She whipped out an accusing finger with one hand, rattling Jackson’s letter in the other. “Hell, I hope you rot in it. You and your blue bastard can go straight to hell!” Regina shoved me against the wall.
She’d picked the lock on the wooden footlocker, and all my belongings had been strewn across the cot. Flushed, I caught a glimpse of my necessaries, book, and bits of scattered paper and tossed toiletries.
My hands shook as I stretched them out to her and pleaded, “Please give my mail back, Regina. I don’t want trouble.”
The cruelty danced on her youthful face, bled from a blackened heart. The girl weren’t nothing but a seed spreader. Miserable with life, sowing misery across the paths of others.
“Please, Regina.Give me back my letter.” I tried to snatch it from her hand but missed. “It’s not yours.”
“I imagine Warden will have a helluva lot to say about that.” She poked my belly. “That kid you’re carrying belongs to them, not you.”
Gritting my teeth, I fought to tamp down the ugliness that threatened to spew. “Regina, just hand it over.”
A small group silently gathered around us.
One woman said, “Dammit, Regina, mind your own business and give her back the letter. I hope she puts a curse on your mean ass.”
Another grumbled, “Best do what she says, Gina, ’fore you get us all in trouble.”
“My darling Jackson,” Regina recited to the women, mocking,wriggling the letter in front of my face before whipping it away, “I’m thrilled to tell you I am with child.” She smirked. “I love you—”
I smacked a fist against my thigh. “Give it back, or—”
“Or what? What?” Regina snapped the page across my face, leaving a papercut down my cheek. “Orwhat, Grape Girl?” She pushed me down onto the cot she’d littered with my belongings.
Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw it and blinked.
Blinked again and popped my eyes.
Stunned, I ran a palm over the torn bits of paper, my fingers sifting through it all.
My daughter’s letter.
Regina had shred it into pieces. Robbed me of Honey’s sweet news and love.Home.I picked up a scrap and pressed it to my trembling lips, the heartbreak almost bowing me over.
Grabbing the book, I stood, a slow, blinding fury churning, birthing a murderess heart.
I opened the cover ofThe Little Sister, locked deadly eyes with Regina, and tore out the homemade weapon inside.
A ripple of gasps rose into the stale institutional air.
“No,” someone cried out.
Something whorled inside me, scraped across my tongue, and escaped in a guttural war cry. I lunged at the girl, ripping off the sleeve of her dress.
Regina’s jaw slackened, and she took a step back.
I raised Waldeen’s sharpened toothbrush again.
Rough hands latched on to me, throwing me across the floor.
“Both of you to the hole!” the guard bellowed.
***
Grim, the warden lifted the envelope from her desk, then let it float down onto her stack of papers while the guard led Regina away.
A quake took hold of my body, and I could feel the fear whooshing in my ears.
