Chapter Four

Metzger

Week number four slowly rolls around. Every day is as boring as the one before it, except today. After coming back in after panning during the afternoon, Richard is approached by one of the guards.

"Dr. Metzger wants to see you," he says and unlocks the shackles. "Shower and change quickly. He doesn't like to be kept waitin'."

"Yes, sir," he responds and steps towards the medical showers.

The medical showers have built in sensors to monitor the body, heart rate, blood pressure and all that other medical stuff. The warm water pours onto his back and sore muscles. He must admit that he is getting stronger with all the shovelfuls of muck he picks up. He can now manage a full shovelful of muck. His hands are rough and calloused over so he gets no more blisters from the shovel. After these four weeks in darkness, his skin is going pale. It's no longer tan from the sun exposure he's been used to for all his life Topside.

He zips up the orange prison jumper and follows the guard to wherever this doctor is. The guard raps twice on one door on the first level of the prison and waits. A muffled admission lets them into the room. Richard looks around the room and finds himself to be in a medical lab of sorts. A medical table is set in the middle of the room with stands on wheels off to the side of it. Tables are set up all over the perimeter of the room, covered in medical tools. The Dr. Metzger is sitting at the end of the room at a desk. He swivels in his chair and faces Richard. He seems like a nice man. He gives off this sort of father figure. His dark hair is still combed back and his beard is not yet shaven off. He waves a hand over a chair beside the desk which Richard takes immediately.

"Thank you, sir," the doctor says to the guard. "You may leave now." The guard nods and leaves the room, closing the door firmly behind him.

The doctor looks down at a file in front of him. Richard sneaks a glance and notices it that it's his criminal record with his prison photo firmly attached to the first page. He looks away and waits patiently for the doctor to start talking.

"Richard Straid," he says. "Fourteen years old, convicted of stealing space, a serious offence I've heard." He closes the file and looks at Richard. "My name is Doctor Metzger but you can call me Doc if you want. I'm the resident doctor here in Seablite."

"What do you need to see me for?" he asks and folds his arms over his chest. He has no reason to be here.

"Well this is the first prison built under water. The 'wealth wants to make sure that its inmates are doing well so they can build more prisons down here if need be."

"So we're pretty much an experiment," he concludes. "All for the sake of the 'wealth."

"Don't put it like that. Would you rather be stuck in a reformatory Topside where it's even more crowded?" Richard doesn't answer. "Exactly my point. No, you wouldn't want to be stuck Topside. Anyway, I called you here today so I could ask you just a few questions."

Richard nods. "Go on, Doc, I'm listening."

Doc smiles. "Excellent." He pulls out a pad of lined paper and clicks a pen. "Have you noticed anything strange happening to you?"

"No," he says warily. "Not really. Can you explain to me of what you're expecting exactly?"

"Like can you see better in the dark, can you hear things that you wouldn't normally be able to hear?"

Richard shakes his head. "Nothing like that, sir."

"Okay, thank you." Doc quickly jots down a few notes on the paper. "Next question, are you having any difficulties adjusting to life under water?"

"A little," he says. "I haven't been sleeping well. I don't know if it's the sounds of the prison or it's the feel of living underwater but I just don't sleep well."

"Explain."

Richard shifts in his seat. "I lie awake in bed for hours. When I finally do fall asleep, it's only for a few hours. I just can't sleep."

Doc writes this all down. "Thank you for telling me this, Richard. It's best to know all of these things."

"Is there anything you can do about my sleeping issue?"

"I could always set up some medication for you if this problem persists any longer but it takes time for the body to adjust to living underwater. Just give it a little more time and if the problem persists, let me know. You may leave now."

"Thank you, sir." Richard stands up and leaves the medical room.

He makes it back up to his cell. Peter and Eli both look at him from their beds. "Where were you?" Peter asks.

"Talking to the resident doctor," he answers. "Dr. Metzger, that's his name though we can call him Doc. He just asked me a few questions and then let me leave. It's not a big deal."

"What did he ask you?" Eli asks.

"Just questions about how I'm doing here. Apparently this is the first prison built underwater and he wants to know how the inmates are doing underwater. I told him I'm doing perfectly fine."

"So we're living in an experimental prison?" Peter asks and Richard nods. "Well that's just great. My life is now an experiment."

"No it's not, Peter," Eli says. "Your life is just being rehabilitated so you can once again become a functioning member of society. Or that's what the Warden said when I got here."

"For the last time, Eli, I told you I pulled the knife out in self-defence. I shouldn't be here."

"None of us should be," Richard says quietly.

Dinner comes around with the same meal only instead of potatoes it's a dinner roll. Something just a little different but at least it's a change, something Richard needs in his life. Nothing else is different though. It's all the same boring routine and nothing is going to change. And this is all for his benefit apparently, to make him a better person but he's already a good person. He did take care of Gemma for years and years didn't he? Shouldn't he be forgiven for that petty crime? He didn't kill anyone. He didn't sabotage anything or destroy anything. The only thing he did was steal space. It shouldn't be a crime but in the Topside world it's one of the worst crimes someone could ever commit. It's an unfair world Richard lives in. The powerful are taken care of and the poor are kicked to the side. Families are overlooked and forgotten, never cared for. And now he's being punished for it, for stealing space.

Seablite has changed him in the weeks he's been here and continues to change him with every passing day. He doesn't sleep, he doesn't smile, doesn't laugh, doesn't have fun. He works, he eats, he sleeps a little, and repeats the pattern. It truly is a cruel world he lives in.

At night he tries something different to try and get him to sleep. He climbs down from his bed and faces the back wall. He lies down on his back with his knees bent and his hands folded under his head. He began to sit up and then lie back down and continued. While he's awake he might as well do something that will tire him out.

He loses count of the sit ups and just keeps going until he is out of breath. He closes his eyes and lies down on the cold, hard ground for a while. He drifts off once in a while but wakes up and realizes he's sleeping on the floor. He climbs back onto this bed and smiles for once. He found a way to make him sleep. That way he won't need Doc's medication. He'll be perfectly fine from now on. He probably won't have to talk to Doc anytime soon.

He finds Doc to be a very nice man. He's nice than most of the guards here and is definitely nice than the Warden. This is a good thing. There is at least one person in Seablite in which Richard can trust. This is just what he needs to survive in this prison, a person he can trust.