The Slammer: A Typical Day
By Jimmy
Jayden woke up from sleeping to a smidgen of light
creeping through the bared windows coating the floor in long rectangles the air
soft with the tinged yellow glow. Still curled on his side, Jayden slowly rolls
over but winces as his junk is rearranged underneath the bare sheet and
blanket. The slightest movement makes him reach down to cup his genitals,
wincing as he does so. He’s sore from last night and his sharp in take of air
makes the mattress creak under him.
Still inside, Jayden contemplates his captivity behind
bars for a few more moments. The reality of the situation weighing heavy, but
the clarity of the dawn brings him into focus and he realizes that he is not
out of this nightmare, not yet.
Across and above him everyone snores on, and Jayden
slips out of bed noiseless and stands in his room bare chested and listening to
the sounds around him. Jayden is control of nothing but himself and he drops to
all fours and starts a steady and furious round of push-ups envisioning his
day, and how to go about making it more manageable in the current circumstances
as a cloud crosses the sky quickly stealing the light and casting him in
semidarkness.
Jayden continues to exercise, his sweat glistening to
his skin and his breathing under steady control. This he can handle.
It’s almost an hour later, the rain falls hard but the
boys all sleep around him still and he leans against the window staring out
into the steamy soup of a storm casting bucketful’s of rain pelting downward,
the angry sky reflecting his current mood.
One person is responsible for Jayden and his brother’s
imprisonment in Bartlet Juvenile Hall and he plans on getting even with him,
and soon. He knows that the plan was not just to put him here and out of the
light, someone is here within these walls. He can almost smell him, Silas Dark
is here and Jayden can feel it in his bones.