“Possession of an illegal substance with intent to supply. I was given two years.”
There’s no point hiding it. Her eyes pinch as she listens.
“You? A dealer?”
“Not even close,” I mutter.
“So what’s your story?”
I keep my mouth shut.
“Hey, I’m in for a lot longer than you. It takes too much energy to make enemies and watch their every move countering an attack. When I’m bunking with someone, I like to be open and respectful. We’re not all animals in here.”
A hot tear slips down my cheek. “Thank you.”
“Come on.”
Over our dinner, I tell her how I came to end up in this place and it’s nice to have someone other than my dad and Darius know the truth.
“You not going to ask me why I’m in here?”
“Why are you?”
“I was a drinker, got in the car one night because I was out of vodka and woke up in the hospital. They say I fell asleep at the wheel, I killed an entire family. Mom, Dad, their two boys and a baby girl. I have no memory of doing it, but I watched it all via a series of traffic cameras all pieced together.”
“I’m so sorry,” I find myself saying.
“Don’t be sorry for me. I’m exactly where I should be. Feel sorry for the family.”
“I’m sorry that addiction took a hold of you. I’ve seen how it changes people, make them do things they’d never usually would.”
“We’ve all got choices, Amelia. I knew every time I filled my glass, I was doing wrong, taking the easy way out. I live with my ghosts and sometimes we find peace together and sometimes we don’t.”
Finishing up, we store our trays and plastic cutlery on the trolley and make our way back to our cell. The place isn’t as scary with Lori at my side.
The safety net of her closeness is short lived. Thirteen women surround us.
“We heard you’re Darius Madden’s baby momma.”
I keep my mouth shut. How would they know that about me?
“This don’t concern you, Lori, go on back to your cell,” one of the women says.
I feel her hesitance before she slips through the group and disappears from my sight.
Some friend she never turned out to be.
“I don’t know what you’ve heard but…”
The main instigator turns her head to look at her friend, laughing cruelly. A Six-Nighters tattoo covers her neck and my stomach plummets. They belong to Darius’s enemies and I’m all alone here.
“This ain’t happening, bitch.”
I’m pulled back and even more women surround me, but there not looking to hurt me, they’re… protecting me.
I don’t know whether to be grateful or concerned that they’ll want something from me that I’m not willing to give.
The Six-Nighter and the woman fronting up on my behalf come face to face. It’s tense and I hold my breath, thinking it will help somehow.
