Chapter Text
Someone was banging on the door.
“Police! Open up!”
He stood there, dumbfounded, clutching a bag in his fist. A bag that was about to get him in a whole lot of trouble.
Sirens were wailing. The banging was getting louder. He couldn’t move. His legs wouldn’t work.
The door burst open. He was wrestled to the ground. And then-
Kirsch shot up in his seat suddenly. He was still dreaming about it. He didn’t think it would ever completely go away.
To distract himself from that memory, he looked out of the van window. The last time he’d checked, they’d still been in the city, but now they appeared to be in the middle of nowhere. Fields stretched out in all directions, baking in the sun, and it kinda looked like a planet out of a bad sci-fi movie.
Hey, I may get a decent tan out here Kirsch thought, smiling slightly. He’d been cooped up inside the house during the past year, desperately working to get a college scholarship. Plus, up north the weather was so bad, most of his sports practices were inside anyway.
And everything that had happened in the past month hadn’t helped either. He was pale and thin. He knew it.
“We’re here,” the driver said. Kirsch squinted slightly. He couldn’t see anything from where he was, unless ‘here’ was miles of nothingness.
The back of the van was opened, and a woman in uniform briskly gestured for him to stand up and get out. Kirsch stepped onto the concrete, and realised that his window had conveniently obscured the entire building from view.
He stared at the huge grey complex for a moment, before the woman spat out, “this way,” and began walking off towards a small building, separate from the rest.
Man, what’s her problem?
Kirsch looked around himself as he followed her. He could catch the edge of an outside area, and he even saw a flash of someone wearing green, but it was mostly just boxy, industrial buildings.
Maybe a tan was out of the question, at this rate he’d spend the whole day in the shade avoiding sunlight. He could already feel the back of his neck beginning to burn.
Thankfully, he reached the door quickly and stepped into the blissful shade. The room he found himself in was clinical, with whitewashed walls and minimal furniture. A potted plant wilted slightly in the corner, and the harsh fluorescent lighting was a jarring change from the scorching sun outside.
The woman stood at the door, hands behind her back and head held high. A slightly frazzled-looking man sat at a desk, and looked up when he heard them enter. He even smiled slightly, which Kirsch appreciated.
“Welcome to the Silas Youth Correctional Facility. Take a seat,” he said. Kirsch did as he was told, plonking himself down on one of the plastic chairs facing the desk.
“Name?”
“W-Wilson Kirsch,” his voice was raw from a mix of crying, thirst and lack of use. He wished someone had offered him water.
“Age?”
“Seventeen…”
As they filled out the paperwork, Kirsch became more and more aware of the seat digging into his back. He wiggled around trying to find a decent position, but it seemed impossible. Maybe that was part of their punishment. Uncomfortable chairs.
Kirsch wouldn’t put it past them.
Letting his eyes wander, Kirsch read a poster over the man’s shoulder.
All new inmates, please be aware that biting staff will cause 28 days to be added to your sentence.
What the hell have I gotten myself into?
Kirsch wasn’t the smartest guy, sure, but his future had never been… this. He wasn’t meant to be in a place that had to actually remind people to not bite.
“Okay, thank you, Wilson. Now please come with me,” the man gestured for Kirsch to stand up, and led him into a dingy side room. Kirsch decided he liked him more than the woman. At least he smiled and treated Kirsch like a person.
“Now if you’d please pop your shirt off.”
Kirsch wasn’t sure why he all of a sudden felt self conscious. He used to walk around with his shirt off all the time.
But he’d been wasting away ever since That Night, plus the fact that this wasn’t exactly as chill a situation as summer evenings with his friends had been.
Hands shaking, he undid the buttons of his shirt and slipped it off. The man quickly glanced at him, before ordering him to turn around.
“And your jeans.”
Kirsch fumbled with his belt, before sliding his jeans down to his ankles. He was once again instructed to turn around.
“Please tell me you’re gonna let me keep my underwear on.”
The man laughed. “Don’t worry. Although we will have to scan you, to make sure you’re not concealing anything.”
“How would I manage to hide anything in my boxers?”
“Like I’d give you any ideas!” he joked. Kirsch found himself relaxing. This guy was cool. Even if he did kinda look like a mad scientist who’d worn the same ragged outfit for ten years.
He walked over to look at a laptop, which had a webcam pointed at Kirsch.
Kirsch knew it was irrational, but he still had a terrifying image of a picture of him in his underwear being sent to everyone at his school.
Not that it’d even affect him anymore.
“Alright, you’re good to go!” the mad-scientist clapped his hands together, before picking up a pile of grey clothes and handing them to Kirsch.
He quickly pulled them on. The pants were slightly too large, and the sweatshirt pinched him across the chest.
“Now, let’s go get you settled in, eh?”
Kirsch couldn’t feel less ‘settled’ if he tried.
He was led around the outside of the complex, and he quickly sweated through his new clothes. The grassy area he’d seen before turned out to just be a tiny patch of ground with a single tree, but a few inmates were milling around. Some sat, reading, whilst others chatted with their friends.
“Hey, how come they all get to wear normal clothes?”
“The sweats are just for new inmates. When all your stuff arrives from home, you can wear what you want.”
Oh great. So I’m going to be singled out as fresh meat because of what I’m wearing. That should go down well.
Kirsch looked around self-consciously, but no one seemed to pay him any mind.
He was led inside the main building next. The voices of thousands of kids echoed around the tinny corridors.
“The social area is down the hall,” the mad-scientist pointed. Kirsch decided to call him Doctor Evil. “But let’s show you to your cell, okay?”
Kirsch nodded. He wasn’t in the mood to meet other people yet.
He trailed after Doctor Evil, up some stairs and along depressing, peach corridors.
They passed cells, and Kirsch couldn’t help but look in to some of them. A few had kids in them, lounging around on beds.
Some had posters up, and bookshelves full of books from home. He even thought he saw one or two televisions.
“All of the inmates are allowed a certain degree of personalisation to their cells,” Doctor Evil noticed him looking. “You’ll get to as well, when your mother sends in your things.”
They walked past a cell that seemed completely bare.
“Is that mine?”
“Oh, no, someone is using that one.”
“Why’s it so empty?”
“Some people don’t have all that much stuff to bring from home,” Doctor Evil shrugged, before continuing down the corridor.
He stopped in front of a cell.
“This is you!”
He smiled and gestured as if it was some kind of mansion. Like 'hey MTV, welcome to my crib. It's a fucking cell.'
In reality, Kirsch found himself in a cinderblock room with one small window too high up for him to see out of. An iron bed sat in the corner, with a collection of items laid out on it. He walked over to get a closer look.
There was soap, shampoo, a toothbrush and toothpaste. There was also candy.
“Uh, thanks,” he said, picking up a chocolate bar and inspecting it. It had already melted.
“Just a little welcome pack.”
Kirsch looked around the rest of the room. He had a wooden desk, with a chair that was nailed down to the floor. And in the other corner… a tin toilet and a sink. Gross.
There was a mirror above the sink, and Kirsch caught a look at his gaunt face. The bags under his eyes had become even more pronounced, and his hair was getting longer than he liked.
“Now, you seem like a fairly mentally stable kid,” Doctor Evil said.
“Uh, thank you?”
“Usually here is where we’d have you in to see the counsellor about suicidal thoughts and the like, but since you have no history of violence towards yourself or others, the prison hasn’t deemed it necessary. I am to tell you, though, that if you do have any concerns, the counsellor’s office is open twenty-four-seven.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Kirsch tried not to think about the fact that suicidal thoughts appeared to be a common occurrence here.
“It’s lights out in a few hours. I’ll just leave you here,” Dr Evil nodded, before closing the door and walking away down the corridor.
Kirsch stared at the door for a moment, before walking over to it and gingerly trying the door handle.
Good, I’m not locked in.
He wasn’t sure why this comforted him so much. He wasn’t planning on leaving the room anyway, but it was still nice to know that he could if he wanted to.
He picked up all the stuff from his bed and dumped it on his desk, before lying down on the newly cleared space and staring up at the ceiling.
As Doctor Evil had been so kind to point out, none of his stuff had arrived yet. Meaning he was stuck with wearing ill-fitting grey clothes, and he didn’t have anything to pass the time.
Even though it wasn’t even lights out yet, he found himself drifting off to sleep.
“You gotta help me, man, they’re after me!”
“Police, open up!”
Kirsch’s eyes slowly drifted open. He could see a faint stream of sunlight filtering through his tiny window, so he figured it must be morning.
There was a faint banging on the door, which was probably what woke him up. He slowly got out of bed, rolling his neck slightly. He must have slept with it awkwardly, because he felt an ache all down his back.
He didn’t even reach the door before he heard the jangling of keys and it swung open. An officer he hadn’t seen before was standing there, looking bored.
“It’s breakfast. This is the only day I’ll be reminding you,set so an alarm.”
And with that, she turned around and walked away.
Kirsch stepped out of his cell, and saw that other inmates were also emerging in various states of dress. Some were already completely ready, whilst others stayed in their pyjamas.
They were all heading off down the same direction, so Kirsch decided to follow them. They all nodded to their friends, or began conversations, and he found himself feeling awkward.
In the cafeteria, things were pretty much the same. There were three long tables set out, and the two of them on either side were full. One had boys who were pushing and joking with each other, and the other had girls laughing and talking.
The one in the middle wasn’t empty, however. Two people sat on either end, not talking to each other or anyone else.
Kirsch thought maybe that was some kind of punishment or whatever. Not being allowed to sit with your friends for meals.
He’d seen Orange Is The New Black, and also Mean Girls (as much as he hated to admit it) and he was well aware of the cliche where the new person walks into the cafeteria and everyone stares at them and they can’t find a place to sit.
He was somewhat relieved to discover that nobody here seemed to give a shit about him, continuing on with their daily life. He joined the line for food quietly, taking a tray. If he tried, he could even convince himself he was back in school.
A slightly violent-looking lady handed him an apple and some toast.
“Thank you!” he said, which seemed to surprise her for a moment. She smiled slightly and nodded. He walked off, finding a spare seat right on the edge of the boy table.
“Hey, dude, how did you do that?”
It took a while for Kirsch to realise that he was being spoken too. A pale, blond-haired guy who looked about thirteen was leaning over, looking at him intently.
“How did I do what?”
“You got Mrs Klaus to smile. We’ve been trying to do that for ages! What did you do?”
“I just… said thank you.”
The boy looked like he’d just made some huge discovery. “Aaaaah!” He leaned over to the boy next to him, an Asian kid whose hair was sculpted into a neat coif.
“He said thank you! We never tried that!”
He just shrugged, so the other boy turned back to Kirsch.
“I’m Price. And that’s Theo.”
“Kirsch,” he replied, taking a bite of his toast.
“So, why’re you here?”
Kirsch chewed for a moment, thinking. He definitely couldn’t tell anyone the real story.
“Stole some shit,” he said.
“Aw come on that’s boring! I was hoping we could get a murderer in here at some point.”
“They put the murderers into max security.”
This was the first thing Theo had said, and Kirsch was surprised to find his voice pretty deep. He spoke with surety, and Kirsch knew the kid would be listened to by almost anyone.
“That’s true,” Price frowned. “But at least we could have an attempted murderer!”
They sat for a while, all eating. Kirsch glanced over to the other two tables. At the far side, a group of girls were chatting seriously. It looked like they were planning something. His eyes accidentally met with a redhead and he quickly averted his gaze.
At the other table, the two people were still sitting in silence. One of them was surrounded by paper and they seemed to be marking something on with a pencil. There was also a tiny cactus on the desk for some reason.
The other didn’t have any food in front of her, but she was nose-deep in a book. Kirsch tried to read the title, but he couldn’t make it out.
“Hey, what’s her deal?” he leaned over to Price, who looked over his shoulder to see who he was talking about.
“Oh, that’s Carmilla. You don’t want to know all that much more about her.”
“What do you mean?”
“Did you see that sign when you came in about not biting the guards?”
Kirsch nodded.
“She’s the reason that’s there.”
She was wearing ripped black jeans and a band t-shirt, but nothing about the slight figure of the girl gave Kirsch the impression that she was really all that dangerous. Just as he was looking, her eyes flicked up to catch him, Price and Theo all staring at her.
She bared her teeth and put up her middle finger at them.
“Karnstein! Here! Now!” a guard called.
She sighed, standing up and walking towards the guard with as much attitude as she could put into her step. As she passed their table, Kirsch heard her mutter, “thanks a lot, numbnuts.”
“Ah, great, now we have the prison psycho on our case,” Price said, taking another bite of his toast.
Kirsch felt conflicted, because he’d already made some friends, but he’d also made an enemy. And of course it was the girl everyone’s afraid of. Still, it was hardly his fault that she was getting in trouble for swearing at them.
“Nah man, the prison psychos are the summer soc girls!” a random guy joined in on the conversation.
Price began laughing, “you’re right about that, my friend.”
“The summer sock?” Kirsch asked. Did they have specific socks for each season or something?
“The Summer Society is this all-girl’s club. Pretty much every girl in here apart from Carmilla’s in it. They do girly shit like braiding hair or whatever, I don’t even know,” Price explained. “But we made our own club to go against them. So, my dear Kirsch, you are talking to the founders of Zeta Omega Mu,” he puffed out his chest.
“Okay?”
“We’re a bro-hood that supports our friends. You’re welcome to join.”
Kirsch stared around at the girls. The redhead from before was now staring at him with murder in her eyes.
“Deal.”
Danny had had one hell of a morning, from cleaning up some of her Summer Socs because they were caught in yet another zeta prank to changing the lightbulbs in the rec room since she didn’t need a ladder. Needless to say, she was exhausted. When she had first arrived in this godforsaken place, (it seemed like forever ago at this point), she had assumed things would get very boring, very quickly. She had been wrong.
Every single day the zetas did something to piss her off, one of her girls needed help or advice, and the guards failed in their job of checking what had come into this place. Usually the things she saw were harmless, but every so often she had to remove a knife from someone’s room which just caused unneeded stress.
Danny really should be on Silas’s payroll, she did more work than the people working here.
It wasn’t surprising, therefore, that Danny was nearly always absolutely exhausted, and today had not been the one of the best she’d spent in this place. Still, it was nice to get some food.
“Hey girls.” She smiled at the Summer Socs on their table, and they all returned the favour.
“Hey Danny.” Natalie made some room for the unofficial leader of the group to slip in.
“So, any newbies today?”
“Just the one, and he’s already joined up with them.” Danny didn’t need to ask for confirmation of who ‘they’ were. She just scanned the zetas looking for their new addition, and it didn’t take her long to find him. He didn’t look like a threat, the typical ‘brawn but no brains’ guy that the zetas seemed to love. “But you didn’t give the tour to the new girls yesterday so…”
“I’ll do it after lunch.” The new guy met her eyes, Danny glared, he looked away. Okay so maybe he looked away before she had actually glared, but the sentiment was still there.
“What if we steal their shower kits?”
Oh, looked like another plan of action was in motion, which meant that sooner or later…
“Danny?”
“Yes, Taylor?”
“Thoughts?” Here we go, another battle against the zetas in a war that they were so close to winning.
“Take the towels, their clothes and the soap, we can’t let them go into the showers barefoot. We don’t want any deaths on our hands.”
“But you know that Mel once…”
“I know that no one wants added time.” The girls all exchanged glances, they knew she was right. Danny broke the tension with a laugh. “But go ahead, and don’t get caught.”
The girls all cheered as they finished eating, so at least that was something. The noise attracted a little attention from the zetas, who, unsurprisingly, started heckling. Soon enough, they were all yelling at each other and the guards were trying to intervene.
Yep, just a normal, exhausting day.
“Girls, keep up.”
The newbies had lingered, yet again, near one of the many unattended corridors, no doubt trying to gauge whether or not they’d get caught if they wandered off there. They wouldn’t, but Danny didn’t tell them that, she knew what would happen if people knew about unguarded spots in this prison. She knew all too well.
“What’s the point of this anyway?” The oldest of the group sulked with an attitude reminiscent of the people Danny went to high school with.
“You want to get lost?” They all shook their heads. “Then listen, cause you only get this once.” Danny was used to this, the newbies thinking they knew better than her, even though they’d been here one day and Danny had been here for…
Okay, she didn’t want to think about that.
“When we get an hour out, you go through those doors down there.”
“Is there a track?” That was a timid girl at the back, couldn’t have been older than 14, and that was pushing it.
“Not yet.” It was a promise. Silas needed that track, they just didn’t see it yet.
The tour continued around the building, with rules, both official and not, being fired at the girls like they were going to remember them. Hopefully their cellmates would help them out, but Danny couldn’t be sure of anything. But she also didn’t have the time to babysit any one particular girl, not when she was basically in charge of all the girls in this facility. So she had to tell them now and hope that they’d remember.
“Don’t accept anything from the alchemy guys.”
“The ‘alchemy guys?’”
“That’s just what they call themselves. They say they can smuggle in anything you want, but their prices are high and what they’re selling?” Danny shuddered. “It’s not safe. You need anything, I can point you toward a much better, credible source.”
These tours always brought up old memories that the taller girl really didn’t like reflecting on.
“Never insult the cook, she’ll remember and bake you into cookies.” Danny grinned down at the group. Some of them understood she was joking and laughed, some looked scared.
“R-Really?”
“Nah, but she can get pretty bitchy toward you if you insult her, and she’s in charge of food.” As the group reached the cells again, Danny turned to face the girls she’d guided round, and so she didn’t see the group of zetas behind her.
“Yeah, and sometimes she’ll even give you the fungus from the roof, huh Lawrence?”
“Better than a regurgitating toilet getting revenge, right Price?” She didn’t even need to look round. She knew everyone in this place.
“Dude that’s messed up.”
“That’s what the summer psychos’ll do to you. Crazy, the lot of them.”
With that, Danny actually faced the group of zetas. There was the new guy, he seemed to be pretty relaxed despite the whole ‘first day at Silas’ thing. God, he was going to cause her trouble, Danny could feel it.
“At least the Summer Socs weren’t created because we felt left out.”
“We…we didn’t…I mean…the zetas are…”
“Not very good with words, gotcha.” Danny winked sarcastically. “Now scram.” And they sulked off, away from the girls. Perfect. The taller girl turned back to her tour group. “This brings me to my next point, the girls in this place tend to stick together. We’re known as the Summer Society, and we’ll look out for you. We even have a few activities set up for down time, and we’re always looking for new members.”
Danny was happy to see that she’d caught the attention of the girls.
“Just sit on our table at mealtimes, we have more than enough space.” Good, they looked interested. “And finally, I’ll let you go. Don’t get in any more trouble than you have to here, ladies.”
Most of them left before Danny had even finished speaking, going off to do…whatever it was that they could find to do. There really wasn’t much here, the facility’s budget hardly stretched to clean bathrooms. But one girl stayed behind, it was the girl who’d asked about the track.
“Hey there.” Danny sat down next to her, and she met her eyes. The girl looked pretty spooked, and Danny really couldn’t blame her. “What’s up?”
There was a pause. It seemed like a redundant question, the girl could refer to whole building and she would be understood. But still, Danny found that it usually helped to ask.
“I didn’t realise…” She trailed off, going quiet again.
“Didn’t realise what, squirt?”
“That there was so much to know. I thought I’d be safer here but…” She was crying. Danny tried to calm her down, but there wasn’t much that could be done. Being here as long as she had, Lawrence had heard nearly every story that she could imagine, and then some, and so a response like that? Danny got the picture.
“Hey, hey, you will be.” The girl sniffed. “You will. The Summer Society keep each other safe, and no one will expect you to know everything. You’ve still got these on,” Danny gestured to her sweats. “So we know you’re new. I trust all of the Summer Socs, and you will too.”
The girl slumped.
“You can make it through this. It really isn’t that bad. Trust me, I’ve been here for a long time.”
“How long?” It was an innocent question, but Danny still didn’t want to answer it. But one look at this girl told her that she needed anything Danny could offer.
“Two years.” The shock on her face seemed to distract her from the sadness at least. Danny put her finger to her lips. “But don’t go sharing, huh?” The girl nodded. “Want me to keep an eye out for you?” Some girls did, some girls saw it as an embarrassment.
“Yes please.” This girl looked like she needed it.
“No problem kiddo.” Danny stood up and helped the girl to her feet. “What’s your name?”
“Jensen. What’s yours?”
“Lawrence. See you round, Jensen.” As Danny went to walk away she was surprised when this tiny girl actually held onto her sleeve.
“Thank you, L-Lawrence.”
Well, it looked like there was another Summer Society girl that Danny felt like she absolutely had to protect. How many was that now? She didn’t know, she’d lost count.