The loyalty of twenty-five year old De'Angelo James is put to the test when his childhood best friend, Sage Medina, is wrongfully arrested for a crime she didn't commit. De'Angelo will stop at nothing to maintain his friend's innocence, even if that...
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The food at the prison wasn't as bad as Sage had always believed it to be. Don't get her wrong, it was still terrible but it wasn't bad to where she needed to starve herself at the cafeteria and survive off of commissary alone. It was just bland tasting as if they weren't even allowed to add a little pinch of salt.
Sometimes it looked like they just threw all the leftovers together and called it a new meal. She didn't eat the food on those days.
Today, they had sloppy joes. Sage could tell they were the ones from the can but she wasn't picky about it. They had watery corn and a stale looking brownie for sides. The cafeteria lady scooped everything into her tray and handed it to her from over the heated containers of food. Sage then grabbed one of the many small plastic cups that were stacked on a table to the side and filled hers up with water. There were three fountains lined up next to the serving station.
"You ok? You haven't been talking as much lately." Sage turned to her cell mate, Ajanae, with concerned eyes. Her lips were usually moving a mile a minute. It wasn't like her to be so quiet.
Ajanae gave her a small smile and nodded. "You trying to say I talk too much or something?" She gave the woman a breathy laugh, almost like she had to force it to come out.
"Only on Fridays." Sage chuckled along with her. She didn't notice the fake laugh since they had only known each other for a few weeks now. They were close but Sage was still trying to read Ajanae. Sometimes she was secretive about where she would disappear to and that alone was a barrier in establishing trust between the two women.
"Maybe I need a Snickers. I'm not me when I'm hungry."
Sage held up her tray of food. "Well, at least we're about to eat."
"Girl." Ajanae gave her a playful stank face. "Nowhere on that tray do I see a Snickers bar." She laughed and this time, it was actually a real one.
Sometimes it surprised her how easily her cell mate was able to take her mind off of her negative thoughts. She could tell Sage was a really good friend to have around. It was refreshing to be around her after years of dealing with people who only wanted to use Ajanae.
They giggled together like little girls who just found out that they had matching toy dolls as Ajanae grabbed her drink and they walked around the cafeteria to find somewhere to sit. Sage allowed her eyes to scan the spacious room, feeling a sharp pain rip through her body as her eyes landed on Nicky.
Nicky's hands were wrapped thoroughly in gauze and each of her fingers were bounded by splints since they couldn't put an actual cast on them. One of the inmates in her cell block were helping her eat, cutting up the sloppy joe and spoon feeding her corn. Nicky's eyes caught Sage's for only half a second before Nicky quickly looked away. She didn't even want to be caught glancing at the woman.
Sage felt sick to her stomach just seeing her. It was like the pain she felt in the bathroom returned every time she laid eyes on her. She didn't feel bad for Nicky, whatever happened and whoever did it to her gave her exactly what she deserved. At least now she wouldn't be able to hurt another woman like she did to Sage. Not for a while.
