Riverbend Penitentiary

Harlow

I laid on the floor in the middle of my cell wondering how long I had been in solitary for. Brent had stopped his screaming a while ago, so I hoped that meant food was coming soon. So much time seemed to have passed since the last time that guards had remembered to fed them. At this point, I was half tempted to eat one of the rats that occasionally made their way into the cells. 

Down the hall, I finally heard the distinctive click of the door to the unit opening. Jumping up I started bouncing back and forth. Food was finally here and I never thought I would be so excited for it. Even if the food was usually leftovers from the general population and was always cold and hard as a rock. 

As I heard the wheels of the food cart coming her way, I couldn't help but start bouncing up and down even more  in excitement. It was pathetic really, but at this moment I couldn't bring herself to care. 

The cart stopped outside my door and the guard started unlocking the slot that the food would be passed through. Well, more like thrown into instead of nicely passed. At this point, I wasn't above eating the fallen food off the floor. I was kind of glad it was so dark down here that I couldn't even fully see the state of the food. 

"Hey! Anything a gal can do to be able to get out of here? Food isn't the only thing that could fit through that slot if you know what I mean." It was sad, but at this point I wasn't above sucking some guard's dick if it meant that I could get the hell out of this tiny cell. 

The guard who had thrown her meager meal into the slot apparently didn't like my suggestion, because he slammed the slot shut with a growl. Maybe I got the only guard who followed the rules. Most in here would at least have considered my offer. I knew of many other inmates who exchanged sexual favors with the guards to get special allowances. 

Sighing, I picked up my cold food off the dirty floor. It seemed like today's fine prison meal was some moldy cheese, hard as rock bread, a sealed cup of something, and a juice box. It would have to last until my next meal, whenever that may be. 

"The food of my people!" Brent was clearly happy about being fed as well. I sighed hoping his yelling wouldn't last very long today. If he did, it would ruin my plans of dreaming about my favorite dagger. I missed it so much. Probably even more than a nice soft bed. It had been so good at stabbing people. I wondered what had happened to it, if it would be lost to her forever. The thought made me want to cry. 

Eating my meager meal didn't take long and I was bored out of her mind again. With nothing else to do, I started doing some push ups and sit ups. Just because I was locked up didn't mean that I shouldn't attempt to stay in shape. Without proper steady meals though, my body soon collapsed, not having the energy to sustain the workout. My ribs had started to show and it was clear I had lost weight while in solitary. I had to roll her prison pants at the top to stay on. How Brent was surviving down here so long was truly a mystery. 

"Who is there, who is there, who is there!" Brent must have finished his food since he was back to yelling. 

"It's just Harlow, Brent." I really had nothing better to do but talk to the crazy shifter at this point. 

"My name is Drish assassin!" That made me pause. How did he know that I was an assassin? When I was in the main population of the prison, I didn't remember seeing any shifter named Brent. Maybe my reputation reached even the lowest and darkest parts of the prison. "You should not be here!"

Well, at least he had one thing right. I really shouldn't be here. The fae I killed were all bad people. In fact, I should be given some type of reward for saving the courts from them. Think of all the time they were saving from not having to put them in prison too. 

"You are all too right about that one Drish. Any idea how a girl can get out of here then?"

"It is not yet your time young one." Well that wasn't helpful. Not that I thought it would be though. 

"How did you get sent down here Drish?" I was genuinely curious about the shifter. He was an unknown really. Usually when an inmate was sent down to solitary, other inmates were gossiping about it for days. There was nothing else to entertain anyone. But I didn't remember hearing about anyone named Brent being sent down here, which meant either he had been down here before I even arrived, or he was sent straight here. It was a mystery I intended to solve. But for once, Brent was silent.