Page 14 of On Your Life

I heard enough stories growing up to know how close they were. He’s almost like a father figure to me himself.

“Will do cap,” I mutter as I turn and head toward my assignment.

My feet feel lighter with every step. I keep my face straight but I can’t quite stop the smile threatening to pull at the corners of my mouth. B pod waits at the end of the hall, and so does she.

Chapter 8

Kira

Okay I really like Maxie. We spent the day together and somewhere between laughing about our shitty ex-boyfriends and trying to figure out how the hell we ended up here, I had to take a step back and reevaluate my life.

I actually laughed today. Not a fake little chuckle to be polite but a real, stupid, can’t breathe because I’m laughing so hard kind of giggle.

What the fuck?

Maybe I need to make the most of my current situation and accept the fact that it’s okay to make friends. There’s nothing I can change about it right this second.

I can sit here and be miserable, counting down every minute until I get out, or I can at least try to make the time pass a little quicker by filling my sentence with days like this. It’s honestly not that bad.

Okay, that’s a lie. It’s still prison but today wasn’t bad.

After trying and failing a hundred times, my inmate ID still doesn’t work for the phones. Barbara even came by to try to help me. She went over to the field mouse to demand a working ID number so I can make calls. He immediately started working on remedying the issue.

I really just want to hear from my mom. Even with the way my day went it doesn’t make me forget the outside world. Not yet anyway.

There’s something strange about knowing everything is still happening out there while I’m stuck in here. My mom is probably going about her day as if nothing has changed. People are driving to work probably complaining about traffic or standing in line too long at a coffee shop, completely unaware that I’m sitting in a concrete box counting down the hours until I can hear a familiar voice.

I wonder if they still think about me or if they placed me so far back in their mind that I no longer exist. I force the thoughts away before they turn into something worse.

We have to take our showers one at a time. Something about a fight breaking out recently that caused enough of a stir that no one can be trusted in groups without a female guard present to stand in the bathroom. I have yet to see a female guard.

At this point, I really don’t care who watches because I haven’t showered since before my trial and I religiously take two showers a day.

“Maxie,” I call into her room. “Do you have any soap that I can borrow? They never gave me any.”

“They didn’t give you fucking soap?” she says.

She rolls her eyes and walks over to the desk, grabbing a white bar of soap before throwing it against the wall. I jump as it cracks against the concrete and breaks into several chunks.

“Here,” she says, tossing me a small piece.

“Thanks.” I giggle, holding the tiny chunk between my fingers.

“A word of advice.” She points at me with the remaining piece of soap. “Don’t ask anyone for anything in here and not expect them to want something in return. I like you and I’m happy to share with you. Other people may not be so kind.”

I stare at her. I never even thought of that. I had assumed by the way that everyone spoke with each other that it was some sort of sisterhood. An unspoken agreement that we look out for one another because we’re all stuck here together. Apparently, I’m still pretty naive to the prison hierarchy.

“Noted. Thanks again,” I say.

“Thirteen!” a deep voice calls out, causing a chill to run down my spine.

Fuck. I almost forgot about this asshole.

My slides smack the iron steps as I make my way toward the guard desk, trying to maintain my composure and not let him think that he has affected me in any way.

I slap on my best poker face and look him square in the eyes, my chin held high.

His eyes are a beautiful bright blue. Too beautiful for someone so vile. That sharp jaw now has some stubble creeping in and I shake the putrid thoughts away before they have a chance to settle.