Coffee
masterlist
content: implied lady whump, emotional whump, implied conditioning
‘Rehabilitation for prisoners.’
The google search spat out nothing useful, and Rosa was just stuck going down a rabbit hole about rehabilitative incarceration. It didn’t mention sucking the soul out of people anywhere.
“Fuck!” she snapped, pushing her laptop to the side. “Of course there would be nothing, of course! She wasn’t even allowed to talk about it when I asked in person!”
Nobody was around to answer. Rosa picked up her phone and dialed the prison, determined to get to the bottom of it anyway.
“Hello? I would like to ask some questions about the rehabilitation program. The one Vivienne Brooks is in.”
“We can’t give out information about the rehabilitation program.”
“It concerns me personally. She and some guy came to my house the other day and threatened to do it again in a year.”
“It wasn’t a threat, ma’am. In person apologies and the acceptance of those apologies plays a crucial part in completing the program.”
“Yes, yes, I know. I talked to Vivienne. But she— she doesn’t look like herself. She looks traumatised. And she keeps begging me to just accept her apology so she could get out of the program. What the fuck is going on in that program? I need to know.”
“Ma’am, as I said—”
“You can’t give out information, yes, yes. At least connect me with her handler. The guy who was here. You can do that, right?”
“I can, ma’am. But he’s not allowed to give out information either. Do you still want to contact him?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Hold for one moment, please. I’ll look for who’s in charge of Vivienne Brooks’ rehabilitation.”
Rosa was drumming on the couch cushion as she waited, one more annoying word away from yelling at the poor woman on the other side. No, if she was going to yell at anyone again, it would be that guy. She needed to direct her anger at the right people for once.
“Ma’am?”
“Yes, I’m here.”
“The one in charge of Vivienne’s rehabilitation is Christopher May. He works Monday to Friday here in the prison, so you can try to reach him in person, but I can also give you his phone number.”
“A phone number would be nice. Let me grab a pen and paper.”
Once she had that, she hung up and dialed Christopher. She didn’t feel like driving down to the prison one more time. It was suffocating in there.
“Hello, it’s Christopher May. I’m not able to answer the phone right now, but feel free to leave a message.”
Well… Maybe she would need to drive down there. But a message wouldn’t hurt. “Hello, my name is Rosalynn Burns. You and Vivienne were at my house the other day. I want to talk about the rehabilitation program and these yearly apologies. Please, call me back whenever you have the time.”
She hung up and dropped her phone on the couch, dragging both her hands down her face in frustration. There was something wrong with this program. If there wasn’t, they wouldn’t be so fucking secretive about it.
“Patient confidentiality my ass,” she muttered.
Eventually, she got up from the couch and went to grab her car keys again. Why not go visit a prison two days in a row? That was normal behaviour. Not at all obsessive and odd.
God, this was not how she wanted to spend her few days off work.
The receptionist was the same woman she’d talked to on the phone, and she did inform her that Christopher was in, but busy at the moment. “You can take a seat right there,” she said, pointing at the uncomfortable looking blue plastic chairs. “He usually finishes around this time. It shouldn’t be long.”
Rosa took a seat as instructed, scrolling on her phone mindlessly to tune out the fact that she was in Vivienne’s vicinity. And honestly, to tune out the fact that she was about to meet with Christopher. He was no less unnerving than Vivienne — maybe even more so, given how Vivienne was acting lately. Which was… Well, if anyone could unnerve her more than her former captor and torturer, that was some feat.
She spent at least an hour sitting there, watching police officers come and go with people in handcuffs, doing administrative duties left and right. Most of what she heard was about petty crimes — the handcuffs never stayed on for too long, and most people were free to leave after giving a statement or whatever. But none of the men were Christopher May.
When she finally spotted him, she immediately stood up from her chair and walked over. “Christopher May?” she asked, trying to sound less hostile than she felt.
“Rosalynn,” he said with a smile. “What a surprise. If you’re looking for Vivienne—”
“I’m looking for you. How much free time do you have right now?”
Christopher glanced at his watch. “About half an hour. I was going to grab coffee. Care to join me?”
The café down the street was almost empty, and the two of them settled down at a table for two. Christopher bought them both a coffee, though Rosa insisted she didn’t need one.
“What is it you want to talk about, Rosalynn?” he asked once they were settled.
“Just Rosa.”
“Rosa it is.”
“I want to talk about the rehabilitation program. And do not give me that crap about patient confidentiality. I’m not asking about Vivienne, I’m asking in general. Surely, you can enlighten me as to what the fuck is going on in those programs.”
Christopher took a sip of his coffee, then sighed. “I assume you’ve asked several people already, and that’s why you’re so aggressive from the jump.”
“I’m not— Maybe I am. Maybe I am! Listen to me. I spent three days down in Vivienne’s basement. Then another few days standing trial against her. Maybe that’s not a lot of time to get to know somebody, but I can tell you, she wasn’t like the way she is now.”
“That’s what rehabilitation is all about. We’re working to make her a better person.”
“But she’s not ‘better!’ She looks— I don’t even know how to describe it. You’re doing something to her, and it has to be something horrible, otherwise you would just tell me. I’m not asking about the specifics of Vivienne’s rehabilitation, I’m asking in general: what the hell is going on in those programs?”
He took another sip, still calm as ever. It was driving her crazy. “I’ve told you before, it’s an intensive therapy program aimed to make the subject repent for their past actions. We work on building compassion and a genuine desire to do better.”
“How? Is it just talk therapy?”
“Yes, for the most part. There are individual and group settings, different work therapies—”
“What do you mean ‘work therapy?’”
“It’s just what it sounds like. They’re given chores they need to complete, to build a sense of responsibility.”
Rosa narrowed her eyes at him. “What happens if they don’t comply with the therapy?”
Christopher smiled at her. “I’ve never had an inmate not comply.”
“Theoretically. What would happen?”
“There’s really no need to talk about that. Everyone who opted into the program is doing their best—”
“Vivienne seemed like she couldn’t opt out. She said she didn’t want to, but… I don’t think she was telling the truth.”
“Well, we’ve never had anyone want to opt out either. It’s a great opportunity to reduce sentences by a large margin — you’ve asked Vivienne about that, too, didn’t you? She could be out and about in a few years if she completes the program.”
“I don’t get that. I just don’t understand. What are you doing to these inmates that thirty year sentences can be reduced to just… two years? Three years?”
“Oh, the program is very effective. Trust me. At first we started with just reducing sentences by a few years, but when it became clear that these inmates were turning their lives around in a matter of a few years, the reward just got better and better. Of course Vivienne doesn’t want to opt out. Who wouldn’t want to be out of prison in two years when they’d originally gotten thirty?”
“But the program doesn’t end unless I forgive.”
“We’ve never had—”
“Don’t tell me you’ve never had people not forgive. I fucking— Is this some work of God? That everything is just going flawlessly, with no one ever wanting to opt out, no one ever not complying, no one ever denying forgiveness…”
“I don’t know what else to say.” He leaned back in his chair, looking almost smug. “That’s the truth. The program is an overwhelming success.”
“This is ridiculous. You’re lying. I don’t know what you’re lying about, but you’re lying about something. And what was that about when Vivienne said I could ‘take my frustrations out on her?’ What was that about? That’s fucking messed up!”
“Rosa… I think you’re just shaken up by that visit we paid you. That’s okay. Now you have a whole year to prepare for the second one. If you think something fishy is going on with the program, then just lie and say you forgive, and Vivienne can be out in a jiffy.”
“But I don’t want her out of prison, I want her— I just want her out of the program!”
“She doesn’t want to be out of the program.”
“She told me! She told me she can’t do thirty more years of it! You’re doing something to her!”
“Oh, she said that, didn’t she?” Christopher looked at his watch and drank the rest of his coffee. “It’s good that I have a session with her in a bit. We’ll definitely talk about that.”
Fuck. That didn’t sound good. “Are you hurting her?” she blurted out.
He gave her a smile bordering on condescending. “What do you take me for, Rosa? Just go home and rest up. We’ll be in contact in a year.”
And with that, he was off, leaving Rosa and her now cold coffee alone.
~
@whumpsday @100percentwhump
