LITMIR.BIZ

       Chapter 11

      No one had mentioned Jason to Gabriel since the first night he had been in. He had had his cell to himself and, although it was unbearably lonely, it felt safer. He hadn’t slept well since he’d arrived, even worse since someone had come into his cell at night. He was afraid that it would happen again but it never did.

      Solomon Banks had started to knock for Gabriel at mealtimes, and they usually walked to the servery together. He could feel himself adjusting to the routine. Roll call took place several times a day, breaking up the hours spent alone in his cell because he hadn’t been granted his labour order yet. He had to stay on his own while the rest of the wing went to their jobs, which mainly consisted of working in the servery or the laundry. There was also no shortage of cleaning gigs around the prison. The most sought-after employment was in the library, it was clean, quiet and quite civilised. It didn’t involve you getting wet or dirty. Gabriel wasn’t allowed to enrol on any courses yet either, not until he had been sentenced and he hadn’t even been given a court date yet.

      The uneasiness he had originally felt in the prison had become a part of his day now; he didn’t really notice that he was scared anymore, he just got on with things. Being afraid was the new normal. He followed the rules and spoke when he was spoken to. He hadn’t made any friends, but he hadn’t upset anyone either. Gabriel knew there were cliques in the wing for sure; he just had to figure out which ones were the most dangerous and stay the hell away from them.

      He needed to hold on like this for a while longer. He longed to laugh, to really engage in a conversation, but he felt himself disappearing slowly with every single day. It was no more than he deserved.

      The door was opened for lunch and Gabriel stepped outside to find Sol there as usual, this time accompanied by two other men. The fear that Gabriel thought he had adjusted to reared its head with a vengeance. It hit him like a bolt of lightning and his stomach tensed so hard that it started to cramp.

      ‘Relax, Gabe, this is Kenzie and this is Sparks, they bunk together in the cell next to mine.’ Sol grinned at him.

      ‘Hi,’ Gabriel managed a smile, noting that both men were shorter than him. There were a lot of short men in prison.

      ‘This is Gabe.’

      Kenzie shook Gabriel’s hand firmly. He must have been of a similar age to him, but he still had a teenage frame, awkward and angular.

      Sparks nodded and started to walk towards the servery. ‘Let’s get there early so it’s not stone cold today. I hate cold sausages – all the fat gets clogged up in them and then I get the shits.’

      As they headed towards the metal stairwell, Sol held his hand out to the side as though he were a mother trying to stop a child venturing into the road. Gabriel followed the direction of Sol’s eyes and saw a group of men walking towards the stairs as a man came up them.

      ‘We should disappear,’ Sol said in a low voice, more serious than Gabriel had seen him before.

      ‘What’s going on?’ Gabriel asked.

      ‘Someone’s about to get a kicking,’ Kenzie said excitedly.

      ‘For fuck’s sake,’ Sparks said. ‘I’m starving.’

      They walked away from the commotion and Gabriel saw one of the group of men grab the guy on the staircase. Then the three of them laid into him, punching him in the face in quick succession. The guards hadn’t noticed yet. Sol grabbed Gabriel by the arm and pulled him into the cell across the way from him. The ginger man with the beard that Gabriel had seen on his first day was sitting in one of the cell chairs, reading. He looked up and smiled as he saw them. Gabriel had noticed the way he looked at him before, his eyes travelling over his frame at a snail’s pace, resting on his neck, shoulders, torso, hips. He was doing it again and it made him uneasy.

      ‘What the hell do you reprobates want?’ the ginger man said, putting down his magazine and shifting his gaze to Sol briefly.

      ‘It’s kicking off out there,’ Sol said, ‘we’re just hiding out.’

      They could hear shouting and people shuffling about out on the wing.

      ‘I’d better get some fucking dinner,’ Sparks exclaimed in a huff.

      ‘Who’s your new friend?’

      ‘This is Gabe. Gabe, this is Asher.’

      ‘Gabe.’ He said the word with a twinkle in his eye. He held his hand out and Gabriel nodded acknowledgment but didn’t take the hand.

      Asher smiled. ‘Suit yourself.’

      ‘Hi,’ Gabriel said, reluctantly.

      ‘Who is it?’ Asher asked Sol, leaning over his shoulder to look through the door of the cell.

      ‘Andy Welsh. They got him on the staircase. It doesn’t look good,’ Sol said.

      ‘Maybe they tried his cooking,’ Sparks offered.

      ‘Isn’t Welsh in with you?’ Asher said to Sol. ‘You burn through cellmates faster than anyone else in here.’

      ‘I was going to ask for a cell transfer anyway, Welsh is a twat,’ Sol said.

      Sparks stuck his head around the door quickly, presumably to see what was going on outside the cell.

      ‘Lockdown!’ Gabriel heard Barratt call out.

      ‘Do we go back to our cells?’

      ‘Nah, stay here. They just want the wing cleared to sort the mess out,’ Asher said.

      ‘Do you think he’s dead?’ Sparks asked.

      ‘You’re such a fucking gossip,’ Sol said to Sparks.

      ‘Shall I look?’ Kenzie asked.

      ‘Just relax. He’s obviously not or it would be going mental out there,’ Sol said, as ever the voice of reason.

      ‘Sausage and mash is literally the highlight of my bloody week,’ Sparks grumbled.

      ‘Will you stop going on about food, man!’ Kenzie barked, wrapping his arms around his stomach. ‘At least with Welsh gone we might get something edible next dinner time.’

      Gabriel wasn’t a big eater, he had already lost weight since being inside, but the truth was, the meals were only just filling enough to get you through to the next one and so any kind of delay felt like unnecessary cruelty and

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