Free Young Women Reform: Novella 1 by Candace Mia

Novella 1
     
    “I’ve been told you’ve become quite handy
while in prison, Mr. Wakefield.”
    The woman across the table from Brody was
pretty. He estimated that she was a little older than him, and he
was 42. She had rich dark eyes and long dark hair. She was a little
big for a woman, but not fat. She just looked like she could hold
her own. He couldn’t believe they were letting him sit alone in a
room with her. He’d not been alone with a woman for twenty
years.
    “Yes,” he said. “There’s not a lot to do in a
maximum security prison. I’ve taught myself a lot of things.”
    “I’ve heard,” she said. Her voice was
powerful, condescending really. “I’ve also heard you’ve tutored a
number of your fellow inmates and helped them get their GEDs.”
    “Yes. And I’ve helped some get more than
that. Some even have college degrees.”
    “Yes. So I’ve heard. But it’s not your
ability to teach smart people that I care about. It’s your ability
to teach the dumber ones.”
    He shook his head, slowly. “What does all of
this have to do with anything? I’m in prison for the rest of my
life. There’s no chance of parole.”
    “No there’s not. You killed your wife and her
lover.”
    “Yes, ma’am, I did.”
    The confident woman smirked. “I wasn’t
asking. I was recapping. All questions about what you did were
answered a long time ago.”
    Brody looked down. He’d grown to accept what
he’d done. But it still brought him shame.
    “As you said, Brody. There’s no chance of
parole. You will be a prisoner the rest of your life. But I’ve
handpicked you to be in a different sort of prison, my prison.”
    Brody stared at her. Was she for real?
    “I could use a hand man at my little prison,
and I could use a man who can teach difficult concepts to dumb
people.”
    He wondered about her prison. He supposed it
couldn’t be worse than this place.
    “You will have an electronic tether, of
course. It will be put right under your skin. Our state is the only
state that allows such a thing. Should you try to escape, a jolt of
electricity will shoot through you that will only knock you out, if
you’re lucky.”
    She was smiling at him, like she took great
pleasure in what she could do. She leaned over the table, though,
closer to him. “But there will be no walls. You’ll have your own
room. You’ll have a television and good food. You’ll even be able
to go outside and play. And I understand that you were an aspiring
writer years ago. I’ve been told you still write, that you’ve
filled up notebooks.”
    Brody thought he felt is own eyes widen.
Could it really be possible that there could be more to it than
that, filling up notebooks?
    As if she’d read him, she smiled and said,
“You’ll have access to a computer to type those stories out. You’ll
have access to the Internet, so you can send those stories to
publishers or put them out yourself. I’ll even let you keep the
money you make and let you buy things you want.”
    This was all too good to be true. He even
entertained the idea that it was all a dream. “But what do I have
to do?”
    She grinned. “Anything I say.”
    He was a little afraid. But it was very
little. Not much could be worse living and dying in this place. It
still seemed too good to be true.
    #
    He was taken to the new prison in a
windowless Van. He was shackled to his seat. He was glad he could
lift his hand to his neck. It really itched where they’d put the
tracker. He had no clock to watch the time, but he felt like it
took hours to get there. He wondered if he was still in the same
state. Maybe they’d just circled around for a while to confuse him.
There was no way of knowing.
    By the time they opened the doors he was very
thirsty, very hungry and needed to go to the bathroom. The light
from outside seemed bright and stung his eyes. There was a buzzing
sound, and the shackles came undone.
    “Get out,” a deep voice said.
    It was a hard thing to do. It was