An Haunting Past

"Your room," a bulky woman in her late forties pushed me inside a cell.

It was a damp and congested room to fit four women, the only small window it had was way above the approach.

"What's with this kid?" the eldest Inmate asked standing up with a pinched mouth, putting the letter down as she was reading, the cell guard rolled her eyes at me.

"Works in a bar, scamming and stealing from her clients," she commented, locking the cell.

"Yaah! You should be studying…," she said, slapping at the back of my head.

"Don't worry we'll teach her some manners," she replied, and they all continued to laugh in unison.

"Men do like sluts like you, my husband divorced me for a girl who was only twenty-five," 

"So I killed her?" She sighed, resting her hands around my shoulder.

"What should I do with you?"

I curled my fingers tightly around the grey pillow I was holding.

"Yaah, I'm talking to you," she asked, holding my chin. 

"I'm tired," I replied, pushing her hands off.

I moved to the corner of the room without saying a word and opened my sheet which was placed above the pillow and laid down against the floor.

"Look at this little smug, acting all almighty," she mocked sitting beside me.

"Really!"

"Yaah, I'm talking to you," she shouted and grabbed my hair tightly and dragged my head off the sheet.

"Don't touch me," I screeched, trying to get my hair off her hand, meeting her gaze.

"Make sure to stay put, when I'm talking, understand," she ordered, pushing them more tightly out of her head.

I nodded as my eyes were filled with tears, groaning in pain.

"Let's just go, we'll talk after lunch," another inmate said, standing up from their place, after packing their cards.

"Don't show your face there until we're done eating," she ordered, letting my hair go, and they all left altogether after a bell for lunch.

I kept gazing at them until they crossed the corridor trying to hold the lump in my throat.

I slide a bag laying over the floor, the only article to invest my anger on.

I held it up in the air and turned it over towards the floor.

A pair of trousers along with a towel, land on the floor.

Some vials of medicine rolled away from the trousers, with some cosmetics products, a nail cutter and a comb.

"Adrenaline doses, these're for allergies," I mumbled, checking the vial.

I looked around to ask someone about the medicine. A girl who was in the cell opposite ours was busy painting the cell of her wall with a stone.

"You're a good painter," I commented on her useless doodles, to start a conversation.

"Huh," she nodded, turning to me.

"Does someone here have allergies in our cell," I asked the girl with a forced smile?

"Chow, that bitch who grabbed your hairs allergic to pepper," she replied, turning back to her doodles.

"You shouldn't mess with them, they're scary."

"Scary people," I scoffed.

"They're predictable," I replied, with a wide-eyed smile.

I grabbed the vial and stuffed it inside the pocket of my scrub.

"Any weakness should go," I mumbled, grabbing my hair in a small tuft and picking up the nail cutter from the floor.

***

"Hello," I greeted Chow, sitting on the bench opposite her.

"I think I said clearly not to come…," she shouted, throwing her spoon on her plate, and raising her eyebrows to glare at me. Her puckured forehead was shouting she is livid.

"Where's your hair?" she asked, commenting on my almost bald head.

"I cut them," I replied, butting over the edges of my burger.

"There are no scissors," she scoffed.

"I used your nail cutter," I replied, taking another bite of my burger.

"This bitch, how dare you to get inside my bag, do you want to die," she shouted, slamming her hands hard over the table.

"I'll talk after finishing my burger," I replied, meeting her gaze.

She snatched it from my hand and grabbed my chin tightly.

"You're really are a tough one I don't like women like you," she shouted, and the cords of her neck becoming visible, as she read with anger.

"Just give me my burger. I can't afford another. I don't have enough money for another one, please don't eat it, uh….,"

"I will listen to you," I said, with a muffled voice and my eyes got watery.

"Eh, do you know I just wanted to throw it but now I'm gonna eat it," she replied, letting my chin go and taking a bite of the big chunk from the corner of my burger.

She coughed hard as soon as she started chewing, and the burger slipped out of her hand.

"Urgh," she groans, holding her neck tightly trying to throw up every piece she had eaten.

"Uh, I cried, why won't you just listen," I replied, gazing directly into her eyes with a smirk, wiping off the corner of my eyes.

"It's spicy," I said, sniffing.

She fell to the floor grabbing her neck and trying to breathe hard.

"You're gonna rue this," her cellmates said, rushing towards her, Chow continued struggling with breath.

They sat beside her, trying to help her.

"Get her medicine  I'll handle her," the two inmates divided their tasks, as guards ran towards the infirmary for help.

"This is Ah lam, look at me we'll get you all better," she replied, rubbing her forehead softly and starting rubbing her neck.

"Her medicine is gone," the woman replied panting, as she came back after a minute.

"Looking for this," I asked, putting a vial up in the air.

"Give it to us," Ah lam said, standing up from her side.

"Be careful it can fall on the ground," I said, standing from my seat and sitting beside Chow.

"Never grab my hair, someone like you who can die even with a pinch of pepper should mind your hands," I said, meeting her gaze.

"You are a monster," Ah lam said sniffing, as her eyes teared staring at Chow.

I left the vial by her side and moved back to the cell, for a nap as I couldn't sleep this whole week.

And this place was about to turn into a tumultuous power struggle ground, as I already made my move now there was no turning back.

  ***

 "Uh," I struggled to breathe and opened my eyes, gasping. Chow was above me, pressing my mouth strongly with her palm. Ah lam has grabbed my wrist above my head.

I struggled to shout but found myself unable to move even an inch.

No one would listen to me, it was all in vain people here don't have eyes or ears, no one to rely on, except cricket who kept chirping do they also want someone to listen to them, or they are celebrating because they're are getting heard.

"This is a place where you can't win until you won't kill us, and this is for my Chow," Ah lam said, wielding a sharp sparkling knife above my face.

I struggled to move my legs hard, and tried to get chaw off me.

"Don't worry I won't kill you just a permanent scar would do," Ah lam said, and slid it over the edge of my neck with one scoop, my back started to feel the warmth of my blood.

I woke up gasping, as my phone buzzed over my pillow. I breathe heavily looking around my dark apartment, trying to catch my breath.

"Who's this at this time?" I mumbled, with a sigh of relief wiping the sweat off my forehead with the arm of my t-shirt.

"Little Leaf," text appeared from an unknown number.