Four

The blond was blindingly pretty, almost like a princess, maybe he was a woman after all. There were no ornaments or jewellery, but you could instantly tell from his barely visible clothes and the shawl covering them, that he was not your ordinary guy.

All three of them stared at each other for a few minutes. The giant had an absolute poker face, as if expecting the other two to interact with each other as he continues to observe. However, his anticipation quickly turned to disappointment as the minutes passed.

Speak something, you buffoon, you can always eat later.

“Awake, are we?” The giant suddenly broke the silence turning their attention towards him.

“Food?” The blond asked with eyes like a dead fish’s.

“There it is.” The giant pointed his finger towards the bars, there lay the cold bowl of food with a visible layer of fat now formed on top of it. “Well it has gone cold now.” He added trying to sound as unapologetic as possible.

The blond tried moving but made very little progress even after 30 seconds.

Go help him, now!

Gle who was still slurping up his share put it down and fetched the other bowl for him. Frail hands popped out of his shawl to grab the bowl and collided with Gle’s. The hands were incredibly soft and cold, mildly surprising Gle.

“Thanks.” The blond spoke timidly, trying to eat with slightly trembling hands, and eyes asking for help.

Well, attractive as he might be, I certainly do not want to feed another man even if he struggles to death. Besides, I am a married man.

But she is already dead. You killed her, stop running away.

No she is not, there is no way she is dead. Gle thought while his face transformed into a twisted expression showcasing fear. No, I must remain calm and get back to my family as soon as possible.

To Gle’s surprise the blond had almost finished eating his share, the hands trembled but they were fast, or maybe he was just hungry.

“What is your name? I am Gle and this is…”, he stopped as he remembered the giant did not tell him his name earlier.

“I am Offlest, I already heard you guys earlier, and his name is Hick, Hick Tarmande.” The blond interrupted as soon as he realized that Gle was at a loss of words. He now looked incredibly energetic betraying his earlier impression.

I do not trust this guy, and neither should you.

“So you were just pretending to be asleep earlier?” Gle asked with a sharp tone.

“I was just resting, you were the ones who assumed it.” Offlest replied in an equally sharp tone.

“You could have just interrupted us, but fair,” Gle looked towards the giant whom he had forgotten was still in the room, and continued, “and you would tell your name to him but not me?” He was slightly frustrated now and even felt a little betrayed.

Hick just shook his head without saying anything, possibly enjoying all this; and turned towards the wall while laying prone, as if indicating that he is about to sleep. Gle also just shook it off and was now glaring back at Offlest thinking hard about something that only he could tell.

Just shoot those questions you keep collecting in your mind, retention is not always a good thing.

“Why and how long have you been in here? Do you have any clue about what this place is?”, Gle fired off a barrage of questions towards Offlest, in an attempt to overwhelm him and secure his social rank in this prison.

“It has been two weeks since I was thrown in here; I was earlier in the Martell Central Prison for around an year, under false charges, betrayed by my own blood”. His cute ladylike face now turned red as he swallowed air before continuing. “As for this place, I only know that this is a special rehabilitation facility for the Martella prisoners where they get chances to reduce their sentence and get released. I have heard of people reducing their life sentences to nothing in here but those might just be baseless rumors.”

“No wonder we are all Martella here but hey wait,” Gle turned towards Hick and shouted, “did you already know all of this? How did you even know about the crime I was charged for when I did not?”

There were no replies, not even snores, he just laid there, probably asleep, or maybe not. Gle was even more annoyed by his attitude now, but he decided to maintain his composure; after all, he was a professor, but the truth remained that he was the only one of them who did not know why he was in there.

Offlest was now slightly flustered but continues anyway. “I do not feel comfortable talking to a killer but I am ready to believe you since I was falsely accused myself; but don’t get the wrong idea, I have been enduring this for over an year which makes me your senior.”

clomp clomp clomp

He is here for you, time to get you executed, do you have any last words?

The steps were recognizable this time, and it took no time for Gle to reach out for the bars, hoping that the officer was there to get him out. The expected officer was in the frame again, except with an unexpected figure this time. The figure was short and elderly, most of his hair had already turned grey with only a few remaining the natural black that they were supposed to be. He was wearing a typical office worker’s attire, a plain shirt and trousers with leather boots, not too different from what Gle was wearing. Suddenly something dawned on Gle. How the hell did I overlook it, where is the prisoner’s uniform? I do not see anyone wearing it here; there is no way this is a prison without a uniform. He wanted to ask the officer about the time and the date, but could not as his head was now trying to put together his new train of thoughts.

“Here is your new roommate, make sure you are all nice to each other. The three of you were a noisy bunch already.” The officer trailed off as he unlocked the door, shoved the office worker inside and locked it again. As soon as he was done, he went out of the frame leaving only the central tower of the panopticon containing only a couple of prison officers, visible.

“Hello there, I am Old.” The office worker greeted them, terrifyingly composed, considering he is in a prison cell; but then again, Gle has been trying to do the same for a while now.

What a funny little old man.

“Yeah, I see ye’re old.” Hick, who was not much younger than the man he was talking to, was suddenly staring at him with a slight grin, still lying on the ground.

“No, I mean my name is Old Stuv, sir. I would prefer it if you could call me Stuv.” The man unintentionally twitched his eyebrows while saying that.

“Nah, I’ll roll with Old. I am Hick, that lady is Offlest, and that bum is Gle.” Hick said with the same foolish grin from earlier.

Offlest was clearly offended by the careless remark but he was used to hearing it so he let it slide.

“Why are you in here?” Offlest asked while remaining on guard for anything that was about to come.

“That is not for you to know, young lady, I would rather keep it to myself, and tell you when the time comes.” Old replied with a shrewd look on his face.

“The time? We are in the prison old man, get real; and I am no lady.” Offlest said while trying to puff his chest out only making him look more feminine and cuter.

“Oh my, please pardon my ignorance, young man. The time is soon, so explaining it to you right now would be of very little use, but we have got an unexpected element in here”. Old trailed off as he squinted his eyes at Gle who was hugging his knees by the cold brick wall.

Gle had no time for this tomfoolery, he had caught onto something more important yet basic. He was very puzzled and now even scared, his face showed all his emotions for everyone to read.

“What are you worried about young man? If I recall correctly, you must be Gle, right?” Old asked as he moved closer to Gle.

Gle just looked towards Old in complete silence with his mouth open as if he was about to say something, but he never planned on saying anything.

“Don’t you worry young man, I know exactly what you are thinking about and the answers to your questions.” Old extends his hands towards Gle who looked a like a kid pouting for candy.

Do not trust this man, do not trust anyone, not even yourself.