State Correctional Instution for Gothic Punks ((Ghorror))

3. "Oh uh yeah by the way we're kind of roommates."

"Now, Mr. Horror, can you please tell me what happened with you and Mr. Sola?" My counselor asked me, straightening her shirt and clasping her hands on the desk before her.

I kept my eyes trained on her hair; one side of it was blood red and the other pitch black. I wasn't quite sure how to word that I had just realized the asshole who got me in here in the first place somehow was placed into the same prison as me and that honestly I didn't know how to deal with that any other way besides beating the shit out of him to take out my anger. "We have beef." I answered her curtly, leaning back a bit in my chair.

"Beef?" she asked, cocking one of her perfectly drawn-on black eyebrows. She had now unclasped her hands and put them in her lap.

"Yeah. Old stuff, doesn't matter now," I lied.

"But not old enough to refrain from socking him in the face, huh?" she questioned me bluntly, looking directly at me. I avoided her gaze.

"I guess not, no."

"You do realize it's your first day here, right?"

"Yes."

"And that you just punched someone less than 24 hours of arriving here?"

"Yes."

She sighed, seeming dejected and tired. I looked at the small items on her desk, like a picture of her and this guy, and a small, plain white teacup.

"Look, I'm sure you already get the drill, but please refrain from using violence to solve your problems. It fixes nothing, I can promise you that for sure. Just try to talk things out next time. This isn't like your normal life was. This is prison. Everyone's watching you at all hours of the day, and you won't be able to get away with things that you normally would get away with before. Since it's your first day, I'm letting this go without giving you an official slip for misbehavior, which, cough cough, having too many could lead to having your sentence lengthened, so you'd be off to a great start if I wasn't so nice and had decided to let you off the hook. But, I am going to make you apologize to Mr. Sola, and yes, I will be there to make sure you actually do it, so don't get any funny ideas now." She explained to me.

I nodded, feeling genuine gratitude for her kindness towards me being the little asshole that I am who's already fucked up pretty badly so soon. "Thank you. Very much," I told her with a nod of my head.

"Alright big boy, now it's time for you and me to go down to the nurse's office and apologize to your dear, close friend, Mr. Sola! Oh, what fun!" she sarcastically said, practically skipping out of the office, leaving me to follow. I liked her.

Once we reached the nurse's office, my heart decided to up and move itself from my chest and into my throat once again. There was my old boyfriend, Ghost, in all his fucking glory, sitting on a cotton cot, holding a rag that was stained with blood to his nose. I smiled a little to myself, happy to have given him back some of the pain he had so easily bestowed upon me. I took a step closer and he let his hand that was holding the rag down into his lap, revealing his bruised face. My heart started to race so fast, I thought that it might actually fall out of my chest.

Oh god, I had really missed his face, whether I wanted to admit it to myself or not. His hair was just as soft-looking as ever and a memory flashed back into my head unwelcomed of us sitting on our old bed in our old apartment. Ghost had been resting his head on my lap, telling me about something that had happened to him that day (I think it had to do with a dog attacking him or whatever in the park) and I remembered running my hands through his hair, not even focusing on what he was telling me, because he had looked so beautiful at the time. He still did now, I just really didn't want to believe it.

His eyes glowed the same puppy brown that made me reminisce about chocolate. His nose was purple and black from my punch and dried, red blood peaked out from underneath the shadows under his nostrils. His lips were plump and wet, reminding me of how much I had enjoyed kissing him also. All of a sudden, more than anything, I had this weird, sudden, unexpected urge to just topple him over in a big bear hug. Then, all the bad times and all the shit that had gone down in our past returned fresh into my mind all at once. I almost punched him again.

"Ricky, do you have anything to say to Ghost?" she asked me expectingly, making me feel like a kindergartner who had stolen a crayon from another student.

Ghost looked right at me, a look of obvious curiosity in his eyes. I looked away from him, uncomfortable now. I didn't like to be stared at. "I'm- I'm sorry, Ghost."

"Apology accepted, Ricky. I'm sorry, too," Ghost said honestly. I almost wished he had said it in a meaner, more bittersweet tone, just so I could have an excuse to punch his lights out again.

"Alright, Ricky, how about you take Ghost back to his room now? I believe he can show you the way there if you don't know it. You two can catch up on the way buck, huh?" she said before turning around and starting to walk back to her office. I cursed her in my head for leaving the shithead with me.

I turned back around to face Ghost, expressionless. The nurse silently helped him out of the cot, making sure he had his bearings before leading him over to me. As we walked out, she waved goodbye to Ghost.

"So, uh, I guess I kind of deserved that, huh?' Ghost said, quietly laughing, trying to make conversation. I stayed quiet, not indulging him.

"Not gonna talk to me, eh? Okay, I guess I kind of deserve that also," he sighed.

The rest of the walk to Ghost's room was quiet, with him leading the way and muttering out directions once we reached a fork. I strangely began to realize that the way we were walking was familiar to me. Don't tell me...

We arrived at my room and I hoped and hoped to God that he was gonna say something like "Sorry, wrong place, we must have taken a wrong turn," but of course, life hates me and the words that came out of his mouth instead were, "Oh, uh, yeah, by the way, we're kind of roommates. I think you're gonna be stuck with me for a little while now."