A Losing Game

"Exiting Cell #256C"

            Sixteen months after being locked away in a tiny cell that he had to share with an asthmatic cellmate, Roderick Payne reveled in the reality of being free. He would no longer be forced to use the bathroom in front of a cellmate. He would no longer have to struggle to get to sleep while listening to his cellmate wheezing loudly for hours. He would no longer be forced to stay indoors for twenty-three hours each day. His involuntary stay at the Thomas R. Jenkins Correctional Facility for Young Men was over and he could add that horrific facility to his long list of obstacles he'd overcome in his eighteen years of life.

            "Be easy, Rod," called out Leek, one of the few friends Roderick had made while serving time.

            Roderick replied with a simple head nod as the correctional officers escorted him out of Cellblock-C. The officers escorted him to the same cold communal open space shower and changing room that he was forced to get naked in along with the other young men who were brought to the facility with him sixteen months ago. This time; however, he had the space to himself and was changing back into the clothes he had on the day he arrived.

            "I am not gonna miss you sad ass niggas," he sniped at the officers as he stepped out of the building with them. "Peace out, Officer Williamson and Officer Morris. Overworked and underpaid ass niggas."

            "Yeah, yeah, lil' mothafucka," Officer Morris replied angrily.

            "Next time you get in trouble," said Officer Williamson, "you won't be coming here, young man. You'll be going to the maximum-security state pen. And believe you me, there's some men up in the state pen that will break your little ass down. Now, get the fuck outta here!"

            With a combined sense of cockiness and accomplishment, Roderick stepped outside the gates of the Thomas R. Jenkins Correctional Facility for Young Men and into a world he hadn't been a part of in over a year. The air outside those walls smelled and tasted different than the air he inhaled in the small courtyard he got to only spend an hour in every day. He could taste freedom and tasting it made him want to do anything and everything he could to continue being free.

            Deven, Roderick's older brother, spotted Roderick and called out to him, "Yo, Rod! Over here!"

            Roderick looked over and immediately began heading towards his brother's Chevrolet Camaro; albeit, at a slow pace. The truth was he still wasn't looking forward to living with his brother for the first time since they were kids in their original household. Their first time speaking to one another in over seven years was just the day before when Roderick's caseworker deemed Deven fit to be Roderick's guardian while he attended his final year of high school.

            "Man, look at you," said Deven with admiration in his voice. "I told you you'd get tall one day. You didn't believe me." He stopped smiling when he noticed Roderick's indifferent demeanor. "Rod, I know it took a while but—"

            "Can we just go?"

            "Yeah, we can go. I just wanted to talk with you first. It's been a long, long time since we've even seen each other. I missed you, little bro." He approached Roderick and hugged him. After waiting a few seconds to see if Roderick would hug him back, he backed away and said, "Let's get out of here."

            The hour-long ride from the small rural town to the city of Calhoun Heights was silent between the two brothers. Deven wanted to talk and try to understand why Roderick was being so cold. Roderick's mind was on taking a hot shower alone and eating McDonald's for the first time since before he got locked up. Out of all the ways Deven saw that day going, he didn't expect for it to play out that way. All he could think about was when Roderick was little and would light up just to hear his voice over the phone or leap into his arms whenever he saw him in person. It was hard to receive the opposite from his baby brother.