Page 50 of Fall onto me

Home is where I want to be.

It will happen, I hope soon.

Love, Ghost

P.S. Don’t do anything stupid.

Some of itseems like gibberish. Maybe he’s losing his mind? Or he’s trying to tell me something.

I read it over again and again, until I find a pattern.

First word of one, last of another.

I write them down until I find his real letter.

Baby girl,Lay low. I’ll come home soon. – Ghost

There’san indent in the bottom right corner, I carefully shade my pencil across it to read it better.

I don’t think this is another secret message.

It’s a small portion of a song. I can make out the title and the beginning of the lyrics.

Title: My Ballerina

She’s like rain on a lazy Sunday

While I’m sl

After I spendanother five minutes desperately trying to salvage even another letter, I call Barnes to make sure that I’m still set for my visitation. We’re making it seem like I’m visiting another inmate. So long as another officer doesn’t intersect, it will be a safe way for me to see the love of my life.

I know what to do to cheer him up, and I hope it makes him smile.

15

Barnes is standing at the large metal door that shuts out the prisoners from the rest of the world, I already checked in under the guise of visiting another inmate, and now it’s time to play this game. “Anything in your pockets?” he asks; his tone holds no note of familiarity with me.

“No.”

A woman with honey hair with a name plate that reads ‘Askena’ beside him brushes shoulders as she checks something off on a clip board.

“Turn around.” He sounds much less like the friendly guy I’ve come to know, more like a cop than ever. We rehearsed all of this on the phone last night, at least three times.

The woman pats me down. “Want me to take her back?” she asks, threatening to ruin our entire plan. I’m already nervous, but this hoodie is making me swelter. I got a few looks wearing it on my way here. With it being fall in Miami, it’s still hot.

For a moment, Barnes’s serious demeanor begins to crumble. “Thank you, but you take your break. I’ve got it.”

She nods, sending him a smile before fixing it when she realizes she’s at work. “Follow me,” he says.

Once we’re in the not so comforting aesthetic of a concrete hallway devoid of others, I tilt my head down and whisper, “She likes you.” I look up at him, noting the way he’s smiling.

“She doesn’t,” he replies shyly, leading me down another fluorescent hallway. “Wait here,” he says, running a hand over his face. This is making him nervous; his skin is tinged red.

I look around the room when he leaves. There’s a camera in the corner but no red light to indicate it’s on.

Foster walks in first, with Barnes holding his wrist behind his back. “Camera is broken.” He points to the corner, but I don’t take my eyes away from Foster. Here he is in the flesh, looking back at me with an uneasy expression as Barnes removes his cuffs. “I told them I was taking him to the infirmary. You have five minutes before—”

I sling my arms around Foster the moment he pulls his hands forward, rubbing his wrist.