Page 5 of Framed

I hadn’t done anything.

Well… maybe I did purposely put a red sock into the white load last week while I was on laundry duty. But no one could’ve figured out it was me. And staining a few sheets pink was hardly a reason for someone as high up as Briggs to want to see me.

“Briggs needs to see you,” was all she said, before she added a hushed, “Put the knife away Sally.”

My eyes cut to the blonde-haired girl, who clutched a plastic knife like it was her lifeline.Where did she even get that from?She had once confided in me about the knives the guards took upon our arrival. They were her dad’s old tactical rescue knives from back when he was a Navy Seal. While she never spoke about her dad much, she also never went anywhere without those knives until we wound up in here.

I set my book down and stood from the ancient couch, my plain white shoes making a small thud as they hit the hard ground.

“What’s going on, Athena?” Sally repeated my earlier words, worrying her ruby-red cracked lip before hitting the mute button on the remote. I had almost forgotten that the TV was still on in the background. “You’re acting strange. She’s not going in the hole is she?”

Athena averted her gaze and shifted her feet uncomfortably.

Great, maybe Iwasgoing to the hole.

“I’m not at liberty to say, Danvers.” Again with the last names.

Athena gave us an impassive stony look. This was not the Athena we knew at all. In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time I hadn’t seen her smiling—a wide, white smile that stood out against her rich brown skin.

“Scarlett.” Athena heaved a sigh. “I really can’t say. It’s out of my hands.”

At least she finally said my name. But it was something in her tone that made my feet move of their own accord. As they exited our room, I tried to puzzle out what made me go with her.

Maybe it was curiosity.

Maybe it was stupidity.

I’d find out my fate soon enough. Hopefully, it wouldn’t screw me too badly this time.

My gaze was vigilant and my body was on high alert as we walked through the communal area. The time on the clock read a quarter past noon. The closed metal doors of my fellow inmates made me look back at Athena once again. Suddenly, I realized Sally and I had been the only two inmates outside of our cells.

Around now, a few of us would normally be going to help the cooks get ready to start lunch. Others would be in the rec room or warming up for their yard hours or gym time. But from the look of it, everyone was back in their cells.

If not for their watchful stares burning holes into the back of my head, I’d think this was a ghost town.

Something was up and my gut told me it wasn’t good.

Stupidfucking rain.

There was an uncomfortable, almost deafening silence wading in the air. Anxiety prickled my skin with every step closer I got to the guard’s corner.

I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention as we reached a tan wooden door with “Briggs” written in bold white letters on the outside. Super dramatic I know, but Briggs was not one to be trifled with if you ever planned to get out.

That was thefirstthing we were all taught here.

Briggs had a reputation for ruling with a crooked fist. He made sure that all the inmates and correctional officers remained in line at all times. If you didn’t… well, let’s just say it would be a while before you saw the light of day again.

That man could make hell look like a playground compared to the fucked up psychological shit he put people through when they were thrown in the “hole.” The hole was as exact what its name implied. A lockdown cell with no windows. Only a toilet, a hard metal bed with no mattress, a piece of white chalk, and cold running water if you were lucky.

It was completely cut off from the rest of the inmates and guards. Total isolation.

The chalk was the first part of the psychological shit he put you through. He wanted to see if you were able to count how many days he kept you in isolation. The light there never changed; it was on all the time. Without windows, it was nearly impossible to keep accurate track of the time.

But if you guessed it right, you got to go back to into general population. If you didn’t, you went back inside until he felt like letting you out.

Again, a sadistic son of a bitch.

Or at least that’s what the rumors claimed. I couldn’t be sure how true the statements rang, since I’d never been sent to the hole myself. I couldn’t say I particularly wanted to find out.

---