together | mb au

01

"You got another letter from him. I can't fucking believe he still has the nerve to write and call you," Eden says to me.

I quickly get up and snatch the letter from him. I walk over to the kitchen and thrust the letter into a drawer.

"Why don't you burn those? Or at least shred them or something, Jussie," Eden says, following me into the kitchen.

I sigh and close my eyes, not wanting to deal with this today.

"It's because you contemplate opening them, don't you?" Eden says, softly. "Jussie, you have to be strong."

I feel the tears forming and rushing down my face. I quietly let out a sob.

"Please don't give in to him. I know I nag you and I only do it because I love you. You're my best friend. I don't wanna see you hurt like that again." Eden pleads, behind me.

"I'm going to go lay down, ok? I'll call you tomorrow. Can you lock the door on your way out?" I ask. Without giving him anytime to disagree, I walk to my bedroom. I shred my clothes and hop into the bed.

A few moments later, I hear the front door close and lock.

I woke up the next morning and got dressed for work. I would have texted Eden but since I would see him at work, I decided against it.

................... NEXT MORNING...........................

When I was in the car driving to work my phone rang, but I already knew who it was. The same person that always called this time in the morning. Against my better judgment, on this morning I decided to answer it.

"You have a collect call from Messiah River, an inmate at San Quentin State Prison, a California state Correctional Facility. To accept the charges for this call press 3, if you do not wish to pay for this call please hang up. If you no longer wish to accept calls from a correctional facility press star." Came the automated woman's voice.

I remove the phone from my ear and press 3, then put the phone back to my ear.

"Your call is being transferred."

"Hello?"

"Hey." I answer back.

"Wow, I can't believe you actually answered the phone." Messiah says into the phone.

I pull into the parking lot of the hospital and park. I had about a half hour before I had to go in so, I sat in the car.

"Yeah." I say.

"How you been?" Messiah says.

I can hear other men's voices in the background and commotion.

"As well as I can be, Messiah." I say softly into the phone.

"Yeah, I hear that." Messiah says. "Jussie, I wanna talk but not over the phone."

"If you have something to say, say it now. I am not coming to that prison. I won't, Messiah." I tell him.

"Jussie, baby, I need to see you. I'm going to go crazy if I don't." Messiah says into the phone.

"Messiah, please. Stop with the letters and the calling. We're over." I say, the tears spilling now.

"Come and let me see you, ok? Have you even opened any of the letters?" Messiah asks, completely ignoring what I said. "I talked about my release date and everything."

"Messiah, I know when your release date is, ok? I don't want to talk ab-"

"Well, it got moved up. You know, good behavior and all." Messiah says.

"You need to be telling your girlfriend all these things, Messiah, not me." I say.

Messiah sucks his teeth into the phone. "Look, that's another thing we need to talk about, ok? Please come and see me. Please, Jussie."

"You have 2 minutes remaining on this call." The automated woman's voice said.

"Jussie, come and see me, ok? On Saturday, baby, please! Just come." Messiah says.

I could literally feel my heart strings tugging at the sound of his voice. Just like I always did with him, I caved.

"Yeah, I'll come. What time is visitation?" I ask.

"3 o'clock. I'll see you then. I love you." Messiah says.

"Goodbye, Messiah." I say and hang up.

I get out my car and make my way into the hospital. Time for work.

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