Page 16 of This for That (The Edge of Retaliation 1)
There is a desk between the two beds with an old lamp, but otherwise the room is fairly bland. No television. No sofa. Nothing but our beds and that desk. It’s not horrible, though. Certainly not what I had conjured up in my mind the whole way here. The walls are painted a pale green, and the floors are some sort of vinyl that is made to look like timber.
“What are you in here for?” Madeline asks, tipping her head to study me. “You hardly look like you’ve been on the wrong side of the tracks.”
She can tell that just from looking at me? I don’t know how.
“I . . .” I hesitate. Do I tell her? What if she hates me and then I have to spend the next five years in a cell with a girl who can’t stand me? I don’t know. “I was in a car accident . . .”
She narrows her eyes. “Look, I’m not here to judge anyone. I’m in for breaking and entering with a loaded weapon. I tried to rob a bank. I then took off with the money and stole a car.”
Jesus. Wow. That is something else.
“Oh, well, I took my Mother’s car and we were driving . . . some friends and I . . . and a girl . . . she stepped out onto the road in front of me and, ah, she passed away.”
Madeline’s eyes widen. “No shit. You’re that girl? I saw it all over the news.”
Shit. If she saw it, that means everyone else in here saw it.
“I’m not going to fit in well, am I?” I whisper.
She bites her lip, and then says, “Look, it’s never easy when you’re new meat. You’re going to just have to stick with me. I’ll get you through. Don’t tell anyone who you are; it’ll make things easier if they don’t know. Lot of people in here know your story. Lot of people in here would target you because of it, they all think you killed an innocent girl.”
“I didn’t intentionally hurt that girl,” I say, my voice slightly harder.
Madeline puts her hands up. “No judgement, remember? I can see you’re not the type who looks like you’d hit someone and be done with it. Either way, though, that don’t matter to them. So be careful. Stick with me. I’ll fill you in.”
My shoulders slump and I glace around the room—the room that’s going to be my home for the next five years.
I have no idea what lies ahead. That scares me more than anything I’ve ever endured.
I don’t even know if I’ll make it out of this alive.
All I know is that I’m stuck here, and there is no going back.
There is no turning this around.
“WELL, WOULD YOU LOOK at that. A little rich girl.”
I turn and clutch my towel to my chest, staring at the three larger girls coming towards me. I’ve just finished my shower and was about to get changed. The guard on duty just walked off to check another argument happening in the next row over, leaving me to get changed.
I’ve only been here three days, but Madeline warned me these girls are the ones to stay away from. The ones who make everyone’s life a living hell, especially the new people in the block. I’ve managed to avoid their angry glares during dinner and exercise time, but I knew eventually, they’d catch up to me.
“Heard about you,” the largest girl of the group—I think Madeline said her name is Trisha—says. She’s big in build, with broad shoulders. Very masculine. Her dark brown hair is tied up tightly on her head. Her brown eyes narrow as she steps closer, smiling to reveal really white teeth. “You’re the one who killed that innocent girl.”
How did they find out about that?
Oh God.
I swallow, and then say, “I’m not looking for trouble.”
Trisha laughs. “I wasn’t asking if you were.”
I step backwards and her two friends stand behind her as they all close in on me. My back hits a locker and I say, “Please, I’m not here to fight.”
I sound pathetic.
I know I sound pathetic.
Trisha lashes out, grabbing me by the throat. She’s at least two sizes bigger than me, and so she handles my body with ease. “I wonder how that family is feeling, knowing a little rich white girl stole their daughter’s life because she wanted to go out and have some fun with her friends and drive a car without a license. Do you see her face every time you close your eyes?” She squeezes tighter. “You fucking do now.”
I start gasping for air, flailing. Her other fist lashes out and slams into my stomach, making me wheeze and slump forward. She lets me go and I fall to the ground, unable to pull air into my burning lungs.
