~ Isabella ~
The heavy iron gate slammed shut behind me with a loud, metallic CLANG that rattled right through my teeth.
I stopped on the cold asphalt, my breath coming out in small white puffs. I wore the same gray sweater and plain dark jeans I had worn three years ago when the police carried me away. The clothes felt loose, hanging off my collarbones. My hands were rough, the skin around my nails dry and cracked from months of scrubbing prison floors.
I turned around slow, looking back at the tall gray concrete walls, the spiraling razor wire gleaming under the pale morning sun, and the guards watching me from their high towers with long black rifles resting on their shoulders.
Three years. One thousand and ninety-five days in Danbury Federal Correctional Institution.
I closed my e
