Prisoner

Chapter 3

It's been two weeks and I have been visiting Ethan every day for counselling.

But I don't really counsel.

We just talk about everything under the sun except for the reason why he's in prison. I still don't know why, but I'm not planning to probe him for it.

But I know he's just broken inside for some reason.

I treat him like a normal person because I know he needs that.

Ethan doesn't show much emotion or affection, but when he does, it leave me feeling dizzy and scared.

Scared because I find myself falling for him one bit at a time.

It's not just his sweeping good looks that sway me, but how he acts. Like the way he would just straight up stare at me in silence or how he calls me Addy. How he smiles when he talks to me. Sometimes I feel that all he needs is just some love.

But I'm scared to love him because people say it's not right.

---

"Session's over."

I push back from the table and start walking towards the door. "What do you do after our counselling sessions?" I turn to Ethan.

"Um, go back to my cell? The rest of the day is pretty much pointless. Except for lunch."

I laugh, "Yeah, lunch is always the highlight of my day."

"Lunch isn't the highlight of my day." He pulls his hood over his head. "Thanks for the gum though." Ethan winks, slipping the pack of gum I smuggled for him into his pocket.

"No problem."

"Can I follow?" I ask the guards and they nod.

They cuff his hands behind his back again and usher him back into his cell. I watch them shut the bars with a clang and lock it. Ethan holds his hand out through the bars so that they can remove his cuffs.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" He wrings his wrists.

"Or later if I get bored being in my Dad's office." I curl my fingers around the bars and lean in. "See you later, Buttface." I boop his nose and sprint away before he can reach through the bars and grab me or something.

"You're so fucking childish, Addy."

---

ETHAN'S POV

Lunch is really not the highlight of my day.

First off, the food tastes like crap, secondly, the company is crap. It just sucks.

Now I'm just standing in line behind some dude with a shitload of piercings and thinking about Addy. The fact that she's in the same building as me right now and yet I can't see her, it kills me.

I think I might like her. It's been so long since a girl actually made me feel this way. But I'm not good enough for her.

I collect my shit food and walk over to my table. They make us sit with our cellmates, and my cellmates are a bunch of people who torture and kill for fun, or rape, and murder and more.

I'm in the same category as them. Which pretty much means I'm as fucked up as them.

"Yo, you know that girl who sees you everyday? She's wearing a red bra today." Hugh announces to the entire table. They all snicker.

"How do you know?" I push my lunch aside and attend to the drink instead.

"I fucked her through the bars of my cell, doggy style." He cracks his knuckles. Jace laughs.

"That's real cute." I swallow my pills and clench my fists around my glass. I don't want to start a fight now.

"True talk, she's hot as hell." Someone adds. It's true, Addy is hot and beautiful. But I hate how they're talking about her like that.

"How do you control yourself being in that room with her for half an hour? I can just imagine the things I would do to her." Hugh smirks.

"Shut up," I say.

Hugh smirks , "Come at me fuckboy."

"No."

"I can just imagine myself bending her over that table, spreading her and giving it to her right in the pussy." He smirks.

That rapist needs to shut up.

"Can you imagine her screaming my name?"

I was out of my chair in seconds with the collar of his shirt balled up in my fist. "Shut up about Addy or I'll break you." I spit out.

"Awh, Addy, you gave that little slut a pet name so soon?"

I don't think twice when I draw my fist back and punch him in the nose.

ADELAINE'S POV

Fight in the cafeteria. Fight in the cafeteria. I glance over at Dad with a knowing look on my face the moment his walkie-talkie starts buzzing. As a Correctional Officer, this is when he's supposed to do his job.

"Guess I gotta go break up a fight." He pushes himself back from the deck.

"Can I come?"

"No honey, it's too dangerous." Another officer rushes by.

"It's a serious one this time," he grabs my Dad's sleeve and motions him to hurry. Dad shoots me a warning glance one last time before leaving.

I can hear them speaking as they hustle into the elevator.

"Who's fighting?"

"Dolan and-" the door slides shut. Dolan? My heart rate picks up.

Ethan.

I jolt from the desk and sprint to the emergency exit. I take the flight of stairs two steps at a time, down one level to the cafeteria.

Then I realize I'm on some landing overlooking the cafeteria. I instantly hear a din, shouting and screaming and the cling of utensils.

It wasn't difficult to find Ethan, the mass of inmates have formed a cohesive circle around him and the other dude, egging them on.

"ETHAN!" I yell and he turns around immediately, locking his gaze with mine. He has a black eye and blood streaming down from his nose.

He opens his mouth to speak but the other dude grabs the lunch tray. I hear dishes clashing to the ground as he swings the tray and his Ethan across the face. I wince when the tray snaps in half and Ethan stumbles backwards.

The bunch of Correctional Officers try to push through the crowd to break up the fight.

I hear the shattering of glass and the next moment I see Ethan pinning that dude to the ground and smashing a plate over his head.

And I stare in horror as the gentle Ethan that I know, starts slashing wildly at that guy with a shard of glass, his teeth bared with exertion and eyes hollow and dark.

Blood pours from the open gashes of the dude's face but Ethan keeps hacking and tearing at his flesh.

I gag and close my eyes.

ETHAN'S POV

I'm faint by the time I step off of Hugh's body, he's still alive, as of now.

I drop the bloodied shard of glass and it shatters on the floor. I collapse onto the ground, drained of energy and probably blood.

And when I turn back to look at Addy, she stands there with her hand clamped over her mouth.

I know she will never look at me the same way again.