State Correctional Instution for Gothic Punks ((Ghorror))

2. "Hey, princess."

After that weird encounter with that guard named Chris, I went into the next room to get my picture taken by a guard named Ryan. He was really sweet, and after we were done, he helped me to my room. It was open with no door, low white brick walls that were about 2 feet tall, and next to other rooms with the same exact walls. So much for privacy. There were 2 beds in each room, bare and uncomfortable-looking and 2 cabinets for "personal belongings" (that's what Ryan told me). The bed on the other side of my new "room" was messy and unmade. I scoffed, remembering my old partner's bad habit of never making his bed. I wasn't really looking forward to having to deal with uncleaniness again, considering that one partner and everything he did was ruined for me because of what happened between us. I noticed there was a pair of lace underwear coming out of one of the drawers and I wondered just who exactly I was bunking with? I turned around to ask Ryan just that, but he was already walking back to his office that was overlooking all the rooms.

I sighed, turning around to flop down on my bed, the realness of my situation still not fully hitting me. I closed my eyes, laying my head down to rest in hopes of clearing my pounding headache.

***

I woke up to a beautiful manchild shaking me awake, his luscious brown locks tickling my nose. "Hey bro, you up?" the dude asked me, having stopped shaking me by now.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm up," I answered him, confused as to why he had awoken me.

"You new here?" he asked me, putting his long, brown hair in a ponytail.

"Uh, yeah why?" I responded, a million thoughts racing through my head now. Were there new guy rituals here? Were they gonna beat me up? Were they gonna stab me to death? Were they even gonna...gang rape me?

"Oh, just wanted you to know that the lunch bell rang and if you don't hurry up, you're gonna miss lunch." He told me in an empathetic tone which made me assume he had been in my position before. He flipped a stray hair out of his face.

I smiled at him saying "Thanks man," before getting up and following the crowd out the door. I assumed that the guy who got me up would've gone his separate way by now, but he seemed to be staying wth me.

I didn't know what to say but the guy started talking. "What's your name?" he asked simply.

"Uh, Ricky, Ricky Horror. You?" I answered, turning my head to look at him.

"Nice to meet you Ricky, I'm Johnny," he said, holding a hand out for me to shake. I shook it, noticing how strong this guy looked and that it was probably best not to piss him off.

"So, I'm just gonna warn you, first night's the hardest. First week really. No, whole time honestly," he paused, then continued, "Shit, that's not really comforting, is it?" Johnny laughed. I waited for him to go on and say he was over exaggerating or something, but he never did.

"It's just as bad as I think it is then, huh?" I sighed, giving him a sad smile.

"I wish I could say otherwise, but yeah, it fucking sucks." he said sympathetically. "My biggest piece of advice is to make friends. Without friends in here, life's shit. And hey, I can be your first!" he said kindly. I was honestly confused as to why this muscular guy was being so nice to me, but I went with it, laughing along.

We had made it to the lunch room by then and I froze. I had a deja vu feeling of all that time in middle school I'd sat alone, and all those past feelings came rushing back at me. I guess Johnny noticed because he patted me on the back, saying, "It's alright, man, you can sit with me and my group for now."