Sam and Colby: The Penitentiary

28

"They cut knives out of steel bedframes with guitar strings and dental floss, snuck syringes of heroin in here in carved out bibles, blankets would turn black from cockroach shit, someone got burned alive by a bottle of whiskey and a match someone threw into one of the cells, that kind of shit," Jake said. He was filling Colby and me in on what we'd missed when we were downstairs while we dragged our bags up the stairs to where we were staying.

"Jaz is downstairs in the office grabbing the other set of keys for the guard's quarters. We're staying in there," said Sam.

"Is it furnished or what?" asked Corey.

"I have no idea, actually," said Sam. "But they do overnight tours so they'll obviously have something set up for us."

"Hey, Mom, are you good to stay here?" asked Jake.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Well, you know. The stories being all...relatable and shit," he said. I gave him a soft smile.

"Yeah. I'll be okay. Thank you for asking," I said.

"Course," said Jake, giving me a fist bump.

"Oh, and we explained to Jaz why you left. No worries about that," Corey said.

"Okay, good," I replied, not really feeling the need to repeat my godawful story. The other three guys had left right before Colby and I went back upstairs to join our group.

"Okie dokie, folks," Jaz said, walking into the hall behind us. "We've got the full setup in the room that was used as the Warden's quarters. It's a nice, big room. We've got some sleeping bags and air mattresses for you, along with two master keys for you guys. Any questions before I head out for the night?"

"Lights?" asked Sam.

"Guard's quarters has lightswitches in the room like modern day, and there's big breaker boxes at the end of each hallway on both sides. Flip all of the switches in there to turn the lights on in the sector. I'll be honest though, they're not always the most reliable," said Jaz.

"Okay, that's fine. We brought flashlights," Sam said.

"Perfect. Fully functioning bathrooms and electricity in all in the guard's quarters as well," she said.

"Alright. Thank you so much," said Sam. We all repeated him, giving Jaz a thank you for her time.

"Of course. I'll see you guys in a few days," she said, giving us a small salute before turning to walk down the staircase. "Oh, and one more thing," she called up, running back up the few stairs she'd already walked down.

"If you guys leave in the middle of your stay, will you email or call us to let us know? Sometimes people get scared I suppose. We'll come back after their stay and they'll just be gone, no word. Sometimes they even leave their stuff here. And I don't particularly believe this and haven't been through this myself, but some people who stay the night have said that they have... visions. Or experiences, I guess. They say they know what it was really like to be there. That they've lived it. I don't know. Just thought I'd tell you guys. Have a good night," she said. She turned and walked down the stairs a final time, leaving us with two sets of keys and uncertainty in our minds.

"Visions?" asked Corey.

"Who's ready to hallucinate," Jake said jokingly.