Taylor vs Lee's mom

Chapter 3

Prison hours were long and dreadful. It seemed like a day was a whole entire year with the highlight of the day is being able to walk outside to a play area heavily secured with guards. Benji tried hard to cheer Taylor up, but nothing worked.

Taylor walked along the borders of the play area with his arms behind his back as he thought deeply. Would it be possible that Ara doesn't wait for me and ends up with Lee? he wondered. But Lee's a chick repellant....

"Heya Taylor! Let's play dodgeball!" Benji called to him from the group of other prisoners gathering around for a dodgeball game. He sighed and walked towards them. I gotta get my mind off of Ara. It's gonna make me feel worse.

But even after winning three games for his team, Taylor couldn't focus. He was still thinking about what could be happening outside of prison while fetching the ball. The ball bounced over the prison gate and landed into a dug pit that was out of reach. He stared at the pit before his eyes widened.

He walked back to Benji and pulled him away from the other prisoners so he could talk to him in private. "Have you.. ever tried to escape this place?" he asked.

"Of course, it's like an annual tradition of mine," Benji responded. "You see, this prison would be EZ to break out of, like stealing-a-shoe-from-Gymboree easy, but there's a catch. Which is why I fail every single year."

Taylor leaned in closer. "And what's the catch?"

Benji silently pointed up at a thick watch tower guarding their area and all the areas around it. "See that woman standing up there?"

Taylor squinted his eyes to see the silhouette of a tough-looking guard. "Yeah, what about her?"

"They call her The Hawk. Officer Hawkins has seen at least thirty people try to escape this place and none of them succeeded," Benji scowled in the guard's direction.

Hawkins? Didn't Lee say his mom worked as a police guard...?

He looked up at the officer once again and this time, he held eye contact with her, her gaze tense.

This lady is Lee's mom.