Bodies

quarante-quatre

Milan was not as giddy this time at the correctional facility. This trip didn't have the same hope attached to it as the first one did. 

No, this trip, Milan thought as she got out of the car, was for how to cope now that the hope of him being let go free was gone. 

Dressed in an all black bodysuit and a bedazzled rhinestone hoodie, Milan zipped the jacket up to her neck as she walked in the doors of the building. Once again, she stood in line behind at least five other families as they were all metal detector scanned and pat down before being able to proceed to the visitor desk.

"Inmate name?" The balding oily faced olive toned man behind the desk asked Milan, briefly looking up from the long list of names he had his pen hovering over. Milan saw his eyes linger almost every place on her for a second too long, she missed the nosey lady from her first visit.

She never wanted to go back in time this much in her life. And that was saying something. 

"Ramses Young. Milan Cozart for Ramses Young." Milan told the man and watched as his face went from hers to downturned towards the paper. He found her name and allowed her to sign her signature like the standard procedure called for. 

Behind her name, you could see the inmate's stay length and what kind of visitation was approved.

"Getting used to it by now, ain't you, girl?" The clerk smugly asked Milan before he quickly wrote her a name tag and gestured for her to take a seat until her name was called.

Snatching the name tag from his stubby fingers, Milan made sure to scratch him with her fingernails as she did so. Milan glared daggers at the man as she took her seat and waited.

How dare he?

Milan was boiling underneath her skin. The slimy clerk knew it too, his eyes held nothing but sick satisfaction as he rubbed his sore palm. She wanted to spit in his face. She had the mind to walk right back up there and—

"Milan for Ramses Young?"

A female guard called out from the nearest hallway.

In that moment, Milan no longer gave a fuck about that sweaty boiled egg behind the counter.

Immediately, the lava that boiled beneath her skin for the visitor clerk had frozen in its place as she shot up from her seat to walk towards the hallway the guard had just came out of.  The two walked a good lengths apart as they walked into the room where the families could sit with each other.

When Milan perused the area, her eyes were immediately drawn to a man sitting with his back turned to the entrance. His posture seemed slouched because Ramses looked a bit shorter than usual.This time, instead of that vibrant orange that he wore last time, his uniform was khaki brown. 

For some reason, seeing him in that color made his ruling all the more official.

Taking a short deep breath, Milan walked into the room and began to approach Ramses from behind. 

"Why did you choose to sit all the way back here?" Milan asked while she was a few steps away from the table.

"Milan? Where you going?" 

Milan's head whipped to see Ramses just now entering the room behind her with a guard who was taking off his cuffs. The conversation behind him made the man who actually was sitting in the chair Milan was walking to turn around.

All the blood in Milan's body might as well as caught on fire as the embarrassment washed over her quickly. She gave Ramses a nervous smile as she approached him instead with open arms, "Nowhere, bookie butt! Hug me!" She quickly changed the subject.