❝ILL BE STANDING ON THE CORNER FULL OF GIN, WHEN THEY BRING YOUR DEAD BODY IN.❝
✧
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
OCTOBER 16, 2027
2:23 PM
✧
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
✧
WHEN his name left the surface of her lips, she couldn't help but purse them. that name had been in her mind, but never anywhere else.
the visitation room wasn't busy, not for a tuesday afternoon. of course, mariah had never been here before, the rates of comparison were slim to none.
it was just like the movies. the booths, with glass separating a pair. the germ-infested black phones hung in every booth, prompting guests to speak to the inmate across from them.
the woman expected numerous people to be scattered about, some in tears, others in distress. but the room was completely vacant. it seemed no one wanted to converse with a criminal at that time.
observing through the glass, mariah saw two police officers, guarding the doors to the rest of the prison. she knew the man she hadn't seen in years was right behind the door, but she couldn't see him just yet.
the woman took a seat in the third booth, the one directly across the door. she set her bag down, crossing her naked legs beneath her gray pencil skirt.
her hands were clammy, a reaction she hadn't experienced in years. back when she knew him well, that feeling never went away. the on-edge one, it was always with her.
she had dreamt of this day for ten years. longer than ten. the day the two would be reunited. the amount of hope within her all this time never wavered, and mariah just knew they would cross paths again. whether there was with a pane of glass separating them or not.
the squeak of the door caught her attention. she was previously focused on her chipping blood red nail polish, but now was almost afraid to look up.
there was a small part of her that suddenly didn't want to see him. she didn't want to see the face that had been on the tv screens, the news websites; it was too soon.
she told herself she could always come back. if it had to be in another ten years, or ten more years after that; then so be it. anything other than being here. right now.
