Locked up

“Guard, open up 69,” CO Phillips calls out.

The guard obeys his command and presses the red button that says OPEN. The door slid to the right and Tina was escorted into her cell.

“Guard, lock up 69,” CO Phillips calls out.

The guard nods his head and complies with the command. Tina watches the door close before her as she acknowledges the fact that she’ll be told when to eat, sleep, and use the bathroom. Her privileges to go and come as she pleased were limited, like it was when she was a child from her legal guardian-her grandmother.

She took a look at her two by eight double bed cell. The area smelled of old urine and shit. She despised setting her things down on the cot she is to use for the next 90 days. Her cell felt cold and empty. She was the only inmate there for now and didn’t doubt the fact that she’d be having a cellmate pretty soon.

She put her belongings on her cot and sat down against the hard wooden bed. It felt like bricks and smelled like cheap detergent. She never in her sixteen years ever felt so alone and afraid. The sounds of the other women screaming and throwing things against the wall frightened her. She’d give anything to have her life back. She’d give anything to take back the pain the student suffered when she kicked him across the head with her timberline boot.

She was so upset and couldn’t control her temper. The girl made her angry when she talked about her mother. She’s dead. She died four years ago when Tina turned twelve. Since her mother’s death, she’d been in and out of lockup, like a sub filling in a game. It was frequent and staying out of trouble just wasn’t her thing.

She could hear the rain, hitting the pavement outside. There was a small window she could see from, but it wasn’t the same as being out in it. The window was a tease, because it reminded her of the days she’ll miss being inside the locked institution. An institution where other girls were as tough as she was and more dangerous than she’d ever been. She feared for her safety, because she was the only white girl there, surrounded around a bunch of angry black girls, who she knew would torture her the most, because she earned the name OUTLAW, and it was a fact that someday she’d have to prove how rough and tough she really was.