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28th of January 2020
Time never makes haste when one wishes it to. It has a nasty habit of dragging on interminably, filling those who wait for something with impatience and in tragic cases, with hopelessness. There is nothing anyone can do to alter its relentless course. Praying, begging and stressing over it will gain you nothing, for time is its own master. So, the only option left is to distract yourself, with mind-numbing games and fruitless hobbies, from the ongoing chase between the past and the future. He paused his train of thought and resumed counting the cracks in the ceiling; fifty six, fifty seven, fifty nine... blast it, were was he again? Never mind, he will just have to start over again. Or maybe, for some diversity, he could try to take stock of all the moldy spots and gross, brownish stains in the corners of the room. Not like there is much else to do in prison.
Joseph has only been here for three hours, and he was already starting to go crazy form being cooped up in this dingy, little cell. He was now truly regretting voting against all governmental attempts at improving the incarceration conditions. Damn it, the meals could have been better and with more variety. The prison blocks could have housed fewer inmates in each room. I could have suffered here without some crackhead, who will definitely slash my throat at night, sleeping 2 meters away! Why, God, must you punish me for thinking the poor are greedy? They usually are! Sure, they were right this time, but asking for the minimum wage to be increased and to stop defunding public schools? If they have limited money they should just invest like the rest of us, and if the other issue bothers them, then why don’t they just send their kids to a private school? Lazy wretches, all of them.
After venting his indignation over the audacity of the lower classes, Joseph took a moment to assess his surroundings before they were defiled by his new roommate. The cell is horrifically small, with barely 6,5 m2 of total space available, and has a perpetual smell of wet rags and urine. The walls are chipped and scratched in various places; initially a cold white, the years, humidity and likely other prisoners, have rendered them a pale yellow with some generous spattering of brown specks on one side. Joseph shudders to think of what that might be. Looking upwards, the ceiling is peeling at the edges and has many crevices spread throughout the entire surface. On the far side of the room is placed a row of thick, dirty bars, beyond which lays a brightly lit hallway, framed by dozens of cells on either side. Back inside the room, a rusty metal bunk bed, that was painted a dull grey, is crammed next to the wall on the right. Atop of the permanently squeaking frame lie two thin, lumpy mattresses covered in some unclean and itchy sheets, with two threadbare blankets haphazardly folded at the foot of each cot. Right next to the bed is a metal toilet that surprisingly, seemed to have been given a good wash before he was brought it. Even so, he doesn’t believe he will ever be able to sleep in such close proximity with the smells that will inevitably come out of it. Joseph sighed deeply and closed his eyes, trying to think of better days.
He immediately snapped out of his reverie when the door opened with a loud groan. A tall man stepped inside, causing the accompanying guards to promptly lock the cell in his wake and leave without a word. Still seated on the bottom bunk bed, Joseph just stared at the newcomer, waiting for him to make the first move. The prisoner is easily 1.90 m tall with an obvious, even through the grey jumpsuit, fit physique. Short, shiny black hair hangs around an oval face adorned with high cheekbones, a small, slightly crooked nose and a pair of nicely shaped lips. His eyes are slanted and dark brown in colour. Joseph would judge him to be in his late twenties or early thirties, close to his own age if perhaps, a few years younger. He is definitely handsome...If you’re into that sort of thing, of course. The stranger nodded in his direction and let out a casual “Sup?”. Then, he startled Joseph by heading towards him at a fast, determined pace, prompting him jump up and tense in preparation for a fight. Fortunately, his roommate just hoisted himself up on the top bed and lied down. Feeling utterly stupid for his overreaction, he decided to try and befriend the person he will be stuck with for at least the next few months.
“Hi, I’m Joseph Barnley. It’s nice to meet you!” smiling, he extended a hand toward the other. The prisoner grasped it firmly for a moment and then let go.
“Baek.” was all the answer he received. Not one to be so easily dissuaded, he persisted.
“Where are you from, Baek? I grew up in a small town in Indiana, but I’ve been living in DC for the past 10 years.” He paused and scrutinized the man’s impassive expression, before barreling on. “I have some family here, you see”.
“Detroit”. These one-word replies were really starting to get on his nerves. Plastering on an increasingly strained grin, Joseph figured it would be a good idea to attempt to bond with the guy through a shared experience.
“That’s where you settled, after you came over from China?”. It was apparently the wrong thing to say, because Baek jumped down from his bed, grabbed a fistful of Joseph’s jumpsuit and slammed him roughly against the wall. The deep scowl on his brow combined with the savage snarl on his lips made him look positively thunderous when he leaned in to shout in his face “Who said anything about China, white trash? I was born and raised here. You got a problem with that, bitch?”.
The inmates from the nearby cells started to holler encouragements and challenges, clearly hoping to get the pleasure of watching them brawl like animals. Joseph was scrambling to think of some way to smooth things over that didn’t include him getting the beating of his life. He may have gotten in a few skirmishes in college, but he had no chance of triumphing in a prison fight. He will apologize. Who knows, maybe Baek is a reasonable person and will see that this is only an unfortunate misunderstanding. “I’m sorry. I was out of line to assume things based on your appearance. It won’t happen again.” Joseph prayed he sounded calm and sincere, even though he could feel himself trembling with fear. The man gave him a nasty glare and threw him back down unceremoniously. Afterwards, he stepped away and climbed back onto his bed. Seeing that the danger has abated, Joseph breathed out a sigh of relief and, ignoring the prisoners who were making a racket outside in disappointment at being deprived of a show, he resolved to get some rest.
19th of March 2020
After that disastrous first meeting, he and Baek avoided each other as much as possible while enclosed in such close quarters, with that in mind, Joseph opted to remain in the cell instead of enjoying his allotted outside time for the day. He was mulling over what to tell his wife the next time he got to use the phone, when he overheard a conversation between two guards.
“You heard about them locking down most of Europe? This Corona trash is spreading like wildfire.”
“Aye. In Italy the police keep the people from even leaving their houses. It’s terrible. This is a hoax meant to help the government make slaves of us, if I’ve ever heard one.”
“Right there with you, John.”
Joseph, having been a politician before he was arrested for corruption, knew this to be false. However, it’s true that had this happened just 7 months sooner, he would have used the national state of emergency to ensure that he remained free. Joseph could feel desperation encompass him at the cruelty of his fate. Damn it all, couldn’t this accursed plague have hurried up a little? I could have had it all! And now I’m sentenced to rot in this hellhole. Slapping his palms repeatedly against the nearest wall, Joseph can feel frustrated tears stinging at his eyes, but refuses to let them fall.
5th of April 2020
He should have expected this. His mother had always warned him that Rachel’s love did not seem genuine and that if he ever lost his grip on power, she would be the first to leave. Still, Joseph never believed she would be heartless enough to ask for a divorce now, when he needs her the most. Maybe she will change her mind. After all, with the pandemic raging on, it will be very difficult for her to manage to arrange all the lawyer accompanied discussions of settlements, splitting of assets and potential alimony for her. Yes, he is quite confident that she will come running back to him in no time. And he will magnanimously forgive her.
23th of April 2020
Joseph was wrong. Rachel was indeed serious about serving him the divorce papers. He doesn’t want to end the marriage, they had been so happy together in the beginning. Surely they can work this out somehow? Alas, she is adamant their relationship has been on the rocks for a good while, and that he being incarcerated was merely the final nail in the coffin. What if he refuses to sign, or if he remains uncooperative every step of the way? They can’t force him to go along with this! Sadly, he really does love his wife and if this is what she wants, well, he can’t bring himself to stand in her way. So, with a heavy heart, he completed all the necessary forms and gave them to the people responsible to have them mailed out. After it was done, he collapsed on his cot and started crying his heart out, Joseph pressed his face into the mattress and dragged the blanket over his head in order to muffle the sounds of his weeping. The last thing he needed was for the other inmates to catch a whiff of his weakness and gang up on him. Sure, it would be slightly harder than normal, given that they are pretty much isolated to their rooms due to Covid restrictions, but he still shares outside breaks and shower time with some of them. He must have been doing a pretty bad job of keeping quiet though, because he could hear Baek come down from the top bed. Great! Truly marvelous, now I’m going to get my ribs kicked in for disturbing his afternoon nap. I hate it here.
“Why you crying, man?” the voice didn’t exactly sound hostile, but Joseph was not so easily fooled. “Hey. Joseph, right? Listen, did the guys like...” he hesitated for a second and then continued in a lowered tone “Did they like... hurt you or something? It sucks, but crap like that happens a lot in here. If so, you gotta go get checked out dude, you can’t-“.
“No! God no, nothing like that. It’s just...”. He is man enough to admit that he finds himself famished for comfort, that he very much wants to talk about his problems with someone. Not so much with Baek, who can’t stand him, nevertheless he’s the only option. This is so stupid. He’s going to mock me so bad.
“My wife dumped me over going to jail, my career is ruined and I’ll probably lose all of my money in the divorce. Also, none of my friends bothered to check in on me since I got here.” Joseph stopped his rambling when he remembered his roommate didn’t care about his troubles. He considered looking up at Baek, to see if he was about to blow up on him again, but he decided he doesn’t really want to know. “Sorry. I don’t know why I’m telling you all this. I’ll shut up, let you get some rest”. When the prisoner remained silent, he dared a glance in his direction. To his surprise, Baek simply appeared to be confused and weirdly relieved.
“That’s... good. I mean, not you getting the boot from your girl, just... that it wasn’t worse”. He awkwardly hovered next to Joseph’s bed for a few moments, before quietly climbing back to his own without another word.
1st of July 2020
Joseph had his first court appearance for the divorce at the end of May, when the restrictions were more relaxed. Everything was amicable, so they are just awaiting the official approval for the dissolution of the marriage. He still wasn’t fine with how his life turned out; alas there was not much he could do about it, at least not now. On a brighter note, he and Baek became significantly more civil and social with each other following their little heart-to-heart. Joseph wouldn’t go as far as to call them friends, but they are somewhat closer than mere acquaintances. His cellmate even started to answer to him in fully formed sentences, in fact, he is reasonably sure he actually saw Baek smile one time at something he said. Finally, a positive development!
10th of October 2020
The Covid situation at the prison got worse lately, a bunch of prisoners got the virus and a whole block of cells had to be quarantined. They are, once again, isolated in their own rooms with individually designated times for eating, exercising and showering, in order to avoid having more people contract the disease. During the lockdown, Joseph learned that Baek’s first name is Suk, but that he refuses to answer to it around English speakers due to the “infantile jokes of insipid white men”. Also, he found out why he wound up in jail. That particular conversation played out like this:
“So, what did you do before this? Where did you work?”
“I was an independent business owner, who the government found an issue with because I was milking that hussle instead of being a corporate drone.” Baek said earnestly.
“It was drugs, wasn’t it?”.
“Yeah, it was drugs.” The man shrugged unashamedly and countered “What did you work as?”.
“Eh... I was a lawyer for... a really big firm?” he finished unsteadily. Joseph didn’t want to admit to having worked in politics, even though he wasn’t a well known figure “Money laundering and all that, you know?”. His roommate laughed out loud at that “Great deal of good that fancy law school did you, Joe”. He outwardly smiled at the teasing, but on the inside, he was cringing in guilt from the lie.
28th of January 2021
Baek hasn’t spoken to him at all today. He just lied on his bed and stared blankly at the ceiling for hours. Normally, Joseph tried to refrain from asking emotionally loaded questions, mostly because his friend had an unfortunate tendency to lash out when he did, but something was clearly wrong and he couldn’t just ignore it. So, he crossed the one boundary he never dared to before: he climbed up to the top bed and sat down next to him, on the edge of the mattress. “Suk? I don’t mean to pry, but are you ok? You seem a little... off, I guess?” he carefully watched him, waiting for a denial or perhaps a hint of aggression. None came. Baek just stood there unresponsive for a few minutes, and then, out of nowhere, said “Alex is dead. He was in the Corona block and got sick. The damned pigs didn’t even take him to a hospital”. The grief was audibly causing him to choke on his words “They just let him die, man. Who does that to a person?”. His voice broke so painfully at the end that Joseph couldn’t stop himself from reaching over and giving him an uncomfortable hug. Baek froze for a second, but then he pulled him closer, hiding his face in the other’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry Suk. The guards here really don’t care about the wellbeing of people like us. It’s not fair that they keep getting away with it”, his friend was nodding along at his words.
“And those greedy bastards in the government, lining their pockets with cash and letting the poor rot in the gutter. Scum, all of them”. Joseph didn’t answer, just held him in silence for a while. After Baek seemed to stop being on the verge of tears, he returned to his own bed with an empty feeling in his chest. Those greedy bastards in the government, it was all their fault. My fault.
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