The two of us - Nichorello

2. Great life?

<Lorna's POV>

"Lorna, this is my daughter," Red 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.

<flashback>

"Lorna? Is that you?" Her raspy voice croaked from behind the curtains. How I hated them. The light fabric separating each self-destructing and almost dying person from the next. As if the smell of disinfection and the grey walls weren't already making you feel depressed enough.

"Yes it's me, Nicky." I mumbled, trying to avoid looking at her. Not because I didn't want to, but because I couldn't. I didn't want to spend another second looking at her pale, sweaty body shivering from the things she continued to do to herself, even though her promises said otherwise.

"Thanks for coming;" she smiled a little bit, unaware of what I was about to do. I missed looking at her, the real Nicky, the one I fell in love with. Her transcending smile and her bright, shining eyes that once were filled with passion and sincerity. Now they were like dark holes in her face, left with nothing but emptiness. That was the problem. I wanted to love her, the person I once had so admired for her strength and willpower. But now? There was nothing left to love.

So I inhaled deeply, before saying: "Nicky, I am leaving."

And that... That was the beginning of the end.

<flashback ends>

"You know each other?" Red asked astonished. I struggled to find the right words. I couldn't tell anyone in prison about my involvement with Nicky, because I, myself, was trying to push away the past that kept haunting me. Luckily, Nicole was completing my plan.

"We bumped into each other earlier. Uhm- you're Morello, right?" she asked. Well, it was safe to say that she remained an excellent liar. Contrary to me, she didn't reveal any of her emotions, standing there leaning against the wall while looking at me. I wish I could remain that unaffected, but I didn't know that I would be confronted with her. For all I know, I thought I would never see her again. Not only was that my thought, but also my hope. But she, she wanted this. She craved revenge and superiority, which had always been the case. Maybe that's why she always acted this calm and untouchable while my hands were shivering and my palms began to sweat by just looking at her. But to be fair, she was prepared for this. She knew exactly that we would be standing face to face in here. But I? I, as usual, had no clue about what was going on. I noticed that I was staring at her angrily because of all the things she had put me through and feared that somebody had noticed my suspicious behaviour. Luckily, everyone else seemed to be staring at Nicky too. To avoid making this conversation even more awkward and suspicious I answered her question.

"Yeah," I mumbled, restraining myself from choking the woman in front of me. Even though the madness was pulsing through my body, I couldn't help but feel, to some extent, at peace. She looked so different, but yet the same. Her almost orange hair had turned into a darker colour, mostly consisting of brown strands. She was still a bit taller than me, her slim figure hidden under the beige prison uniform. Her eyes still had the depth of an ocean and stood more out than before because of the paleness of her skin. This was probably an effect of the lack of sunlight you get here. I wondered how long she had been in here. Maybe a month? Or a year? How would I look in a month?

Every single nerve in my body was telling me to look away, but I couldn't stop staring at the woman in front of me. Maybe there was a part of me, which thought she was still the loving and caring person she used to be. Sadly, her actions revealed the exact opposite. Throwing me under the bus for something I had done for her. Out of love. How could she do this to me? And all the compassion and familiarity I once had felt, got washed away by rage. I knew that the madness boiling in my veins was dangerous, so I turned around and walked away.

A few minutes later I found myself strolling through the depressing hallway lost in the labyrinth called prison.

"Lorna? Is that you?" a familiar voice called. Was it real? Was it possible?

"Alex?"

"Oh my god, Lorna!" A tall raven haired woman pulled me into a tight hug, confirming my assumption.

"I haven't heard from you in almost five years." After Nicky and I broke up, I promised myself to leave everything and everyone from that chapter of my life behind, which unfortunately included Alex as well. Ironically, that plan caught up with me.

"Your first day?" She asked with that signature grin of hers. I nodded, too exhausted to talk. The confrontation with my worst nightmare, Nicky, just made my first day in prison even worse.

"The first night is the worst," she said while nodding compassionately as if she knew what I was going through.

Although I was glad to see a friendly face in this place, I just wanted to go to my bunk and cry. Unfortunately, I had no idea where I had to go since every single room was painted with the same grey color. And my hope that a nice guard would help me turned out to be more than just wrong. One guy, called 'Pornstache' yelled at me for just walking towards him earlier.

"I'm lost, can you help me find my dorm?"

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

"Is this your room?" Alex asked after showing me the entire building.

"Yes, this is it. Thanks," I thanked her half-heartedly whilst already stepping to my bunk.

"And Lorna-" The raven-haired woman called out, "I'm really sorry for everything that happened. But I'm glad to see that you turned out to have a good life."

"A good life?" I scoffed at her words, although she didn't mean to insult me.

"What I mean is that, after you left, Nicky just... She collapsed. Literally. She was a mess for so long until she quit the gang and left. After that we never talked again until we reunited in prison. And I? I didn't have enough money to quit the gang. But you, you have a life out there, you made it. You got out. And once you'll get out of this place I'm sure there will be something you can return to. But Nicky and I? We're on our own."

Her speech almost made me feel guilty and sorry for them. But Nicky, it was her fault. It was her fault that she was in here and especially, she betrayed me. It was her who threw me under the bus.

"I'm sorry too, Alex." A tear escaped my eye as I looked at her face that hadn't changed at all. Maybe that's why this was so painful. It wasn't the conversation with her, but all the memories it brought up.

"You came to visit me how sweet of you, darling." I heard the devil's voice from behind Vause whose facial expression froze.