PR150N

Chapter 4

I hadn't thought about anything other than eating for this fifteen minute period. I was not going to lose out on something else today. I made sure to eat my cheese sandwich and drink all of my apple juice that I had ordered, and I was now finishing off my orange as the projected timer ticked down to the last minute.

"One minute left." The table reminded me as it continued to count down. I finished the last segment and sat back, feeling content as I watched the final few seconds go by in anticipation. I couldn't wait for what was next. It was social time. This was the only time us prisoners had in a day that was equivalently free time. We got an hour to meet up with other prisoners and chat, to meet in the entertainment rooms, to go to the library and read, to play board games. Whatever we wanted to do. This hour was the maddest hour of the whole day but also, it was thrilling, it was like play time at school. You never knew what was going to happen in that hour but you looked forward to it anyway. I already knew where I was heading today. Solomon had called upon me at breakfast time and this was what had been sitting in the back of my mind for the whole day.

Solomon was a reserved guy. He didn't associate with anyone outside of his four friends in his gang. They were the ones I travelled with in the truck and no one said a word to me that whole time, other than my very awkward exchange with Solomon when I had fallen into him. He muttered his words and then we continued the journey in silence, but something about that encounter helped me massively.

Arriving at the prison initially, it was quickly worked out that I was one of only two females that was heading into the prison, which put us at a massive disadvantage. The men were wild, pre-chip of course, and were wolf whistling, cat-calling, gesturing at the two of us, eyeing us up as if we were slabs of meat and they were lions. One man had tried to grab hold of me but Solomon was quick to get involved and put that guy in his place. Him and his four friends stood beside me as Solomon grabbed the guys hand and bent it backwards.

"You're not going to last long in here if you can't control yourself. Keep your fucking hands to yourself." The man's lip was quivering as he nodded, desperate for Solomon to let go of his hand. "Listen carefully. Don't touch her ever again." Solomon let go of his hand as he threw a quick kick into the man's groin, sending him crashing to his knees. "Let's go." He ordered and with no hesitation I followed him and his friends away from that man who was now writhing in agony.
We queued up and went into the prison in batches of five. They took our photos, finger prints, scanned our faces and hands and uploaded everything into the system. Then we got led into a pristine, white, bleached room. Myself and Solomon had been put into this room with three random people we didn't know. His friends would be in the next cohort. We stuck beside each other as the doctor explained we were going to be put to sleep.

"You can't do that without our permission! That's against our human rights!" I shouted out as the doctors began to leave the room and leave the five of us alone.

"Rights? You're a criminal. You lost all your rights when you committed your crime." The doctor said before they slammed the door shut. Seconds later, we heard whirring and vents within the room opened up and began wafting a smoke into the room. Solomon and I stayed side by side, sat on the floor and waited for the smoke to knock us out. The last thing I remember was us looking at each other and offering each other a half comforting, half terrified smile. When we woke up, we were chipped and ready for prison life.

"Social time. One hour begins now." The robotic voice announced before the alarm sounded that meant we could all get up and move around. I got up and made my way to the door on the right. I scanned my hand and face to allow the door to open and then headed straight for his cell, on the opposite side of the prison to mine. Number 103. When I got to his room, I had to scan my hand and face and then knock, waiting for Solomon to scan his hand and face from inside his cell to allow it to open. This was a mechanism they'd put in to stop people breaking into the cells of prisoners and to stop gang fights. If the person inside the cell wasn't happy with that person coming into their cell, they wouldn't scan themselves and the person literally couldn't get in.

"Ooh there she is." The guys always acted stupidly when I walked into the room, I never knew why, but they'd done it since the beginning. "Sol, the eye candy has arrived!"

I walked further into the cell and, as I always did, took in the inside of his cell. He clearly knew some very important people because his was bigger than mine, with the bed in a separate room from the rest area. My cell was a typical rectangle shape with the toilet being the only thing that was separated from the rest of the room. My seating area, my bed, the bookshelf, they were all together in the small space that I had. Solomon, on the other hand, had a room that had the couch and bookshelf in, then the bathroom in a room further back, and next to that was the bedroom.

"Sol, your girl is here!" Toby called out, sniggering behind his hand as the door to the bedroom opened and revealed Solomon and his girlfriend. My eyes widened as I shot a glare at Toby who was still hysterical.

"You idiot Tobes, his girlfriend is there. She will be pissed!" Ty slapped him on the arm as the two of them, emanating power couple vibes, strutted out of the bedroom and towards us. They walked arm in arm, Stephanie's hips swaying as she walked towards us with her eyes locked onto me, a sneer growing on her face.

"You made it then." Solomon was quick to drop his arm from his girlfriend and put a hand on my arm. "You feeling okay?" Stephanie's eyes were throwing daggers at me as the attention left her for all of three seconds while Solomon asked if I was okay.

"All good, thank you. I appreciate you guys helping me." I smiled, making sure I nodded over to the other four guys who were sat on the couches.

"Baby..." Stephanie's voice was like nails down a chalkboard. She twirled her finger on his chest, tangling it up in his shirt. She took another step closer to him, their bodies practically touching. "I need to talk to you privately about something." She offered him a kiss on the cheek, before she pecked closer to his jaw, and then nearer his lips.

"Steph, I need to have a business meeting." Sol stepped away from her just as the kiss neared his lips. "Can you see yourself out?" My eyebrows furrowed at his lack of emotion towards her, and my jaw dropped as she casually tried to to brush it off.

"I will only need a few minutes." She said, trying to sound seductive. Solomon shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Then come back later. We will be done in about half an hour." He shrugged as he walked back towards his bedroom. The tension in the room could have been cut with a knife. "Raj, make sure Steph finds her way out. Lex, follow me." Stephanie gritted her teeth as she narrowed her eyes at me, barging me with her shoulder as she walked to the door and scanned herself out. I swiftly headed into Sol's bedroom, just as instructed. "Shut the door." Again, I followed orders without hesitation. For the first time today, I watched him step away from the gang leader bravado and his shoulders dropped as he ran his hands through his hair. He let out a sigh as he faced the wall, his back to me.

"Are you okay? Is something wrong?" I kept my distance but my tone showed him all it needed to. I was worried about him.

"I mean it is, but it's also not." He turned back towards me, his eyes taking me in from head to toe once again. "Can I trust you Lex?" I was taken aback by the question, such an upfront one, one that I could have answered any way I wanted to. I could have said yes, I could have pretended I've dealt with loads of stressful situations that would make me perfect for knowing his piece of information. Instead, I stammered and stuttered around my answer.

"C-can you? I mean, y-yes of course. Why? Are you in trouble?" I kicked myself for answering like such a loser. I was in prison, and I had been here for months. Why the hell was I still struggling to sound confident?

"Good. That's what I thought." He smiled as he walked up to me, stopping inches from me. He bent forwards slightly so his lips were beside my ear. "I'm not in trouble." He whispered, making my hairs stand on end. "I'm coming up with a plan, a big one. And I want you to be a part of it."