Chapter 3

Morning Duty

CHAPTER 3 “Choke! Choke…CHOKE!” Choke D Chicken harshly lifted his head and continued breathing heavily, sweat beads ran down his face as he sat up on his bed. He heard the voice of his daughter calling out his informal name. The echoing effect in her voice grew louder and louder till it sounded loud enough to kick him out of his sleep. That was when he realized it was a prison guard yelling out his name from behind the bars. “You’ve gotta be kidding me. It’s morning duty! Get out of bed you piece of meat!” yelled the officer shortly before he moved past the bars to the next cell. Choke D chicken took in a deep breath and got out of his bed to prep for morning duty. He looked a little disoriented following the dream he had about his daughter. Morning duty was a cleaning exercise that all the prisoners in the penitentiary partook of. The officers had the inmates run shifts every week and this week happened to be the week Choke D Chicken, as well as the inmates of the next five cells to the left of his cell, were on duty. They were 14 in all; 5 were assigned to the cafeteria, 3 were assigned to the bathrooms, 3 to the corridors and the last 3 to the gym. Choke was assigned to the gym area. The two supervising officers thought in a stereotypic manner that Choke was only good enough to clean the gym area due to his muscle mass. Apparently he was the only one who was strong enough to lift the dumbbells and the barbells off the floor to clean the dirt beneath them. After a span of 30 minutes, three of the cleaning groups were done with their job. One of the supervising officers walked to the bathrooms to check up on how much cleaning the 3 inmates had done so far. “What are you doing Shegg? Get off the wall and come and help. It’s almost daybreak!” One of the inmates called out to ‘stuck-up Shegg’ who didn’t think cleaning the dirty, stenchfilled bathrooms was his job to do. He continued to lean on the wall near the entrance of the bathroom as though he didn’t have a care in the world. The prison officer walked in on them when he realized the superficial work done. “Oi! You’re taking too long!” said the officer as he looked around and finally set his eyes on Shegg who still looked unconcerned. “HEY! YOU OVER THERE! BETTER PICK UP THAT BRUSH AND START CLEANING!” ordered the officer, giving Shegg a fiery gaze and pointing down at the brush on the floor. “Haha! Nice try officer, but I am no janitor you know” replied Shegg. “I’m not gonna say this for a third time. GET THE DAMN BRUSH AND START CLEANING, BASTARD! “What did you just call me?” queried Shegg squinting his eyes at the officer as though he was offended by the officer’s words. He got off the wall and began taking steps toward the officer. The two other prisoners in the bathroom stopped cleaning to watch what was going to happen. “I DARE YOU TO SAY IT AGAIN! I DARE YOU TO SAY IT AG-GG…….ARGGHHHHH!!!!!!!” The officer immediately hit the surface of his watch activating the platinum wristband on Shegg’s wrist. Shegg wobbled and went down on the dirty floor covered in soapy water and pieces of excreta. He screamed and shook himself uncontrollably on the bathroom floor. The officer looked down at Shegg and smiled, his hand still on the surface of his watch. Shegg couldn’t help but scream at the feel of the unreal, unbearable and torturing pain. In less than 2 minutes blood started to ooze out of his nostrils, eyes and ears. His screams gradually diminished, a sign that he had run out of the energy to shout as he approached the endpoint. “YOU’LL KILL HIM! CAN’T YOU SEE HE’S DYING!? ” hollered the third inmate in the bathroom. He was clearly disturbed at the sight of the incident. “SHUT UP! SHUT UP!!” The officer shouted in anger. A few seconds after, he took his palm off his watch. Shegg laid on the wet floor almost lifeless with blood trickling from all the openings of his head. “Get him to the cells. This should serve as a warning to anyone who tries to stand up to any officer under Skye” said the officer. Quickly, the two prisoners picked Shegg up and took him to his cells where he died before midday. Choke D Chicken and the other prisoners on morning duty were released to go back to their cells. At midday Skye passed an audio message from the surveillance room through to all the megaphones in the corridors. “ATTENTION PRISONERS! HEED TO THIS ADDRESS BY THE WARDEN ” informed a surveillance personnel to the populace. “You’re on, Sir” he said to Skye, sliding a bit to the right in his ergonomic chair to pave way for Skye to get closer to the microphone that sat in the middle of the gadgets and workstations on the table. “GOOD DAY PRISONERS. I SUPPOSE YOU HAVE HEARD OF THE RATHER UNFORTUNATE INCIDENT INVOLVING SHEGG JOHNSON, THAT HAPPENED EARLY THIS MORNING. SHEGG JOHNSON HAS PASSED AWAY AND THIS WAS AS A RESULT OF HIS SHEER DISRESPECT TO THE NEW AUTHORITY OF THIS HIGHLY ESTEEMED PENITENTIARY. EVEN AS WE MOURN THE PASSING OF SHEGG, LET HIS DEATH SERVE AS A REMINDER TO YOU THAT YOU ARE NOT FAR FROM EXPERIENCING WHAT HE EXPERIENCED IF YOU PROVE TO BE AS DISRESPECTFUL, INSOLENT, VIOLENT AND ARROGANT AS HE WAS. AND TO THOSE WHO ARE ENGAGED IN OTHER PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES IN THIS ENVIRONMENT… I ASSURE YOU, THE DAY YOU GET CAUGHT WILL BE THE LAST DAY YOU’LL EVER SEE. MY OFFICERS AND I ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO A PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE WITH YOU ALL. DON’T MAKE THINGS MORE COMPLICATED FOR ANYONE. THANK YOU.” For the rest of the day, Skye’s address got a number of the prisoners thinking. The ones who thought Skye was only a joke began to take him more seriously. No one wanted to die the way Shegg did. This message, however, still didn’t seem to faze some of the prisoners in the penitentiary. The likes of Spank the Monkey and Choke D Chicken completely ignored the message. END OF CHAPTER 3