Falling For An Inmate

Chapter 4: Chess

"Because I want to make a difference in people's lives."

Aaron was persistent with his concern about interning at a prison. "You can make a difference somewhere else. An animal shelter. An orphanage. Anywhere else! It's not safe at a prison."

"God Aaron, its plenty safe. There are officers with us all the time. Plus, this way I'll get insight into how a criminal thinks. Its basically research for the future when I go to law school."

"But Arya-"

"It's fine! Trust me." I persisted. I understood his concern but it really was safe.

"I just don't want anything like what happened two years ago happening again.." He trailed off.

At this, mom stopped whisking, still not turning around, and Charlie stopped chewing on the cereal in her mouth. Aaron gulped audibly.

The air in the room felt thick. My chest constricted and I was finding it difficult to breathe. I started fidgeting with the cutlery on the table in front of me, my mind whirling back to events of two years ago, making my breathing even more haggard than it already was.

"Mornin', family!" Dad walked into the kitchen, cheerfully. "What's happening?"

I gave an inaudible sigh of relief at the breaking of the tense atmosphere.

"Hi, dad! Going to get ready. Getting late. Bye, dad. Love you!" I tried to match his cheeriness.

I heard him chuckle and say 'love you too, sweetheart' when I was already half way up the stairs. I ran into my room to get ready and then leave for work.

~*~

"Alright, Bruce. I'll check the requirements and tell you tomorrow, okay? And promise not to get into any unnecessary fights again!"

"I promise. And thanks!" Bruce grinned gratefully at me, with a tooth knocked out that left a tiny gaping hole amongst the rows of pearly whites.

I smiled at his retreating back.

Bruce Walter was a chubby twenty-one-year-old boy who had been arrested for a bank robbery. I found it difficult to believe that such a sweet and gentle person such as him could pull off such a thing. He looked like he wouldn't or rather couldn't hurt a fly. I had asked him about it, only to be told that he needed money for his younger brother's surgery so he had to do what he did. But ofcourse, he got caught and couldn't deliver the money to his mother in the hospital. His brother died as a result of the tumor growing in his brain. I felt sorry for Bruce, which is why I was determined to help him get a good job when he was released, to secure his future.

Resurfacing from my thoughts, I gathered all my papers and slipped them into my bag. The next session was with Reynolds. Today's session had to be done in the yard because he was being given extra work to do, as punishment for getting into a fight with another inmate. That would explain the black eye.

I walked to the door leading outdoors on nervous legs and breathed deeply before slowly opening the door and walking out.

Officer Stolte waved to me and gestured for me to come towards where he was standing. I walked towards the yard with my right hand straight over my eyes acting as a shade from the harsh sunlight. 

"Hey there, kiddo. That your con?" He gestured towards a figure in a dark blue jumpsuit, shovelling the ground, a little further away from where we were standing.

I squinted my eyes so I could see properly in the intense sunlight. "Uh-huh." I said a bit uncertainly.

"Well then, get to it." He retreated into the shade of the officer's break room a little further back.

I cautiously walked towards the sun-soaked figure of Reynolds and stopped right behind where he was digging. For a moment, I decided to quietly run back to the meeting room and say that I couldn't find Reynolds.

To be honest, I was a bit afraid of him. He seemed so intimidating when I first saw him yesterday. Plus the hasty retreat, lack of communication and abundance of analyzing stares on his part made me feel more paranoid than I usually was. But before I could take the Pink Panther steps back, he turned around and stared at me impatiently. Shit.

"Uh- Hi! Um, how are you today?" I half choked on the amount of air in my throat. Was that even possible?

He looked over my head and then walked past me without replying.

Oh not again. I turned hastily and spoke in the most remorseful voice I possessed. "Look, I'm sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to offend you. Really, I-"

He let out an unexpected, soft snort of laughter, still with his back to me.

"Wait, why are you laughing?" I was confused at his reaction but a little relieved, nonetheless. It's always best to please the humorous side of people to get them to open up. At least I think so.

Reynolds sobered quickly, as if he hadn't intended to laugh but it just sort of sprung out of him. He grabbed a rake-ish sort of tool and a dirty sack of what smelt horribly like fertilizer and walked back to where he was originally shovelling.

"This is a waste of time." He spoke low, firm and his tone rang with finality. All the while, still turned away from me.

"What? No its not. I'm here to help you! If you could just tell me a little about yourself and-" He still wasn't facing me. It was kind of annoying. Like I was talking to his back. "Can you please turn around and look at me."

"No."

His reply made my eyebrows snap together in annoyance but I tried to stay calm by taking a deep breath. Once again, I initiated conversation with his back.

I cleared my throat to get a handle on myself again and ignored his quip. "Hey, listen. How about you just tell me your name and then we can work our way up from there. Come on, it'll be fun. We can be friends." I offered him a smile but obviously he couldn't see it since he was still busy digging and raking.

"No."

That's it.

Annoyance surged through my veins. I stomped right to where he was digging and stood in front of him, my face painted with anger. He straightened to his full height that made him tower over me and looked at me with a bored expression. But I didn't waver. I stood firm, and glared at him defiantly.

I had been trying to be nice but he was just being an ass. What was his problem?

"I don't know what the hell your problem is but I'm trying to do my job here. One that I'm not even getting paid to do. So, get your shit together and cooperate, will you? No, you know what? Don't even bother. I wont even ask you to tell me your name anymore. You're going to want to tell me yourself!" I fumed.

His expression was still bored, as he looked straight at me. "Is that so?"

"Yes, that's exactly so! And you know what else? I'm not going to help you with any college applications or jobs or anything until you tell me." I crossed my arms angrily over my chest.

My breath caught in my throat and my composure almost broke at his sudden change in expression.

He smirked. "We'll see about that."

He then turned on his heel and once again, walked away with fifteen minutes still left until the end of the session.

I stood still, watching him join Gen Pop and disappear among the sea of men. I felt a tiny surge of excitement. I felt like I had walked onto a chessboard with Reynolds as my opponent. This whole thing was a game to him.

Well, guess what con. I love Chess.

***

A/N: What's this? Two chapters in one day? Haha just wanted to make it up to you guys.

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Yours,
Ana