Sam and Colby: The Penitentiary

43

Mike was given three days in the hole. Waco had come in to see me laying on the floor nearly unconscious while Big was yelling at Mike, who was still standing on my head. Big got a couple of hits from Waco's baton, but nothing he couldn't handle. Probably just left a bruise or two on his side.

                Ray and I were both sent to the infirmary. My neck was bruised from where Mike had had such a tight grip on me and there was a significantly sized bump on the back of my head, along with a small gash and bruise on my forehead from where he'd punched me.

                Ray's nose was broken and two of his teeth were chipped. Nelly, the nurse, turned out to be a total ditz. She was shit at her job and spent all of her time flirting with whatever guy came into the room. And for a few days, that happened to be Ray.

                No one else came in for the first two days I was stuck in the stupid shitty hospital bed. Colby finally came to see me, when he explained that visitors aren't technically allowed and he'd slipped Waco some cigs to come in and see me. He sat down on the bed next to me and looked down at my face, sadness filling his eyes.

                "Why did you do that, Nessa?" he asked in a serious voice.

                "Which part? Get beat up? Jeez, I don't know," I replied.

                "No, not that," he responded, annoyed with my attitude. "Why did you go back for Ray? Of all people?"

                "I can hear you, asshole," Ray said from a few beds away.

                "Shut the fuck up," I said.

                "Never mind," Colby sighed, probably piecing together the answer. We hated him, but we needed him. I had to remind myself of that every time I had to talk to that jerk. "This is what I was talking about. With everything being unfair. I told you you'd be alone sometimes. But I didn't expect you to maximize that time on purpose."

                "I wasn't aware I had an enemy in here," I said.

                "You've got tons, love. You're screwed when you get out of here and people see how easy you are to get to," Ray said.

                "Dude, she said shut up," Colby said.

                "He's right," I said.

                "Yeah, I know," he mumbled. "We'll figure this out, okay? Big wants to see you too, so I'll send him in," said Colby.

                "Okay. Thank you b...brother," I said. Couldn't call him babe in front of Ray.

                "Of course, man," Colby replied. He reached out and squeezed my hand before walking out.

                "Oof, that man's got it bad," Ray chuckled.

                "What?" I asked.

                "Dude's practically in love with you," he said.

                "Funny, people say the same thing about you," I retorted. He just shrugged.

                "Eh," he replied. Uh oh. He didn't immediately disagree with that.

                Big came in a minute later, taking Colby's old spot.

                "Hey there, Mom. You doing okay?" he asked.

                "Definitely not the worst injury I've had before. Not by a longshot," I said.

                "Yeah, Golbach and TikTok were telling me about that," said Big. I still thought it was so fucking funny that Corey's new name was TikTok.