I've been testing. For the past few days, my powers seem to work perfectly, and they seem to affect just about anyone in the prison. For some reason, I haven't seen the first guard I "commanded" in a few days, which is rather curious, but then again, someone must've caught onto his act, and thus removed him from this ward. I could sit here, and guess all day, but that won't take me along. For now, I'll have to get out of solitary. It's starting to affect me mentally, and I'm not a fan of it.
I don't want to play into their hands. What could I do?
Is there any single way, of getting out of this cell?
I guess I could ask some of my "pawns". So, I waited again. Waited, until lunch time, that is.
"Tell me, how can I get out of this solitary confinement situation?" I asked the guard on duty.
"You'll be moved tomorrow, sir. Don't worry anymore, you won't be in this cell forever," he told me in a reassuring manner. I know he wasn't lying, I tested that option already. They can't lie to me.
Also the fact, that they started calling me "sir" was quite nice for a change. I know I was controlling them, to some extent, but even then, it felt nice.
"Great. Will I be moved in with others?" I asked
"Yes, sir. From tomorrow, you'll move in with an elderly gentlemen. He's been in here for decades." Great, I'll share a room with some old dude. Still, that's better than a bunch of bullies. Worst case scenario, I can always control him.
Slowly through the weeks I've been in here, I noticed that my mindset started to change. I can't tell if it was because I was all alone, but for sure I noticed that I think more objectively about people, and I don't care about them as much anymore.
It's almost as if everything in my life has built up, and with being locked inside, all alone, has made me think about stuff objectively, from a sort of third person view. I've been thinking about my problems, and even that one-off murder incident from an outer perspective. Now, I've read that this is a sort of escape mechanism, but I didn't feel like this was a problem. If it means that stuff are easier to deal with, than I'm okay with an in-built mechanism to take over somewhat.
Even though this might be a sort of mental barrier, or a disability even, I felt like I was growing as a person. And you know what? If that's how mental issues work, than I'm on board. I don't care if I have disabilities, or if I turn into a different person, it still sounds like a better thing. After all, not a single soul in this world seems to care about me. It's not like anyone will miss my "past" personality. I should just grow, I guess.
---
That night I had the same dream as before. I found myself in a familiar world of puprle haze. I somehow forgot about it, but I still remember it somewhere deep down, if this really is a dream. So, I started walking.
I walked past the same purple mirror-lake, and I started walking down the path, that I took last time. Soon, I found myself in front of the same chair-like stone, except, this time, it formed better. It actually sort of looked like a proper chair, just a bit rigid, and more stoney. It looked like the sort of chair you'd imagine a dwarf getting drunk on.
I started to approach, but as I got closer, I remembered the words I heard last time: "Not yet." I wonder when the time comes, when I can sit down.
This time, I decided to talk to the voice from the time before, so I called out.
"Hello?" I shouted, "I'm back! Can I sit now?" I asked half-jokingly.
At first, I didn't hear any answers. The place went entirely quiet.
Suddenly, I felt an enormous presence coming from behind the chair. It was overwhelming. I really wanted to get closer. Like I wanted to sit on that chair, the same way, when you see some really delicious looking food, when you didn't eat in a few days. I started walking towards the chair, but before I could sit down, it happened again. A deep, and very echoey voice stopped me.
"Not yet."
---
I woke up, covered in sweat. I could still feel that feeling of temptation from just moments ago.
Again, temptation.
It seemed as if everything was revolving around that same feeling. But this time was different.
For the past few weeks I've been the one to tempt others. I rarely get tempted myself. The last time when it happened was the murder-incident.
I couldn't sleep, so I was waiting for the morning shift to arrive.
Usual stuff went down, not a sign of getting moved. I had my usual beans and ham breakfast, and nothing else happened. Literally. I was just waiting for the next few hours, not doing anything.
But then finally, they came. Four guards, and Vice-Warden Russel, the same man who transported me in here.
"Inmate Number 999. We will be transfering you to your permanent cell. Gather all your belongings. You have five minutes," he said with his usual coldness.
"Done and done," I replied. I barely had anything, so I really kept them all together, and I already got ready thanks to the guard from the previous day.
All my belongings were the following: some self-care stuff, like a toothbrush, a soap, and a safety razor; a pillow; and some change clothes.
"What do you mean? You already packed up, before even knowing about your transfer?" he asked, slightly baffled.
"Vice-Warden, Sir, I barely have any stuff to my name. I keep them all in one place," I replied.
"Well then, move," he commanded. So, I did. I'm not quite sure if I could affect him with my abilities, so before doing that, I'd like to test it out a bit more, before you ask.
I got up, picked up my stuff, and walked over to the door. They unlocked it, came in, cuffed me, took my stuff, and we started walking. It took us about ten minutes, with all the procedures required, before we got to the other side of the prison. I was to be transferred to the Eastern Block, as they told me on the way. As far as they told me, Eastern is slightly rowdy, but not as bad, as the other Blocks. From what I know, Northern is the worst, and Southern is the best. Judging from this, probably the severety of people's crimes in these areas are quite different. I'd assume lighter criminals would go to Southern, then Eastern, and the worse folks would go to Western, and then Northern. I'd say I'm pretty lucky then. I wonder if yesterday's guard had anything to do with this.
When we got to the Block, I started hearing the general rowdiness of the place. It was quite something. The layout was simple, around the corridor they had rooms. Each room had a door, and a small window, with bars in it. In each room, there seemed to be two inmates, and some were half empty, or even fully empty. It seemed like they were filling them up one by one. My cell was on the other side, Cell Number 113, which was two left corners away from the door we came in through. As we were walking there, some "residents" would shout either "good luck" type sarcastic encouragement, or stuff like "Oi, da'ss anothe one!", "Get out!" (sure, I would), "Come over here, new blood!". That sort of nice stuff. I already know I'll have a fantastic time here. Half way there, I noticed, that between two cells, there was a huge staircase, leading down to some sort of recreation slash dining hall area. Good to know.
On the other side, when we got to my new cell, I did take note of how I were to have an actual cellmate from now on. As the guard said the previous day, it was an old man, who probably was in here for at least a decade. I don't know though, he seemed like a nice fellow. Kinda looked like a short Santa, well, from what I could see. He was sitting on the side of his bed, I assume, and was just ever so slightly looking in my direction, eventually our eyes met, and I felt like he was peering into my soul.
"Inmate Number 100, step back," Russel ordered. What a jerk.
"Aye," the old man said with a rather deep, and crispy voice.
"Welcome to your new palace, 999. Have a nice and pleasant stay," the Vice-Warden said, with his usual sarcastic tone. I walked inside, my handcuffs were taken off, and the guards handed me my belongings. What a bunch of nice fellows.
"Make sure to visit me," I told the guards, but intentionally ignored Russel. As I said, I wanted to make sure that my power works on him, before I try it. Quick haze, and the guards were under my control. They nodded, and left, along with Vice-Warden Dickhead.
"Nice to meet you," I said to the old man. Number 100, eh? quite an old member, if I'm 999.
"Indeed, Temptation. Indeed," he said.
He said... what?