016 The Awakening [ On Hold ]

Chapter 11 | Flirty Lunch Ladies

My eyes flick open like a switch in a dark room.
I was lying down now, but not in the elevator.
"Robert, Mia?" I called out.

My body was pressed against an uncomfortable mattress. I lean up, trying to retalliate. I almost hit my head on the bunk above mine.
The last thing I remembered was standing in the Unit Lift with Mia and Robert.

I look down, I was wearing a bright orange jumpsuit.
The room around me was small. An open toilet was pressed against the wall.
Rusted bars lined the front of the room. I'm in Decipula. I say in my mind. For some reason I couldn't remember how I'd gotten here.

I stand up and walk to the bars across the room, wrapping my fingers around them.

They were cold against my warm hands. I wondered if this was real or just another memory.
I feel something bounce off the back of my head. "Ow!" I say, turning around me.
Not, a memory.

A man was sitting in an orange jumpsuit on the top of the bunk bed, holding a pebble in his hand. "I was wonderin' when you'd wake up," his voice was coated with a thick southern accent. He had grey hair and a long scraggly beard. His face was smeared with dirt, much like his jumpsuit.

"Did you just throw a rock at me?" I ask astonished.

"I didn't kill yer' did I?" spit flew from his mouth as he spoke. He smiled with crooked yellowed teeth. He slides off of the top bunk and extends his hand towards mine.

"Sorry I alarmed you boy, the names Bart."

His smile seemed genuine and friendly. His outward appearance represented one of a criminal but his smile didn't match the picture.

"Su-," I stop myself. "Steven." I grab his hand in mine and shake it firmly. "I'm Steven," I repeat.

"You've got a tight grip Mr. Steven."
He releases laughing.

His palms were sweaty and coated with dirt. "So what'd you do to get inside this dump?" He asks, digging his fingers through his beard.

I tried to remember what it was we agreed on. "Illegal cup-gun weapons."

I almost said cupcakes. I legitimately almost told him illegal cupcakes.

"Cup guns? Never heard of em'," his voice cracks. "I've been here too long."

I expected prison to be a lot scarier than this. I pictured myself with a roommate leaping on top of me, trying to bite my head off. Bart seemed friendly enough.
Besides throwing a rock at my head.
"Why are you here?"

Bart's face becomes plastered with a sad expression. He wipes at his eyes as if he were about to cry. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a crumpled piece of paper. He leans over and wipes his thumb across a woman's face. She was smiling wide, hugging a young man that resembled Bart. "I was accused of killing my wife," he says sadly. "Her name was Julia."

I knew I shouldn't trust a word he said but I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "You didn't kill her?" I ask.

He folds the paper neatly, trying to preserve its shape. He sticks it back in his pocket and wipes his fingers on his pant leg. "No," he sighs, "no I didn't."

A loud beep rings through the air and a guard walks by the bars. "Dinner," he says, typing in a code. The bars slide down into the ground and I'm scared that when I walk over them, they'll come back up and impale me.

Bart walks out first, walking down the narrow hall. Other prisoners start walking out of their cells, getting in line to eat. Several guards walked amongst us, keeping everyone from misbehaving.