Chapter 2 - The Cell Block Tango
When we arrived at the jail, I was pulled into a rush of hustle and bustle. Questions are being thrown at me and left and right. Before I know it I've been changed and thrown in some room with some other gals. I take a seat on one of the benches, clutching at some blankets that had been pushed into my arms on my way here. I haven't had any time to think about what's happening and what I'm gonna do now. I just wish I were anywhere but here right now.
"Ever had Bailey before?" Someone ask from beside me.
I look over. She's an older gal with make-up caked on all over her face. I shake my head, looking once again at the floor. She takes a long drag from the cigarette pinched between her fingers.
"She's fine… long as you keep her happy." She says, exhaling a cloud of smoke in my face. The smirk on her face is sickeningly sweet and I find myself wishing I were anywhere else even more.
"Put out that cigarette!" A guard yells.
The room falls silent as the door burst open. In walks a short, black woman with a stern look on her face.
"Mornin' ladies. You may have been told that I'm here to make your life a livin' hell, but that's not true." Her mouth moves into a cool smirk. "So if there's anything you need…" Her eyes meet mine. "Don't shoot your mouth off at me, I already don't like you and that ain't gonna change." Her stern look is back.
"Now, move!" her shout echoes around the small, cold room. The women slowly file out. I'm in back but just as I make it to the door an arm blocks my path.
"You must be that sweet little blonde everyone's been telling me about who killed her girlfriend. Ain't you a pretty one?"
"T-Thank you ma'am." That feeling is back. What I would give to be somewhere else.
"Call me Mama. I'm here to take care of you." Bailey's voice sounds sweet but I could tell it's forced. The look in her eyes said she didn't give a crap about me and would probably prefer I wasn't here at all. "You'll be staying in the east block, 'Murderess Row'."
"Is it nicer?" the look she responded with told me I shouldn't be askin' any more stupid questions.
"You know, this is all a mistake. I mean, I didn't really do anything w-wrong." I stammer. I'm usually not this shy but I guess there's something about being thrown in prison that has me on edge.
"You don't need to tell me. I've never heard about someone gettin' killed when they didn't get exactly what was comin' to 'em… man or woman." We reach the cellblock but before we can make it to my new 'home' a voice interrupts us.
"Hey, Mama! Come 'ere!" A latina yells from inside one of the cells. It takes me a moment to recognize her with out the spotlight, but then it dawns on me.
"Hey, you're Callie! The Calliope Torres!" I say excitedly. "You know I was there the night they arrested you."
She quirks an eyebrow at me. Her eyes move up and down my figure, appraising me. I clutch the blankets I'm still holding a little tighter in an attempt to shield myself from her judging stare.
"Yeah? You and half of Chicago." she gives me a smug smirk before turning back to Bailey.
"Look, my name's still in the papers."
"Ha. Except now it's followed by the words 'double homicide'." Bailey tugs on my arm, pulling me with her past Calliope's cell.
"Oh hey, Blondie?" I turn back to see her eyes studying me again. "Nobody calls me 'Calliope'."
And with that Calliope turns back to her cell.
Walking down the row, Mama stops to talk to several of the women. She slips some of them things like magazines, cigarettes, or hair-dye and they slip her a couple bills back. What is this place? This is never what I thought prison would be like. Though I don't really have much to go on.
We finally reach my cell at the end of the long row. I step inside and the iron bars start to slide shut behind me. A feeling of dread hits. This is real. I'm actually in prison. How did I let this happen? With a loud clang the cells lock. I turn towards Mama.
"Um, Mama, is there any chance that I could get a couple extra blankets? I mean, it's kinda chilly in here and I saw you doin' some of the other girls some favors and—"
"Listen up, Blondie. I don't do you or anyone else any 'favors'. Let's just say, when you're good to Mama… Mama's good to you." With that she turns on her heel and walks back the way we came.
I'm left alone in my cold cell with nothing but my thoughts. That's when the tears hit. That's when everything hit. I was stuck here. I know I'm guilty! There's no way I'm getting off. This is my life now. My life in this hellhole. I spent the rest of the night lying awake in bed listening to my heartbeat in time with the leaky faucet.
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The first week had been rough, but after that I fell into an easy pace at the jail. During my time out of my cell I got to know the other members of Murderess Row.
First, there was Lexie. She looked like a kid, young and innocent. I never would have pegged her for the murderess type. Then she told me about her boyfriend, Alex. I never met the guy but just from her description I could tell that he has some issues. One day, I got the nerve to actually ask her why she killed him.
"See Alex was a nice guy deep down, and I mean deep down, but he could be really annoying."
"So you killed him?!"
"For that? No. I did it cause he kept sleepin' around. I mean, I am a catch AM I NOT?!" She had this crazy look in her eye, like she was daring me to say no.
"Y-yeah, 'course you are."
"Exactly. Well, turned out he was married and I was 'the other woman'. The nerve."
"Wha'd you do?"
"I took the shotgun off the wall, and I fired two warning shots." She shrugs like it was the most reasonable thing to do. "…in to his head."
My eyes went wide at her confession. She just smiled, made a gun with her fingers, and pointed it at me.
"Pop." She laughs.
I didn't ask Lexie anything else after that.
Next came Addison. She was a beautiful red head who had the cell next to mine. One day, during a game of cards with some other ladies, I asked her wha'd she'd done to get thrown in the slammer. Her story was similar.
"I had this husband. Pretty boy, you know? Nice hair. Name was Derek. Everyday he'd come home from work, I'd fix him a drink and we'd have dinner."
She slams her hand down on the table, revealing her wining hand and collecting her prize.
"Then I find out!" She continues. "Work my ass! He's been takin' time off to visit some floozy he was 'in love' with! So that night, when he came home from work…"
Here it comes… I thought.
"I fixed him his drink, as usual."
Well that was a bit of a let down.
"Guess some guys, just can't hold their arsenic."
Her voice was so casual at he end it frightened me. I'm beginning to sense a pattern here.
My next cellblock mate was Meredith. The others all said she was 'dark and twisty'. I was actually afraid to ask her what she had done. What if it was some dark, twisty thing that would haunt my dreams and make me fear walking the streets at night? That is, if I ever got to walk the streets again.
Turns out I didn't have to ask. She just told me one day while we were at the sinks together.
"I had this guy. The perfect guy. Well… guys. And I had to pick one. So I went with the sweet, caring guy, Finn. Wrong decision."
My toothbrush long forgotten, I paid great attention to her story.
"I guess, Finn thought so too, because then he ran into my knife while I was cooking dinner. He ran into it 10 times."
Her tone conveyed that the fact that her boyfriend 'ran' into her knife was not to be disputed.
Just when I had lost hope of meeting a normal person (if that was even possible in a prison), I met April.
She gave me some story about how she was charged for her boyfriend Jackson's murder but that she was innocent. I guess we'll see. Her next and final court date is coming up soon.
After that I started askin' around about Calliope. Not that I was interested or nothin' just a little curious. There were dozens of rumors about the beautiful Latina floating around, all of them contradicting each other. So, one day when she was doin' another press interview, I did a little eavesdropping.
"My husband, George, such a sweet guy, was also my manager at the time so he traveled around with the show. We went all over so I could perform… and wherever we went so did Izzie, his 'assistant'. One night, we were down at the Archfield. I came back from a night out at the clubs and George isn't in our room. So, like the good wife I was, I went lookin' for him."
"And did you find him?" One of the reporters asks.
"Oh I found him. I found him in Izzie's room down the hall, and they were…well, I'll spare you the details. You get the picture."
"And what did you do Miss Torres?"
"Please dear, call me Callie." She said flashing him a smile. She was really turning on the charm for these guys. No wonder the public loved her.
"And, well I guess, I just blacked out. Can't remember a thing." Her smug smile said differently but at this point I had lost my interest and left to find Teddy.
Ah yes, Teddy. I almost forgot to mention her. She was another of my new block mates. She'd had this guy, Hunt, who was her best friend. He'd been an army man who'd seen too much. I got that. Same happened to my brother. The night terrors got so bad for him that Teddy, out of love for him, decided it was time to put her dear friend out of misery. And then she ended up in jail. She is probably the only actual friend I have in here.