Bella was reading when she got her first glimpse of prison life.
She'd found an empty 'locker', stuffed her bag of possessions in it and sat on the spare bottom bunk with her battered copy of Wuthering Heights. It was easy to forget where she was and why she was there when she had a book to read.
An hour and a half had passed when an almighty clamour began to sound in the hall. It was, she assumed, the prisoners coming back from their work. The thought chilled her to the bone; what kind of monsters must be in women's prisons? Thieves, assailants, drug addicts... murderers.
Who would she be sharing with? It hadn't even occurred to Bella that the other inhabitants of this room could be dangerous, but now it seemed almost a certainty. Weren't all criminals dangerous? Some might say it was an ignorant thought, but they probably hadn't spent five years in prison.
Footsteps and voices sounded that seemed to be directly approaching the door. She assumed it was her cell-mates.
The sound of their voices was abruptly cut off when they came through the door. Bella bit her lip and slowly looked up.
The first person she saw was a mild-looking, middle-aged woman with fading blonde hair and a fluffy blue jumper. What could she be doing in prison? Bella soon forgot this thought, however, when another woman came in behind her.
She was absolutely magnificent.
Her short hair was almost black, but Bella felt that in the right light it was a purplish-brown colour. She had strong, sharp features and porcelain skin, contrasting beautifully with her crimson lips and shirt. Her eyes were the colour of milk chocolate, framed by thick, dark lashes. Beautiful was not sufficient to describe her. Bella had never thought that of another woman before.
The middle-aged woman spoke first. "Are you a new arrival? I haven't seen you before."
Oh god, would she have to speak? The woman seemed to be expecting an answer.
"I came in last night," Bella said timidly. "They put me in here a few moments ago. I'm Bella."
"Nice to meet you, Bella," the woman held out a hand and she shook it. "I'm Barbara and,"she looked over at the goddess, "this is Nikki."
"Hi, Bella," Nikki said with a small smile. Her voice was like velvet and hot chocolate; smooth, warm and comforting.
"Hi, Nikki," Bella whispered. She watched Barbara climb up to her top bunk with surprising ease and take a small book and pen out of her pocket. Nikki sat on the bottom bunk opposite Bella with a thick novel and leaned back against the wall, crossing her legs. Bella placed down her copy of Wuthering Heights and went down to the shared wing toilets. The nerves were getting to her system.
Washing her hands in the sink a few minutes later, she saw the bathroom door open and a woman walk in. This one had an ample cleavage in a tight pink shirt that didn't cover her flat stomach, a short blue skirt, a pair of wedge sandals and a gold heart necklace. Her blonde hair was soft and wavy.
"My my," she said in a sickly sweet voice, "what do we have here?" She backed Bella into one corner of the bathroom.
"I know you," she said thoughtfully. "You're the one doing five years for smuggling, Bella Swan. You got any gear?"
"No, I-" Fear chilled Bella's heart and she sucked in a breath. "I was just the mule, I don't take the stuff."
"I don't believe you," the woman's eyes hardened and she grasped Bella's chin. "Why do I think you're lying to me Bella?"
"I don't know!" She cried. "I'm not, I swear!"
And then she said something really stupid.
"You can search me!"
The woman's face lit up.
"What a good idea," she said thoughtfully. "Why don't I give you a little strip search?"
Bella opened her mouth to protest, but she couldn't seem to make a sound. Her mouth opened and closed like that of a fish while the woman grabbed her by the shirt and pushed her into one of the cubicles. She didn't shut the door, just leaned against it while she ripped off Bella's shirt and stuffed it in her mouth, before grabbing the girl by the hair.
"Don't you make a bleedin' sound, d'you hear me?" She pulled Bella's hair. "Do you?"
Bella nodded, terrified, tears running down her face. The woman seemed satisfied and pushed her face into the wall, yanking down Bella's tracksuit bottoms and pants.
The door to the bathroom opened again, forcefully this time. Bella flinched when she heard it collide with the wall.
"Shit!" Hissed the woman, knocking the back of Bella's head so that she felt her nose hit the wall, hard. She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling something worm ooze out of her nostrils and trying not to lick it off her lip.
A moment later the cubicle door was thrown open and the pressure on her back was suddenly gone. She pulled her trousers back up hurriedly and turned around.
The first thing she noticed was that there were more than three of them in the bathroom. The second thing was that there were no POs there. The third was that her attacker was being held, face down, to the floor by a honey-haired woman in a black silk shirt.
"I warned you, Dockley," the woman was saying through gritted teeth. "I don't do scared." She tightened her grip on the assailant's hair, earning a pathetic sob.
"You alright, love?" Someone asked in the foreground, making Bella jump. She snapped her head in the direction of the voice to see two women, both were blonde and looking to be forty-odd, wearing blue dresses with white aprons and holding rubber gloves. Bella assumed that they acted as cleaners, one of the 'jobs' the stern PO had mentioned earlier.
"Sorry if we startled you, love,"said the shorter one.
"Oh, poor darlin'," sighed the tall one. "She shouldn't be in 'ere in the first place, Ju, she's just a kiddie."
"That Dockley's gone too far this time, I'm tellin' ya," the short one put her hand on Bella's shoulder. "We'll take care a' that nose bleed for ya, love."
The tall one got some toilet paper from a cubicle and the two wadded it up. Meanwhile, the honey-blonde pulled the one Bella guessed must be 'Dockley' up by the hair to reveal that her face was in much worse condition than Bella's. She dragged Dockley off to her cell, exuding an aura of 'do not fuck with me.' Granted, the clicking of her high-heeled boots and the sight of her leather trousers had to have added to it.
"I'd hate to get on the wrong side of her," Bella thought aloud, while the two kind blondes doctored her buggered nose. They chuckled.
"Always makes an impression, does Yvonne," they grinned.
"You don't 'afta worry 'bout her, love," the short one told her. "She's lovely; very protective of all the kiddies in 'ere-"
"-An' it looks like you'll need it," added the tall one. "It usually takes a bit longer 'an this for someone to discover Shell Dockley. Finished!" She said proudly, and the two stood, hands on hips, looking at their finished work – that being Bella with two wads of toilet roll up her nose.
She sighed, looking down. The bathroom door opened and closed again."I always have been a bit of a danger magnet."
"Yeah, well," came a voice from behind them. "You wanna steer clear of Dockley. That bitch is trouble."
Bella looked over her shoulder and saw Yvonne, the golden-haired vixen, coming towards her. She placed a gentle hand on Bella's shoulder and smiled.
"Thanks," Bella said, nervous again, "for... For stopping her."
"You're one of us now, Bella," Yvonne comforted her. "The girls in 'ere do right by each other."
Bella bit her lip and blushed furiously, shocked at having made friends already. Yvonne smiled warmly.
"Oh, come 'ere," she said, and pulled Bella into a motherly hug. Shocked, she hugged her back, unused to it. Growing up her mother had been kind enough, but she wasn't the touchy-feely type, so to be welcomed so warmly by someone she didn't know... It choked her up a bit, to say the least.
Biting back the tears so that she wouldn't get Yvonne's shirt wet, Bella whispered 'thank you' over and over again into the woman's chest. She shushed her, stroking her hair gently and soothingly, which only made Bella choke up further.
When Bella had calmed down, Yvonne released her from the rib-crushing hug and wiped away the girl's tears.
"Sorry," Bella whispered, blushing again. "I'm not sure what came over me."
"Don't be sorry, love," Yvonne told her. "It's not easy coming here. Most girls your age would spend all day sat in their cell crying."
"I'd rather not, when I'm sharing a dorm with two other people," she laughed hesitantly.
"Oh? Who?"
"Barbara and-" she gulped at the memory of the beautiful woman that she was sharing a cell with. "-And Nikki."
"Nikki?" Yvonne raised an eyebrow.
"Aw, that's good," the tall blonde told her. "Nikki's lovely."
"She'll look after ya," chimed the short one.
"Come on," Yvonne smiled warmly, putting her arm around the girl's shoulders. "We'd best get you back to the girls. They're probably worrying about you."
"Thanks again, for being there," Bella said, before turning to the other two women. "And thanks for sorting out my nose as well, er-"
"Julie," supplemented Yvonne, grinning.
"Julie, and-"
"Julie."
She looked suitably confused. "Julie and Julie?"
From the smiles on their faces, they'd obviously been waiting for that moment.
"I'm Julie S," said the short one, striking a pose. Yvonne stifled a chuckle.
"And I'm Julie J," said the tall one, striking another.
"And together," they said, nodding. "We're the two Julies."
Bella laughed. "Right," she smiled, being led out of the bathroom and down the stairs to G1, "thanks, Julies."
The two Julies walked arm in arm in front of her, while Yvonne was next to Bella, her arm still thrown over her shoulder. Their collective presence was comforting; it filled her with the knowledge that, at the moment, she wasn't alone – no-one could touch her, and because of that, while they walked Bella couldn't keep the smile off her face.