Logical conclusion

Matthew

Working at a prison was dull, at least in this prison it was. The days morphed together, and every day felt like a Monday, of the annoying kind. Just like we had been told, the inmates didn’t cause trouble, and besides the daily tasks of patrolling and some administrative work, there wasn’t much else to do.

“Curious?” asked Cooper, a Senior Guard. Even though he was an SG, he wasn’t as strict or arrogant as the others and was liked by both the guards and the prisoners.

“No,” I said, averting my eyes from the man inside the cell. At some point, it became routine for me to stop in front of this cell for a few seconds. It was the look the man had when he acknowledged my presence by looking at me for a moment, a look that I had seen plenty of times in my life. Cooper hummed as we walked away. “Why are they here?” I blurted.

“I thought you weren’t curious.”

“Just being cautious.” Being curious meant I cared, which I didn’t. I did, however, want to know what I was dealing with during my time here.

His watchful eyes stayed on me for a second longer before he replied. “We aren’t told much about their crimes. Some will scream at the top of their lungs, what landed them in the joint, and others you won’t hear a peep from.” I kept my face blank as my doubts in the place grew. “From what I know, their crimes range from assault to manslaughter.”

“Why the bracelets if they are already divided by what floor they stay in?”

He turned to me, his brow slightly raised as he stared for a long time. “Why are you here?” he asked, curious.

The curveball made me think I clocked out of the conversation when he explained the use of bracelets, still, after a brief pause, I replied. “A mission gone wrong landed me in intensive care. This is to warm me up before I go back to my team.”

He continued to stare without revealing what went through his head, but his eyes betrayed the tip of a storm brewing inside him. Before I could ask him about it, a blaring alarm rang all around us.

“Attention all units. There’s a distressed level three outside, near the vegetable patch.”

The instructions given to me from the earpiece were to help and guide the prisoners away from the scene and inside their cells, but I completely ignored them and followed Cooper, who rushed down the stairs to the heart of the action.

As we made our way outside, I noticed the change in the prisoners, a coiled energy as they observed what was happening, the shared looks and the posture most of them had, as if they only needed one word to wreak havoc.

Cooper took charge of the situation right away, stepping into the perimeter around a single woman I had seen plenty of times. She was the type who always smiled at you when she walked by, the type to remember your name, and the type who noticed if you were under the weather.

“I didn’t mean to,” she stuttered while choking the guard a little harder when Cooper and I approached. Berry had plenty of room to escape in the soft chokehold she had on him, and should have been able to easily free himself if he wasn't panicking.

Besides Cooper, everyone else kept their distance, waiting for orders and observing the situation quietly. “It’s okay, Julie,” said Cooper, taking a step forward. “Tell me what happened.”

“No. I didn’t mean to.” There were more sobs than words, and the hold she had on Berry softened. She was panicking almost as much as he.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was seriously wrong when every guard was so cautious of the woman, some looked even scared. Whether she was a black belt or whatever, I was pretty confident I could take her, and if anything happened, Cooper would assist in rescuing Berry. I stepped closer to Cooper in a calm and deliberate movement, but even though her eyes were fixed on Cooper, in a split second her grasp on Berry tightened and her eyes turned to me.

“Don’t get closer,” she screamed. “Go away.”

Cooper put his hand forward, telling me to step back, but I didn’t move. She was full of openings, all it would take was a second or two to reach her and immobilise her.

“Ignore him, I will help you,” said Cooper, taking another step, trying to bring her attention to him before turning to me. “Stand down.”

My guts twisted in doubt when I met his eyes, cautious with a hint of fear. All we had been told when we got here was to avoid physical conflict with the prisoners, but they never said it was forbidden, so I couldn’t understand why they were all wasting time. Maybe I was too used to taking control of the situation first and asking questions later.

As I took a step back, muscle memory and instinct made me react to a projectile I didn’t even see, evading it in the nick of time as it skimmed my cheek, drawing blood.

The freezing sensation it left made my hackles rise, and I was ready to attack before I knew what was even thrown at me. But there were only two people in front of me, and neither had any weapon pointed.

“It’s okay, Julie, he is leaving,” Cooper said, bringing her attention to him for a moment. In that split second, he had taken a step back, whether he did it on purpose or not, I couldn’t tell. “Matthew, leave now.”

I didn’t take my eyes from her, nor did I step back, as her eyes, shining in a white hue, stared back at me. Whatever had just been thrown at me came from her, even if it seemed impossible, and the only way to stop this charade was to contain her.

She must have felt the energy coiling around me as she kept her eyes pinned on me, and even if I couldn’t see it, my body moved out of the way of more projectiles thrown my way. Some still hit my skin, and it felt like needles the way they pierced the skin. I moved sideways, out of range, but they followed me along just like her eyes.

“Julie,” said Cooper with a loud voice, taking a couple of steps toward her and drawing her attention to him. “Step back now,” he told me, adrenaline soaking his features. I did, but not because he told me to. I did it because as I stared at the needle lodged in my shoulder, I saw it slowly melting, drops of water and blood mixed together. When I reached for it, before my fingertips touched it, it had already evaporated.

I felt someone pulling me further back and didn’t stop them, and while I was in that dazed state, I saw the tension around me disappear as Cooper reached out for Julie, and she sank to her knees, crying, with Berry right next to her.

Even though I refused, I was still taken to the infirmary for the small cuts and given a couple of plasters after being told the injuries were nothing to worry about.

That night, I couldn’t manage to fall asleep. I had so many thoughts running through my head, so many theories that I couldn’t tell what was a conspiracy or a logical train of thought. The problem was that there was nothing logical about the conclusion I reached.