"I asked you a question." My father presses, taking two steps closer to me. I can't help but react by taking two steps backwards.

"Nowhere in particular. Just went out for some fresh air." I simply reply as I turn around to enter my room. To my horror my father grabs my upper arm in a forceful way, making me turn around to face him again.

"Don't lie to me." He hisses under his breath, "You know what happens when you lie."

"I'm not nine anymore." I spat back, pulling my arm away from him as I continue. "I'm not afraid of you. I do not have to explain myself or my actions to you. I'm an adult now."

"Are you really?" He takes a threatening step closer to me while narrowing his empty eyes, nearly fuming at my words. A bitter silence falls as I take another step backwards, my back hitting the wall and indicating that I will not get out of this situation easily.

"Ryan?" A sound interrupts us, immediately making my father take a step backwards and try to hide his monstrous side. I turn my head around to what seems like my guardian angel and see Cole striding towards us.

"I heard noises coming from here." Cole continues, looking at my father with a frown and then turning to me. "What's going on Brooklyn?" He asks me, nearly pretending that my father, his head guard, is not standing in front of me and knows he is the cause of all this.

I don't say a word as tears well up in my eyes, taking this opportunity to quickly go into my room and lock the door behind me.

I get into my bed and curl up into a tiny ball, trying to disappear beneath my sheets. As I lay there in complete silence, I hear my father and Cole talk in front of my door. Cole tells him that we were together and that he was just telling me about some memories he made in this prison because I couldn't sleep. My father has a stern tone and tells him that he should just mind his own business, or he would take away his night shifts.

As their slightly hushed conversation goes on, I force my eyes shut and feel the tears stream down my face.

Maybe I really shouldn't have come here because only then I'd be able to avoid my father more often. But how right would it be to let go of some of my dreams just because of him?

I lied earlier. I am in fact terrified of him. I'm afraid of what he'd might do to me. I've seen too much that confirms this man does not have any patience or genuine love, not even for his own wife and daughter.

Drowning in these melancholic midnight thoughts, I slowly feel my exhaustion and sadness take over as I fall into a deep slumber.

The next morning, I wake up early and after grabbing my cup of coffee, I head straight towards the room. Taking out my phone, I text Lexi, my closest friend since high school, asking her when she'll be able to apply for an internship here.

Before I started a week ago, I tried convincing her to do her nursing internship here, at the healthcare of this prison. She wasn't sure and even though she loves me, she told me she'd apply to other places first. For as far as I know, she hasn't gotten any positive answers yet.

As guilty as it makes me feel, I'm happy that there really is a possibility of her being by my side most days of the week. I just have to continue asking her about it and eventually she'll give in.

Not receiving an answer from Lexi yet, I assume she must be busy and lock my phone, putting it away.

"Good morning." Reed's voice greets me from the doorway, "I noticed you skipped breakfast, so... I brought you a bottle of water, an orange and a muesli bar."

He walks towards my desk and neatly puts the food in front of me, his smile never fading.

"I wasn't hungry." I tell him but respond with a smile. "Thank you nevertheless."

Somehow, he always manages to bring me something, every single morning. I try to ignore the feeling that he's always looking out for me. I'm pretty sure he means well and is just trying to make me feel home as my colleague and relatively young guard.

"Excited for the day?" Reed continues, leaning onto the armrest in front of me.

"Actually yes." I answer as I look up at him. "Do you have the list, or do I have to ask Cole?"

"I have it—," He stands to his feet again and pulls a folded paper out of his uniform's pocket. "Here."

Thanking him with a swift nod, I grab the paper and unfold it, scanning the names in front of me.

Annoyed by the lack of Ethan's name, I try to remain discrete. "There's a name missing...?" I note with a questionable tone.

"Is there?" Reed looks surprised, making me wonder if he's actually unaware of the reasoning behind it.

I nod and hand him the list. "Ethan Wilford is my first client of the day. Can you bring him in first, before we continue with the list?" I conjure a coaxing smile on my face.

Reed looks a little taken aback by my request, yet he stands to his feed and nods. "Yeah, that's fine. I'll bring him in." He says and leaves the room without another word, leaving me wondering what caused his quite odd behavior. I should be the one acting odd because it seems like someone is deliberately trying to make sure Ethan and I don't have our sessions.

I'm not sure who's behind it. I don't think Reed has any reasoning to be doing such thing but I will find out.

Not long after, Reed finally brings in a quite smug-looking Ethan. "Thanks, Oliver." Ethan uses his first name while facing him, almost as if he's trying to piss him off on purpose. "You were finally able to get the list right, bravo."

A deep scowl appears on Reed's face, "Shut it Wilford, don't make me take you back."

I'm surprised at the fact that they're both acting like I'm not even in the same room.

"You already tried, but I'm here anyways. Because—" Ethan turns to me, a grin tainting his lips. "Brooklyn wants me here. Right, Brooklyn?"

Trying to suppress the heat coming to my cheeks, I remain in my serious posture and nod. "Yeah, it's time for our weekly conversation, the one we missed yesterday." I lock eyes with Reed while saying this, trying to notice if he's giving away anything. He doesn't say a word and let's go of Ethan's upper arm, leaving the room in silence.

"Fucking prick." Ethan mumbles under his breath, shaking his head before he faces me again. "Hi there, therapist; miss Adams." An immediate smile falls upon his limps, causing me to mirror it right away.

Not trying to fall into a haze, I refer to what I just witnessed.

"What was that all about?" I ask as I motion for him to sit down. "I didn't know you guys had this weird beef kind of thing going on between you two. Why's that?"

"It's nothing relevant." Ethan's gleaming smile fades away, his changing features immediately making it obvious that he's holding back. Not trying to push him any further, I chose to remain silent about this topic, for now.

"Okay, forget about that." I start as I try to think of something to change the subject. Before I can, Ethan already does.

"About last night, what was that all about?" He begins, a tint of what seems like worry washing over his face. "Cole told me he found your father getting quite angry at you."

"Apparently he noticed that I left." I avoid eye contact by looking down at my desk, scrabbling random things on the front of my green notebook. "It's okay, Cole talked me out of it, so I didn't really have to deal with it."

"Hey—," Ethan surprises me by suddenly putting his handcuffed hand on mine, stopping my frantic scrabbling. "Look at me." He presses.

Biting on my bottom lip to subdue my urge of letting out a deep sigh and a few stinging tears, the taste of iron spreads.

"Brooklyn, look at me." Ethan urges with a softer tone, slightly bending down to look into my eyes through the curtain of hair falling over my red-rimmed eyes. He takes the pen from my hands and puts it next to our touching hands.

Slowly lifting my head and meeting his gaze, "Reed is watching." I mumble as a withdraw my hand from under his grip, letting both of them lay on my lap.

Ethan nods, a tad of disappointment gleaming off the way he does it. "I know I'm the one that should be getting some therapeutic relief by talking, but you and I both know that you need someone to talk to as well. I can be that person Brooklyn, let me do that for you." He mutters silently, probably trying to be inaudible to Reed.

"I'll be okay." Is all I say and that's how we end that part of the conversation, moving on to the actual session part. The part that Reed needs to hear to be assured that this is just another one of my clients. I don't need him to get suspicious and add gas onto the fire that is my father.

We talk about how the inmates have made basketball teams and are having actual matches. Ethan proudly tells me that he's the team captain and that they're aspiring to be the best team in the entire prison. I smile at his innocent enthusiasm and promise to visit one of his matches these upcoming few days.

"I have to go to court this week." He tells me, "Can you come?"

"I'll try to, for support." I answer, wondering how his case is still open. "I thought your case would be closed, considering you've been here for like what— three years now?"

"It sucks," He sighs, "My attorney is still trying to prove my innocence so the case can't really close."

"I hope it works out Ethan, " I genuinely answer, though I know it's nearly impossible. Most of the wrongly convicted cases just get hushed because they barely have any publicity. In Ethan's case; zero publicity.

I still can't believe that I, Brooklyn Adams, the most curious person ever, still haven't investigated and found out for what Ethan was convicted. Deep inside I know it must be something major, not just some theft.

It can't be rape. I've been alone with him and he has never tried to get close to me in a wrong way. There's absolutely zero chance of him being anything near that.

Could it be—?

"Murder. " He implies with a whisper as if he's reading my mind. "I've been wrongfully convicted for a first-degree murder. "

At a loss for words, I take a few seconds to process what he just said.

He's innocent.

Repeating the same thought a few times, he speaks up. "Do you believe me when I say I'm innocent?"

Just when I want to answer his question, Reed storms into the room without even a knock, striding towards where we're sitting. "Time's up."

"How the hell?" Ethan scowls, turning around to look at Reed. "It's been like what, fifteen minutes?"

Reed walks over to Ethan, grabbing him by the upper arm.

"Reed—" I blurt out in a worried voice, "Seriously, what is up? You keep doing this to Ethan and not to any other inmate? Let me decide when the conversation is over, like we always do. Stop interrupting, it's really starting to bother me. We can barely get into it and you already tell him his time is up." I continue to explain, my rambling making Ethan's lips curl up into another grin.

Reed doesn't even dare to look me in the eye, he just continues to force Ethan to stand up. Even though Ethan is handcuffed, he's taller than Reed, making him look even more intimidating to him. He visibly clenches his jaw as he looks at Reed, taking a step with him towards the door.

"You're really trying me, Reed. I swear if it wasn't for her—" He turns around to look me in the eye and his facial expression becomes a little softer, bringing out the side of him that he shows when he's around me.

"Then what?" Reed speaks in a threatening tone. "Don't try me, Wilford."

"Don't try me, Reed. " Ethan presses. "You don't have shit on me. I, on the other hand—"

Reed interrupts him by suddenly pushing him against the wall, forcing his cuffed hands and arms up. "Stop it!" I object, quickly walking towards them.

"Stay where you are, Brooklyn." Reed raises his voice at me, starting to get me really pissed. "Your mind couldn't even be able to handle what this guy is capable of. "

"Oh, if only she knew what you are capable of. " Ethan laughes with his cheek pushed against the wall.

"If you don't shut up right this second—"

"Then what?!" Ethan tried to push him even further.

To my horror, Reed puts his hand in one of Ethan's pockets and takes out what seems like a self-made knife out of razors.

"Then I'll make sure your attorney has even more shit to deal with. " is all Reed has to say to make Ethan fall silent after defeatedly mumbling. "That's all you're good at."

Looking at them in both shock and confusion, I try to process what's happening in front of me and what they're talking about. It feels as if I'm missing out on way too much information and my mind simply can't process all of this on the spot.

Reed and Ethan leave the room after that, both mumbling incoherent words and hissing silent threats to each other. Leaving me, my thoughts and unanswered new questions. I didn't even get to tell Ethan that I believe in his innocence when he asked me before Reed stormed in.

And now I'm left wondering if he even is the person my sorrowful heart and mind longed for him to be.

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A/N; reed is annoying, I KNOW. we all hate reed in this club. or not...?

thanks for reading, i hope you enjoyed.
please don't forget to vote & comment, i really enjoy reading every single one of them.

— lyra b.