Façade [Revamped]

Locked Up!

    Ajay fell off the cold metal bench as the van lurched forward then stopped. They had been thrown into a van, which looked like an ordinary maintenance man van on the outside, but resembled a prison van on the inside, with two metal benches on the sides, metal flooring and walls, and a large lock on the door. Maya pulled him back up again, clearly annoyed that her pillow had moved. She had been lying on him for most of the long journey, tired but always on her guard. She had good balance, much better than Ajay’s, and so the bumps, corners and bad driving didn’t really affect her, whereas Ajay was slipping and sliding everywhere. It didn’t help that he had motion sickness, but he felt better having her there, keeping him warm, and letting him absentmindedly stroke her hair, taking his mind off everything.

     He didn’t know that behind her strong, fearless outside, Maya herself was secretly glad to have him there to cuddle up to, as a comforter. She was terrified of where they were going, and what would happen to them, and so lying on his lap, having him stroke her hair was kind of nice. She’d never had anyone do that to her since her mum passed away, when she was 4. She could feel her with them now, egging them on. She wanted them to stand up for what they believe in, Maya knew it. Well she wasn’t going to let her down. 

     They both jumped up as the van doors opened. The two bodyguards jumped in and cuffed them to each other. Maya looked at Ajay knowingly. He slyly glanced behind his back. Maya’s wrists were too tiny for the cuffs. They weren’t even in prison yet, and they were already plotting an escape.

     “Oww, watch it, douchebag!” Ajay seemed to have adopted Maya’s mouth, swearing like a soldier at the bodyguard with the bandage, who had instantly grabbed him, obviously not wanting to mess with Maya again. The guard pulled him down a narrow corridor and threw him in a double-cell. Maya soon followed, her guard leaning over as though winded, and with blood leaking down both of his wrists. “Jesus, My, what you do to him?” “Kicked him in the crotch and bit both his wrists, he was chuckling about how his mate was scared of “some girl in a dress”, so I showed him why he should be afraid.” Ajay only just realised that he was wearing the girls’ summer uniform – a white floral dress with white ankle socks and black patent shoes. He knew Maya hated it, but he thought she looked pretty in it, more feminine.

    Hours passed, until finally a guard brought them two bowls of weird, green sludge with a slice of bread each, and a mug of water, along with two prison uniforms – grey jumpsuits, one in medium, one in extra-extra small, and big black boots. Maya drunk the water, but refused the sludge. Ajay forced her to eat one of the pieces of bread. The green sludge tasted even worse than it looked, so he left it too.  He turned around so Maya could change.

   “Oh for fuck’s sake! Look at this!” He turned around to see her in a jumpsuit that made her look like a 5 year old trying on her daddy’s work clothes, with a very moody look on her face. His jumpsuit was really baggy, but fit height wise. He wasn’t the shortest, but he wasn’t very tall either, a mere 5 inches taller than Maya’s 5 feet. He laughed at her disgusted face, causing her to laugh too. His laugh was infectious, even when Maya was in the worst mood, he’d always managed to cheer her up. “Look at us, we’re sat in prison, of all places, in hysterics!” He managed through the tears streaming down his laughing face. “Well, if you don’t laugh about it you’ll only cry!” “We ARE crying!” They could barely stand for laughing, clutching their stomachs and crying for another ten minutes, before being told to shut up by the guard. This set them off again, rolling on the floor this time, uncontrollably.

 “Get up..GET UP. NOW.” Ajay fell off his bunk, startled by the loud shout. They had been there for two weeks, but he still wasn’t used to the guards shouting. Maya was stood above him, grinning, as a red faced guard stood by the door. “They’re letting us dogs out again.” Her jumpsuit was rolled down to her waist, a white tank top highlighting her surprisingly toned, muscular stomach. She was wearing the prison boots still, glad to be out of the girly pumps she had to wear for school. Prison was a bad influence on her.