Genesis
"My name is Skye Williams and I am a drug addict"
Scratch that. Let's start again.
"My name is Skye Williams and I'm..."
"Skye!"
Her all too familiar voice jolted me from what I was scribbling idly. I looked up to see her big, fat frame walking towards me. Agatha.
She had this sinister look on her face, like she wanted to eat me up. Baton in her hands, hitting gently against her left palm. She flashed her fake teeth at me and let out her signature funny laughter. God, I hated her guts.
"You deaf girly?" She continued taunting, slowly walking towards me. She wasn't any taller than I was. Okay, maybe with a few inches, but that doesn't count anyway.
I hated her. When I had arrived here, she was the first one I marked. She jeered at me as I was led past.
"You gon be dead before long. You won't last in there. I tell ya."
I could smell the tobacco on her. It stank heavily.
"You gon die girly!" She yelled after me. I was already panicking. The faces I saw as I was led, peeping through the prison gates, dangerous faces. The kind that gave bad dreams non stop.
"Get in!" I was pushed hard, knocked against the wall like a fugitive. I felt my wrist crack. It took a while for the pain to settle in, I had twisted it.
"Hey!" I shouted after the guard who was waltzing away. She turned to look at me with some kind of burning stare.
"Can I get an icepack?" I asked.
"Where do you think you are? Disney land? Bitch please!" She walked away with a hiss.
From that day, Agatha was it. My bogeyman. Then there was Madame. She was the official bully. I guess now that every prison has got one. We didn't care for her real name. She had been to prison severally, she wasn't getting out anytime soon. So, why bother when you could terrorize people and have fun while doing it?
I felt someone tug at me. I looked down to see Renee. She had a silent look of plea in her eyes. She held my now curled fist.
"Don't" she whispered. I shrugged away from her and stood up.
"Got anything for me Agatha?" It wasn't a question. I had stayed in here for far too long to bullied again. The first few months were hell for me. I learnt the hard way. I was constantly beaten up. By the fifth month, I had survived two broken ribs, one dislocated hip bone, a knife cut to the back of my right ear and several sexual assault attempts.
I had to make allies. In prison, you never want to be a loner, except if you're Clark Kent or Dwayne Johnson. For someone like me who grew up submerged in wealth, I didn't know the first thing about life outside and boy, I did learn.
I knew THE VITALS. It was important to know them. Well, if you wanted to survive anyway. They were a group of top inmates who didn't like themselves but were the backbones.
First, we had Lopez. She was called "The Hole". She was your go-to girl. If you needed Bin Laden, she would serve him on a platter. The prices were steep but worth it. From guns to essentials to basically anything. We didn't know how she got them but what's worse is not minding your business. She was sharp with her knife, which had probably gotten into many bodies.
Then was Florence the Flower. From the bathroom gossip I heard, her father was one of the top drug lords in Columbia. She was wayward, just like me. She tried to steal his money, he caught her and threw her ass in prison. He told her it was to teach her discipline and loyalty. The first few weeks she arrived, she would cry every night like a shriek. Spoilt little thing. Somehow she managed to get little monkeys to adore her like a god. She probably promised them money when she got out but those bastards protected her like gold. I wasn't surprised when I heard she was dealing. Like father, like daughter. As long as it was drugs, she would get for you.
We had Kenya. She was the Clark Kent I spoke about. A loner. I didn't know much about her but what you should probably hear is this: Stay Away From Her. I did.
You should know by now, yes, we also had Madame, the big bully. She was a walking armoured tank. I don't think I've ever seen her smile. Her voice was like a megaphone. Inmates scampered just by hearing her walk into a room.
We had one last person, Taylor. She got into prison for hacking into forty seven different bank accounts belonging to the bank her ex abusive boyfriend worked for. She linked the crime to him, wired the cash into a safe deposit overseas. She was caught at the airport trying to travel. Obviously, she didn't think the plan through for loopholes.
I had no idea why she was still in prison because she could hack her way out. Maybe she loved the power it gave her. One day, she hacked all the phones in the entire facility, linked them to different customer care lines of sex shops, online stores, bookshops, leasing agencies etc just for fun.
The madness went on for complete two hours while she watched in glee, clapping for herself at her genius plan. I could swear I had fun too.
Back to reality...
Agatha continued walking towards me, without stopping, smiling and thinking whatever devilish evil in her head. I didn't move, even though I was scared to hell and back. I wasn't scared of her. I was scared of myself, what I would do to her.
"Wanna fight me girly?" Her face was as close as it could be. Any further movement and we would be lip brushing.
"When last did you brush your teeth?" I asked her, locking my gaze with hers. I wasn't going to flinch. She looked at me, anger burning through her like hot knife through butter.
I heard laughter from the room. Some inmates were lounging, pretending to read but they were actually watching the action going down.
I stepped back a little.
"Well, Agatha, I could guess that it was two months ago, No?"
"Say that again girly" she came close to my mouth, replacing her face with her ear.
I opened my mouth to tell her something worse but that was an obvious stupid move. She raised the baton and jabbed it against my chin. I staggered to the floor in confusion. I wasn't expecting that hit. She was on me in an instant, hitting and punching like she had gone mad.
The crowd of inmates went berserk. They were screaming and shouting in excitement.
"Hit em. Yeah!"
"Get that bitch!"
"Get up you little piece of shit!"
I heard voices all at once. I grabbed her hair, yanking her to the side. It was my advantaged position. My turn now. I had waited for this moment for a long time. I picked up her baton and went on a frenzy.
It was like I had lost control. Like an addict who needed a fix badly. Like a vampire in need of blood. I was seeing red. I lost count of how many times I had hit her. She was bleeding and I was screaming as I rained pain on her.
"You're going to kill her Skye!" Renee shouted as she dragged me away from the now almost unconscious body of the bogeyman who had haunted me for years. I kept on struggling with her.
"Let me go Renee!" I screamed, kicking and scratching. Another inmate, Dora had come to help Renee.
"What the hell is going on here!"
She was standing at the entrance, Laura Reyfield. With three other male officers. She was the officer on morning duties, ranking higher than Agatha. She walked across the room, with one hurried movement, to where she lay.
"That little wench tried to kill me" she lied. I stood there, looking straight at her.
Laura looked at me.
"Is this true?" She asked. Why was she asking? What difference would it make. One of the rules in prison was: "Don't be a snitch". So obviously, I had no alibi, even though they were more than 15 who saw the fight happen.
" I was defending myself " I replied. I had no remorse whatsoever. She looked at me, shook her head and ordered the men to take me away.
From that day, you can tell, Agatha stayed away from me. She would taunt me but from a distance. I had slowly started building my very own cartel. I had my friend Renee who was more like a sister to me. I had Kenya on my side too, sometimes. She could be a devil but I knew how to keep her calm.
Taylor somehow found out who my father was and our "friendship" set sail from there. I found out she was an actual nice person. I guess prison makes you hardened for no just cause. Survival could be one.
It was an everyday war in there. Sometimes you'd just get tickled by one truly stupid inmate who probably thinks calling you out would earn her respect. I had beaten up some dumb bitches this way. I wasn't the Skye that walked in here scared to Hell's gate. I wasn't the same Skye that ran away from home. I wasn't the same Skye no more.
That's what prison does to you. It changes you forever. FOREVER.
