Aren't We All Just Prisoners?

For his entire life, Alan Ashby had always been a good kid. He'd grown up in a strictly christian household, with a mother, father, and two sisters. He'd been conditioned to love Christ from the day he was born; showing up to church every Sunday with perfect attendance, getting involved in his youth group, and even going on several mission trips.

Alan was 19 years old, a freshman in college, but he still lived with his parents. He didn't mind it at all really, he loved his mom and dad and was relieved when they offered to buy him a car so he could commute to campus, instead of living there full time.

Alan considered himself to have a fairly good life. He was lucky enough to find his faith early on, being born into this family and all.

Alan loved god and considered himself a born again christian, which was why he felt so strongly about passing his faith onto others, so they could be saved too. He felt that everyone deserved a second chance, that everyone was equal in god's eyes; some of them just needed a little encouragement.

So when his church had announced they needed people for a new prison ministry, Alan didn't hesitate before signing himself up. Normally Alan didn't do confrontational things like this, but he had a gut feeling that this was what he needed to do.

After signing up, he learned that he'd be paired up with one inmate every time he visited, which was three times a week.

Sure, he was a bit nervous about who he was going to be paired up with, considering he'd be spending a good chunk of his time with whoever this person was, but Alan trusted that everything would turn out alright.

Today was his first day visiting the prison, and as Alan's car sped down the road he nervously tapped his fingers against the steering wheel of his car, silently praying that he'd actually be able to help someone out of this.

As he got closer and closer to the gates of Brixdale Penitentiary, Alan could practically feel the nerves rolling off off his skin.

Once he'd actually reached the jail and gone through security, Alan finally pulled into the parking lot before taking his keys out of the ignition. Taking in a deep breath, he exited the car before going inside to find the rest of his group.

They weren't too hard to spot once he actually got in there, considering they were a bunch of middle aged men and women clutching bibles in their hands.

Once they saw him a few of them waved him over, some murmuring about how such a "good young boy" he was and how he should be an "example for their own children". Alan simply smiled and nodded at them, eager to meet his "prison buddy" so he could start making some sort of difference.

After a few minutes of listening to the chatter of the rest of his group, one of the guards finally came to tell them where they were supposed to go, starting to read off the names on his list.

"Alan Ashby?" The guard called the first name on the list, nodding when Alan shyly raised his hand.

"You're paired with.." The guard trailed off looking at the name on the list. Alan watched curiously when the guard raised his eyebrows, his face seeming to pale. "Uh..Austin Carlile." He finally finished, looking at Alan with an expression nothing short of pity.

Shrugging it off, Alan followed the guard to meet this Austin guy, assuming that he was just reading too much into things.

They walked down a long corridor before reaching a room at the end, decked out with a heavy steel door and more locks than Alan could count.

"Good luck kid...you'll need it." The guard warned, beginning to unlock the door. Alan simply nodded, gulping before entering the room as the guard shut the heavy door behind him with a bang.