20 Reasons to Let Go

[ Reason Twenty ] - Unknown

"We have to get to the prison." Cady gripped the back of her dad's chair tightly.

"What, why?" Mrs.Winters asked, alarm flashing in her hazel eyes. "Kendal probably won't be released until they're sure of her innocence."

Cady turned to her, placing a gentle hand on her arm and looking directly into her eyes, "Please, we have to do this. I think Kendal may be in danger."

Mrs. Winters' lip trembled, and she nodded.

From the frontseat, Cady's dad was watching them in the mirror with worried eyes. "Try calling her again while I get us on the highway." he suggested.

Cady navigated to the recent callers list and rang Kendal's number. She held the phone to her ear, not even daring to breathe. The phone rang once, twice, three times.

Nothing.

Cady let out a long breath, her hand falling slowly to her side. From beside her, Mrs. Winters grabbed the phone from her hand, "Let me try." she insisted and began dialing.

Cady glanced dazedly out the window. The slick metal rails of the highway were covered with fresh snow, and the lights of her hometown danced lazily in the distance. She watched her reflection in the iced over window, and wondered if the Cady on the other side was going through the same thing. A cold emptiness crept through her entire being, chilling her to the core. And in that moment, she knew, it had happened.

She remembered with great despair all the things Kendal had taught her. In just these twenty days, she had become a new person.

And she hated herself for it.

She wished she could go back to that night with Kendal at the dance and hold her forever. She wished she could go back to the time where her greatest complaint was that her mother didn't allow her to attend boy-girl sleepovers. She wished she could be sitting in that coffee house, sipping a strawberry banana smoothie.

She sat and she wished.

It mattered little. There are few things we can change with our words, and even fewer we can change with our thoughts. The world cares little for even our most desperate desires.

There is nothing we can do.

♦ ♦ ♦

Inside the dark walls of the prison, there was chaos. Uniformed men and women rushed about, bumping into one another and hurrying medical equipment down the left hallway. Cady ran up to several of them, screaming for them to help. Each time, they tore from her grasp and hurried away.

She could feel hot tears burning down her cheeks and collecting at her chin. Her knees buckled, and her entire body crumpled onto itself. Her legs folded under her, and her arms hung limp on top of them in a puppet-like manner. She was broken, inside and out.

A woman approached them and shook the hand of Mrs. Winters, who was also crying. Cady lifted her head to watch as she laid a comforting hand on Mrs. Winters' arm and began to talk. Cady tried to make sense of what she was saying, but she could only hear the sharp ringing in her ears that had been with her since they had gotten off the highway. Instead, she watched the woman's lips carefully, reading the words that they formed.

I'm Trudy, the woman said, I've been with your daughter since her conviction.

What happened? Where is she? Mrs. Winters mouthed, cascades of tears falling from her eyes.