REVIVE ▸ d. winchester [2] ✔

Chapter 40

Jackie couldn't help but lay wide awake in her cell. Aside from the somewhat cold temperature of the room and the uncomfortable cot she lied upon, her mind was racing far too fast for her body to rest.

It had been over twenty four hours since her arraignment. Despite her not guilty plea, the FBI had let her be, no longer bringing her into interrogation. For this, she was grateful, yet it also meant that she was to be alone with her thoughts for hours upon hours. And she couldn't help but think that this could be how she spent the rest of her days if convicted.

Her heart raced with anxiety. It was like a crushing feeling in her chest, which ended up churning her stomach uncomfortably. It kept her from eating and it kept her from sleeping, and it just wouldn't go away.

It was the people she remembered hurting, and the blood she had on her hands. It was the flashbacks to purgatory, a place where she had fight or flight instincts raging through her body. There was no stopping, and no peace and quiet.

She knew, logically, that it wasn't truly her who had committed those crimes. Azrael was the creator of the entire plan, through and through. It was the power he held over her that guided her hands to kill. He was the angel of death, and he had used her as his weapon.

Most importantly, she told herself, everything that happened had been prophesized. It was destinted, she had been told so many times before. So could she have really stopped it? Could she put the blame on herself?

Jackie didn't know what to believe, but she only really knew one thing: Azreal was dead. It was over, and what had happened would never happen again. She had made sure of that. So if she had to pay penance behind bars for the rest of her life, so be it. Perhaps that, too, was destined for her.

Whatever she thought about the subject at hand, she no longer pondered over it once a slight buzz was heard ringing through the silence of her cell block. Through the doorway down the hall, the one that lead into the second cell block that was filled with other prisoners, the lights had been shut off. The sight had Jackie sitting up onto her elbows, staring down the dark hall in confusion.

Her uncertainty only grew as the lights in her own cell block shut off, the hum from the florescent lights immediately dying out. Then, the same buzzing noise rang out again, this time much louder and more distinct; distinct enough for her to know exactly what it was.

Jackie's heart was racing now, and not because of her anxiety. This time, the adrenaline coursing through her viens was from the opening of her cell door, leaving her free to walk out into the darkness.

The only accessible doorway she could find was the one leading into the other cell block. Walking towards it on careful feet, she could tell the darkness on the other side was certainly not filled with the silence that was on her own side of the door. With her hand resting on the handle of the door, she listened as the shouts of numerous men echoed off the walls.

It seemed that these prisoners, too, had newfound freedom.

Jackie opens the door quietly, sneaking in and staying along the bars to one row of cells. Each of the doors had been opened, and the occupants were now freely moving about the space. From what she could make out from the various grunts and snarls, she guessed about a dozen men were currently ruffing each other up in a fist fight.

"Idiots," Jackie mutters with a role of her eyes.

A flash of light suddenly entered the space, followed by three others. From the other end of the cell block, a handful of officers had entered, prepared to take on the situation but finding by beam of their flashlights that they were about to be greatly overpowered.