clarity.
Dec 8, 2016 20:58:55 GMT -5
Post by The Mason on Dec 8, 2016 20:58:55 GMT -5
12.08.16
SUSANVILLE, CA
Tap. Tap. Tap.
It was comical-- like one of those common scenes from the movies that I was sure was depicted inaccurately when put up next to reality. But no, it wasn’t so different. I was standing there in the unfathomably cold, unwelcoming room in Susanville’s California Correctional Center that didn’t appear any bigger than a jail cell. Three stools, crudely bolted into the ground stood at different heights in front of three barricaded cells, each with a phone attached to the Tron-looking fiberglass adjacent to it.
TAP. TAP!
He drove the receiver of the corded phone into the glass that separated us. With a jolt I nodded, pulling my phone off of the fiberglass, sitting down on the stool to sit across from him.
”You know visiting hours are only on weekends. I’ll give you a grace period of ten seconds to avoid any jokes pertaining to felatio or--”
”Jeez. That’s a fancy way to start off a conversation you legally don’t even deserve to have.”
”Well, I haven’t sacrificed my style.”
”Haha, I’m soooo glad.”
Jenny took a breath, looking back at him through the smudged, stained glass between the two phones. She gazed ahead at him for a moment before opening her mouth to say something else-- but he cut her off.
”I’m caught up. Persuasion was key… but I’m all caught up. I’ll likely see the Rumble a day or two after you participate.” Pause. ”Everyone’s expecting Parker to take it, right? We don’t get the play-by-play here like you might on Twitter but--”
”Cyncity.” I smiled faintly. ”She never gave us permission to call her by her real name.”
He looked back at me for a bit. Behind dried, cut lips his lips curled into a small smile. ”The game hasn’t changed one fucking bit, has it?”
”Maybe not since you were in it. ‘Same lines, different writers’, right?”
He chuckled. ”So you’re not a fan?”
I shrugged my shoulders a little. ”I don’t hate her.” I smirked a bit. ”I mean there’s no part of me that wants her to even come close to winning this but I don’t hate her. She’s not the one that went out of her way to hit me in the face in the hallway.”
”So you hate the pretty girl?”
I was silent for a moment as he asked it. I had ever considered that I hated Avaset Kaiser. My stomach turned a little bit when I saw her. My heart sank a little when I heard her voice. But I’d never thought I hated the tall blonde.
”Would it be stupid if I did?”
”Depends how bad it is.”
I exhaled softly, looking back at him through the glass before I shook my head a bit.
”I don’t like the way she talks to me. I don’t like the way she looks at me like I don’t deserve to be, like, within teen feet of her.” I rubbed at my eyes with the heels of my palms for a moment, suppressing a groan of frustration before bringing the phone back to my ear. ”I can’t say I hate somebody. But it would feel really… really fucking good to throw her out of the Red Carpet Rumble.”
”Just her, hm?”
I leaned against the phone, holding it with my shoulder as I looked back at him through the glass-- at the unwavering smirk and the challenging eyes.
”It would feel really good to throw them all out of the Red Carpet Rumble.”
”All of them?”
”Yeah.”
”I bet you could.”
I pulled the phone down after a bashful laugh that I couldn’t mask. After a moment, I pulled it back up to my ear and looked at him with the same honesty he looked back at me with.
”I’d throw everyone over if I could. I don’t know how else I could make them believe I deserve to be the Paramount Champion.” My grip tightened around the phone. ”I know I deserve it. I know I could be a great champion. And whether it’s Avaset standing my way, or it’s Cyncity, or Dooder3G, or Gabi, or anyone else that has a better chance of dominating the competition that I do…” I shook my head a bit, unaware that my voice was growing almost too low for the receiver to detect. ”...I know I could be better.”
”As long as you know it.”
I don’t remember how we had ended the conversation. I know we looked at each other through the smudged, stained glass for the first time in months before we parted-- and even as images of Gabi and Cyncity and Avaset swam through my mind, looking through that glass, I’d found clarity… for whatever it may have been worth.
SUSANVILLE, CA
Tap. Tap. Tap.
It was comical-- like one of those common scenes from the movies that I was sure was depicted inaccurately when put up next to reality. But no, it wasn’t so different. I was standing there in the unfathomably cold, unwelcoming room in Susanville’s California Correctional Center that didn’t appear any bigger than a jail cell. Three stools, crudely bolted into the ground stood at different heights in front of three barricaded cells, each with a phone attached to the Tron-looking fiberglass adjacent to it.
TAP. TAP!
He drove the receiver of the corded phone into the glass that separated us. With a jolt I nodded, pulling my phone off of the fiberglass, sitting down on the stool to sit across from him.
”You know visiting hours are only on weekends. I’ll give you a grace period of ten seconds to avoid any jokes pertaining to felatio or--”
”Jeez. That’s a fancy way to start off a conversation you legally don’t even deserve to have.”
”Well, I haven’t sacrificed my style.”
”Haha, I’m soooo glad.”
Jenny took a breath, looking back at him through the smudged, stained glass between the two phones. She gazed ahead at him for a moment before opening her mouth to say something else-- but he cut her off.
”I’m caught up. Persuasion was key… but I’m all caught up. I’ll likely see the Rumble a day or two after you participate.” Pause. ”Everyone’s expecting Parker to take it, right? We don’t get the play-by-play here like you might on Twitter but--”
”Cyncity.” I smiled faintly. ”She never gave us permission to call her by her real name.”
He looked back at me for a bit. Behind dried, cut lips his lips curled into a small smile. ”The game hasn’t changed one fucking bit, has it?”
”Maybe not since you were in it. ‘Same lines, different writers’, right?”
He chuckled. ”So you’re not a fan?”
I shrugged my shoulders a little. ”I don’t hate her.” I smirked a bit. ”I mean there’s no part of me that wants her to even come close to winning this but I don’t hate her. She’s not the one that went out of her way to hit me in the face in the hallway.”
”So you hate the pretty girl?”
I was silent for a moment as he asked it. I had ever considered that I hated Avaset Kaiser. My stomach turned a little bit when I saw her. My heart sank a little when I heard her voice. But I’d never thought I hated the tall blonde.
”Would it be stupid if I did?”
”Depends how bad it is.”
I exhaled softly, looking back at him through the glass before I shook my head a bit.
”I don’t like the way she talks to me. I don’t like the way she looks at me like I don’t deserve to be, like, within teen feet of her.” I rubbed at my eyes with the heels of my palms for a moment, suppressing a groan of frustration before bringing the phone back to my ear. ”I can’t say I hate somebody. But it would feel really… really fucking good to throw her out of the Red Carpet Rumble.”
”Just her, hm?”
I leaned against the phone, holding it with my shoulder as I looked back at him through the glass-- at the unwavering smirk and the challenging eyes.
”It would feel really good to throw them all out of the Red Carpet Rumble.”
”All of them?”
”Yeah.”
”I bet you could.”
I pulled the phone down after a bashful laugh that I couldn’t mask. After a moment, I pulled it back up to my ear and looked at him with the same honesty he looked back at me with.
”I’d throw everyone over if I could. I don’t know how else I could make them believe I deserve to be the Paramount Champion.” My grip tightened around the phone. ”I know I deserve it. I know I could be a great champion. And whether it’s Avaset standing my way, or it’s Cyncity, or Dooder3G, or Gabi, or anyone else that has a better chance of dominating the competition that I do…” I shook my head a bit, unaware that my voice was growing almost too low for the receiver to detect. ”...I know I could be better.”
”As long as you know it.”
I don’t remember how we had ended the conversation. I know we looked at each other through the smudged, stained glass for the first time in months before we parted-- and even as images of Gabi and Cyncity and Avaset swam through my mind, looking through that glass, I’d found clarity… for whatever it may have been worth.