Page 48 of Caged In

Izz leans in closer, so he doesn’t miss a single detail. Prison gossip is the onlyreal form of entertainment in this cage. Some inmates would argue a good fight is better entertainment, but it’s not his thing to watch some poor sapbe beaten to death and place bets on it. With his luck, he would be the poor sap.

“Alright. Alright.” Reni throws his spoon down, shoving his tray away, as if he’s lost his appetite due to the direction of the conversation, “they’re all dead.”

When Reni doesn’t elaborate, Erik scoffs, “come on, man. You have to give us more thanthat. We already know that part.”

Izz sure didn’t know it. How is it possible they’re all dead? The one who had been on the floor—who was carried away by guards presumably to Med-Wing—could have died, if he hadn’t already been dead. But the rest of them . . .

Reni scrubs at his face, the irritation he feels showingin the tense lines of his shoulders. He’s usually so open about everything that it is next to impossible to get him to shut up. His silence madeIzz very uneasy, he’s acting completely out of character.

“They were all locked in cells—” Reni begins, his soft voice barely loudenough to carry over the thunderous volume of thebusycafeteria, “—single windowless cells, down in The Hole. No guards came in or left, no new inmates were thrown in. Nothing. But that first night in . . . by morning . . . they were all dead—killed—inside their locked cells. Not a sound was heard from any of them.” Reni’s eyes dart and flicker over the room, which has Izz subconsciouslydoing the same. On alert, checking theirsurroundings. “I couldn’t sleep, The Hole always gives me the creeps. And I heard absolutely nothing. No one walked up that corridor. Nobody left. I heard no doors clanging open. Nothing.”

“So, what?” Erik pipes in sceptically, “they killed themselves? All threeof them?”

“—and that’s not all of it,” Reni ignores Erik’s comment, “the one who went to Med-Wing. He didn’t wake up the next morning either.”

“He looked like death when they dragged him out,” Isco states dryly, shovelling in the lastof his breakfast, casting his spoon off to the side.

The rest of the table have forgotten their own breakfast or, like Izz, are too grossed out by Reni’s story to continue eating. He wonders whether these hard men around the table are still capable of being grossed out by anything that happens in this cage? They hold themselves likethey’vebeen through Hell and back—tough and unflinching.

Except Reni whose stricken features betrayed his confusion and terror.

“No,” Reni spits out at Isco, “I mean, his throat was slit. I don’t know if that was before or after the rest of them were killed. But Med-Wing is locked down tighter thanThe Hole.”

“Whoa,” Erik utters, his scepticismwavering, “so how’d the ones in The Hole die?”

“Their throats were slit.” Reni leans into The Gang, dropping his voice lower to whisper, “there was so much blood, it seeped out from under the solid doors. That’s how the guards figured out something was wrong.”

“Who did it? Or did they have a suicide pact?” Erik leans in further, entrancedby Reni’s story and hanging onto every word.

Reni smirks, eatingupthe attention Erik and the rest of The Gang are directing at him. “No. I heard the doctors talking in The Hole, there were stab wounds in them, the wounds weredonepost-mortem. And I’ve watched enough TV on the outside to know that meansafter death.”

“Does it?” Erik ponders and peers at Blake to see if the other can confirm. He receives a shrug in response.

“Sure it does. Who would willingly stab themselves multiple times, for a suicide, then slit their own throat.” Reni slaps the table, leaning forward. “I’m telling you it was the SC-Ghost.”

Wait? What?

Reni’s revelation is met with loud groans and exasperated dismissals. Everyone complaining over the top of each other in a mash of the English language.

“Are you kidding me—”

“You made up the whole story, didn’t ya—”

“Was anyone even stabbed—"

Who’s the SC-Ghost? Is there another serial killer in this cage? That’s all he needs, more serial killers living right next to him. Eating in the same space, showering in the same room, sleeping within the same vicinity.

“Who’s the SC-Ghost?” Izz blurts, he had meant to keep the question to himself. Too late now, it’s outabsorbing airtime.

Reni turns wild eyes onIzz, “the Solitary Confinement Ghost. It’s the ghost of an inmate who was killed down there years ago. It haunts the place.”

He isn’t sure what to say. Does his cellmate really believe this? He is relieved it’s onlyone of Reni’s dramatic stories and not an actual person who could kill him—

Well, whoever did do it is still in here, so maybe he’s jumping the gun on the relief train. Thinking he’s safe and relaxing his guard. That’s when everyone gets killed in horror movies. A sigh of relief, then bam, out jumps the serial killer and you’re done for—

“Ren, you got to stop spreading ghost stories,” Blake chuckles, straightening up as he loses interest in Reni’s ghost tale.

“What? How else do ya explain it?” Reni pouts at The Gang, crossing his arms over his chest.

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