Confession of a King

"It's a pleasure to have you working for us, Ms. Miada." My new boss smiled at me as I walked into the new place I would be calling work.

I smiled back, "Please, sir, call me Ivy… Don't make me feel so old." We both had a quick laugh.

"Here is the schedule of when and who the inmates are.. there are only three today. You get three to four a day and they each get two hour sessions. All of their files are in your office. You have about four hours to read through the files before we will start sending them your way. If they give you any grief, there is a help button under the desk. Just press the button and the guards will be right in. There will always be two guards outside the door at all times. We won't tolerate anything from them," Mr. Morgan said while handing me a folder of paperwork. "Some you need to watch out for are starred in this packet. They're known for a little bit of funny business and messed with the last woman we had in here. Just be careful around them."

"You betcha', Mr. Morgan," I smiled while walking off to what would now be my new office.

You see, my name is Ivy Miada. I'm twenty-two years old and I just graduated from college with not only a degree in psychology but also criminal justice. I was trained to be a police officer because my psychology major was revolved around criminal psychology. I've always wanted to be the person that the "bad" people could talk to about their deepest, darkest secrets. Find out what makes them tick, why they did what they did, and more. I just landed a job at one of the roughest prisons in Southern California, and quite honestly this was one of my top choices to work at. Mr. Morgan had told me that the inmates had scared their last psychiatrist so bad that she quit, but I wasn't a quitter… I was here to help these people, monsters, devils… whatever you want to call them, I was here to help them. I finally found my office after about ten minutes and I walked inside. The walls were a neutral green with a few book cases placed around. There was a bamboo desk with a beautiful leather chair sitting behind it. There was also a wall completely covered in file cabinets… this must be what Mr. Morgan wanted me to get a head start on. I walked over to the desk and sat my bags down on top of it, I would have to unpack them soon to get started. There were also two small leather chairs across from the desk as well as a dark leather chaise. Each piece of furniture on the opposite side of the desk had metal wrist cuffs attached to them, and a few other chains. I shook my head, but I understood that some of these inmates are insane and will need restraints. I opened up my bags and pulled out the insides. I had a few spiral notebooks, my Macbook Pro, a tape recorder and some pens. I set up a quick placement on the top of my desk and opened up the folder that Mr. Morgan had given me for my appointments today.

The first person on my list was by the name of James Owen Sullivan. His date of birth was February 9, 1981 - 25 years old. I nodded and walked over to the file cabinets and pulled out his file then sat down at my chair and opened his file. There was a picture of him in there… Seemed like your average guy, a couple of piercings and crazy hair. Some tattoos from what you could see, give or take some more that you couldn't see. He had bright blue eyes. I read down his file and looked at what he was locked up for… "James Owen Sullivan of Huntington Beach, California was arrested on account of eating a man's heart at the park. His reasoning was that "the man was harassing the ducks and he was hungry". There were no drugs found on him nor alcohol at the scene or through testing. Was placed into prison in late 2005. Only due for fifteen years, but was proven to be insane and had his time moved to twenty years to go through testing."

My second person on the list was a man by the name of Jeremy Tyler Scott. Date of birth was June 16, 1988. He was just a kid, freshly 18, - this picture showing him as your normal teenager. Blonde hair, blue eyes, tan skin. I pulled his file and read on… "Jeremy Tyler Scott of Reno, Nevada was arrested three days before his eighteenth birthday for lighting his step father on fire in his sleep and trying to flee the scene. There were no drugs or alcohol at the scene on him or through testing. He is incarcerated for twelve years."

My third and final person was another male by the name of Matthew Charles Sanders. His date of birth was July 31, 1981. He was just ten days shy of his 25th birthday. I groaned at the thought of dealing with a leo. I know all about astrology. Leo's are some of the most demanding, unruly, and fierce creatures out there. That wasn't the only reason why I was groaning. I knew exactly who this man was. I remember the name from all over the television and I remember it from the newspapers. I pulled his file and studied it carefully. Short dark hair, a slightly big nose, strong jaws, hazel eyes. A stud in his bottom lip and some tattoos scattered from what I could decipher. "Matthew Charles Sanders of Huntington Beach, California was arrested for gang involvement and three suspected murders of other gang members in Southern California. One of the suspected three murders Matthew admits to was the murder of Roger Clements of Los Angeles. Matthew admits to gutting the man alive in the man's own Los Angeles' penthouse. He was arrested in 2002 and will be held in prison for ten years until his next trial or confession." His name in the folder Mr. Morgan had given me had a relatively big star on his name. I was guessing he was dangerous and part of the reason the last psychiatrist had quit.

I made a quick note about each of the inmates on my Macbook and prepared myself for the day to come. I made sure to have just enough tapes to record each session and just enough pens and notebooks for notes I needed to take as well. After preparing myself, I bit my lip as I watched the clock. Any minute now I would be getting my first inmate in here to speak with. I took a deep breath and took a sip of my water. I was finally getting to do what I always wanted to do. The door to my office opened and in came two guards with the man who I knew of as James in their custody. If you have ever seen Silence of the Lambs, you would know exactly what kind of device was wrapped around the lower half of his face for fear of his cannibalistic ways. The men took him out of the straight jacket and strapped his ankles and wrists to one of the chairs in front of my desk. They then took the device off his face carefully and placed it on my desk. The man's bright blue eyes stared at me, clouded over with wonder.

One of the guards spoke up, "Don't give her any shit, Sullivan. You nearly drove the last one insane with your thoughts and we don't need to lose another."

James' eyes just stayed on me, he seemed to be studying me as I spoke to the guard. "Thank you boys, but I'm here to help. I'll see you in two hours." They exited the room and closed the door behind them. I sat down at my desk and watched as James continued to stare at me. "Hello, I'm Ivy Miada and I'm the new psychiatrist here."

"Nice to meet you," James' eyes light up and he smiled. "I'd shake your hand but I'm a bit trapped," he cackled. "I'm Jimmy… and you can call me Jimmy. None of that James or Sullivan shit… That's bonkers."

"Well, Jimmy, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?" I asked as I turned on the tape recorder.

"You got it, Ivy!" He smiled, "I can call you Ivy, right?" I nodded. "Okay… Well… I'm Jimmy. I'm twenty-five, been locked up in here for half a year on account of some idiot at the park harassing my ducks. You know, that stuff just doesn't fly? Ever heard of the Lorax? He speaks for the trees, you know. Well I'm Jimmy and I speak for the ducks, and they don't really like mean men. I miss my ducks, I do. Let's see… what else is there to tell you about me? I may be as crazy as they say, maybe even crazier. Maria said I was too insane for her. She said she couldn't handle what I had to say. I think I'm very smart, Ivy. You see, I've probably got the most smarts out of anyone in this damn bird cage although I may be a little strange!" He cackled once again, "I'm quite the observer. When I walked in observed much about you. Let me guess, you're about twenty-one, twenty-two?" I nodded. "Fresh out of college, I assume! Good for you, we need smart people like you in the world. I also observed that you don't seem like the type of girl to mess with. I mean you are kind of a little shit, no offense. Very pretty though! But you can tell you have a little bit of a rough exterior, like around your heart. But somewhere inside you are a super sweet woman. I can tell. Unlike Maria, you're here to actually listen, aye?" I nodded. "Your body language speaks a lot for itself. You don't fear me. You're comfortable right now. All these other fucks in this place think I'm going to eat them or something. I'm not like that, you know? I made a mistake, big fuckin' whoop. Don't we all? We all do! But you don't fear me, Ivy. I like that. I see the start of a beautiful friendship." He smiled, "Can I ask some questions and you answer?"

"Of course," I smiled. He was right, I did feel strangely comfortable around him.

"Why'd you choose to work here of all places?" He began to study me again.

I bit my lip and thought for a second, "It was one of my top choices since I heard about it back in college. It's one of the roughest prisons in all of California, so I knew there would be people in here that were being misinterpreted or didn't have anyone to exactly talk to. Sure, it has some "bad" guys in here that maybe I really don't want to mess with, but I feel like I'm going to do really good here. I'm going to be able to help people like you, Jimmy. Give you someone to talk to and lean on when you need it, 'cause as you said people in here that aren't incarcerated fear you and you need someone that doesn't. Someone that is willing to be your rock when you need some comforting or feel like you're going to crumble."

He grinned, "I like that answer. Let me guess, you've got Shads in here today?"

"Who?" I said dumbfounded.

"Excuse me," he smiled. "I used the name we all know him as in here. You've got Sanders in here, big ol' Matt Sanders."

"I do, he's my last appointment." I nodded.

"Scared?" Jimmy smiled as I shook my head, "Don't lie to me Ivy! Let me tell you, the guy scared the pants off Maria. I think more than I did! Had her running out of here every Monday or whenever else he got himself into some trouble. You see, when we get into some trouble we're added onto your list for the day because they want us to talk about it with you. So you're going to have to get used to Shads 'cause you'll be seeing a lot of him. Especially after he gets a glimpse of you, he'll be getting his big ass in trouble just to come down here."

"Jimmy…"

"Let me finish! You're just his type. He's going to challenge you, Ivy. He's going to try to pick at your brain and he's going to try to put up his macho man status for you. He's really feared in this place, not only by the workers but the inmates too! And you, my dear, seem like a very challenging woman. He's going to have a lot of fun with you."

Notes