Free In Litchfield - Nicky Nichols x female oc (OITNB)

Chapter Eleven

Author's Note: I tried to do something a little different in this chapter and wrote it from Nicky's POV instead of Lacey's. Please let me know if you guys hate it or want to see more chapters like this!

Also, my school has started again so I'm not going to be able to update as much. I'm still going to try and update a couple times a week though.

On any other night that neither of them could sleep, Nicky always tiptoed over to Lacey's bed, and they would sit together until morning, and they would bond over their tiredness the next day.

But tonight didn't seem like the right time for that. This time, she knew exactly what was keeping Lacey awake, and Nicky had no idea what to do about it.

She had been so surprised when she had first met Lacey. The girl had seemed so friendly and composed. Nicky wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but it definitely hadn't been someone so normal.

And Nicky was definitely not expecting the weird feeling she was starting to get when Lacey looked at her with those intense green eyes that made you feel naked, but also safe at the same time.

Lacey had seemed so normal that she had basically forgotten her new roomie had been raised by a serial killer. But yesterday had been like a punch in the gut, and she had to admit, she was pretty terrified as she had stood over Lacey behind the shed.

Nicky had heard of flashbacks before, but she had never heard of them actually being scary for the people around them. She had no idea that when she followed Lacey out behind the shed that she wouldn't just find the woman crying, and that instead she would find her curled up in a ball, shaking and whimpering. Lacey's hands had been bleeding so much the blood was seeping out of her fists, dripping onto the ground and staining the dirt.

And to think that all of that had been over one joke.

But it was only after Nicky had managed to talk Lacey out of the episode that the anger had set in. It had come in quickly and suddenly, and within seconds Nicky could hear her heartbeat in her head and she had the urge to strangle Alex Vause with her bare hands.

She wasn't sure how watching someone she had known for a month have a breakdown had immediately made her want to murder someone she had been friends with for almost a year, but she didn't care. She hated Alex Vause and her entire body was heating up just at the thought of her face.

Nicky had managed to push those thoughts to the side as she sat next to Lacey, knowing that Lacey probably just wanted someone to sit with her right now.

The rage had almost returned worse than before though when more tears started slipping down Lacey's face. Somehow, seeing Lacey cry so weakly was almost worse than seeing her during a flashback, and Nicky had to hold back her own tears as she listened to her friend's quiet sobs.

Right now though, Nicky knew she had to sleep, knowing she had to be prepared for a fight with Alex during the day, because she was well aware that she probably wouldn't be able to keep her fury contained for the entire day.

The sleep never came though. Instead, Nicky lay in bed the entire night, listening to Lacey shuffling around.

When the lights were finally turned on, Nicky rolled over, realizing that Lacey hadn't even been trying to fall asleep. She had been drawing something in her notebook, and when Nicky craned her neck to see what it was, her eyes widened.

It was a landscape of Litchfield in the winter, and it actually made Nicky wonder if there was a hidden beauty to the prison she had never noticed before. She decided against that though, figuring Lacey was just a really good artist.