The two of us - Nichorello

1. The first day...

<Lorna's POV>

"And there are lesbians up there," the old, white man, who had been introduced as Mr.Healy said, his eyes filled with both disgust and anger. I knew one of them once, I thought. She ruined my life. On purpose, I thought, slowly drifting away from the boring speech of Mr. Healy.

<flashback>

"280...290...300. Three hundred dollars for you," I handed her the pile of cash while the smile on her face grew even wider.

"Wow, you never fail to surprise me, kid." She pecked my lips softly, before looking at me in an admiring way and pulling me onto her lap. "Carol is going to be so proud of you," she whispered into my ear.

"No. Don't tell Carol Nicky, I'm not part of your drug business. This was a one-time thing. Alright?"

She didn't respond. She didn't say: Lorna I know, you're my girlfriend I would never put you in danger. She didn't say: Whatever you say, we'll do. Only silence as she turned around and hid the money that I had exchanged for drugs.

<flashback ends>

"Morello!" Mr.Healy yelled suddenly, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Listen to me, I want you to understand, you don't have to have lesbian sex." Does he have some kind of weird lesbian obsession? Before I could let my thoughts slip to memories of Nicky again, I began to speak about my current boyfriend, well, fiancé actually.

"I um- have a fiancé, his name is Vinnie." A smile spread across Healy's face while he started to sort through the stack of papers in front of him. "Can he come to visit me?"

Nicky would have scoffed at my words, she would have noticed the missing passion in my voice, the missing glistening in my eyes, which had previously sparkled full of joy when I was with her. But now? Nothing left. The passion turned into disappointment, the sparks of joy burnt down to ashes, leaving nothing but dust. Contrary to my lack of enthusiasm Mr. Healy's facial expression lit up: "Of course, anyone on the PSI is cleared to visit. He can come this weekend."

------------------

Tiffany, or apparently Dogget, pushed me into a small room with six bunks. She waved at me while smirking, silently telling me that I'm on my own now. I looked around the small room, which basically consisted of six metal bunks.

"Hey I'm DeMarco," an older woman nodded at me. Her brown eyes were opened wide, examining me closely. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Lorna..." I remembered the fact that everyone uses their last names here and hastily corrected my mistake "Uh- I mean Morello."

"I'm DeMarco, that's Gonzales and Mrs. Rosa," she pointed at a bald lady, who was lying under my bunk. Luckily, everyone seemed to be friendly. At least nobody had tried to hurt me yet.

"Here is some toilet paper, you got to take it with you," DeMarco continued as if this was her usual routine.

"How can I make a call here?" I asked, already thinking of Vinnie, whom I wanted to call. How I missed his voice already, even though it had only been a few hours since I left. I tried to focus on the positive, but the devilish voice inside my head kept repeating how much time I still have to spend in here. 12 months, because of her. An entire year, I will have to survive in this dark, depressing place.

"Just ask Mr. Caputo, it helps when you cry," she replied while winking in a funny way. I smiled at her friendliness and made my way to Mr. Caputo's office.

------------------

"Vinnie, Oh my God. It's me, Lorna," I sobbed, my hands holding on tightly to the phone.

"Lorna, baby. I am so worried about you. Are you alright?"

"I haven't been in here for long, but I'm already losing my mind. Everyone is crazy. They don't sleep in their beds, but on top of them, you clean everything with maxi pads and you got to take the toilet paper with you because they don't have any," I began rambling on about irrelevant information, which was a habit of mine when I get nervous.

"You're gonna be fine Lorna," he tried to console me half-heartedly.

"I miss you so much, Vinnie."

"I miss you too."

Mr. Caputo signalized me to end the call so I tried to talk faster.

"Don't forget to visit on Saturday, alright?"

"Of course honey, only five more days. Make sure to keep away from dangerous people, okay?"

"Yeah, I will, Vinnie. I will," I nodded frantically while Mr. Caputo ended the call.

---------------

Until now, this prison had been an absolute nightmare. The bathrooms were unsanitary, I had absolutely nothing to do and the food looked like a pile of trash was thrown in the mixer and then got mashed together. The only bright side of this whole situation was the people I met. They all seemed rather friendly, DeMarco and the cook, Red, had introduced me to their 'family' and had taken care of me all day. I could only hope that nothing crazy would come up.

"Lorna!" Red interrupted my thoughts. Her thick Russian accent almost brought a small smile to my face.

"Remember I told you about my daughter?" she smiled proudly at me. Although she was a feared and intimidating woman in this prison, every time she talked about her so-called 'prison-daughter' a smile spread across her lips and her eyes filled with pride and sincerity.

"Yes of course I remember," I nodded reassuringly.

"Well, she should be here any minute. I want to introduce you to her, so stay right here." she motioned me to stay put and walked away. Although I just wanted to curl up in my thin bed sheets, I remained seated. I did not want to upset anyone on the first day in prison, especially not Red. In these 10 hours I had spent here, I had already heard enough rumors of her starving people out and sending them to solitary. Before I could think of more horrifying images, Red pulled me out of my imagination:

"Lorna, this is my daughter," she paused shortly while I lifted my gaze and my eyes met hers.

"Nicky..." I completed Red's sentence.

And suddenly, everything came rushing back. EVERYTHING.