Haven

23. Visit

Stepping off the train, Norah pulled her handbag closer to her side. People swarmed the platform from all sides, the smell of metal, sweat and smoke over powering her senses. For the last few months she had been spoiled with the fresh air or the sea and the forest. To come back to the city so suddenly, her body wasn't prepared for the onslaught of noise and smells.

Surely it hadn't been this bad? She didn't remember it being so hectic. Pushing her way through the crowd, it took her fifteen minutes to leave the central train station and already she was covered in a light sheen of sweat.

"Goddammit," she muttered, wiping her brow. She walked over to the taxi rank, queuing up to wait. Unconsciously, she pulled out her phone and looked at the screen. No new calls or messages. She didn't know why she was expecting a message from Rylan, telling her he knew what she was up to. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach, and she realised she didn't like keeping secrets from him. The last time she'd kept secrets from him, it hadn't ended so well and parts of her body still ached in remembrance.

Her turn came and she climbed in to the back of the taxi, giving the driver the name of the prison. She saw his eyes narrow in the rear-view mirror and she resisted the urge to glare at him. Just because she was going to the prison didn't mean she was a criminal. Bigoted people. Her fingers traced the outline of the phone as she watched the city go by.

The skyscrapers soon shrunk to normal size buildings as they reached the outskirts of the city and her grip on the phone tightened as they turned into the Prison's visitors car park. It was large, and relatively empty of cars save for three. Norah couldn't help but wonder why they would think they would need such a large car park. Visiting people in jail was nowhere near the top of her list of things to do on a quiet day.

Paying the driver, she stepped out and stood nervously, listening to the car pull away behind her. The whitewash stone building still didn't remind her of a prison - except for the large steel gates and wired fencing surrounded the facility, it looked more like the entrance to a high school than a prison full of deranged criminals. Part of her mind told her to exclude her brother from that group, but she was happy to bunch him with them for the moment.

Stepping forward, she started the long process of getting inside. She spoke to guard after guard, went through searches, bag checks, ID checks and lastly, signing a ledger. She felt like she had some sort of sign on her back that said 'suspicious, potential criminal'.

To be fair, she frowned, she had pushed a man off a cliff, essentially killing him until a lunatic werewolf raised him from the dead. Somehow, even if she did come clean with that horrible truth, she had a feeling they would lock her in a mental asylum, rather than a prison.

She kept quiet, entering the small room with the two way glass. Black phones hung from either side of the glass, and Norah sat down. It still felt like she was in a movie when she came in here. This place was highly old fashioned with some of their equipment, she wondered where all the tax payers money was going if not into improving the facilities.

A door opened on the other side and two guards walked in, Adam between them. In the months since she had seen him, he'd lost a little weight, his face more drawn and the shadows under his eyes telling her he wasn't getting much sleep. A light beard covered his cheek bones and his hair was pulled back in a messy knot.

His eyes lit up when he saw her and he grabbed the phone eagerly. Norah followed suit, though more cautiously. "You came!"

Norah felt a bit guilty at the joy in his voice, but she tried to remain aloof. "I said I would. What do you want?"

Adam remained oblivious to her attitude, her appearance, blinding him to anything bad. "I wanted to see you, it's been so long since you came, and I've been so worried that that bastard had hurt you. Have you seen him?"