start a fight [muke af]

viii

viii

Luke stopped in the hallway of his unit when Sergeant Ashton and two other officers were already there.
The blonde picked up his clipboard, trying to look as if he were about to start his day. He figured Ashton was just checking up or maybe giving Luke a new inmate.

Luke couldn't help but worried he did something wrong, though. Maybe Ashton was about to fire him or transfer him. Luke wasn't ready to lose his job already! His mother would be disappointed and his father would scold him and—.

His thoughts were disrupted as he almost ran into his boss. "Uh, good morning, Sir," he stuttered, causing the inmate closest to him to laugh.

They were always making fun of Luke.

"Morning, Lucas. Night shift had trouble with a few of your men last night."

Luke didn't bother correcting Ashton. No one ever corrected Ashton, it was, like, an amendment. Do not correct Ashton, even if he gets ones name wrong. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"Stop fucking apologizing," Ashton spit, finally looking up at the blushing boy. "Anyways, there was a fight around 6, they were taking two from your unit and three from another to the work out room, and guess who decided to fight our officer?"

"I—I don't—."

"Clifford," Ashton said with a smile, "Your good ol' Clifford."

Luke stayed staring at Ashton, unsure what to say or do.

"He's in isolation until we figure out what to do with him. Do you want to go talk to him?" The officer at Ashton's side left, rounding the corner to his own unit. Ash took a step back, leaning against the rails that showed the open cafeteria below them.

"I—I have to do my rounds a—and, y—yeah."

"Boy," he paused, "If you don't stop stuttering...," Ashton trailed off. His golden eyes were scaring Luke, even though his boss had a smile upon his lips.

"Sorry, Sir." Suddenly, Luke was back in the academy, he was the small boy fresh out of high school who was too scared to speak up. "Um, yeah, I can go talk to him."

"If he behaves, you can bring him back. If he doesn't, send him to me or the psychologist and we'll figure out what to do with him." Ashton leant off the rail, walking around Luke and patting him on the back.

Luke was sure Ashton's hands would leave a bruise on his back for days.

The blonde turned around, promising his unit he'd be there to check them in for the day in a few minutes. If they didn't get checked in, they couldn't get on with their day of breakfast, work, and activities. They simply had to sit in their cell until Luke did the head-count.

Luke walked down to the first floor, and started making his way through the corridors. He had to unlock several gates until he was in the correct area.

There were only a few rooms in isolation since usually no more than three inmates would be there at once. It was mostly a place to keep them until they were transferred somewhere new.

Luke suspected Michael has been in there before. He looked in the one-side window and could see Michael counting the ceiling panels.

He typed in the code—something that took months to memorize—and waited for the sound of unlocking bolts echo through the cement walls. He stepped in, carefully closing the door behind him.

Michael looked up at him, his features relaxed.

Luke thought he looked so peaceful, and that was new. Luke has never seen such a tough inmate look so calm or fragile. "Hey," he said softly.