The Dangerous Widow

At The Mountains

The morning light creeped upon the walls of the cells. Almost immediately, the cells were filled with the sunlight, bright and warm.

A loud siren sounded. It was irritating to be woken up by the sound of the siren in the morning, ear piecing waves travelled into the ears of the sleeping inmates, causing their heads to ring. The inmates covered their ears tightly with their hands but they could still feel the vibration.

“Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!” The day captain commanded through a megaphone. She continued, “Today we are visiting a rock field. You are going to work the entire day without rest. I can only hope that you had a peaceful night because we are not coming back here until the first part of the job is done!”

“Open the cells!” She yelled.

Automatically, the cell doors opened at once. The inmates, as usual made a queue and marched timidly outside the prison. Parked outside were 10 big buses with the bold letters on the side: BRUTAL INMATES. There were also white police motorbikes parked next to the buses.

The day captain spoke aloud: “These buses can only accommodate 55 passengers. That means some of you might not be with us today but fear not, other buses are on their way to pick you up and take you to your working site. No one should go back inside, wait here for the buses.

“As I said earlier, you are working the entire day. Get that through your skull! March!” she yelled.

Quickly, the inmates dragged their bodies and boarded the buses. Soon, all the 10 buses were filled up. Other inmates waited for the second round of buses to drive in through the gates so that they could be driven to the working site.

Meanwhile, three motorbikes raved up and drove in front of the buses while other three motorbikes were behind the buses. The gate opened widely and they drove away. The officers who were on duty together with the day captain followed behind in white police cars.

After few hours of driving through the forest, they finally arrived at there location: the rock mountains. Everywhere the inmates looked through the window, they saw huge rock mountains. The inmates did not know that that was their destination until the buses came to a gentle stop and parked, one after the other.

The inmates got out of the buses, got the tools and began their work immediately knowing that they would work the entire day with little rest.

Using a pickaxe they dug through the edges of the mountains, using their strengths to break rocks from the cores of the mountains. The big and heavy rocks were carried by two or more inmates and put into a wheelbarrow. From there, they pushed the wheelbarrow with all their might towards a huge truck were other inmates loaded the rocks into the truck.

The inmates dug like miners searching for minerals or diamonds. As the pickaxes and the axes hit the surface of the mountain, there was a persistent rhythm like raindrops on the roof.

The officers who were supervising the inmates watched from a distance with their guns loaded.

Hours flew by quickly, the sun blazed down on them. They could feel the sun penetrating through their thick skins. Sweat dropped like drizzle from the dark sky. Their stomachs rumbled loudly because of hunger, their throats were so dry that they could literally feel pain after swallowing some saliva, their hands were full with blisters and sores, their backs ached badly from all the bending, their feet ached from all the standing and walking. They worked their fingers to the bones. From time to time they were allowed to rest but only for a short period of time. It really did not make any difference.

The work was too much for some other new inmates that came on transfer, they couldn't keep up with the heat, they were hungry, thirsty and tired. The new inmates tried to take a quick rest behind the mountains but they were immediately spotted and whipped to their feet by their supervisors. The new inmates shed tears and sobbed quietly while working hard, they couldn't wait to go back to the prison.

“I wish I hadn't committed that crime,” one inmate said to herself in tears.

The sun began to set. The sky was beautiful with a spectacular ray of lights producing a nice gradient of yellow and orange and purple.

Moments later a whistle blew.

“Time to pack up and head back to prison!” The day captain announced. The inmates dropped the tools in excitement and lay down flat. They were exhausted and happy that finally the job was done. Nevertheless, their backs were still aching, their hands were hard and shaking.

An officer placed a clear bucket of water at different stations and announced, “This bucket of water is to cool your tongues and not to quench your thirst. You will use this small cup to cool your tongues. No more than one cup until you get back to the prison.”

Promptly, upon seeing the bucket in front of them, they began to pant like dogs. They queued up almost immediately.

One after the other, they drunk the water from a small cup. It was very small to quench anyone's thirst especially the one who's from working hard under the sun.

One inmate drunk one cup of water. Looking around sneakily she got another cup full of water and drunk. She went for another cup full of water and another and another and another until the inmate behind her noticed.

She immediately yelled, “This woman just drunk 5 cups of water!”

“No. I did not!” she retorted.

Immediately, she was brought down and brutally beaten by the inmates who never had a drink. She was bruised, her nose was bleeding.

The inmates continued to drink the water but the bucket ran out of water and there was no more left to cool the tongues of those that had not yet drunk. The inmates were upset and murmured greatly and took out their frustrations on the inmate who drunk 5 cups of water.

Meanwhile, Catherine tied her shirt around her waist. She wore a gray vest. She spotted Martha seated on a huge rock. Catherine walked to Martha with a cup of water in her hand.

“I'm sure you haven't taken any water. Here is a cup of water,” Catherine handed the cup to Martha.

Martha looked at a woman on the ground bleeding. She got concerned and asked, “Why is that woman bleeding?”

Catherine sat beside Martha and explained, “Apparently, she drunk more cups of water than she was supposed to. She drunk five cups of water. When her fellow inmates found out what she did, they beat her black and blue nearly to death.”

She continued, “I don't blame them. How can one do such a thing? She is fully aware that we all worked hard. We all deserved some water.”

Martha replied, “Indeed, I can still feel my back pulling my legs.”

“Yeah we worked like hell,” Catherine replied.

“Yes we did.”

Catherine said, “I have to get out of here.”

Martha chuckled, she said meekly, “How are you going to do that? And for as far as I'm concerned, you won't be out anytime soon.”

“I know that I won't be getting out soon, but what if there was a way,” Catherine said.

“What are you talking about?” Martha asked curiously.

Catherine replied, “If we bring together a plan. We might be able to get out of here.”

Martha explained, “This facility is sealed tight. If you try to escape, you will be shot dead. You know that by now. You have seen how bad these people are, I mean look at how hard we worked today. There is no escaping this place.”

Catherine replied, “I did not say that we escape, I said that we get out.”

Martha replied, “Whether you put it in another word or another language, the fact still remains the same: It's an escape.”

“Call it whatever you want. Soon, we'll be out.”

Martha had a soft laugh. She spoke, “You know what, Catherine? I really love your enthusiasm. You remind of one of my cell mate. She was just like you, full of energy, full of will power, full of courage and discipline.

“But the difference comes in the pride. She used to boast. She had too much pride. Because of that unfortunately, she did not make it through prison. But you, you are different. You have a goal, I can see it through your eyes.

“But alas I'm old. There is no difference I can make outside the prison. My time is very limited on this earth. I have little energy left in me.”

Catherine sighed, “Aren't you the one who told me last night that you might be old but you are very fit and healthy like a young lady?”

“It's true,” Martha replied, “But let us look at the reality of life.”

Catherine's face changed. She wondering what Martha was trying to say. “What are you talking about?” Catherine wondered.

Martha replied, “What I'm saying is that you will be out of this place and achieve your goal without me.” Martha then glanced at the inmates forming a queue. She said, “Anyway let us join the queue.”

They stood up and joined the queue. The inmate who was bleeding was carried and put in the bus.

The day captain spoke to the inmates on the queue, “Should you move around like a lazy lion, you will be given strokes. Infact, I hope you move around, it gives me great joy to see you in pain!”

“MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!”

One after the other, the inmates entered the bus. Again just like in the morning, the three motor bikes were in front, the buses in the middle, the three motor bikes behind and finally the police cars.

Back at the Brutal Army Prison, the inmates were escorted back into their prison cells. They waited for a while for their food and water. Later, the officers took the food and water to the inmates. When the food was brought to them, they ate quickly animals in a cage and washed down the food with the water which was kept at room temperature.

Their stomachs were filled up, they hardly moved around because they were full. They were still exhausted from the work they did that day. They wanted to sleep immediately because they knew that the next morning, they were to break the rocks into small chunks and load them in the storage space.

It was cold that night with a gentle breeze blowing through the metal bars. Catherine and Martha were already in bed, they wrapped themselves with bed sheets like new born babies to block the cold.

Martha said in low voice, “Tomorrow, I'll introduce you to my two friends. I bet you'll be glad to meet them. Anyway, I won't say much because as you know; walls have ears. Have a good night, Catherine.”

“Good night, Martha.”

A number of inmates were sleeping peacefully while others just lay down on the bed doing nothing; waiting for the night to probably go by.

The officers knew that after such a long day it was close to impossible to have someone trying to escape. Nevertheless, the security was still tight. The officers patrolled the outside of the prison with German Shepherd dogs on leashes and loaded guns. Other officers were on the roof pacing back and forth with spot lights beaming down the prison.

Catherine was also awake, she was thinking of a plan to get out of prison without been shot. As usual, her eyes were shut, her mind was deep in thoughts. She was patiently waiting for an idea to come across her empty mind. It was very quiet, you could almost hear the sound of the snores from the sleeping inmates.

Just then, Catherine heard the General Rebecca talking on the phone from a distance.

General Rebecca sounded extremely worried. She asked, “How is she doing today? Is everything alright?” Her voice was not harsh nor bitter. It was as calm and gentle as a lamb.

General Rebecca continued, “How serious is it?”

There was silence for few seconds she probably waited for the response from the person she was talking to.

“Yesterday she didn't take her medications,” she replied, “I forgot. I was too busy. I will make sure that it doesn't happen again.”

She paused and later asked, “Is it ok if I swing by to check on her?”

There was brightness in her voice, “Alright then. I'm on my way!”

She then hanged up the phone. General Rebecca walked passed Catherine’s cell with a warm jacket on her left hand side.

Catherine opened her eyes because she had a brainstorm, she had a smile on her thoughtful face. She whispered to herself, “It is done.” Thereafter she closed her eyes again.

Meanwhile, General Rebecca made a quick stop at the night captain’s office. When the captain saw the General enter her office, she quickly stood up from her chair and gave a humble salute.

“General!” she said softly.

“Yes captain! How are you?”

“All is well, General.”

“Good. I'm going out and I won't be back until tomorrow. That means this place is all yours for the night. Do what you do best!”

“Thank you, General." The captain gave another salute.

She walked out of the office. Before she drove out of the prison, she checked thoroughly around and under her white police car to make sure that no one was hiding.

The night captain was left in charge of the place. She summoned her subordinates and patrolled outside the prison cells. Making sure that no one was doing anything strange or suspicious or making noise. Once they saw and confirmed that everything was normal they went back to other posts.