South Side - A Prison Break Story

4. Bloody nose

Michael

"I went to the infirmary," she finally said.
I looked at her closely.
"Usually, people don't come back from there with a bloody nose; you go there to get one fixed," I said, cheekily.
She stayed quiet, and I could see how she briefly pulled the now blood-soaked handkerchief away from her nose.
I had only known her for six hours, but I knew that her silence wasn't a good sign.
As she turned the cloth to the clean side, I noticed how the blood was still pouring from her nose.
There's no way a vein didn't burst in her nose, and that doesn't happen for no reason, I concluded.
Something must have happened.
Isabelle climbed up the small ladder onto her bed and sat with her back against the wall.
She looked at me seriously.
"Bellick," she began, "he touched me..."
I stood across from her and felt my blood start to boil when she said the first five words.
That damned Bellick.
"... so I kneed him," she continued, and my eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"And then two other guards came, one of them gave me this bloody nose because I spat in his face, and the other brought me back here," she said simply.
I could no longer hide my astonishment and looked at her with wide eyes.
"What I have isn't much. He's worse off," she said, and I saw the corners of her mouth curl up behind the handkerchief.
I couldn't help but laugh.
This woman surprised me in every possible way.
"Does it hurt?" I asked.
"No, it doesn't hurt. It's just annoying that it won't stop bleeding."
She's a strong woman, I concluded.
I decided to work on my escape plan, but I needed her cooperation for it.
Just as I was about to tell her the plan, I noticed that her eyes were closed.
Her skin had turned pale.
"Isabelle?"
I heard her mumble something.
"Are you okay?" I asked, feeling a rising sense of concern.
"Hmm, I just feel a bit weak," she answered slowly.
"Is your nose still bleeding?"
She carefully pulled the handkerchief away, and I saw a thin trickle of blood dripping from her nose.
I grabbed a piece of toilet paper and shaped it into a small ball.
I climbed up the ladder, stopping halfway.
She looked at me questioningly as I held out the paper ball to her.
"Put this in your nose, it will stop the bleeding" I said.
She seemed to hesitate but eventually took it from my hand and stuffed it into her nose.
"I feel like an idiot," she said, looking at herself in the little mirror from the bed.
She laughed a little when she saw her reflection.
Her head was turned to the right, making the red handprint on her cheek visible.
The only thing I felt was absolute rage.
This would not happen again.
I'm going to get her out of here.