I didn’t know the walls could talk until they turned against me.
The prison cell was cold. Not the kind of cold that made you shiver on the outside, but the kind that sank deep into your bones and reminded you that no matter how hard you tried, life would always find a new way to break you.
I sat on the metal bench, staring at the floor. My hands rested on my knees, still red from how tightly the cuffs had been clipped on hours ago.
My throat was dry, but I didn’t ask for water. I couldn’t trust myself to speak. Not without breaking.
Outside this room, outside the thick walls and locked doors, my life was falling apart.
And I didn’t even know how it had come to this.
--------
Back in the neighborhood, it all started with one man.
Officer Ted.
He wasn’t a bad man. Just careless. T
