Sam and Colby: The Penitentiary

31

I looked up at all of them with eyes wide with fear, but Sam gave me the slightest of nods to let me know they'd figured out what their accusations were.

"My name is Golbach. Illegal solicitation. Stole about 15k from the Red Cross," Sam said.

"I'm Webber. Got busted with heroin. Two hundred grams," said Jake.

"And I'm Brock. Eight accounts of breaking and entering to steal expensive jewelry," Colby said.

"And just to repeat mine," I said, not knowing if the guys knew what was going on with me, "I embezzled 17 million from my boss at the NYC law firm I worked at."

"Damn, girl," Jake said.

"Shut up," Sam grunted, not wanting Jake to blow our cover.

"You hadn't heard about what all she did yet?" Blaze asked with a chuckle. "Well, I guess you are fresh meat. Still though. Girl's a legend round here. Brings me to my next point. You're all part of the Center now. Kin to Black Beauty here is kin to the rest of us."

"Black Beauty?" asked Colby.

"Yup, gave her a name. New place, new name, impressive reputation," said Blaze.

"Very impressive indeed," Colby said.

"Hah, yeah. We know, lover boy," Blaze chuckled.

"What are you—,"

"No, it's okay. They know," I said, looking at Colby.

"Oh," he said shortly.

"Sorry, what's the Center?" asked Sam.

"Oh, jeez. Are we in a prison gang now?" asked Jake.

"Wouldn't be the first time," muttered Colby.

"We don't enjoy the term 'gang', but pretty much, yeah. Red knows the intel, I'm the smuggler, Big's the... well, he's the big guy, Rock's the softy, and Shag... hell, I don't know. Shag's the one who never went to a god damn English class," said Blaze.

"Sounds like you guys got the whole set up," Colby said.

"We sure do," said Blaze.

"So why are you letting us in?" asked Sam.

"I'm guessing it's a pretty... selective group," Jake said.

"Cause of Beauty over here. Girl's a whole legend. You saw how Ray scattered when he heard the name. She wants you safe, we keep you safe. Simple as that. Just don't be fucking idiots. We'll take care of you 'cause of her, but the second you give us a reason to not like you, you'll be cut loose. And let me tell you, people will respect you plenty when you're in with us. But if you get kicked from the Center? You're as good as dead," said Blaze.

"Hey, can you help us find our other friend?" asked Jake.

"Scherer? The one you were asking about earlier, Beauty?" asked Blaze.

"Yes," I said.

"I can't find people for shit, but I'll talk to Red. We'll see what we can do," said Blaze.

"Blaze. Got Center's mail," a short man said, walking up with a stack of letters.

"Atkins. Golbach. Webber. Brock. Theirs, too," Blaze said.

"Got it," the man said, walking back to the bin he was working on.

"We get mail on the first day?" asked Jake.

"From the courts. Finalizing your sentence time," Blaze said shortly. The man returned a moment later and Blaze handed us all of our envelopes.

"Ey! Blaze! Got your, uh, shipment in," one of the guards yelled from the mail room door.

"Duty calls. I'll be back," Blaze said, giving us a smile before walking away.

"Damn, he's even got the guards in on it," said Sam.

"Hey, Ness, shoutout to you for embezzling so much money," Jake said.

"It's a lot more than they make it sound. Seventy five million in modern day money," I said.

"Mod...the fuck do you mean modern day?" asked Colby. Shit, I guess something like this was so crazy that it could have happened for any reason.

"It's 77," I said.

"No the fuck it is not," Sam whispered.

"July 1977," I said.

"Oh my god," Colby whispered.

"This is what Jaz was talking about, huh?" Jake asked. "These weird visions or whatever."

"Oh my god, that's it!" Sam said.

"What?" asked Colby.

"If she knows about them, that means people lived past them or whatever. That we'll probably wake up tomorrow and be back in this same place but forty years in the future," said Sam.

"Fucking hell...you remember what she said before that? Sometimes people are just gone when she comes back. That they leave their stuff there and never come back for it," I said.

"Wait, so we could get stuck here?" Colby asked.

"We could die here," I said.

"You smoke?" Blaze asked, walking back over with a large box.

"Uh, no," I said. We all shook our heads.

"Alright, then just one pack for each of you," Blaze said, opening the box.

"Why?" asked Jake.

"Collateral. You make bets, you get into something stupid, you want to trade, you want to play games, whatever. Cigarettes are gold in here," Blaze explained. He passed all of us a pack of cigarettes. We all tucked them under our shirts, into the waistbands of our pants. "Don't smoke, do you drink?"

"Yes," I quickly said.

"Yup," said Colby.

"We all do," said Sam.

"Any of you bunkin' together?" asked Blaze.

"Me and Ne—er, Beauty are. Same cell on level two," said Sam.

"Hah. Bet you're a big fan of that, huh Brock?" Blaze chuckled.

"Don't mind too much. I trust him. And Webber and I also bunk together on level two," said Colby.

"Perfect. A bottle for each cell," said Blaze. He pulled two thin bottles of whiskey out of the box, handing one to Colby and one to Sam. "You know, Red and I might be able to switch around the cell arrangements. Especially since it's you guys' first day. I'll see what we can do."

"Hey, Blaze?" I asked.

"Hm?" he asked.

"Why... why are you being so nice to us?" I asked.

"You're important in here. So are we. If we aren't friends, we're rivals. To be honest, if we were up against each other, you'd win in a heartbeat. So short answer? To save our own asses. But you don't seem like a bad friend, either. Any of you," said Blaze.

"We're pretty lit," Jake said.

"Pretty what?" asked Blaze.

"Uh, fun. He thinks we're pretty fun," Sam said quickly. I shot Jake a dirty glance and leaned over to him once Sam and Blaze started another conversation.

"Seventies, Jake. Can't use slang like that. And most of these people have been in here a while, some since the 20s and 30s. Keep it simple," I said.

"Oh, shit. You're right. Thanks, Mom," Jake said.

"Mom?" Blaze asked, looking up at us. He let out a loud chuckle.

"Oh, uh, yeah. That's our little nickname for her," Jake said.

"Shit, I think I like that more than ours. Mom. Yeah, okay. There's your new name, Atkins. Everyone will know it come morning," said Blaze.

I hoped I'd be gone before anyone but Blaze knew about it.