The Blood Lake

Incarcerated

It took a little bit of force to pry me from Miles's grip, and not because I was the one resisting. He held me so tight it hurt, this is breaking him more than me. For a brief moment, a pang of fear sparks within me, the thought that Miles will be sent away to Lottie washes over me but when I glance back and see Mom comforting him it disappears just as fast as it came. I make eye contact with my dad and he gives me a half smile. He then mouths words I can not understand, I assume it was something along the lines of, "I love you Delly Belly." Or something just as cheesy. When I exit the front doors there is a police car waiting for me. The officers say nothing to me they just guide me into the back seat and shut the door. One officer is a grumpy man in his mid-thirties while the other is a blonde woman with a tight ponytail and a kind smile. I rustle around trying to get comfy but it's hard when my hands are cuffed and resting behind my tailbone. The Blonde one notices and gets out of the vehicle.
"What are you doing?" The man sneers
"She is struggling, and how do you expect us to transport her there safely with her hands back there? She could break an arm if we get in an accident." She rants as she frees one of my hands and takes the loose end and cuffs it to a bar on the door.
"She is a murderer and you are half cuffing." He grumbles back.
"I have a hard time believing a sweet thing like this is capable of murder. With your experience, you should know that." She quips and flashes me a smile. I like her. The Man rolls his eyes and starts the car.
"Hey uhm what's your name?" I ask
"Officer Quinn, that's my first name, my last is god awful." She laughs "And yours sweet pea?"
"Dellah." I smile.
We make it to the facility after 2 hours in silence, that grumpy dude killed the mood. He makes his way over to come to get me but is stopped by Quinn. She won't let him touch me after finding out how he feels about me.
"I just gotta cuff you up again there darlin' and we are good as gold." She says her voice smooth as honey.
"Why are you so nice to her." The Man scoffs.
"Because Dean, she's a kid." She sneers
"So." He probes
"So, she's probably scared and you are being the biggest asshole on the face of the earth." She growls
"Fine." He puts his hands up and surrenders. After that, he makes his way over to the car.
"You coming," she asks
"No, it looks like you got it from here." Dean sighs as he slides into the driver's seat.
"Good riddance to him, huh Delly?" I break at the familiar nickname leaving her lips. " Oh I'm sorry hun, I didn't mean to offend you. I had a friend called Delilah and she went by Delly." She rambles.
"Oh no your fine, it's just that's what my family and friends called me." I give a wounded smile.
"Aw I'm sorry, you'll see them soon I promise." She smiles.
"My Dad called me Delly Belly..." I blurt to lighten things up
"I bet that was embarrassing." She laughs
"Yeah, he said it in front of my boyfriend once, I was mortified." I giggle. For a moment I forget that I am three feet from the doors to hell.
"Ok Delly, here we are." She flashes me a sympathetic glance. "Stay strong for me, ok?" She says.
"I will." I force a smile. When we enter the doors it looks like any other prison but softer. There is a registration to my right and a big hallway That I assume branches off to different wings, like the cafeteria, holding cells, and Rec room. After I am all checked in my handcuffs are off I am taken to an Isolation room with a lady for a body check and other stuff needed when I enter the facility. "Mrs. Everdeen, My name is Pam and I am going to ask you to put your belongings in this bin as well as your clothes, and yes I need your underwear." I feel sick to my stomach but comply. I stand naked and cover my genitalia while I wait for her to hand me my new clothes. "Ok, I apologize but I need to check your anal cavity and vaginal canal for anything you could have smuggled in." I stare blankly. " I know, you don't look like the type but it's protocol. I try not to think about it when I bend over and cough. After being humiliated she fills out her paperwork and I get dressed. They are Navy blue scrubs, I was expecting orange but I don't complain. When I am decent she hands me a hair elastic, the kind that can't be stretched too far without snapping. "You can use that to pull up that hair of yours if you want to, and if it snaps ask a guard for a new one." She hands me off to a guard and she is on her way. This place isn't nearly as badass as I thought. The guard takes me to my room to get settled in, my room is in "peony hall" I guess they named every hall after a flower, if that's an attempt to make it more welcoming, it's not working. My hands are sweating and I can't breathe I want to go home. I hope my roommate isn't a real serial killer, hopefully, she's an accused one like me. I don't know if I could share a room with a killer. When we enter my cell there are two beds, not bunk beds like in the movies though, one bed in each far corner. The sheets are like ones you would find in a hospital, they are tightly tucked to the bed and light blue. The pillow is dismembered and lumpy, it's slightly yellow. There is a toilet in the corner on the opposite side of the room that has a sink branching off of it. I wonder if they use the same water.
When I am done taking in my surroundings I finally notice the ginger, green-eyed girl perched on the bed she looks kind enough, and she reminds me of Winnie.
"What you looking at?" She kids
"Oh nothing, sorry, just shell shock," I say meekly.
"I'm Ivie." She puts out her hand.
"Dellah." I smile and take it.
"What you in for?" She asks as I sit on my bed.
"Murder." I roll my eyes, she seems unsteady. "But I'm not guilty," I assure her. She calms and her face lights up.
"So you are here till your trial, that's brutal." She says. I can tell she's a gossip.
"Yeah.." I trail not sure what to say, I change the subject. "What are you here for?" Her face loses its color.
"I'm mentally Ill, my brain makes me think people are against me." She pauses. "That being said, I was in a state of paranoia and shot my brother. I thought at the time he was a clone trying to kill me or something." She picks at her scrubs.
"So why are you here, and not getting help?" I ask.
"Because, in my town, it's being criminal before being human." She frowns. "Anyway, let me show you the ropes."

When the guards permit we are all escorted to the cafeteria for lunch, when we get there I feel eyes on me, maybe it's because I'm fresh meat, or maybe it's that I'm well groomed. I mean I guess the two go hand in hand. You can't get all dolled up in juvenile detention. I am lucky I am used to not wearing much makeup, I couldn't imagine how bad my self-esteem would be if I used to wear a full face and then came here. I get my slop and sit down with Ivie and her clique. It's not much different than high school.
"Girls this is Dellah, she's my cellmate." Ivie beams.
"Hi, Dellah." Says a girl with jet-black hair and blue eyes, she's thin and has a weary smile. "I'm Briar, but everyone calls me Buffy."
"Why Buffy," I ask. She smiles and the girls laugh.
"Cus I was tripping on meth and picked a fight with a dude on bath salts, he tried to bite a chunk in my neck so I took out my pocket knife and sliced him." She smirks. "Buffy the vampire slayer." She turns to her food.
"Clever," I say and turn to the next girl. "And you?" I ask the blue-haired girl looked at me, her dark roots are coming in which tells me she has been here for a while. Her eyes are hazel and her lips are pink.
"Millie." She smiles. "I drugged my abusive father, slipped it in his pie, and the bastard would make me bake it for him after he assaulted me, it was the night after he beat the shit out of me for dying my hair." She grumbled. It's kind of poetic, the way her hair is a visual aid of how long it's been since she took a stand against her abuser. It's cheesy but it moves me. I turn to the last girl and I don't have to say a word before she says her name. "Noa, I was selling my body to help pay for my mama's cancer treatment, I was working one night when a man took it too far, he said he was into BDSM. It wasn't anything I haven't seen before so I agreed and charged him 50 extra, he asked me to point the gun to his forehead while I got on top. He said it wasn't loaded, it was." She looked down at her food and tucked her blonde ringlets behind her ear, she looked a lot like Mel. We all stayed quiet for a few minutes and ate, I don't think anyone has a response to something that raw and traumatic.
"Ok, the ropes." Ivie quips "That table in the far left corner, they are the lesbians, they are cool." I giggle. " and the opposite table, those are the beauty queens" she points to the girls braiding hair. " the opposite left table those are the druggies, they are withdrawn so just keep your distance. Buffy doesn't apply to them, hers was a one-time thing." She laughs and Buffy shoots a glance. " opposite right, those are the hard-core criminals, like serial killing and grand theft." She turns to us, "Saving the best for last, we are the falsely incarcerated." She lets out a sigh. "None of us belong here."
"Wait Dellah, you never told us your story," Millie says, and all eyes are on me.
"I went on a camping trip and a man murdered both of my friends and he tried to murder me but I took his weapon and murdered him first." I ramble
"I thought you said you weren't guilty." Ivie seems confused.
"I'm not. I didn't murder Mel and Marcus, I murdered that man out of self-defense, or I would be dead too. They are saying I am lying and that I murdered them and then murdered that man cus he was a witness." I explain. They all nod and we go dump our trays.