Vauseman: Litchfield's Finest Love

Chapter Eleven: Piper

It was the longest three weeks of my life, but time passed. Every hour, every minute, every second hurt with every breath I took. But I was surviving.
Barely.
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June 25th: freedom.
When the day finally arrived, Officer Maxwell came to see me one last time.
She gave me my remaining commissary money in cash, which was $36. I thanked her, gave her a hug, and stepped out of the hospital, a free woman.
I took a cab to Larry's apartment to get my belongings and move out. I wanted nothing to do with that lying, cheating, backstabbing bastard of a man. Of all people to cheat on me with but my best friend, who does that? It's not like I cared after a while, since Alex was so much better than his sorry ass ever was.
I knocked on the door, and waited impatiently. Larry nearly had a stroke when he saw me, and his eyes focused on the stitches on my head. I didn't have time for his bullshit questions, and I knew he was going to interrogate me.
"I was shot in the head. I went to the hospital, only to find out that I had a week left of my sentence. They let me go once I recovered. I'm taking my stuff and getting as far away from you as possible. Now get the fuck out of my way," I said as I pushed past him.
The apartment was completely different from when I had last been there. I glanced over and found Polly sitting on the couch. She looked up at me, and smiled a small smile.
"Fuck you, too," I said.
"Hey, watch the way you talk to her," Larry said defensively.
I rolled my eyes. "You both disgust me," I said.
"I don't care, we're both glad you have your psychopathic girlfriend-"
I picked up the closest thing to me, which happened to be a lamp and I threw it at Larry. It hit him in the head, knocking him off balance. I ran over and punched him in the face, giving him an instant bloody nose. Polly ran over and pulled me back, and I pushed her away.
"Don't you EVER say another word about my Alex," I spit through my teeth, "or I will kill you. I've learned many different ways to kill a person, and I'm not afraid to do it." With that, I grabbed the bag of my belongings and marched out the door, slamming it behind me.
I walked a few blocks and sat down on a bench, setting my garbage bag next to me. I fished through it, and found my cell phone. Of course it was dead. Even being back outside with society, I felt cut off from the world.
I knew I had to find somewhere to stay the night, so I walked until I found a cheap hotel. It ever so conveniently only accepted cash, and cost $30 a night. Great, I thought. There goes the majority of my money. As soon as I could get to the bank to reactivate my credit card, I'd be fine. But until then, I'd be struggling.
I checked in and went to my tiny room, and dumped out my bag off stuff onto the lumpy bed. Immediately I grabbed my phone charger, attached it to my phone, and plugged it into the wall. While it was charging, I neatly folded my clothes and arranged my shoes nicely on the floor.
I paced back and forth, taking in the sight of the hotel room. Besides being small, it was actually kind of nice. It had a TV, an air conditioner, a comfy armchair, and a cute little bathroom. The only actual bad part was the lumpy bed.
After 15 minutes, my phone vibrated and finally came on. Right as I went to unlock it, an alert came up that stopped my heart.
One missed call.
Alex.