I’ll be forever indebted to her for that.
I’ll never forget the sound those heavy doors made as they closed me in. The emptiness and finality of the lock clicking, the shame and abandonment that ran through me, knowing it was my own dad who put me there.
I deserved it, I’ll give him that, but I didn’t think he had it in him. Not really.
God, that first night was torturous. I stared up at the ceiling for what seemed like hours, listening to the sounds filtering in from other cells. There were taunts coming from some of the more seasoned delinquents, pretending to be rougher than they really were. We were in juvie, not prison. This place was like a hotel in a lot of ways. They tried to make it comfortable. A nice bed with a semi-soft mattress, a metal toilet and sink. A little desk you could sit at and make your own. It wasn’t the most ideal place to spend a few months of my life, but that’s what the judge sentenced me to.
I wanted to make the best of it, but some of the other inmates weren’t making it easy for me.
“Move, or I’ll make you move!” a loud, obnoxious voice hollered from above me just as I started to dig into my breakfast.
“Excuse me?” I challenged.
The kid was a little older than me and built like a tank. He was at least six five already and too muscular for a teenager.
“I said, get the fuck up before I throw you to the ground.”
He had a couple of buddies with him, both snickering behind him like brainless lackeys.
“I’ll get up when I finish my food,” I informed him.
Within seconds, his hand was slamming onto the table beside me, my food jumping a few feet in the air.
“Motherfucker, I said move.”
Before I could react, two kids came up behind me, squaring up to the bigger dude.
“Knock it off, JP. Leave the poor kid alone,” a kid with huge scars all over his face demanded.
“Shut up, Scarface. This is between me and Fresh Meat.”
The other kid moved in further. “Nowwe’restanding between you and Fresh Meat, so back the fuck off.”
The JP guy looked between us and sneered. “This isn’t over, Frazier. You know how I feel about you fucking intervening.”
“And now you know you can’t. Go back to your corner before I call the fucking guards.”
He glanced toward the door where two-armed guards stood there watching us attentively before backing down. “This isn’t over, Freshie. See you in the showers.”
He was gone without warning, retreating to some darkened corner on the other side of the room. “Fuck, that was a little too easy,” I grumbled. “Thanks, I guess.”
The two guys took the seats in front of and beside me.
“If you let them walk all over you, you’ll be their punching bag the entire time you’re here,” the one with the scar told me. “So, what’s your name, kid? I’m Rich and this is Eddie. Whatcha in for?”
“Attempted grand theft auto, and my name’s Wesley, but my friends call me Wes.”
“They got you on an attempt?” Eddie asked in strange awe. “Damn, who the hell did you piss off?”
“My dad. He’s a cop.”
They both hissed in mock sympathy. “Damn, that sucks.”
“In his defense, it was my third offense. The first two I actually managed to boost the car. They just didn’t catch me all the other times.”
“Do you even have a license?” Eddie questioned.
I mocked him with fake laughter. “Not now.” There was a long pause before any of us spoke again. “What about you two? What are you guys in for?”
