Catalyst

XVI

The mop swashes around in the bucket, collecting a fresh batch of sudsy, bleached water. Camila lifts it over and onto the floor, staring pointedly at her destination. She had been working her way into this hallway all morning. After a visit to the warden, Camila discovered that the only way to see Lauren in the SHU would be to get thrown down there herself. She knows that doing that would help nothing. Absolutely nothing.

But she's determined to know if Lauren's alright. So, when she returned to her cell block nearly an hour after Lauren was thrown down there, she devised a plan.

Step one: Convince Suzanne that the halls they had just cleaned the other day were in desperate need of attention. Check.

Step two: Offer up herself for the re-cleaning of said halls. Check.

Step three: Casually make her way closer and closer to the SHU. Check.

Step four: Convince the guard that she needs to mop the SHU hall. Che—

...Step four is currently in progress.

Camila looks up at the guard as she gets closer, but he doesn't pay any attention to her. He looks like he absolutely hates his life and would rather be doing quite literally anything else. Camila plays the world's smallest violin for him (boo-hoo, you're a free man who gets to stand around all day doing nothing).

At this point, Camila has gotten so close that her mop is basically swiping over his boots. She meets his annoyed gaze and smiles as politely as she can, "Excuse me, sir? Can you please let me down there?"

"It's off limits," He grumbles, his mustache shaking with each word.

"I know," Camila lifts her mop up, "But I have to clean the halls down there," He looks at her skeptically, and Camila is sure it's because the place never gets any attention. Usually, "I don't want to go down there either, but, it has to be cleaned sometimes. Today is that sometime."

He raises an eyebrow and stares at her, looking for any signs that she's lying. It doesn't take long for him to give up and reach behind him to tug the door open, "Don't take too long."

"Thank you," Camila hurriedly grabs the mop and bucket and scurries through the doorway, down a hefty flight of stairs. The light from above seems to vanish almost entirely once he closes the door behind her, causing her to halt in her steps.

She can see light at the end of the stairs, but it's very minimal. A disturbing feeling collects in Camila's gut as she gets closer and closer. And... when she reaches the bottom... her stomach drops completely.

One look at the place, and Camila is disgusted. It's dark, dirty, poorly-kempt, and silent. Very silent. She sees bugs crawling across the floor almost every time she turns her head, and the rooms... the few peeks she gets through all of the vacant ones only make her more and more scared for Lauren's state.

Lauren had looked absolutely terrified when Camila met her eyes just before she was taken down here. Not once when Camila had seen Ally be taken to the same fate did she see the horror she saw from Lauren. Now, Camila understands why.

Her stomach churns as she sees the dirty mattresses and lack of light in any of the rooms—somewhere, Lauren is down here. Alone and afraid.

It doesn't taken Camila long to find the only door locked. She's quick to lean her mop against the wall and set the bucket down before giving one last glance back at the exit. She looks the door up and down; it's sturdy and thick, and the only means of looking inside is a small window that's a little too high for Camila's short height.

Camila presses both palms against the door and leans her forehead against the cold, metal surface. She takes a second to listen, hearing mumbling and the sound of something tapping steadily inside. She tries to pick apart the sound, but gives up and instead says, "Lauren?"