She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself tighter. The sounds of footsteps against marble floors were audible even from the first floor, mingled with snarky remarks she could barely make out and the occasional noise of protest.
The guards were bringing new prisoners in, it would seem. Her heart sank ever so slightly when the loud clacking of boots became louder and louder.
A small spark of curiousity burst into existence, which she attempted, and promptly failed, to will away. It was very rare to see someone who's crimes were worthy enough to be thrown in the third level of the prison. Much like each circle of hell, the larger your crime, the deeper your descended.
The King's prison was more of a quick storage - those who were caught were thrown under the cement and tarmac of the palace floor, where they waited out their sentence.
Either they would be set free eventually, or they would be sent to the Capital Prison - where devils walked among guards, forked tongue and horns hidden by the facade of a human, evil coursing through veins instead of blood. But not her, making her lucky, in some sick, horrendous way. She'd been in here for eight years.
She stared hollowly at the sillouhette of two men being hauled down the staircase by the guard - she didn't like him, and he didn't like her. Due to the lack of extreme horrendous crimes, the vilest offenders usually being thrown into the Capital Prison right away, the number of cells were few in third level, but enough to store a handful of extra prisoners.
Yet every single time a new one shows up, Rina thought bitterly, as she watched the guard not even cast a glance to the other blatantly obvious empty cells, heading straight for her own, her barred cage was the one they were forced the monsters into.
She'd been stuck with different characters. When she looked back, the memories were rather interesting to sift through. Each one of them had a different sort of mindset, a unique way to how they worked, what their reasons were.
Of course, that was her thinking positively. If she had decided to cave into her pessimistic side and allowed herself to wallow in misery, she'd say she had shared rooms with the most violent and horrible of criminals, she'd heard gruesome tales.
Rina wasn't very strong, the prison food not necessarily being the most nutritious, and neither did she get much physical activity. Special treatment for her, she supposed. The other prisoners could leave their cell every morning to go out to the backyard, while she was stuck on the top bunk, fiddling with her fingers or sinking into thoughts. Prison gave her too much time to think.
She rocked back and forth on her top bunk, letting out a sigh through her nose, praying that for once, she'd had have decent, civilized people who wouldn't try to strangle her in her sleep as cell mates.
But if they were to be thrown into the deepest part of the prison, those adjectives could be tossed out the window with ease. "Get in." The cold, biting tone of the guard was just as sharp as the blade he used to prod the two men into the cell, the two of them turning to glare at him as he slammed the door, the metal bars banging together.
"Love the hospitality." One of them called out at the disappearing back of the guard, who turned back and sneered at them. "Give it a week or two, and that cocky attitude of yours will soon disappear." The man said, before vanishing.
Rina was silent, tilting her head as she observed the outline of the boys shuffle around her cell. "What sort of a hell hole is - holy shit!" The same boy jumped in fright as he looked up, making eye contact with Rina, who raised her hand and gave a small wave.
He stared at her with wide eyes, jaw loosely slack, before he turned to his equally dumbfounded companion. He nudged the other boy, who gave him a clueless look, before they turned back in unison and looked at her.
If she could break the silence, she would. She settled for sticking out her hand, giving them a wry smile as her eyes glanced over their features.
The taller of the two had a rather distinct shade of blond which faded into an earthy brown, piercing green eyes, a sharp nose and full lips. He looked like a young adult, someone who should've been out in the capital, emerging from university with a bag hanging from his shoulders.
The other one looked softer, smaller, with a button nose and messed up dark locks, eyes twinkling with a look she recognised - mischievous intelligence, the need to dart around and explore, create and satiate the desire to know.
It made her sad - that was what she'd once seen her own eyes look like.
The tall boy had been staring at her hand suspiciously, as though it was a weapon, so she withdrew it with narrowed eyes. Jerks, she thought sullenly to herself.
"I thought we would be getting a cell to ourselves, Mark." The boy whispered, leaning down to say the words right into the smaller's ear, completely ignoring Rina.
That was fine, she could hear them anyway.
"It must've been some sort of error." Mark replied, eyebrows furrowing as he squinted around the cell. "Where are the goddamn lights?" He muttered.
Rina pointed to the corner of the room, where a single switch was fixed, barely visible in the dim light provided by the bulb hung in the corridor outside. "Ah," Mark's eyebrows were raised as he bumped into the edge of the bottom bunk of the bed, letting out a small sound as he bent down to switch on the soft light.
"Who are you?" The other man turned to her. Rina hesitated, before shrugging. "What does that mean?" He raised an eyebrow. She pursed her lips, shuffling back and leaning against the wall, shrugging once again.
The man frowned, crossing his arms. "If you didn't want to answer, you could've just said so." He said sullenly, reminding her of an immature child.
Rina rolled her eyes, tapping at her throat with her index finger, before shaking her head.
"You can't speak?" The other one, Mark, asked with surprise. She glanced at him, and nodded. "Oh." He looked vaguely disheartened, a mix of discomfort and sympathy on his features.
"I didn't even know there would be anyone this deep in the prison." Mark muttered, nudging the green eyed man.
"Mark, shut up. He's not deaf." The latter scolded, gesturing to her. Rina almost snorted, but didn't say anything. She didn't have a very curvy figure, nor did she have hair that was long. Perhaps it was for the best if they never found out she was a lady instead. Others had tried things when they found out her gender.
"I'm Lucas." The green eyed man said, giving her a faint smile, surprising her. "And I'm Mark." The brown haired boy said.
He looked startlingly innocent. It made her want to reach down and shake him until his eyes rattled and his mask fell off. No one was innocent of they even stepped foot into this cemented cage.
She gave them a tight smile, before looking away. There never was much to do or talk about when you shared a cell with someone. This was probably the most conversation she'd had with a cellmate, the others usually eyed her nastily or grunted incomprehensible words.
Evidently, the other two thought the same. Lucas pointed to the lower bed of the steel bunks opposite her own, and said loudly, "I'll take this one."
Mark gave him a thumbs up, looking up at Rina with careful eyes. "It's alright if I take the lower one then, right?" He asked, pointing to the bed below hers, to which she nodded, before flopping down on her own.
They'd probably be out of her cell by the next month anyways, perhaps sent on their way to the gallows, or taken to the Capital Prison, so she didn't really have to worry about necessarily getting on their good side, she supposed.
Either way, she'd be back to being alone once again, stuck in the desolate, empty prison with only the guards company. She stuck her hand inside the pillowcase, thumbing through the sharp edges of several sheets of paper that two of the only friends she had in this place gifted her with.
They were mostly filled with badly drawn scribbles or nonsensical writing. It was probably the inky reason she was still sane.
She ignored the shuffling noises her two new cell mates made as they twisted around the cramped room, too small for three people, firmly keeping her eyes planted on the wall. She forced her eyes shut, trying to even out her breathing.
That was the best way to avoid conversation - also the best way to get killed, but she trusted her instincts to kick in if she sensed she was danger. She sighed, shifting around, before she slowly dozed off, not realising she slipped straight into the arms of sleep.
|
Lucas' height allowed to him to quickly glance to the top bunk, checking if the unknown boy was truly asleep, before he turned to Mark once again.
"How are we supposed to do what we came here for with a third person in the cell?" He whispered harshly, making sure not to raise his voice.
"This part of the prison is usually empty." Mark frowned, ignoring Lucas's question and instead staring at the small frame of the person curled up on the upper bed.
"Only the worst criminals are sent here. The vast majority are on the first level, because their crimes are mediocre." He turned to Lucas curiously. "What do you think he did, exactly?" He asked, voice dropping to a whisper.
"Whatever it was," Lucas over the smaller figure that breathing steadily, face hardening, "It makes it ten times more dangerous to be stuck in here for too long."
Seating himself on the cold metal cot, he rummaged through the small pocket, barely noticeable, in the side of his orange jumpsuit, pulling out a tiny chip.
He handed it to Mark, running a hand through his hair stressfully as he watched the younger lean down and attach it to the light switch, eyes flickering frequently to make sure the boy was still asleep.
"Let's just get this thing over with." Lucas sighed, picking at the itchy uniform. "Taeyong gave us a maximum of two weeks before we're shifted."
He leaned back, glancing once again at Mark as he let out a triumphant sound.
"Yeah, I just got to set this stuff up," Mark agreed, hands pressing the chip as Lucas watched curiously. Ever so silently, faint emerald lines extended from the chip, covering the small switchboard, squares traced out on every inch provided before the light died, and they were once again left the flickering glow from the dim tube light.
"That's good, right?" Lucas raised an eyebrow, sighing when Mark turned to him, eyes gleaming. "Hell yeah." The other said, looking like he could start vibrating out of excitement any second, much to Lucas' dismay.
"We can get out of here faster than I thought."