Chapter Text
Ava's eyes widened as she heard the judge declare her sentence: a lifetime in prison without parole.
Ava was escorted from the courtroom. As she sat on the bus she wondered how her life had taken such a turn.
●●●
What should have been a nice movie night with her best friend Michael ended tragically.
Her ex JC came home drunk and when he saw Michael and Ava sitting on the couch side by side he began screaming, accusing Ava of cheating on him.
Ava tried to calm him down but nothing helped. Full of rage JC punched Ava in the face and kept hitting her.
Michael rushed over to get JC off of her but this was the wrong thing to do. JC threw Ava to the ground, took his switchblade out of his pocket and stabbed Michael in his stomach. As Michael fell to the ground, JC stabbed him repeatedly until Michael lay motionless on the floor.
JC didn't spare a glance on the two of them and went to the kitchen to get another drink.
When Ava understood what had happend she rushed over to Michael and tried to wake him up. It took a while before she realised he was dead. She cried hovering over Michael's body.
What Ava didn't know, in the meantime JC manipulated the evidence and sneaked out of the house to call the police and play the innocent boyfriend.
When the police entered the house they arrested her immediately, having enough evidence that Ava was the murderer.
Ava tried to explain that she didn't do it and that the real murderer was JC, but they didn't belive her. She was hysterical, which didn't help her case.
Ava had no support system. After a car accident that killed her mother she lived in an orphanage until she aged out at the age of 18.
She traveled the world to find a home. Five years after leaving the orphanage she met JC. He was her first relationship and first he was really kind to her. She thought she finally found happiness. But two years into the relationship he slowly started to show his true self. He had a drinking problem and when he was under the influence of alcohol he became violent, hitting her almost every time.The next morning he always came to her and apologized and said he would change. Ava lacked the strength to leave him because he was the only person who she had.
She began working in a bar, where she met Michael and they quickly became best friends. She met his mother Jillian and considered them her family. But after the incident she didn't have the strength to call her. Now she was left alone in the world and on the way to a prison.
●●●
The rest of the journey went in a blur.
When the bus stopped she and two other inmates were escorted out of the bus into the arrivals Hall. Ava went through a ton of paperwork. After that, she had to shower in front of the watchful eyes of a prison guard and had to undergo a body search. She felt exposed and vulnerable.
Ava was handed a pair of underwear, a white tank top and an orange jumpsuit to change into. The clothes were a little bit too big for her.
She was then brought into a waiting cell with the two other women who had accompanied her on the bus.
While she waited, Ava looked at the two other women. One was tall and muscular with a grim expression. When the woman realized Ava was looking at her, she gave her a hostile glare and Ava quickly looked away. The other woman was about the same height as herself and had short, curly hair.
The woman smiled warmly at Ava, holding out her hand.
"Camila," she said.
Ava shook her hand and smiled back at her. "I'm Ava."
“First time?” asked Camila.
“How do you know?”
“You look as scared as I feel.” chuckled the other woman.
Before Ava could reply, the door opened, and a guard stepped in, laying handcuffs on Ava and Camilla.
They were guided into one of the female wings of the prison.
As the door opened Ava took in her surroundings. There was a large area with tables and benches. Behind that were the cell doors, five on the ground and five on the upper level. It was a relatively small wing, Ava expected it to be larger because of the movies she saw.
The other prisoners were in their cells. Ava could see some of them looking at the two women through the small glass windows of the doors.
Ava was really nervous and was fidgeting with her hands.
“Garcia Cell 7, Silva Cell 5.” said the guard in an authoritative tone.
She gave Camila a small nod and walked towards her cell and waited for the door to open. After a loud buzzing sound the door opened and Ava entered the cell.
The cell was small, it had only a bunk bed and a toilet without privacy.
The woman who was sitting on the bottom bunk was a mean looking woman with a scar over one of her eyes.
Ava was intimidated by her but she mustered her best smile and said “hello I'm Ava Silva you must be my cellmate.”
The woman looked her up and down. Scoffed and replied “you can call me Superion. I bet it's your first time here so a small tip just go with your last name here.”
Ava didn't know how to reply so she simply nodded.
“There are a lot of rules in here, so its best for you to follow them and not ask questions. This cell will be kept clean because if not we're In trouble and that's the last thing I want. Is that clear?”
“Yes ma'am” said Ava with a salute.
“Don't do that”
Ava took her few belongings and made her way to the bed. She climbed on the top bunk and laid down. The mattress was hard, if you could even call it a mattress. It was only thin Styrofoam. The blanket was scratchy. She wondered how she could even sleep there.
After what felt like hours she realised that she had to pee. She didn't know what to do. The last thing she wants is to relieve herself in front of her cellmate but she had no other choice. She made her way down to the toilet And stared at it for a while.
Superion sensed her struggles and turned around in her bed to give her a little more privacy. Ava was thankful for that.
She hurried to be over with this as soon as she could.
Ava didn't know how much time had passed since she was in the cell. She was getting restless. She climbed down from her bed and started pacing in her cell.
“Are we always in the cells the whole day?”
“No it's just when new inmates arrive, normally we are only in the cell for the night.” replied Superion
She was startled by the loud buzzing noise from the door.
“Now we can go and collect our dinner.”
Ava was nervous to leave the cell, being around the other Inmates made her anxious.
When she was ready to leave her cell she realized that Superion had already left. “Fuck now I'm left alone” she muttered.
Ava took a deep breath and left the cell. As she looked around, her eyes met Camila and she gave her a small smile and walked over to her.
“Hey how are you holding up?” asked Ava.
“I don't know, my cellmate scares me" answered the other girl.
Ava nodded “Oh that sucks. My cellmate is intimidating but she was nice enough to give me some tips.”
Camila shifted uncomfortably “Yeah she keeps talking about her murders like they're something to be proud of. I don't know if I can sleep at night or if I should be afraid that she will do something to me”
Ava frowned “That sounds tough. I know we just met but I'm here for you.”
“Thank you, the same goes for you”
They walked together to the guards who handed out the food trays. Both girls took one and sat on an empty table.
Ava inspected her food closely. It looked disgusting, she couldn't make out what it's supposed to be. But she was hungry after the long day so she dug in.
After a few bites into her food someone sat down beside her. She looked up and was met with the stare of a tall woman with red hair.
“Hey newbie, what are you in here for?”
Ava had a weird feeling about this woman and tried to ignore her and continued eating.
“Bitch I'm talking to you!” shouted the redhead as she threw Ava's tray to the floor.
Ava stared at her in disbelief. Before she could answer, two guards rushed in and tackled the redhead to the ground.
"That's enough, Crimson. You're going into Isolation."
They put handcuffs on her, and one of them escorted her out.
"And you, Inmate, clean that mess," he said to Ava.
"What? I didn't do it. Why should I clean up the mess she made?"
"Do you want to go into Isolation as well?"
Ava didn't respond to that and looked around the room for cleaning supplies. In one corner, she spotted a broom and buckets with cleaning rags. She walked over, took the broom and put some water into a bucket.
Camila took the broom from Ava and helped her clean the mess.
"You don't have to help me."
"Yes, I do. We're in this together, so please let me help you. And that was my cellmate, so I'm lucky she got into Isolation. Maybe I can actually sleep tonight instead of fearing for my life."
Ava chuckled. "Lucky for you, I don't think I could sleep with her in the cell either."
After dinner was finished, they sat in comfortable silence until it was time to go to their cells.
They smiled at each other as they parted ways.
In her cell, Ava got ready for bed. She bid Superion good night and climbed up the bunk bed.
Lying there, she thought about her day. Ava was glad she had already made a friend, and she intended to make the best out of her time here.