“Let's go back to our shack,” said Mephisto imperatively to Daniel.
Daniel said goodbye to the Professor and thanked him for the book.
4. Shadow
As they entered their shack, Mephisto handed a bag to Daniel.
“Your things have arrived.”
Daniel opened the bag to find a bath towel and a face towel, a t- shirt, two pairs of white briefs, a toothbrush, a comb and two bars of soap. The clothes were new. Daniel felt like a child at Christmas.
“Thank you, you've saved my life! I didn't even remember to ask for a t-shirt, yet you got me one.”
“I knew that you'd need one. I was a fish once.”
“Can I take a bath?” asked Daniel expectantly. He hadn't taken a bath in Mephisto's shack yet.
“Yes, but dinner is on its way, and it will be cold when you get out.”
“I'm not hungry now,” said Daniel.
“It's hard to get used to the prison schedule, in the first days. Go take your bath. I can reheat dinner later.”
Daniel sat down on the bed to take off his tennis shoes. Then he stood up and pulled off his t-shirt. When he moved his hands to the waist of his trousers, he felt Mephisto's eyes on him, and blood rushed to his face. He gathered courage and yanked down his trousers. Still with his briefs on, he grabbed the towel and the bar of soap and went to the bathroom, trying not to see Mephisto's expression.
The shower was warm and pleasant. Daniel washed his briefs during it, but then he didn't know where to hang them. He had seen that many prisoners hung their wet clothes on rods outside the windows, but he didn't know how to do that, so he hung his briefs across the faucet when he finished showering. Then he wrapped himself up in the towel and pulled the curtain open.
When Mephisto saw him walking out of the shower, their eyes met. Daniel felt his face burning, but didn't avert his eyes from the fascinated, greedy look Mephisto cast at him. He saw Mephisto swallowing hard and closing his eyes, as if wanting to break the charm. Daniel had to press his body against Mephisto's to reach the other end of the shack. They were almost face-to-face when their bodies touched, and Daniel did his best to ignore the parts of Mephisto's body that were rubbing against his own.
When the awkward moment passed, Mephisto turned around abruptly, entered the bathroom and grabbed the briefs that Daniel had hung across the faucet. “I never wash my clothes in the shack.
The smell of mold is already too strong, and if we keep wet clothes indoors, it gets worse. I put my laundry in a card box under the bunk and take it every morning to the prison laundry, where a Cleaner washes it for me.”
“Oh, I'm sorry,” said Daniel, still wrapped-up in the towel. “I didn't know that.”
“No problem. We'll have to stretch a line across the bathroom to hang your towels, too.” Mephisto opened the mirror cabinet over the sink and produced a line, which he tied to the bars of the window at one side and around the curtain rod at the other side, stringing the clothes-line between the shower and the toilet. “As for the soap,”
continued Mephisto, “since you insist on having a separate bar for yourself, don't forget that yours is pink, and mine is green. You can put your toiletries in this cabinet, along with mine.”
“Oh, okay,” said Daniel, who still hadn't had the courage to take off the towel and put his clothes back on.
“Since you soaked everything, I'm going to take a bath, and then I'll dry the bathroom,” said Mephisto, with a stern tone that betrayed his anxiety and perhaps disturbance.
Mephisto pulled off his black t-shirt. Still too shy to get rid of the towel, Daniel observed the other man. There were a few light scars on his pale, almost hairless chest, but nothing too scary or disgusting.
Not even the tattoos worn by most prisoners. Mephisto was thin, but his muscles were well-defined. Daniel only noticed he was staring at Mephisto when the other man yanked the bathroom curtain shut, putting a barrier between the two of them before taking off his trousers.
Daniel let out the breath he had been unconsciously holding and finally started to dress himself. He realized with embarrassment that his cock was half-hard, and figured that that situation had probably been torture for Mephisto. The other man's desire had been evident;
Daniel had felt the sparks igniting the air around them. Imagining Mephisto hard and erect because of him made him proud, and then nauseated.
A few minutes later, Mephisto stepped out of the bathroom with his trousers on — and probably with nothing under it, thought Daniel when Mephisto put his worn briefs into the card box under the bunk.
Mephisto washed his hands and started preparing dinner. Daniel was surprised to see him opening a jar of mushrooms, a can of sour cream and a can of tomato paste, and then chop the beef steaks to make a kind of stroganoff. He also opened a can of green beans and mixed with the rice and the cooked carrot coins of the prison meal.
“Wow, you have some expensive ingredients here!”
“Don't get used to it. This is one of those rare occasions, you know.”
“Are you cooking a special meal for me?” asked Daniel, uneasy.
“This is what we call 'clipping.'” explained Mephisto. “After a few days, no one can stand chow without some improvements. Since today is your first day here, I thought of making something special.”
Mephisto was successful: his clipping tasted really good. Daniel felt more and more indebted to his cellmate. They ate in silence.
When they finished dinner, the staircase doors were being locked.
Daniel didn't have anything else to do, so he resumed reading the book he had borrowed from the Professor.
_________
The next morning, after the lock-up, Mephisto said he had some errands to run and told Daniel not to leave the shack, unless he wanted to go and stay with the Professor. And if Daniel decided to stay inside, he would have to lock himself in and not to open to anyone except Mephisto and the Professor.
As soon as he found himself alone in the shack, however, Daniel felt eager to go out. It wouldn't do any harm just to take a walk around the gallery!
He opened the door and stepped out. It was good to be able to walk freely again, without stumbling into Mephisto all the time. It was liberating not to have Mephisto around. The other man's presence suffocated him.
Daniel walked along the corridor, passing by Julinho and Alfeu's shack, number 417, then the 418 and the 419, at the end of the corridor. The whole gallery seemed empty, and the noises he could hear came from outside, from the soccer field. Most prisoners were probably at the match.
He had just turned left when someone grabbed him from behind, covered his mouth with one hand and pushed him into a shack.
“Ah...” moaned the roughneck in his ear. “What a lovely chicken we got here. You'll be my dinner.”
Daniel knew he was in big trouble, but the adrenaline rushing through his veins gave him strength. He tried to bite his aggressor's hand to free himself, but the man kicked Daniel's thighs from behind with his knees, pressing him against the wall.
“That's just how I like it. The more you fight, the more I'm going to enjoy it,” said the guy, gagging Daniel with a piece of cloth.
Daniel felt more rage than fear, but the guy was much stronger than he was, and dragged him further into the shack. Throwing him on a bed, the aggressor yanked Daniel's trousers and briefs down. He tried to get up and fight, but the roughneck turned him face down and pinned him down with all his weight.
Daniel was getting desperate when a familiar voice made itself heard. “Let the boy go, Shadow. He's mine.”
The aggressor rolled off Daniel, but kept his knee pressing into Daniel's back. “Whoa, Mephisto, what's up? He doesn't have your mark on him, does he?”
“I won't say it again,” said Mephisto, in a low voice that made Daniel shiver. “Let the boy go. I've chosen him. He's mine.”
“I know they sorted him into your shack, but that doesn't mean a thing,” countered Shadow.
/> “I'm telling you that he's mine. If you don't release him now, you'll be very sorry. The Professor won't be happy, either.”
At the mention of the Professor's name, Shadow released Daniel.
In spite of the tremors that shook him, Daniel managed to turn around and get rid of the gag,
“Okay, brother, easy, I don't wanna cause you trouble,” said Shadow. “But you shouldn't let your chicken walk around alone. Me, if I had such a beauty in my shack, oh, I wouldn't leave a twink like this unguarded!”
Daniel was finishing putting on his clothes when Mephisto approached him and helped him to stand up.
“Now you know that he's mine,” repeated Mephisto to Shadow.
“Don't you ever touch him again.”
“Okay. Your wish is my command,” said Shadow.
Despite his nervousness, Daniel couldn't help noticing the apparent paradox of the situation: although Shadow and Mephisto seemed to be about the same age and height, Shadow was twice Mephisto's size. Yet, Mephisto had been able to impose his will on him.
Mephisto pulled Daniel firmly out of Shadow's shack and into the galleries, dragged him into their own shack and locked the door.
Daniel was trembling like an aspen, for he was sure that now Mephisto was going to punish him for being so reckless and for damaging his honor, or some such nonsense.
Instead, Mephisto gently held Daniel's shoulders. “Did he hurt you?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Speak up,” insisted Mephisto, looking as shaken as Daniel.
“What did he do to you?”
“He...grabbed me from behind... He gagged me and dragged me to his shack, then to his bed. He stripped off my trousers, turned me face down and pinned me down to the bed... Then you arrived.”
Mephisto relaxed and sat down on Daniel's bed, looking relieved.
Then he pulled Daniel closer, lifted up his t-shirt and examined his chest. “Pull your trousers down.”
Daniel stared at him in terror.
“You idiot!” exclaimed Mephisto. “I won't hurt you. I just want to see if you have any injuries and need to go to the Infirmary.”
Daniel slid his trousers down, keeping his briefs on. Mephisto touched his knees.
“Ouch!”
“It's just a bruise,” said Mephisto. “Turn around.”
Daniel obeyed. Mephisto felt the back of his thighs. “Does it hurt?”
“N-no.”
“Are you sure?” insisted Mephisto.
“It's okay. I'm okay. It was just a fright.”
Mephisto stood up and embraced him tenderly. Daniel felt so fragile that he accepted the comfort, and put his arms around Mephisto's waist. The difference of height between the two of them allowed Daniel to rest his face on Mephisto's chest. Daniel struggled hard not to cry.
Mephisto caressed Daniel's back slowly with his hands and murmured, “Daniel...”
It was the first time that Mephisto called him by his name. Daniel couldn't hold back a tear. He felt Mephisto breathing hard against him.
“I shouldn't have left you alone,” continued Mephisto. “Thank God I forgot something and had to come back to the shack. And thank God the bastard was in such a hurry that he didn't bother to close the door. I searched for you everywhere, in all the shacks of the gallery. I don't want to even think what would have happened if I hadn't come back, if I hadn't found you in time. I'm to blame. I should've told them you were mine from the beginning. Now I've made it clear.” Mephisto pulled his face back to look into Daniel's eyes. “That has certain implications, though.”
Daniel dreaded the worst. “What implications?”
“They'll think we're a couple. They'll think you're my...prison wife.”
Daniel walked away, disgusted. “I don't want them to think that.”
“There's no other way out,” said Mephisto firmly. “You've just seen what happens if we don't do that. You need to have an owner;
otherwise they'll try to take you. That's what happens to the new boys when they arrive here.”
“It happened to Julinho, didn't it?”
“Have you met Julinho?” asked Mephisto, with a suspicious look.
“The Professor introduced him to me,” explained Daniel, hating himself for giving explanations to Mephisto.
“Julinho was lucky, to a point. Alfeu is a rough man, and a pervert, too, but at least he takes care of Julinho.”
“Takes care?” said Daniel, almost shouting. “The right word is enslaves.”
Mephisto nodded, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. “In some ways. But they've established a relationship that benefits both parties.
If Alfeu weren't Julinho's owner, Julinho would have been passed around like a joint and would end up, in the best case, as a whore.”
“And in the worst case?”
“AIDS, hard drugs, suicide...” answered Mephisto.
Daniel wanted to shout in frustration. “So this is it. You'll be my owner.”
“It's just a facade. You won't be either my 'mommy,' as they say, or my 'slave,' as you put it. I don't need a slave,” said Mephisto, thrusting up his chin.
“What will you gain by doing this? I'm not so naïve as you think.
There must be some gain in it for you.”
Mephisto let his arms fall to his sides, with a forlorn look. “I don't have any hidden agenda. I just don't want anyone to hurt you.
You're so...beautiful. So young. So full of life!”
Daniel's eyes welled up with tears. He, beautiful? That was a first.
No one besides his mother had ever called him “beautiful.” If Mephisto was really infatuated with him, as he seemed to be, that would end badly... But what else could Daniel do, besides accepting that unreasonable deal? “What do I have to do, then?” asked Daniel, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
Mephisto sat beside him. “You'll have to understand how the convicts' minds work. To them, everything is simple: either you're a queer or you're a macho man. If you're raped, you'll only be respected again if you kill the guy who raped you. And if you're fucking a chicken, then you have to be on top and not the other way round. If the convicts catch you bottoming for a chicken, you're screwed.”
Daniel couldn't believe what he was hearing. “Well, but I'm neither of those things. I don't fit in this picture.”
“I'm going to explain it to you. They'll think you're mine. So they mustn't catch you doing anything inappropriate with another guy, because if they do, my honor will be soiled and they won’t respect me anymore. I've seen many convicts humiliated in public or murdered for not being able to keep control over their slaves, as you say.”
“I've no idea what they consider inappropriate!”
“It's complicated. That's why, in the first days, you'll have to be always with me or with the Professor.”
“Why with the Professor?” asked Daniel.
“Because they respect the Professor and know that I work for him.”
“Look, I don't understand very well what you're saying. You're not telling me the whole story. It's not easy to trust you. But I'll do what you're telling me, because I don't have any other option.”
Daniel stood up, but he didn't have anywhere to go, and chow time was approaching. All those rules and proscriptions, rapists and protectors were driving him crazy.
5. Encyclopedia from Hell
The next day, Daniel spent the time between lunch and dinner reading in the Professor's shack. When the Professor asked him if he wanted to listen to music on his laptop, Daniel said “yes” eagerly and downloaded a whole Audioslave album. However, soon he realized that those songs either made him feel sad or left him indifferent because he felt he was in a worse situation than the one depicted in the lyrics. He tried something heavy, more radical, like System of a Down, Marilyn Manson or Rage Against the Machine, but he couldn't listen to that kind of song without wanting to sing along as loud as possible and smash and kick everything around him. The Professor, who was cal
mly reading his book in his armchair, wouldn't like him to do that... Daniel finally gave up listening to music and resumed reading Sagdeev's book.
By noon, the Professor offered Daniel a cup of coffee, which Daniel gratefully accepted.
“Would you like to take a look at my favorite hobby?” asked the Professor when he finished filling the two cups.
“Sure!”
“I thought you might be interested, since you like sociology and science fiction. What I'm doing is a kind of crossover of the two fields, with a touch of...biology.”
Daniel's curiosity was piqued. The Professor turned the laptop sideways, so that Daniel could see the screen, and began to show him a collection of psychological profiles of supposed abyssal animals.
“It's my Encyclopaedia Infernalis,” announced the Professor proudly.
Each profile seemed to correspond to one of the prisoners in the Detention House.
“Are you creating a record for everyone here as if they were fish?” asked Daniel, doubting the Professor's sanity.
“Yes, more or less.”
“Have you created a record for me already?”
The Professor laughed. “Not yet, but I'm taking notes on you.”
Daniel looked at him suspiciously. “Well, I can't tell if your records are accurate or not, because I don't know anyone yet. Except, perhaps, for Mephisto.”
“Ah, Mephisto... I don't want to show you his record yet. He's a difficult case. I can show you my own record, though.” The Professor opened the menu and selected “locate,” then typed the letter P. A short entry appeared on the screen, and the Professor turned the laptop to face Daniel. “Here it is.”
“Psilocybe curiosus. A fungus that acts as a parasite on most fish.
He likes to study the habits of his hosts carefully and creates complex schemes to get close to them. Deep inside, he enjoys the company of people, but his influence on his hosts is unpredictable. He experiments on other beings, putting them in unusual situations and studying their reactions. He is, above all, a mind scientist.”
A drawing of a mushroom with an expression curiously similar to the Professor accompanied the entry.
AJ Mirag - Clippings Page 4
