Welcome To My Life

First thing the next morning, I decided to go outside, so that's where I am right now. Sitting on a bench, all alone. I'm just looking at the ground as I don't know what else to look at. I'm scared to draw someone's attention by looking at them and that's the last thing I want. After about half an hour I went back inside, back to my cell to write a little. Just as I walk into the building, I run into someone. Fuck, this is exactly what I've been trying to avoid: pissing someone off.

Before I fully realize what's happening the person grabs my throat and pushes me against the wall. I see her dark hair and furious expression. It's someone I've seen around, but I don't know her name.

"You should be more careful," she groans. "You should have respect, newbie."
I want to say I'm sorry but I can't as I'm trying to catch my breath.
"Brea, let it go. She's just a teenager," I hear someone say.
"A teenager who needs to learn what respect is," the woman who is apparently called Brea replies.
"I'm sure she didn't mean to run into you," the voice says.

By now my vision is starting to blur, black spots start to appear.
"Hey, break it up," I hear someone yell. I assume it's one of the guard, but I can't tell.
Finally, the hold on my throat loosens and as soon as Brea lets go of my throat I drop to the floor. I grasp at my throat, gasping for air.

"You okay?" I hear a voice say.
My vision is slowly becoming clear again and I can tell it's indeed a guard.
"I don't..." I start to reply and then I notice Brea and a couple of inmates looking at me, threatening looks in their eyes.
"I'm okay," I mutter to the guard, who nods and walks away. Thankfully, so do Brea and her group.

I remain sitting on the floor for a few minutes, wiping away my tears and regaining control of my breath, before I walk back to my cell, unsteadily. I get my diary from under my pillow and start to write frantically. I can't bottle this up so I have to write about it. Just as I've written down everything that just happened, a guard appears in the doorway of my cell.
"You have a visitor," she says.

For a moment I hesitate to ask her to send whoever it is away, because I don't want anyone to see me like this. But then again, maybe it was Alex or Jenna and I wouldn't pass up on an opportunity to see them. I got up and followed the guard to the visitation area.

I quickly spotted Alex at a table on my left and the guard guided me over there.
"Jenna wanted to come too but she..." Alex starts but then he stops talking and a shocked look appears on his face. "What happened to you?"
"Nothing," I mutter as I sat down.
"You're covered in bruises," Alex states.
Right, the bruises. I forgot about those.

"It looks like someone tried to choke you!" he exclaims.
When I don't reply, his expression looks even more shocked.
"Someone tried to choke you?" he exclaims.
"Keep your voice down," I beg him.
"What happened?" he asks, sounding worried.
"I ran into someone," I shrug.

"You ran into someone and they tried to choke you?" Alex asks in disbelief.
"Pretty much," I nod, blinking away the tears that start to form in my eyes again.
"If you start crying I swear I won't be able to stick to the no touching-rule," Alex says softly.
I look up and blink, forcing the tears to disappear.

"I'm gonna get you out of here," Alex says.
"Alex..." I sigh.
"No seriously. You're not safe here," Alex cuts me off.
"This sort of thing doesn't happen regularly," I say quietly.
"But it happens, apparently, just because you ran into someone. Do the guards know?" Alex asks.
"Yeah, a guard broke us up," I reply.

"And they didn't do anything else?" he asks.
"She asked me if I was okay,"
"And were you?"
"No, but I told her I was as I didn't want to get in trouble,"
"They can't do that to you and get away with it! I'm gonna go talk to a guard," Alex gets up.
"Alex, please..." I beg him. "Don't get me in more trouble than I already am."
He sighs, but sits back down.
"Thank you," I say.

Alex looks at me pitiful.
"So, how are you...? Except for, you know, bruised?" he asks to change the subject.
"Not as bad as I probably look right now. It only happened like half an hour ago, but until then I had been doing okay," I reply. "I just have to stay out of everyone's way."

"I..." Alex starts. "I just don't know what to say to you to make this better..."
"You make it better just by visiting," I say softly.
Alex nods. "Then I'll keep doing that as often as I can. As I was saying, Jenna wanted to come as well but her band was suddenly booked for a show tomorrow so they had to practice, but she wanted me to say she was sorry."
"She shouldn't be. You two have a life, I don't expect you to come visit every day. I'm just sorry I can't get to see her perform," I shrug it off.
"But we try to. I don't want you to be all alone in here all day," Alex says.

"Visitation is over," a guard who appeared next to our table says.
"Does your attorney know what happened?" Alex asks as the guard walks along to the next table.
"No, I haven't seen her since Monday," I reply.
"What's her name? I'll try and contact her," Alex offers.
"Hanna Rhodes," I reply. "Thank you."
"I haven't done anything yet," Alex jokes.
"You have no idea how much you've done already," I shoot him a weak smile, causing him to blush.

"I'll come by tomorrow again," Alex promises.
"See you tomorrow then," I say, before one of the guards takes me back to my cell.
"See you," Alex replies, as he watches me go, looking like a lost puppy.

Notes