“InvisibleMan”—TheoryofaDeadman
Footsteps echoed down the hall as I ducked into the bathroom. As quietly as I could, I closed the door and climbed on the toilet. Crouched down, I knew it was a shitty hiding place. The doors were short and didn’t lock. My heart was pounding so hard, I was afraid they’d hear it.
The ridiculous hiding place wouldn’t protect me for long if they looked under or busted the door in, but I was only hoping to buy time until a guard came along. The bathrooms weren’t really made to keep anyone out. It was a prison, for fuck’s sake.
“Where did he go?” a raspy voice asked. There were several murmured replies, but I was too busy holding my breath and praying.
One by one, the doors were ripped open. The partitions shook with the force of the wood banging on the opposite side.
Eyes squeezed shut, I wished I could disappear. It had been nearly a year, and I’d been dodging the fuckers the entire time. Evidently, my time had run out. How they made it into the character-based housing was beyond me. They were assholes.
BANG! My door crashed, and my eyes popped open as I prepared to fight.
“What the fuck?”
“Where did he go?”
“He had to have come in here. There’s nowhere else he could’ve gone,” the last one said.
Confusion hit me, but I kept my mouth shut as I looked around. They were looking right at me. I glanced down and saw the same orange prison garb I wore every day.
They checked each stall again as I watched Faulkner crouch down to watch the floor.
“He didn’t go under the stalls. I don’t know how, but he’s not here,” he said as he stood up.
They looked up at the ceiling as if I’d be hanging out up there like Spider-Man.
Finally, the three of them left, muttering.
I looked down at myself again, held my hand up, and stared at it front and back. What the fuck? Were they blind?
“You can come out now,” a gruff voice said, and I looked up in surprise. Wrapped up in my shock, I hadn’t heard anyone else come in.
It was one of the older inmates, Dennison. Despite being my bunkmate, he kept to himself. Rumor was, he was in some motorcycle gang out of Savannah. He also worked in the garage with me, but we hadn’t really interacted much. I’d been fortunate to snag the position, because it would give me something to do when I got out. It showed that I was trustworthy too. An inmate had to be if they were allowed to work in the shop.
“You deaf, kid? I said you were safe. You don’t need to hide anymore.” His words momentarily dragged me back to the day I’d met Lila.
Cautiously, I climbed down off the toilet and stepped out into the open bathroom.
“Why are you on my side?” I asked as I tried to slow down my breathing and heart rate.
The only sign that I startled him was a slight tensing in his jaw and his eyes darting around.
“Where are you? You do that often, and you’re going to get way more attention than you bargained for,” he said as he leaned back on a sink and lit a joint. Something we definitely weren’t supposed to have. He tucked the lighter in his shoe.
I was standing right in front of him, but he seemed to look through me. I waved my hand in his face, and he didn’t so much as flinch. To say I was shocked would be an understatement.
Then I began to worry. What the fuck was going on? Had I suddenly become the invisible man? Jesus, what if this was me for the rest of my fucking life? I needed him to see me!
“There you are!” he said, and I stared at him. He chuckled, and I glanced down to see I still looked the same.
“What the fuck is happening?” I asked.
He tipped his head back slightly and took a deep drag as he looked down his nose at me.
“Now that, I can’t say. What I do think is when you get out of here, there are some people I know that you should meet,” he said after he blew the smoke to the ceiling.
“We’re not supposed to have drugs,” I muttered, causing him to laugh.