Common Ground [OPEN]

[Teddy Rainford]

don't make eye contact. don't ball your fists. do not show any signs of vulnerability. the unwritten rules of prison had been a hard pill to swallow, incredibly so for one accustomed to unencumbered freedom and a money-is-no-object attitude — teddy had been thankful to his friend, charlene, taking the time to give him an incarceration 101 pep talk. though like an idiot, teddy had entered boarwood with false confidence and a positive attitude, it was only thirteen years. that feeling had lasted for three minutes. he was going to be thirty-four. thirty-four. it was his second morning in prison and he was already climbing the walls, eyeing every doorway as though it would magically lead him back to the outside world. he'd remained silent, closed his eyes and retreated to the bottom bunk within his cell — choosing not to learn who he was sharing with. if only to avoid the reality that they could be incredibly dangerous and/or terrifying. what if they were here just as long as he was? did they rotate cells annually, or every six months? teddy was painfully uninformed and attempted to conceal that fact as he paced the length of the courtyard. the summer sun was beating down upon him incessantly, pleading with him to remove the constricting top — but he was new, not stupid. what he wouldn't have given to be sat beside a pool with an ice cold mojito in his hand. "only four-thousand-seven-hundred-and-forty-three-days to go." he said the words in a whisper to himself as his fingers laced around the chain link fence. consciously he couldn't see how on earth he was going to make it that long.

[Jamie Winters]

Jamie had stepped outside for fresh air. It was hot in his cell and he needed a change of scenery. Maybe he would do a lap of the courtyard.

Jamie had been in the prison a week and was still hoping his sentence would finish early. At least he'll be 34 at the worst. He had no job and had been kicked out the army after what happened. He was walking along the chain link fence when he heard someone whisper "only four-thousand-seven-hundred-and-forty-three-days to go".

Jamie approached the man by the fence, his curiosity getting the better of him and asked "What's only only four-thousand-seven-hundred-and-forty-three-days to go?"

[Teddy Rainford]

it was evident that charlene's words were going to run through teddy's head whenever something unfamiliar occurred within his new home. one such rule had been to never actually refer to boarwood as home, and another was to always discreetly check the hands of anyone that approached him — because you didn't want to discover a shiv or a blunt weapon right after it was embedded within his chest. teddy had considered retreating to his cell as the courtyard began to swell with the bodies of his fellow inmates. if he wasn't around, nobody would get used to his face and become concerned as to where he was at any given time — rule number forty, do not make yourself memorable. turning, quicker than he had intended, teddy winced at the greeting of another prisoner. charlene would have scolded him for letting his guard down and allowing a stranger to approach unheard and unseen, but he consciously chalked that up to learner's error. "it's uh—" was he allowed to tell others how long he was going to be sticking around? he didn't want to be rude, but he also didn't want to plant the seed of a long-stay guest in anybody's head. "the number of days i have left." teddy shrugged as if it was something trivial and not a hefty percentage of his overall life expectancy. "a friend told me it would help to count down the days. seems a little silly this far out, huh?"

[Jamie Winters]

Jamie's problem was that he was feeling quite lonely. Missed having a conversation with someone. He didn't get visitors. Once he went to prison his parents had disowned him. Jamie's logic was to try and make conversation with people on their own so he wouldn't go insane with his thoughts and feelings.

Jamie saw his fellow inmate wince and Jamie cringed inside with that. He held up his hands to show he wasn't carrying before settling them back down.

"Sorry if I scared you." He was genuine. "No it's not silly, we've all got to cope somehow. I've got three thousand six hundred and forty three days left. Unless they let me out early." He smiled sadly. "What did you do to end up here?" If it was anything too serious Jamie would walk away. He didn't want to end up murdered. 

Jamie shifted his look out to the chain link fence. He thought the guy was attractive and even though he didn't want to admit it, that was one of the reasons to talk to him.