Kindred Spirits

Part 14

Stevie grasped her stomach, and she was reminded of what she currently hated about prison. The god-awful food. Her stomach rolled about as she laid back on the cot as her dinner tried to digest. Her arm was still throbbing, and she was bored beyond measure. Lou Kelly had finally shut up her incessant slurs of Joan, and Stevie had almost fallen asleep when she heard the tale-tell sound of heels clicking on the floor. She was surprised when her cell door opened, but a strong annoyance came over her when Vera Bennett appeared.

"Enjoying it down here?" Vera asked, picking at a wound that hadn't had time to heel.

"If you're here to gloat you can leave me in peace." Stevie said mildly.

"I just wanted to check on you. I would like us to be friends. It isn't an impossibility, you know. Joan and I were quite close at one time." Vera recalled.

"I don't care." Stevie retorted.

"Let me sleep."

"Jodie Spiteri wanted sleep too. Unfortunately, Joan wouldn't let that happen. She tortured her in this very cell. God only knows everything that monstrosity of a woman did to the poor girl. She's still in an insane asylum." Vera said, stepping closer to the cot where Stevie was laying.

"I don't feel well, Miss Bennett. My arm hurts, and I can't stomach the food in here. Leave me alone." Stevie replied, her eyes closing as her stomach rumbled again.

"I don't know anything."

"Joan Ferguson convinced Jodie Spiteri to stab another prisoner. She kept her down here in her own little torture chamber and visited her night after night. Do you know what she would tell her?" Vera continued, edging closer to Stevie slowly.

"I don't care." Stevie spat, grabbing her stomach.

"You're nothing. You're worthless. No one misses you." Vera said, repeating the mantra of the woman who had once been her mentor.

"She convinced her to stick a pencil in her own eye."

"Miss Bennett..." Stevie warned, bile gathering in her throat, but the short brunette drew closer until she was squatting down in front of the cot.

"Is that the kind of monster you want to align yourself with, Miss Simmons?" Vera asked.

Stevie tried to speak, but when she did her stomach let lose its violent raging, and she spewed what she'd eaten all over Vera Bennett's pristine uniform and onto the floor. Vera gasped and stood quickly in surprise at being covered in vomit. She snarled her nose in disgust before she stomped out and ordered the guard to clean up the mess.

Stevie felt some better after the exit of the woman minimally. Physically she was exhausted and fell into tattered dreams after the guard cleaned up the spot on the floor. Dreams that were filled with a dark-haired woman in uniform whose face was incomprehensible because of the darkness surrounding her. Acidic words repeated over and over from the lips of the crow-like creature.

"You're nothing. You're worthless. No one misses you."

Her heart ached for the tenderest of touch from a bound Joan in the shadows. The depth of defeat on the woman's drawn face was palpable. Stevie watched in horror as the strong ropes that bound the woman turned into snake before her eyes and slithered around Joan's neck. She watched as beautiful rich warm eyes turned cold and glassy and Joan gasped for breath.

"No! Fight it, Joan. You must fight it!" Stevie screamed, looking desperately at the figure whose face was shielded in darkness.

"Please, help her. Please. I love her. I'll do anything to save her."

The figure just walked over to Joan, lithe feminine fingers combing through the greying mane before Stevie saw a knife appear in the figure's hand. Stevie screamed as it was plunged into Joan's heart repeatedly until the woman's lifeblood was a raging river that flowed toward Stevie and swept her under.

Stevie awoke in a cold sweat, shaking and crying from the dream. She hated this hovel and she hated Vera Bennett for planting such thoughts in her mind. She was sure the image of a dying Joan wouldn't leave her any time soon, and she wished for wings so she could be free of this whole place. She didn't know how Joan was holding up either and that was a concern. She thought a moment about what Vera had said about Jodie, and she determined she didn't care. Joan wasn't that person anymore if she had ever been. The gentle woman who had gifted Stevie the most tender kiss of her life wasn't a monster. She was a broken vessel that needed healing. Good people could still do bad things, but it didn't make them innately bad. Under the correct circumstances most people could be pushed to do certain things that even they themselves didn't understand. Stevie knew this from years of therapy. She also knew she was already insanely attached to Joan. The dream came flooding back to her and fire filled her belly. She didn't know how, but somehow Vera Bennett had framed her with those drugs purely to try and break her. Well, she'd met worse monsters than Vera Bennett and she had never responded well to intimidation. She wouldn't break her, and one way or another Stevie had to prove her innocence when they let her out of the slot. Vera had to be stopped. There was something becoming massively undone in the woman, and Stevie wasn't sure what she would try next. She curled up on the cot and tried to remember the warmth of the first night of being in Joan's arms and when she held the memory close it warmed her inside and she was finally able to rest peacefully at last.