"Mm g’night."

March 17, 2012-Fresno Women’s Prison

The guard banged on the metal bars hard with her beat stick waking all the prisoners up. Immediately the women of the prison started cursing at her and saying lewd things. The guard didn’t even flinch at all, she just looked into the cell she had hit and hollered out, “Piezecki get your ass up.”

Alice crawled out of bed without a word and grabbed her orange jacket. She threw a sideways glance at her cellmate Alex who was smirking at her and shrugging.

“Let’s go I don’t have all night Piezecki,” the guard snapped.

Alice stepped out of the cell and the guard grabbed her arm roughly and yannked her forward. “Hey!” Alex yelled, “you don’t have to treat her that way Castro, she’s going with you willingly.”

“Shut it Lorenzo,” Castro snapped pulling on Alice’s arm even harder. Alice didn’t say a word, she just cast a sad glance back at Alex and silently followed Castro through the halls.

“Do I have a visitor?” Alice said softly.

“Shut up Piezecki,” Castro snapped.

“Well it’s 10pm and I get visits about once a month and that was last week,” Alice said.

“I said shut the fuck up Piezecki!” Castro shouted.

“Damn Castro,” another guard said as they passed by, “do you always have to be a bitch?”

“Why be nice to low-life criminals?” Castro said with a shrug.

She opened the visitor door and roughly pushed Alice inside. Alice just grunted then flinced when the door slammed behind her. She looked up towards the table where the visitor normally waits and she scoffed in surprise.

“Duffy.”

Alice moved to sit down across from the detective who had incarcerated her seven years prior with an angry scowl on her face.

“Hello Alice.”

“What the hell do you want?”

Duffy flinched slightly not having seen this side of Alice before. “Well I see someone has changed.”

Alice scowled, “yeah you expected me to be the happy-go-lucky gossip girl I used to be after being locked away for seven years for a crime I didn’t commit?”

Duffy stayed silent for a moment then she dropped her head. Alice was surprised to say the least. The confident detective just broke down right before her eyes. She had shame, anger, and sadness all at once.