Chapter 10 - The Quiet Jail Night
941 Words
The trio arrived at the quiet police department of New York. The sun has already set, and the moon glowed a sheer light. It was a busy night at the station, with teens in their summer madness. Santi watches as a guy laughs and snorts white stuff up his nose while a police officer scrambled through his backpack. They pass through two young women in barely visible clothing, with paint splattered all across their bodies. The police officer dealing with them throws a towel at their clearly high faces.
It was a mad night.
"Damn teens," Ray mutters under his breath. "You'll be staying here for the night. It's gonna get stuffy, so pick your corner."
Santi's hands were uncuffed and she wrung them, feeling the numbness set in due to the prolonged immobility of her hands.
Inside the spacious cell were two other women, one middle-aged, another a teen, separately minding their own business.
"Hey girl!" The teenager calls her out, waving her hand out to her. Santi, innocent to human relationships and interactions, approaches her.
"So, you from 'round here?" The girl asks as she files her nails down smoothly. "I'm from 'round the block. Threw a mid-summer party and guess who ruined that fun?" She sneers at the police officer sitting adjacent to her.
"Anyways, the party was dead, so btw, what's your name?" The teen finally stops talking and filing her nails, and looks up to Santi that had now sat beside her on the long bench.
"I'm Santi." Her voice was firmer than it had sounded earlier that day. She had regained her spirit, and her mindlessness was slowly fading away. The cops also bought her a donut on the way to the station, so her hunger had subsided. "Santi Grahams."
The teen offers her hand for a handshake and Santi firmly grasps her hand, unsure of what to do next.
"I'm Emily. Emily Joan Hilton. My friends call me Em." They shake hands and Santi's eyes sparkle a glimmer of light. "What're you here for, anyway? Totes not your style. You look cute, btw. Got sort of a grunge, emo, kind of look going on, eh?
How Emily managed to say all that in one breath, no one knew.
"I assaulted a woman on the street," Santi says under her breath, looking Emily directly in her eyes.
"Damn, girl. You tough." She cheers with her fist held out to Santi. Confused Santi stops her fist by encasing it in her own hand. Emily looks at her, laughing and showing a confused look, all at once. "That's not how you do a fist bump."
"A fist bump?"
"OMG, girl. I got a lot to teach you." Emily excitingly laughs and takes Santi's hand off her and closes it to a fist. "Now we gotta bump that. Meet me halfway."
Santi moves her fist towards Emily. Then they fist bump successfully. She smiles. This must be how joy feels like. It was shocking to find the first spark of light in Santi's life come in the form of a pink rebel teen.
"So what are you here for?"
"Threw a party too loud. Got into a screaming match with a cop. Just the usual mid-summer things for me." Emily answers casually.
Santi nods, finding Emily almost as hardcore tough as she was. The girl was not afraid of anything. The conversation grew silent as Santi didn't know what to say or how to interact with the human girl. Emily, feeling awkward with her seatmate, took the conversation into her hands.
"So, Santi, where are you from?"
"Hell."
A nervous chuckle escapes Emily's mouth.
"Yeah, yeah, you sure are weirder than you look." She shifts her eyes back to a sleepy Santi, with her eyes slowly fading.
The night passed by like a blur. Both teens fell asleep with their faces propped on the rails. Santi wakes up before Emily and scrubs her eyes out. It was the first time she felt peaceful after a night's rest. In Hell, she could never find peace. She also couldn't sleep to rest her soul. Here on Earth, it was like a new day was born.
She takes a look around and feels her hand up her cheek. The rails left a deep mark, and she inwardly rolled her eyes at herself. Her cheeks felt sore. In Hell, nothing could leave a mark on her skin. She was invincible. Here, mere jail gates leave their mark on her body.
Looking around, she notices there were quite a few additions to the little group they had when she fell asleep. Now, there were more or less than fifteen people inside the cell. Rowdy teens flocked on one corner, while drunk-aged men slept on the other.
As she shifts uncomfortably in her seat, Emily opens her eyes and lets out a small yawn.
"Good morning, sweet, sweet Santi." She exhales with a wide smile.
Santi takes a seat farther away from her, smelling Emily's morning breath. Alcohol does not smell good in the morning after.
"Good morning, I guess." Santi smiles back.
"Ooh, we've gotten quite a crowd. I wonder if Emman and the others are here though." Emily takes a look around, smiling at some as if she knew them.
"See that guy over there? With the mullet hair and a snake tattooed on his arm?"
Santi nods.
"I totally boned him last year. He is so not as hot as he looks."
Both girls scrunched up their faces in disgust.
Why in hell would you share something you know is disgusting? Santi thinks to herself. She had befriended some weird-ass girl
- Writer
