Finally going to have more hi-jinx with the inmates today. Yippee! Hopefully I can make cohesive plot for this chapter.
Chapter 10 – Stay Far Away
It's getting worse here every day. The guards are abusive and ignore our needs. Engarde won't leave me alone. The other inmates range from kind of annoying to insufferable. And Wright's visit did nothing but bring back horrible memories and reminders of what I've lost. I can't believe I used to share my bed with him, let alone convinced myself I had any sort of feelings for him. I wish I had told-
"Hey handsome, whatchya writin'?" Matt interrupted Kristoph's writing.
Kristoph cringed. Ever since Engarde had tried to molest him in his sleep those few nights ago, he had been very weary around his cellmate and tried to avoid him as much as possible. At mealtimes he got two of the other inmates that regularly sat with them to sit on either side of him so Matt couldn't sit next to him.
"It's none of your business," Kristoph hissed at Matt. He closed his journal, not wanting Engarde to peak at it, and slid it under his cot. With a sigh, he laid down, hoping to relax for a few minutes before they were forced to hang out in the cafeteria for "activity time."
Kristoph rather hated this time. He felt it rather pointless to get free time. They already had "outside time" for that. Besides, he didn't want to socialize with the other inmates. He just wanted to sit in his cell and read.
He hissed at Engarde every time he tried to get close until they were let out of their cells. They were led to the cafeteria where for the next hour the inmates had free reign of the cafeteria and the surrounding rooms. They were still closely monitored by guards, however.
As the inmates dispersed to find something to do to relieve their boredom, Kristoph went to a nice quiet corner of the room with a book to read. It was one of John Grisham's many courtroom novels because, try as he might, he just couldn't let go of the lawyer inside him.
Just as he was getting to one particularly tense scene, he heard someone coming towards him and looked up with annoyance. He was surprised to find that it wasn't Engarde for once, but Richard Wellington. He watched as the pompous man took a seat next to him.
"Don't mind me," he said to Kristoph, "I'm just trying to get away from Sahwit. If I have to listen to one more of his 'full-proof escape plans' I'm going to lose it."
Kristoph stared at him for a moment before going back to his book. A moment of silence passed before Richard spoke again.
"I don't know about you, but I have a great future planned for myself when I get out of here," he said boastfully, "Sure, a murder on my record may look bad, but I can easily fix that. I'll be the greatest student at whichever university I choose!"
"Aren't you in your thirties?" Kristoph muttered. Richard wasn't listening, though, and rambled for a few more seconds.
"Anyway, what about you?" Wellington asked, "What are you going to do when you get out of here?" Kristoph cast him a stern look.
"I'm not getting out of here," he hissed, "I have a life sentence. I was on death row before they got rid of the death penalty."
Richard gulped and bowed his head, deciding it wise not to say anything more. Kristoph sighed and for a moment he thought he was going to get some peace for once. But of course life hated him so Matt Engarde came over to them a mere couple of seconds later.
"Hey there, handsome!" Engarde greeted, "Are you from Tennessee? Because you're the only 'ten' I 'see!'"
Kristoph decided not to dignify that with a response and merely rolled his eyes. Richard gave Matt a disgusted look.
"That line was terrible!" he scowled. Matt just ignored him and sat down across from Kristoph.
"Do you mind?" he growled at Engarde, "In case you haven't noticed, I've been trying to distance myself from you!"
"Oh, I don't mind at all," Matt said in a dreamy voice, staring at him through half-lidded eyes.
As Kristoph glared at him, Richard leaned over. "I don't think you should use big words," he whispered, "They seem to confuse him."
Kristoph sighed with annoyance. All he wanted to do was quietly read. Was that too much to ask? And now he could see Gant walking towards them with some weird craft project in his hands.
"Afternoon, gents," he greeted as he sat down at the table with the three of them, "Gavvy, Beefy, Touché." Engarde shook his head and gave him a confused look.
"Wait, are you referring to me?" he asked. Gant chuckled.
"Of course! Who else would I be talking about? The name totally fits!" he pointed out.
"I don't get it," Matt said dumbly.
"Oh my god, you're so stupid," Kristoph hissed, rubbing his eyes.
Richard sneered but didn't say anything and simply returned to what he was doing. As if suddenly realizing where he was sitting, Matt glared at him.
"Um, excuse me, you're sitting in my spot!" he glowered. Welling looked up and raised an eyebrow at him.
"Uh, I don't think so," he said calmly, "I was at this table first, I sat down first. Also, Gavin doesn't like you."
Matt puffed out his lower lip. He raised a finger and pointed at Richard, clearly about to insult him or something, when Frank Sahwit came over and slid onto the bench, throwing an arm around Richard, much to his chagrin.
"Here's where you've been, Richie!" he exclaimed, completely oblivious to Richard's murderous glares, (it seemed Kristoph wasn't the only one who wanted to kill his cellmate), "I've been looking all over for you! I thought you were hiding from me!"
"I was hiding from you," Richard muttered.
"You sure can't take a hint, can you Sahwsy?" Gant teased, an eyebrow shooting up. Frank looked at him, confused.
"Seriously? 'Sahwsy?' That's the nickname you came up with for me?" he asked.
"Better than the first one I came up with," Gant confessed.
"Will all of you either shut up or go away?" Kristoph suddenly growled at them, "I'm trying to read and it's very hard to do with all of your pointless chattering."
"Don't worry, Gavvy!" Gant exclaimed, "We can be quiet! Right guys? I didn't make my way up to former police chief by talking all the time! No sir, I know how to follow orders and when to be quiet. When someone tells me to shut up I not only shut up I-"
He's doing this on purpose, I swear, Kristoph thought with anger. Slamming his book shut, he stood up, left the table and went to find somewhere quieter to sit and read. The others watched him leave.
"Was it something I said?" Gant wondered.
Kristoph went to a dark corner of the cafeteria where no one else was. It wasn't exactly ideal for reading, but it was quiet. And if anyone tried to approach him he cast a quick glare at them. Finally it seemed he could get some peace and quiet for a while. He didn't even notice when someone came and quietly sat next to him.
"Just can't stay away from the courtroom, can you Mr. Gavin?" said a quiet voice next to him, startling him. He looked over and saw Dr. Shuu smiling pleasantly at him, his hands folded neatly in front of him.
"I didn't hear you come over," Kristoph muttered. Shuu's smile widened slightly.
"I am like a ninja," he said, "You will never hear me coming."
Kristoph would have pointed out the mysterious music that seemed to follow him everywhere that would have made him a very poor ninja but decided it unwise and chose not to.
"Not to be disrespectful, doctor, but did you need something from me?" he decided to ask.
"Actually, I did," Shuu replied, "Your brother came to my office a day ago to check on your medications and he expressed concerns that your stay in prison might be causing you some stress and rise in your depression levels. So, I thought we could schedule an appointment for you to come to my office so I can assess you."
Kristoph felt his chest tighten. He always hated talking about his personal life and he hated admitting that there was something wrong with himself even more. The fact that he could possibly have to take even more medication made him nervous. But it was true. He had gotten more depressed since his privileges were taken away and having Engarde as a cellmate didn't make things any better. He swallowed.
"Ok," he said, "I guess we can do that."
Shuu smiled at him. "Excellent," he replied, "How about you come by tomorrow in the afternoon? I'll get a guard to escort you." He pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. "In the meantime, please fill this out before tomorrow so that I may properly asses you." He handed Kristoph the materials, gave him a small smile, then stood up and left.
As he left, Kristoph looked at the paper. It was one of those sheets that determined how depressed one was. He remembered filling them out all the time when he visited his old doctor. After a while he had stabilized and even got to an acceptable place, but now his depression had gotten bad again. With a sigh, he filled it out right away before going back to his book.
Where at that moment, the warning siren suddenly went off, signaling that a prisoner was trying to escape. The guards started shouting at everyone, telling them to stop what they were doing and get to the floor. With an angry sigh, Kristoph closed his book and slumped to the floor.
He knew this procedure all too well. Whenever a prisoner tried to escape, half the guards tried to catch him while the other guards locked down the prison and made sure the other prisoners didn't try to do the same. The cafeteria was closed and guards came around, shackling everyone's wrists. Kristoph wondered which idiot had tried to make a break for it this time.
"Seriously, Frank?" he heard Richard complain, "You were just here a moment ago and you chose NOW to try to escape?"
Of course it would Sahwit, Kristoph thought angrily, He would ruin everything.
They quickly caught Frank, but by that time activity time was over and everyone was forced back to their cells and Kristoph had to abandon his book.
…
Kristoph felt nervous as he was escorted to the doctor's office by one of the guards. Thankfully, it wasn't Howe who was escorting him for once. Which was nice, because that meant he knew he wasn't going to be abused. The guard led him up to the doctor's office, where "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies" seemed to playing softly inside and knocked on the door. There was a quiet answer and the guard pulled Kristoph inside.
Dr. Shuu was no where in sight when they entered. Confused, the guard looked around. "Um… doctor?" he called out.
"Yes?" a voice next to them asked quietly, startling them. The guard regained his breath before answering.
"Sorry, I didn't see you there," he muttered, "I brought the prisoner like you asked."
"Very good," Shuu replied with a small nod, "You may go now. Don't worry about leaving him with me. I'm sure I'll be fine."
The guard looked like he wanted to argue but decided against it and left the two of them alone. Shuu gave Kristoph a gentle smile as soon as he left.
"Have a seat, Mr. Gavin," he instructed, "I'll be with you in a moment. I just need to finish organizing my medicine cabinet. The medical board just sent me some experimental new drug and I'm trying to figure out how to get rid of it."
"Why? What kind of drug is it?" Kristoph wondered as he took a seat in one of the chairs for patients. Despite no longer being an attorney, he couldn't help but be curious about stuff like this.
"Oh, some new sleep aide that's supposed to calm and relax patients and puts them out like a lamp," Shuu explained, "They sent it out to a bunch of prisons across the country because the company that developed it want us to test it out on rowdy prisoners instead of test groups like companies normally would. The problem is that it doesn't mix well with a lot of common medications used for things like depression, schizophrenia, and bi-polar."
He closed the medicine cabinet and turned to Kristoph. "Also, while I get a thrill out of scaring my patients, I would never drug them without their consent," he added, "Which is basically what they want me to do. So now this drug is just taking up space."
"Pity," Kristoph sighed, "I would recommend pouring them down the drain or throwing them out, but that can have their own consequences. What kind of effects does mixing this drug have?" As if he would ever need to know this, but he could help himself.
"According to the notes they sent me, dizziness, headaches, light-headedness, weak-kneed, nausea, oh and you wake up feel more tired than when you went to bed," Shuu told him, "Some sleep-aide, huh?"
"I'll say," Kristoph agreed, "Though maybe you could slip some to Engarde so I don't have to worry about him at night." Shuu chuckled at that and walked over to him.
"All right, enough about that. Let's get your examination out of the way."
Eh, I would include the examination, but I think that would be boring. I think I can get in a few more chapters before the main plot finally kicks off, so look forward to that. In the meantime, please leave a comment! I love your support!
