Disclaimer : I own nothing, Orange is the New Black and all its characters are the property of their authors, Piper Kerman, Jenji Kohan and all her crew.


I am so sorry guys! I had a real block for this chapter, that's why it took me so long. The worst being that this one is really short. Also, I'm quite busy currently, I try my best to update as soon as I can... I hope you're still reading. Are you?

My big thanks to N1NJ4 for her help to overcome my block.

Hopefully you'll like it, tell me what you think!


Chapter 8

In the silence of the dorm, Piper thinks of that day during the WAC elections: she had enjoyed so much seeing the empty dorm plunged in a deep quietude... But now, she cannot find this sensation of calmness she had felt back then. As her dream is progressively fading in her mind, all she feels is a growing sense of anxiety she cannot overcome. She is coming back to reality.

There is no more silence around her: her loud and intensifying breathing fills her ears. She is alone. She is vulnerable: anyone could come and attack her again.

Is that a snigger she just heard? Is there someone else here?

Her short loud respiration prevents her from hearing correctly the noises in the dorm. She would like to rise, to peer over the wall of her cube to see if the noise was real -of course it was real!- but she cannot move. Her back is stuck against her mattress; her arms are glued to her sides. She closes her eyes, and tries to focus on her breathing. She needs to calm down. She needs to take control of herself again, otherwise she will just be a harmless prey to any malevolent person in Litchfield. And there are so many...

Why did she leave that screwdriver? She should have kept it. She should have hidden it somewhere, kept it with her, so now she would have a weapon to defend herself with, she would be able to... no. No more fighting. No more hurting. No, she does not want this anymore.

She has not heard another laugh. How much time has she been lying here? How many minutes have passed since she woke up? Why is nobody coming back in the dorm? Why is Taystee not back already? She tries to hold back the tears of panic that force their way to her eyes: she must not show her weakness.

The snigger! She hears it again. Is she delusional? Is her mind playing games with her?

Drops of sweat have formed on her neck and front, but she shivers with coldness. Or maybe it is pure fear.

The sound of the laughing echoes in her head. She hears it over and over, she replays it until she can no longer tell whether she invented it or not. She is going crazy...

Footsteps now. So the snigger was real? Or is she inventing the noises again? Who is coming? Lorna said she would come back. Is it Morello? Is it someone else? A threat?

Piper focuses on the footsteps. Why are they so slow? It is as if time had suddenly slowed. She feels, hears her heart beating, bouncing against her chest with each sound of the tread slamming on the ground. Who is coming? Her eyes are wide open, ready to catch the face of the comer prowler the second she gets within sight.

She is close now. Who is it?

"Little napping, baby Chapman?" says a nasal voice on her left.

Piper almost cries with fear when Leanne appears, walking slowly to Piper's cube. Her hand casually caresses the top to the cube wall. Her face is just a wide vicious smile as she looks down on Piper. Did she come to end what she started earlier? Piper wonders, swallowing as she feels a drop of sweat running down the back of her neck.

Leanne stands at the entrance of the cube. She sighs. "I don't understand how someone like you could do what you did to Tiffany," she says, "but God's still here, you know? And I'm here too. She speaks to me, you know? In my dreams!" the oily blonde adds nodding her head with enthusiasm. "Yeah, that's why I know," she states with a satisfied look. "Ain't 'cause Tiffany's not here that you're not done, Chapman." She takes a step toward Piper who has not made a move yet, staring mutely the crazy girl. "Now I must end what she started." Her right hand is tensed in her back. What is she holding? "That's what she'd want, yeah." Leanne licks her lips as a feverish flame of fanaticism dances in her eyes. "That's what He'd want t..."

She suddenly lifts her head, interrupting herself, and looks toward the main door. She frowns and looks back at Piper. "I'll come back, don't worry." A wink and she slips out of the cube, out of the dorm before anyone else can see her.

Piper still hasn't made a move; her eyes are still locked on the entrance of her cube when Morello comes within sight. Piper is trying to figure out what just happened.

"You ok? You look horrible..." Morello abruptly asks when she steps closer to Piper. "Did you sleep?"

Has Morello just saved her life without knowing it? Piper looks at her silently, mouth and eyes open for some seconds more before she shakes her head. No weakness... Everything is fine. Just. Pretend. Everything is fine...

"Yeah" she finally lets out. "Yeah, I'm fine" she repeats, trying to convince herself. "I slept, I'm better now. I'm fine."

"Well, you don't really look so but if you say you so." Morello replies with her skeptical smile. "You coming with me? There are still fifteen minutes before the countdown. It'll only be ten but that's symb..."

"Yeah sure, I come!" Piper cuts quickly. Of course she will go! No way is she staying in here, alone, with a second crazy meth-messiah after her. Piper nods once again and falsely smiles to Morello. "Let's go!" she says as she gets up, grabbing Morello's hand to help her move.

But her hands catch her friend's wrist way stronger than intended as a harrowing pain burns her sides. She collapses back on her bed, letting a surprised whine out under Morello's startled and worried look.


Any thought?