Chapter Eight: Reformatory Prison
“Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”
-Winston Churchill
Adam pressed himself against the metal bars in hopes of somehow worming his way through, however for the first time in what has felt like a life time he found himself too big to do something. He continued to try for quite some time, partly out of frustration, but more so out of stubbornness. This led him to try to pull the bars apart, but the bars felt as if they were made of titanium as they showed no signs of bending at all.
The smell of cedar chips permeated the air as Adam peered out at the expansive room through the bars of the cage he found himself trapped in. The thick looking metallic bars seemed to hold the cold into the cage itself. Running his hands along the metal bars while in a slightly better frame of mind Adam was able to notice how cold the bars felt to the touch. At first this led to him draw his hands away. The overall coldness of the cage caused him to shiver as he took a few steps back from the metal bars.
As he stepped backwards his feet sunk into the cedar chips Riley had covered the floor in. Their appearance alone made him feel as if he were some kind of animal, no different from the rodents she kept caged above her desk. However, after feeling the metal bars of the cage he was thankful not to be standing on a metal floor. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to take that.
Looking at the gigantic room felt odd. No matter where he looked he would see the metal bars partially obscuring his view, being a constant reminder to his situation. Making matters worse the only viewpoint which should in reality look normal to him was robbed of him by an immense looking Taylor Swift poster. So instead of seeing plain white wall he was now forced to look at Taylor Swift.
Adam gritted his teeth as he spoke her name. On the best of days he viewed her as his mortal enemy. He hadn’t ever met her in person. Everything he knew about her told him that she was a nice person, but his students would talk incessantly about her, while her songs played endlessly on the radio one after another. Hearing any song repeatedly is bad enough, but when that song happens to be something so ear grating as Taylor Swift he wanted to curl up and die. Now, finding himself locked up in this hell with her smiling down at him seemed felt as if he was being punished. As if by chance god happened to be a fan as well.
Falling back into a pile of cedar chips, Adam couldn’t help but notice how they actually felt somewhat comfortable, but as he lay on his back he found his attention turning more and more towards the bottle of water Riley had put in the cage. The bottle itself was that of what you find in nearly any hamster cage. The fact the bottle was turned and secured to the cage in such a fashion that the front of the bottle seemed to always be visible to him from nearly any vantage point was haunting. The small white colored hamster on it, with the word Hamster emblazoned just beneath picture was just demeaning.
Adam refused to drink from something like that. He wasn’t about to lower himself to such a demeaning action. He wondered if the bottle was even cleaned, was the lip sanitized or is there still hamster germs and saliva from when it was used last. The water not even bottled, just taken from the sink and tossed in here and he is expected to be thankful for it, while she drinks her three dollars a bottle Evian. Adam knew he wasn’t about to drink that. He had standards, he was a man. He deserved better than this.
Minute after minute passed each one seemingly taking longer than the last. He could feel his mouth getting drier and drier by the moment as his stomach growled to the point it almost hurt. However, he could dismiss the hunger he felt. Adam had been hungry before, but the thirst was nearly uncontrollable. He finally turned away from the bottle completely looking in the other direction which ironically found himself staring straight at the Taylor Swift Hair band.
“This truly is hell.” Adam said to himself as he stood back up looking up at the digital clock positioned directly at his eye level across the room. The large numbers displayed 7:43am. It hadn’t even been an hour yet since Riley left. The fact she seems to wake up regularly at five in the morning was just sickening to Adam. No one should willingly get up that early and yet she seemed too. He just prayed that she didn’t expect him too.
“Argggghhh” Adam screamed rushing over to the water bottle unable to distract himself any longer. His cravings almost animalistic as it had been two days since the last time he remembered drinking, and he could stand it no longer. As he reached the water bottle he fell to his knees and looked up at the spout. It had a single solitary drop hanging from it tip of it. He watched it briefly for a few seconds with his hands cupped waiting for it to fall. However it just continued to hang there for second after second which finally turned into two minutes.
“I’m not supposed too, surely this isn’t designed for, I can’t possibly suck on that, can I?” Adam questioned for another minute before degradingly extending his tongue out to long metal shaft which protruded from the bottle with an angled slant towards the floor. He pressed his warm tongue against the cold metal tube as his lips puckered around the giant metal straw. As he did so water gushed towards him as he swallowed mouthful after mouthful of room temperature water, forgetting briefly that it was not from a spring of any kind.
After drinking his fill Adam staggered back towards the middle of the cage. He had wished that Riley had provided him some kind of clothing as opposed to just walking nude around her room. It didn’t feel right, especially considering there apparent age difference. That is when he remembered her words. They felt so pointed each one like a cut with a knife. He wondered if she truly intended to keep him locked away in here like an animal. If she expected him to crumble, he knew she had another thing coming. He wouldn’t give in her to will. He may not have been faithful to Lisa in New York, but he will prove his love to her by remaining faithful now. He won’t ever speak those three words that will release him.
Adam had never felt true boredom until now. Several hours had passed and not once had someone come into the room. He had expected her mother, father or even or sister to walk in here, but not once. He barely heard so much as footstep outside the door, but the room being so large he wondered if he would have anyway. The bedroom itself appeared to be larger than the studio apartment he had back in college. Adam wondered if anyone would ever come in here. All he needed was a single person, and surely they would get him out. They would see reason. They would free him from this cage. He was not some kind of zoo animal or pet meant to be caged. He was a highly intelligent being with a master’s degree, and to be treated no differently than a couple mice and hamsters was appalling to Adam.
Adam had watched the sunset and darkness overcome the sky before Riley’s bedroom door opened. As soon as he heard the door knob twist he bolted to his feet and rushed towards the cold bars of the cage. The fact the sound of Riley entering her room was enough to stir excitement and pleasure in himself was lost to Adam at this point, but as Riley walked into the room she couldn’t help but smile as she quickly glanced over Adam making sure to look away before he noticed.
“How are my boys and girls doing today? Did you miss me? It looks like you all did!” Riley said in a warm infantile voice as she opened up her desk drawer and dropped several pellets into each cage before turning her attention towards Adam. As she walked towards his cage he could see her still perspiring from her training and workouts. As she neared his cage he took a few steps back as the smell of her sweat filled the air.
“Riley, get me out of here right now young lady. Do you hear me?” Adam screamed up at her as he gripped the bars tightly while gritting his teeth. “You can’t do this to me god dammit.” Adam said continuing his tirade.
“I understand you’re upset and confused over your feelings, but you will not speak to me like that. Maybe you need a little more time alone.” Riley said walking back over to her desk. Adam could only watch as she pulled out some fabric she bunched up in her hand before walking back over. The closer she got the more apparent it came. It was mostly pink covered in white flowers. The fabric looked to be thick like that of a toaster cover. Riley began to unfold the thick fabric lifting it up towards the cage which held Adam.
“Wha-what are you doing?” Adam said as she started to slide the thick fabric over the cage. Looking upwards at the portion of the cage that was already covered Adam could tell no light was getting in as the fabric seemed to be quilted and quite heavy. It was reminiscent of the material covers you would often see for bird cages only this one seemed to be designed to fit this cage.
“Maybe some time in isolation with just your thoughts is what you need.” Riley said as she polled the quilted cage cozy completely down tying off each of the four ends to the bottom of the cage.
Adam looked about seeing nothing but darkness in every direction. The quilted cage cozy was as he surmised earlier thick enough so that no light would penetrate. He pressed against the thick quilted material but no matter how much Adam pressed against it the material wouldn’t show any signs of movement.
“Once you’re ready to be adult about this, we can talk about getting that removed. I will check back on you in a couple days. You have enough water and fiber bar to last. Now I’m going to shower and fix myself some dinner. Love you, kiss kiss.” Riley said walking away from the cage.