Page 17 of This for That (The Edge of Retaliation 1)
“You’re trash. I like to dispose of trash in here,” she growls, raising her leg to kick me.
“Trisha!”
The guard’s voice fills the room, and Trisha turns to her and says, “I was just helping this girl up. She must have slipped.”
The guard storms over, getting in Trisha’s face. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You’re already on your last warning.”
Trisha puts her hands up. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Ask her, if you like. I was just helping her when she slipped.”
The guard looks down at me, and I push up to my feet, still hunched over in pain. I’m trying to steady my breath, trying to stop the tears rolling down my cheeks in front of these girls, trying not to scream. They want this. They want me to be afraid of them. They want me to follow all their stupid rules.
“Is that correct?” the guard asks me.
“No, it isn’t correct,” I wheeze. “They came in here and they cornered me. They know what I did, and they want to make me pay for it.”
Trisha’s face, for a small minute, flashes with surprise. She didn’t expect that from me. I know there’ll be retaliation for this, but I also can’t survive in this place if I follow her rules, doing what she wants me to do and being afraid. This is my only option.
“Trisha, come with me and report to the officer in charge tonight. Callie, you’ll be escorted to the nurse’s office to have that looked at.”
Trisha is pulled away, her girls following her, but not before throwing death stares in my direction. A guard enters the room just before they leave to take me to the nurse’s station. I stare at the male guard, and am quite surprised by how incredibly good-looking he is. His dark hair is slicked back, and he has kind blue eyes. His skin, a deep shade of olive, stands out even more against his navy-blue uniform.
“Callie?” he says, walking towards me.
“Ah, yes,” I say, still hunched over, the pain in my ribs getting progressively worse.
“I’m Officer Corel. I’ll be taking you to the nurse’s station.”
“Thanks.”
I follow him out and down the halls, through a few doors, and then into an office where a young nurse is busy writing something down. She looks up when we enter, and her cheeks get pink. “Ethan, how are you tonight?”
Oh. She likes him.
“Good evening, Mary. I’m well, how are you?”
“Good, thank you. What’s the issue?”
“This is Callie. She had a run-in with Trisha.”
Mary screws her face up, looking like she feels a little sorry for me. “Oh, well, that’s no good. Come over here and sit on the bed. Tell me what happened?”
Ethan . . . Officer Corel . . . doesn’t move. Instead, he comes and stands beside me on the bed, not leaving. I guess that’s to be expected. I could attack poor Mary, and try anything. I’m sure it has happened many times before.
“I’d just finished my shower and Trisha cornered me in the locker room. She punched me in the stomach and was strangling me. It’s fine,” I say softly. “I’m okay.”
“I have to take a look anyway. I’ll just go and get cleaned up, and get what I need. If you wait here, I’ll be back in a moment,” Mary says, turning and disappearing out of the room.
I don’t make eye contact with Officer Corel. I don’t really want any more judgement.
“You’re not made for this place.”
His words surprise me, and I turn and glance at him shyly. “Why do you say that? I’m here, aren’t I? Someone thought I was deserving.”
“You’re the most innocent thing I’ve seen come through these doors in the last five years. Nobody speaks so kindly anymore. There isn’t a bad bone in your body. Can tell that on first glance. I can read people; you’re not bad people.”
“I’m sure half of the people in here aren’t bad people,” I say to him.
“You’d be wrong. Most of them have good reason to be in here.”
“With all due respect, sir, I have good reason to be here, too.”
“Involuntary manslaughter, I heard. Everyone heard. Biggest story to come around in years. Still don’t believe you meant it.”
“Isn’t that what manslaughter is? Of course I didn’t mean it. But I did do it. So here I am.”
He studies me. “Saw your court day; I was one of the guards on duty. You said she stepped out in front of you.”
I look at him, and whisper, “It doesn’t matter what I said. The person that could change it didn’t believe me.”
His eyes get soft, and I already know I’m going to like Officer Corel. He’s kind, and people like that are few and far between in a place like this. “It must be a hard existence, being in here with not a single person in the world on your side.”
