After the End

Chapter 12 - New Information

Allegra stepped into the guarded room where a long line of phones were positioned in front of a glass screen. The other side of the glass was pretty much the same, but with prisoners instead of visitors on the end of the phones, talking to their loved ones and being informed of the things that were occurring outside the prison.

A security guard pointed her to a chair next to a tall, tanned man who was speaking Spanish to his lover, tears rolling down his cheeks. He looked at Allegra as she sat down, a sorrowful light in his dark brown eyes. His free hand was pressed against the glass, her hand mirrored his.

Allegra shuffled uncomfortably, unsure if she was doing the right thing. She thought about turning around and running out. It wasn't too late, was it? And that's when the door opened on the other side of the glass.

Lucy's face drifted into view as she sat down opposite her, a spiteful smirk painted on her filthy face; a sign that she'd lost self-care whilst behind bars.

Slowly, Allegra picked up the phone and placed it hesitantly to her ear, bracing herself for the wrath of Lucy, her old best friend.

"Wow," Lucy laughed. "If my eyes don't deceive me..."

"Lucy," Allegra nodded, her voice shaking uncontrollably. She swallowed thickly; an attempt to show Lucy that she was here on her own terms.

"What made you change your mind?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"My sister," Allegra answered honestly.

Lucy nodded in understanding, another smile on her lips as she licked her teeth, which made Allegra feel even more uncomfortable.

"She's still good at influencing you, then," Lucy noted. Allegra wasn't sure if this was an insult or not.

"I have some questions that I'd like you to answer," she said, changing the topic with a confident clear of her throat.

"Why?" Lucy laughed again. She laughed so loudly that she made the other prisoners beside her jump and turn to look at her. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you're lonely."

As quickly as it had grown, the smile was taken from Lucy's face, and she leant forwards as if she would be able to speak to Allegra in a way that other people wouldn't be able to hear.

"Wow," she said, "you'd make a good detective, considering I told you that."

Allegra shrugged again. "If you answer my questions, maybe I'll come and visit you more often."

"This is the first time you've visited me," Lucy scoffed, attempting to convince herself that this was merely a bluff before she believed it fully. She leant back again, trying to appear more confident than she was.

"And wouldn't you love there to be a second time?" Allegra winked, finding new confidence in Lucy's weakness.

They stared at each other through the glass, a security guard behind Allegra and a prison guard behind Lucy, both of them watching the two women as their discussion became a possible point of interest for the police.

"Ask away," Lucy said eventually, looking displeased.

It all came out quicker than Allegra had expected it to. She needed answers and she needed them now. "Why did you do it? Why did you terrorise me? Why did you pretend to be my friend?"

Lucy leant forwards again. The spiteful smirk had returned in all of its glory. "Which question would you like me to answer first?"

"How many letters did you write?"