6 months later....
One of the guards burst into my cell, and grabbed me. "You know the rules, Jane. Why aren't you dining with the others?"
"Screw you."
He punched me in the face and slams me into the concrete. I feel my head starting to bleed.
"Don't test me. Clean yourself up and come out."
I can hear my heart beating out of my chest. I feel the pain wash over me like tides.
I struggled to get up, but I manage to crawl down to the bathroom.
I rinse off my face, and limp down to the lounge, where they play that ratchet music.
I walked over and took a chair by the window.
"Jane," A voice said. I look up and it was Rose, a girl who has been here since she was nine because of her sexual orientation, she's almost thirty, I can't imagine the things this place has done to me. "How are you feeling?"
"Oh you know, like everyone else here in this shithole, slowly going insane, and this damn music is driving me fucking mad," I said covering my ears.
"Keep your voice down, they can hear you know," she said worried, "I don't want you getting whipped again, this is your fourth time this week, they have it out for you."
I always get whipped by those fucking guards, I'm sure I have Luke to thank for that.
Just then I heard a loud bang, I look over and see crazy Frankie slamming her head against the door again, she enjoys doing that for some reason.
I see Paul twirling around the room like he's a dancer. Then I see Gloria rocking back and forth in the corner, twitching, and mumbling. Everyone here is losing their damn minds.
"Jane, look at that," Rose said pointing at the clock. It was eight-thirty. "In five, four, three, two, and..." She said before the clock started ringing.
The noise caused around to start going crazy: screaming, running around the room, and the funny part was they were knocking each other over.
Rose starts laughing, I just stared, I don't find any of it amusing. These women are forced here against their will by their loved ones to be molded into what they call normal.
"I bet Matron will be coming soon," Rose said.
Just then, I see the door sprung open and everyone stopped acting insane and went back to their positions in a panic.
Margaret, she's the matron of this place, a big old lady, but very wicked, If you piss her off, she'll crack your head open with a hammer, or slam your head against the wall until you bleed. Let's just say people don't come back the same person after that.
"Speak of the devil," Rose said pointing to Satan herself. I try to blend in with the chair as she walks by. I have never been more afraid of anyone, Luke is an angel compared to her.
She takes crazy Frankie by the ear and grabs her to her feet. "Since you like smashing your head, You will enjoy this new trick." She grips her head and smashes her head repeatedly against an iron rode, When she was done, she pushed Frankie to the floor.
There was blood dripping everywhere. Everyone else stares in shock,
I just rolled my eyes.
If you ask me she's actually in a very good mood. She walks back to the door but doesn't leave just yet.
"Now that we are all calm, I would like to make a quick announcement," she said standing up straight, "Today your relatives will be visiting, be on your best behavior, or you will face the consequences." She slams the door and everyone resumes what they were originally done before the clock struck.
"You know I never asked how you got here, let me guess parents, boyfriend—"
"Ex-husband." I cut in.
She hissed, "That was my first thought just figured it was too easy. What went wrong?"
"A lot, he made me feel worthless, if he's not talking his using his fits, he would slap me every chance he got."
"Sounds like a tool. How long were you married for?"
"14 years.
"14 years?! It took you that long to leave a man like that. Was it the sex? Was it that good?"
I laugh shortly,
"It wasn't just about the sex with him, I really loved Luke. I chose to stay with Luke for all the things he did right, but he's gone too far, you know he wasn't always this bad, he was really sweet when we got married, a lot of things fell apart along the line, we both did."
"You see that crazy over there, her name is Anna, you know why she holds that fake baby? Because she choose the man she loved above everything else, she chose to hold to his good side, she's been in here for ten years brought in by her very in laws.. Her husband is a big shot in the city, one of those political families you don't dare look into. Well, she tried to leave the marriage, so they killed her baby and framed her for it, her husband said she drowned their baby because he filed for divorce, and then they just locked her in here... Sometimes we refuse to see how bad things are until it completely destroys us."
"Well, I'm not anymore, I'm getting out of here.."
"Not with that attitude, they are going to try and break your spirit, Jane, that's your only willpower in here. I advise you just play along, try to live straight in this crazy, crooked, mixed-up world you've found yourself in, you don't even have to do anything especially funny. You just act normal, be ordinary. That alone looks crazy and funny. Acting like that would drive them insane.. you just watch the magic happen..."
Rose and I talked for a little more before I was escorted back to my cell, where I met with Luke.
He was waiting in my cell, with some flowers.
"Jane, my love." He walks over and pulls me into a hug, I hugged him back, then pull away.
"I-I missed you," he said.
"I missed you too," I whispered.
He smiled,
"I bought you some flowers." He hands it to me and I take it.
"Oh, Jane. You don't know how happy you've made me lately, this place is doing the magic on you." He picks me up and cradles me in his arms. I cringe in disgust, "And, because, you've been so good, I brought you a surprise." I expected it to be chocolate or more flowers, he usually brings those,
I watch him pull out his phone, and scroll, "Here, take a look." He shows me a picture of my babies, I gasped, bursting into immediate tears.
