Tired was an understatement. Call me stupid, or weird, or unprofessional but I had stayed up most the night reading that book page by page until it ended. I have absolutely no idea why, but every time I had told myself 'after this page I'll put it down'... I never did. It wasn't because it was a particularly incredible book that I literally could not put down due to the fear of forgetting a certain line the next morning, I just felt like it was necessary to finish it all in one go.

It was a good book, again not one I would particularly read when I felt the need to escape to another world but I guess...that girl? That girl needed to once in a while though again, why that particular book? Nevertheless, I wanted to understand her so I took it along with me.

It was full of sadness, isolation and a lot of lonely thoughts. If I were a prisoner, I'd be reading the happy things, the romantic things, things I couldn't wait to experience when I got out. But she seemed to want to dwell, concentrate on her surroundings rather than forgetting them for that short while she was reading. 

I thought about both it and her all the way through my drive to work, doing so even further when I caught a glance of that book poking out of my bag on the passenger seat. I really don't know why but there was this overwhelming urge screaming at me to go into her room and look through her collection of books on that shelf. That was very wrong of me, I was becoming too curious of this girl. Also trying to find excuses for my behaviour was hard but I eventually put it down to my brief stint of wanting to become a therapist. Her feelings that she was keeping inside of her wasn't healthy and I understood that I just wanted to help her, to bring her out of her shell a little maybe.

I had noticed nobody wanted to be around her which was sad in itself, her being so young and all but she herself didn't help things by isolating herself from the others. I wanted to help her make friends and not enemies. Prison was lonely enough, but without people to talk to at all? That was even worse.

Entering the prison building and then exiting the staff room an hour later told me that today I was to do the count, then the contraband search and finally a new job...watching over recreation. With a big, confident smile I made my way to my assigned corridor and grabbed the count clicker ready to do my job. 

I was excited for later on, it was only my third day but already my tasks were getting repetitive. The recreation task however was something new and I couldn't wait to be in charge of watching over such a vast number of inmate's all at one time.

"Count time ladies!" I called out before repeating it two more times and waiting for the first door to open up. One by one, all of the inmate's awoke and opened their doors ready for me and five minutes later I made my way into the first one, then the second and so on.

I got around three-quarters of the way through the inmate's before I entered a room and saw one prisoner standing where she should be, her head bowed though I distinctly remember she had a roommate. I frowned and placed my hand on my radio immediately. Had the inmate gotten out? Just as I was about to call for help, I saw a big lump over the side of the room underneath the covers. On closer inspection, a loud snore came from that heap of blankets and I tutted in frustration.

"Inmate! Get up now!" I shouted, soon trying to hold back my laughter as this prisoner with a sheet on top of her squealed and jumped up only to fall right back down, albeit on top of my feet. I stayed put while I watched her unravel the blanket from herself and then notice my legs in front of her. Slowly she raised her head until she saw me looking down on her with a stern expression, though I really was trying not to chuckle at her predicament.

"I'm sorry," she said as she bowed her head and tripped a few more times before getting to her feet, limping to the middle of the room.

I cleared my throat and made my way over to the two of them. "Did you hurt yourself inmate?" I asked.

"Uh...no." I wasn't stupid, she winced as she said that so I ordered her to go back to her bed and to tell the CO who would be around after me that I had allowed her to sit down. 

"Tell him Officer Hwang okay'd it, alright? I'll be back later to get someone to you to the nurse." 

"Thank you," she bowed and gave a small smile. 

"No problem."

I had disappeared from sight but still heard what she said when I had left. "She's nice, I like her."

As I walked further away, I felt good in myself and then imagined what Officer Park would have done. He probably would have laughed and made her stand there the whole time. I hadn't realised that those two in that room were a couple and I had just had a normal conversation with a lesbian despite disliking them.

On and on I went until I came to the last room. I frowned when I saw the door was closed, the inmate should be up and waiting for me but once I opened the door to reveal the inside, she was doing neither. 

I really didn't want to get her into trouble but she could not do this. The girl was lying in bed, still fast asleep despite the bright light shining above her door indicating that it was count time. I made my way over to her and just as I was about to order her to get up... I saw the book I had gone to get yesterday lying next to her. 

I smiled as I picked it up and realised that she too had finished it seeing as the book was free of her bookmarks. I was about to set it back when I saw there was another just beside it, hidden slightly under the blankets. Checking my watch I saw that I didn't have time to see what it was so I quickly replaced the book beside her and clicked her before running out the room. 
I ran back in a second later hitting myself inwardly for forgetting to wake her.

"Hey, can you get up?" I asked nicely but loudly and watched as her brow furrowed and then her eyes flickered open, taking a few seconds before coming into focus. "Hey," I smiled. "I've counted you but the other officer will be coming round at any moment and I need you to get up..."

She said nothing surprise surprise but thankfully she nodded and yawned before getting up and standing in the middle of the room, her head bowed tiredly. I walked over to the door and looked outside, soon seeing the officer about nine or so doors away.

"Wanna read your book before he comes?" I smirked, remembering how it went before. She looked up and I saw something flash in her eyes before she shook her head.

"Okay, suit yourself." I replied, looking back out the doorway. Seven doors away... "How come you weren't up today?" I asked, knowing full well she wouldn't answer but I was curious nonet