When Is This Going To End‪?‬

Chad barged in, physically pushing me up against the wall.

“This is not going to happen, dude!” He said in a low, firm voice only a few centimetres from my face.

I pushed back against him, but he would not budge. In fact, he thrust his torso up against me, all the harder, pinning me so that breathing seemed difficult. “Walk away. Now!” And holding the lapels of my jumpsuit with a vice-like grip turned me in the direction of the door.

This caught the attention of the corrections officer, who casually wandered around the dining hall with eyes surveilling the interactions of all in attendance. He immediately headed our way.

Günter also saw Chad’s aggression and the CO’s interest; therefore, he backed off and revised his plan to meet me.

The CO barked out, “Hey, you two got a problem?”

Chad responded, “We’re cool.”

His voice was calmer regarding the CO, but his physical hold on me had not cooled off in the slightest. He, in a bit of a whisper, said directly into my ear, “Dude, to the door”.

“It doesn’t look cool to me,” The officer continued.

Chad, releasing his grip on me, still managed to give enough of a directional push that I knew he meant business in heading me toward the exit.

The officer, who had walked right over to us by then, and seeing Chad had released me, said, “Okay, Chadwick, what’s got you riled up?”

“Ah, it’s not anything big. We’ve got it worked out,” Chad replied, giving his shoulders a little tension-releasing shake. “Like I said, we’re cool.”

“You keep it that way,” was the CO’s stern response, and he backed off, yet I could feel the intensity in his look as he watched us leave the hall.