Lying, thinking
Last night
How to find my soul a home
Where water is not thirsty
And bread loaf is not stone
I came up with one thing
And I don't believe I'm wrong
That nobody,
But nobody
Can make it out here alone.
Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.
There are some millionaires
With money they can't use
Their wives run round like banshees
Their children sing the blues
They've got expensive doctors
To cure their hearts of stone.
But nobody
No, nobody
Can make it out here alone.
Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.
Now if you listen closely
I'll tell you what I know
Storm clouds are gathering
The wind is gonna blow
The race of man is suffering
And I can hear the moan,
'Cause nobody,
But nobody
Can make it out here alone.
Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.
- From your love, Sel.
Jack smiled softly at the poem before he turned the paper over to see a picture of her attached to it. He nearly blushed, but prevented it from showing when he pressed his tongue against the inside of his cheek as he gazed at photo of Selena, missing her more than he ever thought he could.
He then started to put everything back in the envelope, only for it to get snatched out of his hands. His head snapped up to see no one other than Slick himself with his minions not to far behind him, leaning against one of the steel tables.
"Who is this from? My beautiful niece-in-law?" He chuckled, his dark eyes scanning over the paper. "You should get her to write me one of these and you know...send me a little photo too, but a little naughtier."
Jack snatched the paper and photo out of his hands and glared at him. "Fuck off. She isn't your niece in law and you aren't getting a damn thing from her."
"C'mon." Slick groaned. "You can't have her all to yourself you know. Lord knows I need a little bit of a woman in my life. I think this whole pod does." A smirk crept upon his lips, making Jack scoff.
"Listen man, you keep talking about her and I'm gonna have to do something about it." Jack warned him, glaring up at Slick who didn't seemed phased one bit.
"Alright, alright." Slick threw his hands up in surrender, seemingly mocking Jack instead of actually feeling threatened. "I see you got your dad's temper. I don't see why you're getting so tense nephew, there's enough of Mrs .Mercer to go around."
Jack stood up and shoved him as hard as he could, only for Slick to stumble back a few feet and laugh bitterly at him.
"You really fucked up now, nephew." Slick walked towards Jack with a balled fist and brought it to Jack's cheek.
After that, everything that happened from then was just red to Jack. One minute he was on the floor, then the next he was on top and then back to the floor again. It was a hard fight to tell who won, but the only thing Jack knew was the taste of copper filling his mouth.
Jack then felt his shirt get tugged on from the back and the only thing he could think to do was swing everywhere, but a familiar voice got him to stop.
"Jack! Cool down man, it's over!"
He opened his eyes to see Slick getting a reassuring pat on his back by one of his goons. Then he turned around to see Deshawn who had a hand on his shoulder. "You good bro. It's over, don't get dragged down into the hole." He laughed.
Jack doubted he ever get thrown into the hole. The guards don't ever do anything about the fights. The only time he seen guards take action was whenever an inmate disrespected them or when someone touched the cameras, other than that, they pretend that the inmates don't even exist.
"Everything will be fine, Jayla. We have a good team and they won't let anything happen to you." Selena smiled at the young girl who was lying in her bed, nervously picking at her bed sheet.
Selena glanced down at her pager that beeped and looked at Jayla, giving her another soft smile. "Looks like your mother is here. I'll be right back."
She walked down to the front desk and greeted Jayla's mother who was tall, dark, and beautiful. She didn't look stressed at all which is what Selena expected after hearing the stories from Jayla.
"Hi, Mrs. Wallace, I'm Dr. Medina. I'm glad that we could finally get you down here. Everything going okay?"
Mrs. Wallace nodded. "Everything is good. Is Jayla okay?"
"We did a couple of x-rays and it shows that Jayla has an enlarged heart and that's why she's been feeling the way she's been feeling. But, I went through her files and I seen that she wasn't born with an enlarged heart."
shook her head. "No, she was perfect when she was born. This is my first time hearing about this. We just went to the doctors for a few months ago and they didn't say anything about this."
Selena bit her lip, coming to a conclusion. "Do you have any kind of knowledge on your home being the area of drug activity?"
"Our neighborhood is, but not our home."
"Okay, well we did a couple of drug tests yesterday and it came back that she had nicotine and cocaine in her system."
"What? I know my kids don't do anything like that, especially Jayla. She's the good one. Honor roll. She makes dinner. She takes care of all of the kids, I just don't see how the hell she would be capable of doing this." Mrs. Wallace shook her head and gazed at Selena with hopeful eyes. "So, what happens now?"
"First, we're just gonna continue to monitor her, and then eventually she's going she need a heart transplant and undergo surgery."
A shuttered breath left Mrs. Wallace's mouth. "When is eventually?"
"Whenever it's her turn. It's a long list of other's who need the same thing she does, and I have to warn you that it takes time, especially for Jayla due to the drugs we found in her system, and unfortunately it will put her at the bottom of the list."
Mrs. Wallace brought the palm of her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes, biting her lip to keep it from quivering.
"I know it's hard to take in." Selena gave a short nod towards the hallway. "C'mon, let's go see her." She gave Mrs. Wallace a comforting smile then led her to the room.
"Fuck." Jack groused as he slammed the phone back onto the hook, gaining arched brows from Juice - an inmate who's in there for murdering his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend who supposedly used to beat the ex, but everyone knew the real reasons was because Juice was jealous and he didn't wanna sound like a bitch for getting upset over his girl, so he lied.
"You alright, dawg?" Juice asked, waiting for the receiver to answer the phone.
"My girl hasn't been answering any of my calls." Jack leaned against the wall and tried again, losing another fifteen dollars. "This kind of shit worries the hell out of me. I don't know if she's okay or got in a car accident, or what."
Juice stared at him for a long moment before finally replying, "Nah, she not in no car accident."
Jack huffed when his call didn't get picked up and placed the phone back on the hook. He inhaled deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose.
As he started to walk back towards his cell, something bumped into his shoulder, though it didn't hurt, his irritation was already at a high and this only added on to it.
He glared at the guy who was all skin and bone, who then chuckled with a sardonic grin and laid a hand on Jack's shoulder. "Sleep with one eye open, Mercer. You've crossed the line and now your times up."
Jack snickered, immediately knowing that this was just one of Slick's bitches. "What are y'all gonna do? Kill me?" He mocked.
He gave Jack a one sided shrug. "You'll see."
He started to walk away, but Jack wasn't going to let him get away with threatening him, not in there where everyone could see and start to punk him when he already had respect.
All the rage that had been built up since the last fight, came out faster than magma and it was just as destructive.
After having her things searched and going through a metal dector, she walked up to the counter where an old and heavy woman sat in front of an computer.
"How can I help you?" She asked in groggy voice, not removing her eyes from the screen.
"Here to visit my husband." Selena informed her, her fingers starting to drum a small beat on the side of the counter.
The woman huffed and slowly started to move her fingers across the keyboard. "Last name?"
"Mercer."
"First name."
"Jack."
She continued to take her time as she searched Jack's name, making Selena grow impatient, her leg starting to bounce.
She hasn't answered any of Jack's calls because each time he called she was at work or at the doctors office getting a check up for her disease, and she couldn't call him back so she was in a hurry to see him now.
"Can't visit. Visitations have been restricted."
Selena shifted her weight onto her other leg. "What do you mean?" She asked, keeping her tone casual and light. "I just called earlier and they said no restrictions and I was allowed to visit."
"Inmate 602205 was involved in a physical altercation with another inmate and now he is being held in solitary confinement."
"Solitary confinement? Until when."
"Until the fourth of February."
"But that's the day he gets out. I can't talk to him until then? He's gonna go insane in there, you can't do that to him, he has a past problem with depression."
"Listen sweetheart, I don't work in there, I work out here, that isn't my concern and I can't help."
"Wow." Selena let out a disgusted scoff and shook her head. "You people dehumanize them and isolate them and when they get out you wonder why they're so damaged and why they end up back in prison. It seems like the real animals are out here."
And with that, Selena turned around and left the prison, wondering how in the world was she going to keep this up with the kids now that they can't even get a phone call from him and how was she going to manage work, kids, a disease, and now a broken heart that wasn't even whole before.
I am so sorry that it took me forever to do this, it's just been hard lately
The poem belongs to the beautiful and intelligent Maya Angelou. May she Rest In Peace.