And so it begins...

Belle stepped in the cell, escorted by a guard that left her as a soon as he had locked the cell.
She didn't even bothered to look around her, she didn't check the room, she didn't have even noticed if there was already someone in there.
She felt tired, nauseated, disgusted and dizzy.
Her glance went for a second to the simple, to describe it in a gentle way, meal that had been left in the cell: she wasn't hungry and frankly not interested in what to eat, but she knew she would have needed to eat soon, if not for herself at least for her baby.
Were they really going to give her only bread and water? The baby would have needed more than this…
But she was too tired to think about it in that moment.
She sat on the bed, the lowest of the bunkbeds, and covered her face in her hands, resting her elbows on her knees.
It couldn't be happening…
not for real…
the last for months had been painfully slow and incredibly quick in the same time, and she hadn't stopped for a moment to hope to wake up.
That was a nightmare.
A living hell.
Why, why, why had that happened to her?

Jane leaned against the wall, watching the guard bring in her cellmate. She had been brought in here a while ago, maybe hours and she already had looked around and found nothing interesting. The only useful thing in the cell might be the bench, besides the beds. She sighed deeply.

It seemed her cellmate was out of sight. For whatever reason. But, having someone to talk to was better than being alone in this silence. Jane walked towards the bed and sat down next to the woman. She gently touched her arm. "Hey...", she tried quietly.

Belle hadn't seen and hadn't hear the woman when she had entered, not that she had actually cared to give a real look around.
She noticed her only when she touched her arm calling for her: she jumped a a bit and for a second she seemed confused.
Her mind was elsewhere, in her thoughts she was being again with her kids, so she needed a couple of seconds to recover, then, politely, she nodded toward the woman greeting as well with her strong french accent and her soft low voice
"Hello..."

Jane smiled shyly. She took her hand away. That woman seemed to be everywhere, but not in this room.

"Are you okay?", she tried again.

Sure, Jane herself wasn't used to a prison like this but she had gone through something maybe worse as this, so she just tried like always to survive. She moved slightly to sit more comfortable and wrapped her arms around her legs and layed her head on her knees. Like earlier. Jane waited patiently for a reply from the woman.

"Are you ok?"
She heard the question but she didn't answer.
Was she ok?
Was she?
No.
No she wasn't.
She wasn't ok.
She wasn't ok at all.
She felt broken inside, she felt like she had suddenly stopped to live her life and slipped into someone else's story.
She was in jail, while her Tibo was lying in a bed in an hospital, unconscious, while her Rosie was lying underground, dead...
She was in prison for a crime she hadn't commited and nobody believed her.
What sort of sin had she committed to pay a price so high, to serve a punishment so terrible?
She wished she had actually obeyed to her grandfather and killed her husband, at least her babies would have stayed alive...
but it didn't matter anymore...
everything she had was gone...
So was she ok?
"I'm fine..."
she whispered in the end with a broken voice.
It was a lie, but what was the point in trying to explain?

"Are you sure?", Jane frowned doubtfully. She lifted her hand and touched the woman's forehead. "You don't get a fever or something, do you?", that would be awesome. Her first time in prison and she had to be the doctor she was. An ill cellmate. Can't they take care of their prisoners?

Jane sighed. She softly pushed the woman in the bed and made sure she was lying comfortably. "Maybe sleep will help you more than being awake now. Or is there something else I should know?", not that Jane got a panic. She was trained to be calm in any situation.