Bethany Regal, March 2007
For almost two years I'd been held captive behind walls of concrete and heavy steel bars, pushed around and had my rights stollen from me as if I were a criminal like the rest of the prisoners. I learnt, very quickly, that prison is not a place for the weak, not when there's always someone looking to prey on you at any given moment, I also learnt that there's safety in numbers, I may not be a fighter but I had to align myself with women who could fight for me, protect me and keep me from losing my shit all together.
I didn't care much for the news from the outside, if I couldn't be among them, enjoying my freedom, then I wasn't going to bother with what trivial matters plagued the world but there was one person I wanted to know everything about, Sam. When I was arrested, the guards took every possession I had on me, including my heart pendant necklace, the only thing that I still owned that connected me to Sam, losing that was almost as crushing as losing the man I loved but what hurt more was when I found out, in a magazine, that he was now with her, the woman who had put me in here.
Veronica had taken everything I loved away from me, my life in London, my career, my boyfriend and now everything that used to be mine was now hers. Veronica is a virus, she came into our lives and infected everything I'd worked so hard to build but what makes it worse, no one can ever see how truely evil she really is. I may be an actress but she's the one, playing the world, fooling them that she's so sweet.
For two years, I'd thought of nothing else but how I was going to destroy that bitch, she may have Sam wrapped around her little finger, blinded to her wicked ways but I was going to expose her to the world, show them the woman they worship is a fraud. I knew I couldn't do much when I was stuck inside the prison in Mexico, not with a 20 year sentence hanging over my head but being extradited back to the United States, to a minimum security prison in New York and having my sentence severely reduced gave me the freedom to get the ball rolling. Today was the day I set my plan in motion, today I would get to share my truth and Veronica won't even see it coming.
I barely even slept a wink last night, I was just too over stimulated, going over and over in my head what I was going to say in my interview with Terrance McGuff, an interview which would be televised not only in the United States but also in Britain. Normally, I would have been sent a list of questions that were going to be asked, giving me an opportunity to remove any question I didn't like and prepare myself for what was coming but, given my current incarceration, that wouldn't be possible, I was just going to have to wing it and hope that Terrance remembered who used to line his pockets with money when he was just starting out.
I'd just returned to my cell after breakfast when a correctional officer came to collect me and escorted me to an interview room. I had this giddy excitement, building inside of me with every step I took, I would have skipped there if I could but the officer had a tight hold on my arm. I'd never been to this part of the prison before, it was such a contrast from the barbed wire, steel bars and jammed packed cells, up here, the air smelt fresher, the paint wasn't peeling and I was the only person forced to wear the teal green prison uniform.
The officer swiped his card to unlock a private room, he held the door open for me to step inside where Terrance and a a small crew were already set up. I knew the officer was going to be present throughout the whole interview, that was part of the deal my dad had made with the prison, in order to make this happen and even then, I couldn't tell my dad the real reason I requested this interview, he would never have agreed to help me otherwise so I had to lie to him and convince him that, with my parol date fast approaching, I wanted to revive my career, remind the viewers of who I am, not what I'm accused of doing.
"Bethany, it's so lovely to see you." Terrance says, stepping forward to take my hands within his own. It's been so long since I've had a simple act of kindness shown to me, it feels very foreign but at the same time a familiar reminder of what my life once was, when I was adored.
