Season III
Day II
"Someone's In There"
Neha feels at peace.
It seems strange to say that, but it's true. Each room she's cut through so far has been empty. Now, she wouldn't particularly mind finding someone at this point but the stillness is just as welcome. Neha is flexible that way. Whether she finds them now or later makes no difference in the grander scheme of things.
She sighs and fixes a stray hair she sees in the bathroom mirror. This was never a place she imagined finding herself, but it's warmer than she expected. The facilities are far nicer than her last prison too. Plus, there's her future to think about. Neha has had plenty of time to do that since yesterday.
She watched the first season of The Cut, but had already been arrested by the time the second came along. Pity, really, that they didn't decide to cast her back then. To think that she needlessly spent over a year in prison when she could've been free by now. It's enough to make her blood boil, but Neha supposes that she'll forgive them. After all, they came to their senses this year.
She winks at herself as she turns away. Neha's mother always said her daughter was made for the big screens. If only she could see her now. It really is unfortunate that her mother isn't here to see how very right she was. How she had always been right, even if the rest of Neha's family had doubted her.
They'll all be kissing her ass when she wins, Neha is certain of that. Her relatives only care when it's convenient; of course she would've grown up to view things the same way. Whatever she's done, whoever she's become, they should be proud. Eat your fucking choices with honey and lemon.
Except she's not a mistake. She never was and never will be.
She's Neha, and that's always been more than enough.
She hums quietly to herself as she turns the tap, hoping for a bit of water to wash the tiredness from behind her eyes. No one came to bother her last night, but that didn't mean she slept well. No matter how much Neha wants to scoff it away, there is still an inner fear settled deep in her chest. She isn't the only one with a weapon. She isn't the only one that killed someone yesterday.
But she will be the last one standing. Neha has never been more confident in something than that simple fact. She will go home. She will reunite with her friends and go off to college someday. She will grow up, get married, have a family, all of it. Neha will thrive.
The smile is wiped clean off her face as a distinct creak comes from the furthest stall. Neha swallows and turns slowly, her eyes trying to see between the cracks in the door but the room's bright lights don't allow it. There are no shadows stretching across the tile floor. Still, she raises her weapon in preparation.
Another creak brings a shadowed limb down onto the floor. The realization that she's not alone isn't far behind. Someone's in there.