KILL THIS LOVE | JENLISA

Chapter 162

Jennie

Three years later.

The sound of thick platforms falling against the smooth marble flooring reverberated around the uncrowded lobby, steps unfaltering yet slick with anxiety. I had to remind myself to breathe every few seconds, lest my restless heart should explode. I'd almost forgotten the man in the uniform who tailed right behind me, he was supposed to guide me but it felt like I was the one leading the way.

Turning a corner by a certain marble bust, like the officer at the desk had told me, I found myself face to face with a large full-length glass panel in the wall.

Truth be told, I was expecting something more traditional like one of those common visiting rooms where the prisoner and the visitor sit across from each other and talk about mundane things like it was just another day in the life. I'd almost forgotten I was in a maximum security penitentiary.

As I came to stand right in front of the glass, the first thing my eyes saw was the vague reflection of my own self in the murky surface, a pair of lukewarm eyes and a countenance that had daunted written all over it. But as I looked past it, eyes focussing beyond the reinforced glass, my own reflection disappeared into a dark figure sitting on a bench all the way at the end of the room. Both hands by her side on the bench, her head drooped low, gaze fixated on the floor.

I made no sound as I continued to gauge the person, wondering for a second if I made the right decision coming to see her. The intensity of my stare must have travelled in wavelengths across the room, for soon; she looked up.

Blue, that's all I saw, as her eyes connected with mine for the first time in three years. Her irises spread, as she continued to look into me, arrested by the moment. She rose up, scorching gaze never leaving mine, as she slowly ambled towards the glass. There was a minute of stunning silence impregnating the space between us, before she tilted her head to the side.

"1091 days."

I was caught off guard by the sound of her voice. It was forever etched into my brain, yet the real thing took me by surprise almost instantly. She leaned closer into the glass, whispering, "One thousand and ninety one days."

"Hello Li..." I cut myself off immediately, recalling that she had another birth name. Blinking, I corrected myself, forcing a still-foreign name out of my mouth, "Hello Lalisa."

Granted there was a layer of thick glass between us, my face was only a few inches away from hers, giving me flashbacks to the last time I saw her. Covered in blood, barely breathing. Breaking away from the stare, I looked away.

"How have you been?" I mumbled out. "I followed your trial closely. The day they announced the sentence, I told myself I'd fly out here and come see you."

"Did it make you happy, the sentence?" she prompted, smiling gently.

"No." I shook my head, lips pursing together, "Honestly I was hoping they would have released you."

Her mellow smile widened at that, eyes fleeting downwards, "Don't worry, life in prison isn't so bad for me. You never know what would happen again if they were to let me out. Well, I just have to spend my days here alone. Inside these walls, I can die a thousand deaths every day to repent for Liam and my sins."

My eyes found a way back to Lisa's face, listening to her dejection laced poetic, yet collected words.

"You didn't kill those women. You were just an accomplice." I muttered under my breath. It was then that I noticed how different, yet the very same she looked since I'd last seen Lisa. Her hair had grown longer, reaching right above her chin; eyes free of the dark circles and the marked look of insanity. Albeit, orange was not her colour.