Surviving Fox River | Prison Break

Chapter 26

After tier time and we were back in our cells, I took the time to wash my hair and my face, a sure way to ease the stress I was currently feeling. Now that Lincoln had more time, hopefully, we could get back on track and not fall behind anymore. If something happened again, we might as well give up and call it quits.

"So what y'all be doin' in that room? I know y'all kicked me out on purpose." Tweener said, sitting at the edge of the top bunk. I rolled my eyes and started stretching, ignoring him. "I'm gonna find out."

"And that will just make it so much easier for me to find a reason to kill you, so please, try your hardest." I answered, bending over to stretch my legs. I didn't see his face, but I knew it was probably full of fear and false confidence.

"Open on 40!" A loud buzzing sound filled the prison as Michael and Sucre's cell was opened. I was curious, so I walked to the bars of my door and gripped it, wondering what they needed with my friends. Bellick walked over and winked at me as he passed. I made a retching sound and a frown appeared on his face immediately.

"Scofield, Pope wants to see you." Bellick announced, brushing off the fact that I made a throwing up sound at him.

"Why?" Michael asked as they cuffed him.

"Something about that burn on your back. Let's go." Michael winced as Bellick shoved his shoulder, right where his wound was. He didn't say a thing as they led him away and he didn't make eye contact with anybody. Why would Pope want to question Michael about his burn when Michael wouldn't talk about it the last time? I shrugged and walked to my bed and sat down, leaning against the wall.

I closed my eyes and started humming a song I used to sing to LJ all the time when he was little. Lincoln would come behind me and wrap his arms around my waist and we would sway from side to side with LJ in my arms, without a worry in the world. I felt tears slide down my cheek as I thought about how happy we were.

What went wrong? I didn't really have to think hard about that one because I already knew the answer. I just didn't wanna admit it out loud. That would confirm that I betrayed Lincoln. He didn't need to know that...at least not yet. I wiped my face quickly, not wanting anyone to see even a drop.

"My mom used to sing that song to me." I heard Tweener say.

"Good for your mom."

"She died."

"That's sad." I replied dryly, picking at my nails. I heard his bed creak and his head appeared over the side of the top bunk.

"Why are you so evil? I feel sorry for the kids you're probably going to have." he said as if that were an insult. I chuckled and looked him in the eye.

"I already had one." He raised an eyebrow.

"Had?"

"He's dead." I said and Tweener's face fell.

"I'm so sorry. How did he die?" I hated when people said sorry when they had nothing to do with it. Like why are you sorry for the death of someone you don't even know? I never understood that.

"Murdered." I sighed. "Look, if this is your way to get close to me, it's not working. So go back up there with your gangster swag and boyish charm and leave me alone." I snapped, not wanting to talk about LJ. Instead of going back up like I predicted, he smirked.

"You think I have charm?" Before I could go off on him, he scurried back into his bed and I just shook my head. I felt sorry for whoever he would get with in the future. I decided to take a nap for a few hours until tier time. As soon as my head hit my pillow, I was out.

"Social time, ladies!" I groaned and my eyes fluttered open. At first, I was confused as to where I was, but then I remembered and rubbed my eyes, sitting up slowly. Every cell door in the A-wing opened for tier time. I felt a bit groggy, but that passed and I saw Tweener slide of the bed and exit our cell, which was fine with me.

"Knock, knock." Sucre stood at the entrance of my cell, a piece of paper in his hand.

"Come in, Fernando." I said, detangling my bed head hair. He walked in and sat on the bed next to me. "Where's Michael?" I asked and he shrugged.

"He's still not back and I'm getting worried. He doesn't usually take this long when he's with Pope. But he told me that in case he doesn't come back in an hour, I should give this to you. And it's been two hours, so here." Sucre handed me the piece of paper he was holding and I opened it tentatively, afraid of what it might say.

Get peroxide from C-note tomorrow. Make sure there's enough for everyone in on the plan. Put it in your toilets and put your spare P.I. uniforms in there. It will turn it white like the psych ward inmates' so that we blend in when we leave. Below is a map of where we need to go. Navigate it and become familiar with it.

There was a map full of lines, which I'm guessing were the pipes and  I looked at Sucre, who was reading the note with me. Michael wanted me to take over for him? I saw Bellick pass and I jumped up and called his name.

"What do you want?" Bellick asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Where's Michael?" I cut right to the chase, not wanting to prolong anything, especially a conversation with Bellick. He smirked and came closer.

"You didn't hear?" he asked and I frowned.

"Hear what?"

"Your brother is in the SHU. Call it what you want, but I knew this day was coming." He started whistling and walked over, awfully cheery.

"Michael's in the SHU?" Sucre asked as I made my way back to the bed. I nodded. "Well, that explains why he hasn't come back yet."

"If he's in the SHU, how are we supposed to get everything together? We still need to finish filling that hole, even though all we need to do is put a nice filling over the top and no one will ever know it was there. Then I have to make sure we all have the P.I. uniform because if not, then we're screwed and then-" Sucre put his hand over my mouth, stopping me from continuing.

"Take a deep breath, Melanie." he said, taking his hand off quickly. He probably knew I was going to karate chop it. "I'm serious. Do it." I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling slowly. I could feel myself calming down and when I was at peace, I started to speak.

"I will try my best to fill in his shoes until he comes back." I said, rubbing my forehead. I could feel a headache coming on just thinking about everything that needed to be done, but I decided to take it one step at a time.

"Since you already went down there before, do you know the route based on what he drew?" Sucre asked and I looked at him, smiling.

"Look at you, being all smart and Michael-like. He must be rubbing off on you." I joked and he punched my arm.

"Shut-up. I'm just trying to help." he said, blushing a bit. That made me smile even harder. He was so cute.

"You have a point. I don't need to go down under to know this route. Plus, I can just keep this paper and follow it when the time is right. One down, a million more to go." I sighed, leaning back. Sucre leaned forward and rubbed his beard that was starting to grow back.

"What do you wanna do next?" I thought about our options and decided to finish the hole and get peroxide from C-note tomorrow. I would probably get the peroxide first because we could sneak spare P.I. clothes to everyone with the help of Sucre's cousin from the laundry place. The hole would come later since P.I. was later in the day. "Sounds like a plan to me. So what do we do now?" Sucre asked.

"Right now?" He nodded. "All we can do is wait."