by Micah Lally
Pleasure Island Detention Center
Copyright 2016 Micah Lally
Published by Micah Lally at Smashwords
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any other form or for any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage system, without written permission of the copyright holder.
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
About Micah Lally
Part One
They all know. They all know what I’ve done. I’ve gotta make it right.
The volume of the cafeteria sent a shiver down his spine and he retreated back into the hallway half a step, pulling the metal tray tighter against his chest. A guard shoved him from behind, making him hiccup in anxiety. He entered the mess hall and dipped his head as low as possible.
No one was willing to pay any attention to him anyway. The seventy or so other kids were shrieking and shoving and laughing and eating. All were old enough to know how to ride a bike, but none were of age to know how to drive. His shoulders relaxed a bit at the sight of the room’s diversity. Everyone wore the same gray shirt, gray pants, and black shoes. Every girl and boy sported the exact same close crop of hair. Seeing how mixed the community was made him smile.
He approached a full table, attempting to situate a friendly smile on his face before he got there. As soon as he opened his mouth, a red-haired girl from across the table turned her blue eyes on him in a hostile glare, causing him to trip. His clammy hands gripped the tray even harder, the water on top quivering.
A whistle turned his head and he spotted a brown hand waving at him from the middle of the crowded room. A bit more cautious this time, he walked over to the considerably emptier table. He stared at the two boys and they stared back.
“Well, sit down,” said the darker of the two.
He sat and placed his hands in his lap.
“New kids are always so sketchy,” the boy rolled his eyes at his friend, who had barely looked up from his oatmeal. A brown hand was offered across the table. “They call me Hyde.”
After a swift glance at the I.D. tattooed on the inside of his left wrist, he shook Hyde’s hand. “Tulip? Yeah, they gave me Tulip.”
Hyde’s shoulders shook in silent laughter as he shook his head. “I wonder where they come up with these names.”
“They didn’t say why I couldn’t keep my real one. Just told me I should pretend it never existed.”
“Population control. Enjoy your Adjustment Day?”
Tulip’s brow furrowed. “What’s that?”
“Didn’t you just get out of 24 hour isolation?”
The corners of Tulip’s mouth tightened as he nodded, goose bumps rising at the memory of his single cot and white room.
“That’s called Adjustment Day. Fun, innit?” Hyde ran a hand through his dark hair and elbowed the blond boy next to him.
With a huff of irritation, the boy looked up from his bowl and stared at Tulip. “I’m Red. Eat your food or else they’ll come over and make you do it.” He averted his eyes back to his breakfast.
Glancing around, Tulip wasn’t able to find a single adult in the room. Instead, every corner of the room had two roving cameras covering every angle. Swallowing around the lump in his throat, he opened his package of apple slices. “This is freaking prison.”
“Basically,” Hyde said with a smile. “Welcome to Pleasure Island, Tulip. Where they send all the naughty little children to turn into jackasses.”
Tulip got the sense that he was supposed to laugh, but his stomach churned instead.
Hyde cleared his throat and took a sip of his water. “So what’s the red in your ledger?”
Red raised his head with the first display of actual interest.
“What makes you think I did anything?” Tulip chewed on the inside of his cheek, averting his eyes.
Hyde chuckled. “The only reason you’d be here talking to us right now is if you did something even remotely unacceptable. Kids are put here ‘cause we’re too young to be sent to prison, but no one wants to actually have to put forth effort into correcting us. ‘Put ‘em together’, they says. ‘They’ll balance each other out’, they says. What a crock of crap.”
“So, what was your screw up?” Red crossed his arms.Gripping his spoon tight, Tulip stared at one of the cameras. “What did you do?”
Red shrugged and raised his arm to read his own I.D. “I display sociopathic tendencies. Of average risk.”
Tulip stared at him, frowning.
The blond boy raised a brow at him. “What? My mum didn’t like that I didn’t give a damn. Had me committed. When the single week of therapy didn’t work, it was Pleasure Island for me. I’m not the worst case here.”
“No, I’m definitely a bit further down the scale than you, bro,” Hyde said. He stuck his wrist out to Tulip. “Accidently burned down part of my school a year ago. Honest mistake, not that they listened. Put me at high risk and no one was even hurt in the fire. The injustice wounds me, of course, but I am a little proud that they think so highly of me.”
Tulip’s eyes flickered between the two of them. The spoon was beginning to cut into his palm.
Hyde blinked at him. “Your turn, bro.”
Sighing, Tulip dropped the spoon, sat a little taller, and crossed his arms. “I killed my sister.”
Red nodded with an appreciative smirk on his face.
Hyde laughed. “She must’ve been a real bitch. No disrespect.”
Tulip felt the familiar sting of tears building up behind his eyes. “It was an accident. They didn’t let me—“
“Hey, don’t go explaining your reasons to us, bro,” Hyde interrupted. “Every kid on this island’s done something. We’re all ’troubled’. Let me see. We have robbers…”
“Addicts,” Red added.
“Mentally handicapped kids. The poor bastards.”
“Spade built a bomb.”
“Oh yeah! I forgot about Spade. He worked with Flint, who’s here for hacking.”
Red scratched his chin and shrugged. “Everyone’s got heat on ‘em. A murderer isn’t exactly new or impressive.”
“I’m not a murderer!” Tulip slammed his hands on the table and stood up, but his feet tangled with the leg of his chair, pitting him to the linoleum. The cafeteria became silent, making his face turn even redder.
Hyde helped him to his feet, either ignoring or impervious to the seventy pairs of eyes watching them. He shoved Tulip back into his seat before taking his own again. “And I’m not an arsonist. It doesn’t matter to them, Tulip. They don’t care that we’re only 14. It actually makes the headline font a little bigger.”
As conversations resumed around them, Tulip closed his eyes and took a series of long breaths. He could feel his heart pounding all the way in his feet, but he refused to cry in front of these strangers. These kids. Kids like him.
I screwed up so bad. But I didn’t mean it. I’m not evil. Why can’t Mom and Dad believe I’m not evil?
; His turmoil was interrupted by a primal sense of unease. The hairs on the back of his neck rose as he tried to be casual about scoping out his surroundings. A short distance away against the wall, with a broom in hand was an older boy with sharp green eyes that were focused on Tulip.
Nodding in the teen’s direction, Tulip leaned in closer to his new acquaintances. “Um, I think that guy over there is listening to us.”
Hyde looked around in confusion. Red finished off his eggs without looking up and muttered, “That’s Od. Been here since 2021, when the place was built. Take him as a gentle reminder that some kids are supposed to be in here.”
“What’d he do?” Tulip peeked at Od out the corner of his eye. He was still watching their table.
“Physically abused his mom. Raped a girl from his school. Semi-suicidal.”
Tulip looked at Red in alarm.
“There are only a few kids at the highest risk level, and he’s one,” Hyde said with a frown.
“And they just leave him here with the rest of us!” Tulip’s voice was only above a whisper, but the urgency made it sound louder in his ears. He sank a bit lower in his seat.
Hyde’s eyes flashed as his face contorted. “Didn’t I already explain it to you? They don’t care about us, bro. We’re not here to get ‘fixed’. We’re here to be out the way.”
“Shut up, or Od’ll go telling.” Red pinched Hyde’s shoulder. Turning back to Tulip, he rubbed at his chin again. “Eat your food, if you know what’s good for you.”
Tulip shoveled the bland breakfast into his mouth.
I’ll make it right.
Part Two
Picking at the peeling pleather, Tulip put all of his focus into not looking at the man sitting ten feet away from him. He had observed and memorized almost every piece of furniture in the office, leaving only his seat to act as a distraction.
“Do I have your attention, Tulip?” the man asked, his voice patient and inviting. It made the boy’s teeth grind together.
Tulip nodded and tore a piece of the material off of the cushion.
“You said that an hour ago and still have yet to answer my questions. I would like to have your full attention.”
Grimacing, Tulip sat up straight and stared at the doctor’s tie knot.
“Better. Now that we’ve established I can outwait you, let’s actually begin. Do you know why you’re here?”
Tulip’s shoulders shook. “Yes, Dr. Uno.”
“Why?”
“My sister is dead.”
“No. You killed your sister.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Did you not…” Dr. Uno pushed his glasses up his nose and read his clipboard. “Did you not stab her in the chest with a 10-inch chef’s knife?”
“I did,” Tulip choked.
“Did she die?”
“Yes.” Tulip looked away, blinking tears away.
“I need you to look at me so I can properly assess you, Tulip.”
The boy clenched his fists, but returned his gaze to the man.
“Thank you,” Dr. Uno said. He glanced at his papers again. “Fourteen and struggling in school. Meanwhile, your older sister was on the varsity volleyball team. Did you two have any sibling rivalries?”
“Not really.”
“Were you jealous of her accomplishments?”
“No—”
“Is that why you killed her?”
“I didn’t me—”
“I need you to be honest with me, Tulip.”
“My name isn’t Tulip and I am being honest with you!” He jumped to his feet and took a step towards the armchair across from him.
Dr. Uno pulled a handgun from his long, white jacket without the slightest bit of hesitation, though his expression appeared almost bored. Tulip froze, his eyes seeing nothing but the end of the barrel. Dr. Uno blinked at him. “Sit.”
Tulip sat with no air in his lungs.
“Don’t worry, Tulip.” Dr. Uno hid the gun away again. “It is only a tranquilizer. Not lethal. Though if I do feel as if you are a danger, I have the authority to remove that danger.”
As if a veil had been lifted, Tulip took note of how large the man was. His lab coat barely fit around his muscular arms and his posture was almost militaristic. Tulip shuddered again.
Definitely not a doctor.
He sat further back against the couch, suddenly unable to be far enough away from this mock doctor. “What is this?”
“May we resume? Now, let me rephrase. Were you the cause of your sister’s death?”
Tulip stared tight-lipped at the man. Dr. Uno stared back, unfazed. True to the doctor’s word, Tulip broke first. He let out a dejected breath before answering, “I was.”
“Tell me why you did it.”
The light drained out of Tulip’s eyes at the memory. His stomach clenched, but he bit his tongue to keep the bile down. “She was supposed to be out of town. I was home alone, and she was supposed to be out of town. She came into my room and saw everything. The scanner. The original report card. The edits. And I just knew she’d tell. She was such a stickler. Such a goody-goody. I—I just wanted to scare her with the knife. Make sure she wasn’t going to tell on me. I didn’t think she’d try to fight it from me. And then she was bleeding. Just like that. Over grades. Freaking grades!”
Tears were streaming down his face and his mouth felt hot and sticky. He looked up to find Dr. Uno watching him. The judgment burned through his veins, pushing more tears out of his eyes. He sat forward in his seat violently. “I didn’t kill her on purpose! I wouldn’t do that. She was my sister. I wouldn’t do that.”
There was a moment of silence where Tulip cleaned up his face and calmed down. Dr. Uno waited until the boy was breathing evenly before he folded his hands in his lap. Sighing, he shook his head. “The point of these sessions is to help you come to terms with your crime against humanity. You need to understand why you were sentenced to come here, Tulip. You need to accept that you are a troubled, young boy who did a very bad thing. As long as you deny it, we will have to meet. You just got here, so it may have been too much to expect that you’d comply. Come back tomorrow after your chores and hopefully we will make better progress.”
“But, I—”
“You’re dismissed.” The doctor turned in his armchair to flip through a box of files.
Tulip stared at him for a minute, an incredible, invisible force pressing down on his shoulders. A knock on the door brought him to his feet and he exited the office.
Leaning next to the door was Hyde, his brows raised in surprise. “They started you rather early.”
Tulip gave him an exhausted look.
Frowning in sympathy, Hyde put a hand on his shoulder and leaned in close to his ear. “Don’t let him get to you. We’re going to get out of here. I have a plan.”
“Hyde?” Dr. Uno’s voice echoed into the hall.
Before Tulip could ask anything from his friend, the tall kid slipped into the office with a faux smile of familiarity. “Doc! Let me tell you about this dream I had where I set myself on fire instead of the chemistry lab.”
“Shut the door, Tulip,” Dr. Uno commanded, pulling a file from the box.
Tulip sealed them in and ran a hand through his hair.
Make it right.
Part Three
Tulip trudged into the laundry room, panting and weary. His two-hour session of physical fitness was the most he had ever worked out in months. They didn’t have him running laps in the courtroom beforehand.
The washing machines were already running, so he opened the industrial dryers and began folding the hundreds of sheets that supplied the island. After he had a small pile stacked, a girl skidded into the room, her ginger hair a messy mop on her head. “I’m not late.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anybody.” Tulip watched her crawl into one of the dryers to grab an armful of blankets, which wasn’t that many considering her tiny frame. When she swept her bangs away from her blue eyes, he
remembered where he recognized her. “I saw you at breakfast last week. You wouldn’t let me sit with your group.”
“What?” She looked at him in confusion and shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t met you before.”
“No, I’m positive. You gave me that girl glare you girls do.”
She huffed and paused in her folding. “Listen, kid. I don’t remember. If I did and I hurt your little feelings, then you have my sincerest apologies. But you’re the least of my worries. ‘Kay?”
Tulip raised his hands in surrender. “’Kay.”
They resumed their chores in silence, the drone of the washers setting a pace for the rhythm of their work. When she reached across the metal table for more sheets his eyes scanned her I.D. Blushing at the intrusion, he cleared his throat. “How’d you get Cat?”
Her nose scrunched against her face, but she didn’t break her momentum. “Do you know how you got your name?”
“I sure didn’t volunteer for Tulip.”
Cat snorted and started another pile.
“What’d you do, Cat?”
She jumped as if he had shocked her with an open wire and her mouth dropped. “That is an incredibly personal question!”
“But I—”
“Like seriously rude!”
“I’m sorry! I thought it was a conversation starter thing. Hyde and Red asked me and were pretty op—”
“Oh, that explains it.” Cat’s lip curled and she resumed her work. “Listen, Hyde is crazy and Red’s a robot. All Hyde talks about is escaping, but there is no getting off Pleasure Island. And even if there was, there’s nowhere to go. You know why?”
“Because no one gives a damn about us?”
“Because no one gives a damn about us. Anywhere we landed, they’d just send us right back. Or worse. So a piece of advice? Avoid Hyde. He’ll just get you in trouble.”
Tulip watched her motor through two piles of warm sheets during her speech, chewing on his lip. He wasn’t easily intimidated, but Cat gained more steam as she ranted. He nodded at her warning and dropped his gaze to his own work, knowing better than to ask about the bad blood between two teens. He blinked as an idea struck him. “Since we’re offering advice and info, would you happen to know how I could get in touch with my family?”
