Tyler is happily engaged when his life takes a turn. After a couple bad decisions, he ends up in California State's Prison. Surrounded by bad boys, hot guards, and a lot of testosterones, is Tyler going to manage to keep himself out of troubles?
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My First Year in Prison
Chapter 7: The debt collector
The other inmates mentioned "the parlour room" regularly but I had never really pictured it in my head. Would we have intimacy with our visitors? Would we be separated by a glass? I hoped not.
After Falcon let me in, I was a bit surprised that the space looked pretty much like a smaller version of our cafeteria with a bunch of small tables and some chairs. Two guards were overseeing but we were pretty much authorized to move around.
I immediately saw Ralph who was taller and broader than anyone else in the room. I tried to thank him with a nod but he did not pay the slightest attention to me, he was too busy staring at the girl who had come to see him. Well, more specifically, he was looking at her very deep cleavage as if he was contemplating a rare piece of art.
As I was entering, Xander was coming in from another door on the side, his hair was a bit messy.
He was holding the hands of a woman that I immediately recognized as his girlfriend, Mindy. She was cute. Xander had just enjoyed a "conjugal visit" and he seemed very content with himself as he was sitting at a table with Mindy. The two could not keep their hands off each other and they had to be scolded by a guard.
That made me smile.
The room was crowded but I did finally see him, Ryan was sitting at the furthest table away from me, on the other side of the room. He had not noticed me yet and seemed to be anxiously waiting. I have never thought to ask but I think this was his first time in a correctional centre.
I walked towards him, passing by Pope who was French-kissing a woman. When Ryan saw me, a large smile enlightened his face, shortly followed by a look of concern.
He stood up and I almost ran to hug him. He was just wearing some jeans, he had to take his belt off and the pants were sliding down a bit, and a black t-shirt. He was handsome, as usual. As a bonus, he was also wearing his geeky glasses that I loved so much on him.
I appreciated the hug and even got tears in my eyes. I tried to collect myself. With all the other inmates around us, it was not the best time to cry out.
Ryan took a long look at me.
"Ty... wow. This is so weird seeing you wearing this."
"Yeah, I know. Quite the style! By the way, It's good to see you too!" I said with a smile.
"Of course, It's good to see you littler brother!" He patted my hair affectionately. "Especially when I thought it would not be possible! What the hell was that?"
He sat down on his chair and started to explain:
"I arrive here like one hour in advance and they tell me your visitation right has been taken away from you, that I should just go back home. They could not even tell me why! I refused to go back of course. I had been waited for hours when finally, they told me that I could see you. No further explanation."
"This is so stupid Ryan. They told me yesterday that I was denied to come here, and this morning, they changed their minds. I'm sorry, they only let me know at the last minute."
"But they are not allowed to do that! Why did they remove your visitation right in the first place?"
I looked away, ashamed of this part. Mindy was showing some jewellery she was wearing to Xander.
"I was involved in a fight..." I mumbled.
"In a fight?" He yelled.
Some people looked towards us. Pope even got his tongue out of his wife's mouth for a few seconds.
"What the fuck, Ty?" Ryan said more quietly, regretting his outburst.
"A guy kinda attacked me and I had to defend myself... Basically, I punched him."
"Jesus, Tyler! What did the guards do?"
"Well, they took away my privileges! And this morning, they gave them back to me."
"No, I meant, what did they do about the guy attacking you? This is crazy Ty; you cannot let this happen."
"It's not like I wanted it to happen or that I purposely let it happen! This is prison, I don't really have much choice when someone comes after me!"
We had been talking for less than a minute and he was already frustrating me.
"But you should talk to the guards then." Ryan said seriously, he looked very concerned at this point.
I whispered:
"Ryan, the guards are worse than the inmates."
He sighed. I was stressing him out and I hated that feeling.
"I guess I have not realized that it would be so tough. How are you holding on, Ty? Really?"
"I'm ok." I lied.
"Damn, I bet you had never punched anyone in your life before. That's not your style."
"I guess I'm becoming gansta now."
"Don't even joke about that, you need to stay out of trouble or you might stay here for a long time."
"Don't you think I know that?"
I looked at my feet and he crossed his arms. We both remained silent as we were hearing a couple fighting besides us. The wife had just told his husband she was sleeping with the neighbour. One of the guards had to split them up. I figured that everyone was having their issues.
"You're sure I cannot do anything? Talk to a lawyer, to the warden?" My brother eventually said. As always, he was trying to fix the problem. But I knew I was on my own on this one.
"Oh gosh, please don't."
"But the other guy, won't he come after you?"
"I don't know... I don't think so."
"I'm worried about you, Ty."
"I know. But please don't say anything to mom and dad, or to Griffin, tell them that it's all alright. I don't want to worry everyone."
"Ok, I won't."
Ryan sighed again.
"Thank you."
The awkwardness lasted for a little while.
"Damn, I wish I would have told you in other circumstances but I do have some news." Ryan said after a while.
"What is it?"
He smiled largely.
"Mallory is pregnant."
"Oh, that's amazing!" I exclaimed.