Ricky was being so sweet to me over dinner. He's trying to get back in my good graces. It takes a lot for him to get over something. He's completely acting like I never cheated on him, like he's the only one in the wrong here. I didn't want to be played like a fool. If this was a game, I'm keeping my guard up. From what I can tell though he seems like he's genuine about trying to get my forgiveness.

I couldn't help myself. I love him too damn much. After all he's been through recently, I figured throwing on a little lingerie is the least I could do to ease his mind. Most guys love red the most. Ricky likes it but he's always had a love for the way I look in purple. I slipped on a silk nightgown that was a deep purple and stopped an inch above my knee. He had a certain perfume he loved too. I spritzed my neck and wrists. Then I headed down to his office to see him.

He left the door unlocked for me. I made sure to lock it after I walked in. The first thing I did was put The Big Sleep back on it's shelf. I felt him staring at me as I reached up to put it away. "I hope you don't mind. I borrowed a few books while you were gone."

"Of course I don't mind, Beautiful. What's mine is yours." He responded while I walked over to his desk. As I approached, he put his hands on my hips, "We are married after all."

"You don't share everything with me." I responded unhappily.

"I'm sorry for what I did. I'm not going to get on my hands and knees and beg for you to forgive me but I hope you know, I don't want to lose you."

"You can start by helping me help Mike. That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. He's going insane in there. He keeps saying there's an evil that is trying to get to him and he told me what he did wasn't his fault. He said he wasn't trying to hurt you. Plus a few other things but I'm not going to repeat them. I was thinking, maybe there's something on the security footage that would help me figure out what he's been rambling on about."

"Give me a minute to pull it up. I actually haven't looked at it yet but I probably should." He replied, typing away at his keyboard.

Ricky went through some files, entered some security codes. Shit that I didn't really care about. I just needed to see that footage. He pulled up the archive from that day. It happened in the morning, Chris told me. In fact, it was the same day I had come home. Maybe if I had come home just a little earlier all this would've never happened.

The footage he brought up was from the camera in the hall where all our bedroom doors are. He fast forwarded through the start of the day. It was just everyone getting up and all that normal stuff. Then he stopped when he got to the point where you could see him and Kuza getting heated with each other. Mike wasn't doing anything actually. It was Ricky that initially pushed him. Ricky paused the footage, looking up at me with concern.

"I don't remember this." He said, "I thought it was him that hit me first."

I returned his worried expression, then looked back at the screen. Ricky let it continue for a few more minutes of him and Kuza argueing. At some point Chris tried to intervene but neither of them would have it. Ricky pushed Chris back, then started to go for Kuza rather viciously. Then the camera blacked out. I could tell by the way his mouth gaped, Ricky was shocked that the feed cut out like that.

"These cameras are state of the art. They don't fail." He spoke as he started to skip through the blackness.

It seemed to go on for awhile. Once the video finally came back, the scene was rather gruesome. Ricky was laid on the ground in a pool of blood. Kuza was against the wall with his knees to his chest. He started to rock himself and I could tell he was mumbling. The audio wasn't good enough for me to hear. Balz knelt down to Ricky, telling Ryan-Ashley to go get help. Vinny dropped down beside him as well, taking off his shirt to wrap it around Ricky's bleeding wrist. The others had disappeared from the scene.

"Rewind it to right before it cut out." I told him. He backed it up and paused it. I hit the arrow keys on his computer to take it frame by frame. "There," I pointed towards Twiggy, who was just barely in the frame, "Something freaked him out and he started to run. A second later, the camera cut out. And look at Angelo," I hit play but made it go slower than usual speed. Angelo was trying to get as close to Chris as possible. He bawled his fists up, turning into his chest. "He started to freak out too."

"They saw something that we didn't." He responded.

"And without that footage, it's the only way we're going to figure out what the fuck happened." I added.

Ricky looked back at me, "What the fuck did happen?"

That's a damn good question. Maybe Kuza isn't going crazy. There's nothing that could knock out those cameras that perfectly. After Georgia, I might be a little paranoid of the paranormal. It's the only explanation I could find though. Kuza's supposed to be alone in that cell but he keeps telling me there's something else in there with him. That's about the only explanation I could find. The only good I could think of in this is the fact that Mike might not be insane.

| | |

Restless. I was so fucking restless. Every time I fell asleep, I'd wake up an hour later. At least I wasn't having nightmares. Nothing like what happened when Ryan and I were in Scranton, thankfully. I woke up again for the hundredth time. It's getting fucking annoying. I just want to get some sleep. My bed felt so cold though.

It wasn't cold; it was wet. What the fuck? I reached over to the lamp and turned it on. Mike's red sheets were several shades darker. There was no mistaking that smell of iron. It was blood. The second I realized that, I jumped put of the bed. Looking down at my arms, I saw somehow there wasn't a drop on me.

I looked back at the bed and felt my stomach drop. Somehow, I was looking at myself. My own body as dead as every one of my victims. The blood was sourced from my wrists and a blade rested on the pillow beside me. I started to back up out of shock. Two icy hands placed themselves on my shoulders, making me jump out of my skin. I glanced to my side to see pure black skin, almost as if it was burnt, and sharp nails.

Gasping for breath, my eyes shot open. I looked around myself to see I was back in Kuza's bed but there was no blood. With shaky hands, I scurried to get the light on. There was on sign of anyone else in the room. Fuck, it was just another nightmare. I tried to calm down my breathing and wipe the sweat from my forehead.

What the fuck was that? I understood my nightmare with Kuza. Him and Ricky were so mad at each other when I left. It wouldn't have surprised me if they exchanged bullets. Plus, I had fallen so in love with Mike that I was terrified of losing him. But suicide? I've never even considered it. Not even in my days at Graham or ADX. Hell, even when Ricky backstabbed me, I wasn't driven to the point of wanting to end my life.

I was pretty shaken up after that nightmare. All I wanted was to have someone strong to cuddle up with and make me feel safe. I can't give into Ricky just yet. He's only been acting all sweet and innocent for a day or two now. It's not like Mike is much of an option, though I wish he was. I'd give anything to smell his cologne and rest against his breathing chest. Not all is lost though. There is one person who I can turn to no matter what and it just so happens he's pretty lonely tonight too.

My whole body was still trembling after that nightmare. This was even worse than the dream I had of Mike. Maybe it's because Ryan was right there for me when it happened and there was daylight to greet me afterwards. It's still the dead middle of the night and I'm all alone. I snuck out into the hall quietly. There was a small emergency light on but that was it. It was nearly pitch black out here.

There's nameplates on all the doors. I was rather thankful for that tonight because I was a little disorientated. Somehow in the darkness I managed to find the door with Chris and Angelo's names on it. Damn it, stop shaking. I felt like a weak little girl acting like this. With an unsteady hand, I knocked delicately on Chris' door. Please still be awake. Please.

His door slid open a moment later. Oh thank fuck. He was only wearing sweats. I trailed my eyes up his bare chest until I met his eyes.

"I'm sorry if I woke you." I murmured.

"You didn't. I can't sleep without Angelo." He responded.

"I, um, fuck. This is going to make me sound like such a little bitch but I had a really bad nightmare and I was wondering if you'd let me stay with you tonight? I'm scared to be alone."

"Honestly? I don't want to be alone either." Chris moved out the way and gestured me inside, "Come on in."

He had the TV on still. Being that it was 3AM, there wasn't much on. He was watching Family Matters. To be honest, late night television when they run eighties reruns is kind of great. There's something comforting about it.

"Thank you." I told him softly.

"Don't mention it." He replied as he headed back to his side of the bed. "Can I ask what you had a nightmare about that's got you so upset?" 

I crawled into the side that's usually Angelo's and got under the covers. "Um, when I was in Scranton with Ryan, I had a nightmare I found Mike shot dead. Tonight I dreamed that I had committed suicide." I wrapped my arms around myself, "I've never had dreams like this. They feel so real. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Let's hope it's just been all the shit that's been going on lately. Things have been pretty fucked up around here. I haven't gotten to see Mike but if it's even a tenth as bad as you make it sound, I can understand why that would stress you out."

"You don't know the half of it." I muttered.

"Come here." He said. I glanced back at him blankly. "C'mon." With a sigh, I scooched closer to him. Chris set his hands on my shoulders and I instantly tensed up. Though his hands were warmer than that of the demon in my dream, it was still giving me flashbacks. "Dev, it's okay." Chris reassured me as he started to rub the knots out of my shoulders. "Holy shit, you're tense. I'll do what I can but you should get a professional massage soon."

"We're all under stress. It's just a cost of the life we've chosen for ourselves." I responded.

"No one has been under the stress you have. You've been the one taking care of both Mike and Ryan. Plus you've had to deal with your dickhead husband. I noticed now he's trying to butter up to you."

"Just let him kiss my ass. I know better than to give in to him but we need him on our side." I said.

It was more of the truth than he could know. I wish I could divulge all the truth to him but there's ears in these walls. I've known Ricky too all to know what he looks like when he lies. He genuinely was shocked by what we found in that security footage. I think whatever is going on behind our backs, he doesn't know about. There was a reason why Ricky was included in those danger ratings. Whomever is watching us is watching him too.