "They're gonna put you in The Suburbs with the other white people" she pointed to herself and me.
"So how do they choose your roommate?" I shrugged. That was my answer to Piper's question. If you asked me I just got lucky.
"Why?" Nicky asked back. "You afraid you're gonna end up with your rocka-lezzie girlfriend?" I took my book back from the woman sitting next to me and slapped her on the arm with it. This cause her to look at me and rub her arm. She laughed.
I made my way to the cube that hosted beds for myself and Jones. I was now in the beige uniform feeling almost like i was now part of the family instead of being an outsider.
"Hi Jane" I looked down to the floor to see Jones in a position. "How you feeling?"
"Not too bad, thanks for asking" I looked around the space to see Jones had made some room for me, two hooks were empty and I had a whole cabinet to myself. I put my book on top of it. I can make this work I thought.
Needing medication here is awful. The queue is massive, all I need is my serotonin tablet and then I can go on my merry way. I've been waiting for over half an hour now, watching the clock tick slowly as it hangs on the wall.
"Burset" Called the nurse
"What are those? They aren't my pills" Sophia said as she stepped forward.
"They are now. Whole prison is going generic"
"What's the dose?"
"Point five milligrams" he answered her question.
"Then that ain't enough. I need four of those" Sophia said pushing the little paper cup back to him.
"I do what the chart says" he argued back. "Talk to your counsellor"
Sophia turned on her heel and walked away. The nurse sighed and shouted "Grey" I stepped up, reached out for the paper cup "Need to be taken with food, no check" I sighed with relief. It was the correct dose, now I can go and have some breakfast.
Later in the day, I was collecting the last of my belongings in the shared room. Piper walked into the room carrying a big box of items.
"Ah it's just like old times" I joked as I watched her shuffle in.
"I got commissary" she ignored my comment putting down the box on to her bed.
"Look whose ship finally came in" Nicky smirked looking at the blonde. Piper began handing out objects to people who helped her throughout the first few weeks here.
"Nicky, I have your cup" She just laughed and passed it to me "And Nivea. It interest" Piper shrugged.
"Well, goodbye bitches, I'll see you around" I gave DeMarco and Rosa a hug before I left. Piper even gave me a bookmark. I nodded a thanks to her as I passed and made my way to the cubes carrying the last of my belongings.
Apparently the night before Crazy Eyes' had pissed on the floor in front of Miss Claudette and Piper's bed arrangements because Piper had rejected her. The gossip had spread around the prison, I made sure to keep my distance from Piper, not wanting to smell the horrible stench.
Job assignments happened rather quickly, I ended up in the Kitchen under the orders of Red who had me chopping and dicing vegetables for todays' meals. I knew I was being slow but I wasn't very good at chopping and my ex drug dealer girlfriend once came at me with a knife when I stole her stash to sell for myself. So holding a knife in my hand brought back a couple of bad memories.
"Faster, Jane. You gotta be quick in this kitchen" Red said bringing more vegetables to my station "If we all went at your pace, we'd get nothing done" Red clapped her hands at me to go quicker.
Once the shift was over we ended up in the common room helping decorate the place for Mercy's leaving Litchfield party. Myself, Jones and Sister Ingles was rifling through a cardboard box full of odd bits of things seeing what we could use. Mercy also put some of her belongings on the window for inmates to claim.
"Mercy, can I have these?" Jones asked across the room
"Yeah, take 'em, Woodstock."
"What about this?" I asked, holding up a large T-shirt. Mercy gave me a questioning glance "I could use it as bed clothes" I shrugged.
"Fine. Whatever" Mercy said, not really caring what happens to it.
"Whatever?" Boo got up from her seat "I gave you that shirt"
Oh crap. I looked down at the top as Mercy made her way over, if I'd have known they were going to fight over it, I would have asked for it hours ago. Lovers quarrels are alway entertaining to watch. Especially when it is between exes.
"Can I have that?" The slim brunette held out her hand, and sniffs the shirt "You might wanna wash it. Still got some stank on it" Mercy handed it back to me.
I bit my lip and made my way over to Red, trying not to laugh. "Mercy should know better than to fuck with Boo this close to her release date" Red tutted and mumbled to herself about what happened to someone name Shelly.
Later in the afternoon, it was revealed that someone had stolen a screw driver from the workshop area, we all had to stand outside our cube and wait until a 'thorough search' had been completed. I said goodbye to Jones and made my way to the kitchen to serve the dinner.
Mercy was leaving in the morning, so the inmates who knew her the best, decided to thought the part in the evening, before final checks and lights out. Toilet paper was thrown all around the room and tied to things looking more like a prank gone wrong than a leaving party.
"Place looks like crap" Boo said raising her eyebrows watching Alex and I tie the toilet paper to parts of the cage separating the cafeteria and the common room.
"We're lucky they're letting us get it at all, after the raid" Tricia replies "Would you get that more over to the left" She commanded Alex who stood on the ladders. Alex got uninvited to the party after making some comments on the presentation of the place. Tricia looked at me expectantly.
"Nope, no way. Have you seen my size? There's no way in hell i'm going to be able to reach up there" I gestured to my small frame. "It's not happening" I passed her the rest of the toilet roll and walked out the room. Heading to the library.
Alex and I ended up lying head to toe reading different books. Enjoying the silence the other person gave. Nicky came up to us and stood by Alex's head. I shut IT and sat up to make some room for her.
"You're having a little Barnes and Noble moment?" She looks at both of us and made her way to sit next me.
"Urgh, my bunkie is hosting Bible study. Which usually I can tune out but once they started arguing over who gets raptured first, I had to go"
"Yeah I'm so getting raptured first. I technically died on three separate occasions and I've met God. Dude fucking loves me." Nicky said casually.
"I won't be far behind you then, I've been hit by a car and nearly stabbed to death both meant staying in hospital for a number of days, weeks to recover after I died on the operating table" I said to them. Alex chuckled.
"I had this roommate, she was a history major. She claimed that she died doing a bunch of whip-its and that an angel of darkness gave her all the answers to her Renaissance final and sent her back"
"Huh, how'd she do?" I asked, leaning over Nicky to look at Alex.
"I think she got a B" I was impressed. I wish God gave me answers to my problems when I died and came back to the land of the living.
"Is that how you know Chapman, through college?" The curly haired woman asked.
Alex raised her eyebrows. "Kind of"
"Look. I've been here almost three years. I thought I saw all the permutations of runcher theatre, but you two are in a whole new play" Alex scoffed "What the fuck went on with you outside?"
"I don't know. Things. And stuff" Alex shrugged and faced the shelf of books across from us.
"Fine. I'll let my imagination keep running wild"
"Wait, three years? How much time have you got left?" I asked Nicky. She looked at me sadly fiddling with hands.
"Two more" shit, that's a long time.
"I don't even know when I get out of here I've lost track already" said Alex "All I know is I've got a fuckload of time with these crazy, stupid fucking bitches"
"Should we plan to escape?" Nicky asked grabbing both of our hands "Where do you wanna go?"
"I used to know. But now I can't get past the swirling darkness in my brain long enough to land on anything" Alex breaks down a little and Nicky just watches her with a sad smile on her face squeezing my hand before letting us both go.
"I was just starting to like you, Vause. You going to go soft on me?" Alex sniffed and Nicky brought Alex's head on her shoulder "It'll be alright sister. There's always hope tomorrow'll be. Taco night"
"Tomorrow is beef and noodles night" Taystee piped up from the row behind us. The three of us looked at each other and burst into a fit of giggles.
