The bus smells horrible. The smell of sweat and nervous farts, the smell of fear.
Confused women are shouting and cursing, they're scared, their entire existence is about to be rebuilt, and they have absolutely no idea in what way. They don't know where they're going, or what's going to happen to them. They all have to face the consequences for the riot, that was meant to make Litchfield better place to live, but the result is just more fear and uncertainty.
Some women try to ask the guards where they're taking them, but the guards only answer things like: "Shut up inmate!" or "Stay in your fucking seat inmate!" or simply ignoring the question completely. One woman has closed eyes and hands over her ears, singing "Across the universe" by The Beatles, she looks like she's trying to get out of this bus, maybe even out of this world.
Maritza is sitting in one of the front seats, next to a window. There are bars over it and it's late at night, so she can't even distract herself with the view. Next to her a very intimidating looking woman is sitting, taking half of Maritza's seat. Maritza can't recognize her or place her anywhere, the woman is very fat, and reeks like old milk. She's wearing an orange jumpsuit, which means that she is relatively new in Litchfield, so the fact that Maritza doesn't know her isn't surprising, even though Maritza always tries hard to not come to contact with many inmates. She has eyes for only one inmate. Her and Flaca just create their own little world in the nightmare that prison is. And sometimes whet it starts getting scary, or they start getting sad, they make each other feel better, they keep each other grounded.
Maritza suddenly shivers, a horrifying memory finds its way back to her. The memory of when that sadistic guard put a gun to her head and made her eat an alive baby mouse. It was the worst thing that Maritza had ever experienced. Well, it has been until tonight.
Sometimes she wakes up late at night in cold sweat, remembering how the cold metal of the gun felt on her skin, how those little legs felt in her throat...
After that happened she felt like she was gonna go crazy. She couldn't stop crying. She was scared. She hated that asshole for making her feel this way. Maritza is sure, that she would've actually lost her mind, if it wasn't for Flaca.
Flaca was the only person in that horrible place, whom Maritza trusted enough to tell her what had happened to her. She felt humiliated but she needed to tell someone. After Maritza told her, Flaca hugged her tight. And Maritza had never felt safer. Everything was gonna be okay, as long as she had Flaca by her side.
Flaca became so angry with the guard, she started hating him even more than Maritza did. As strange as it may sound, it made Maritza fall in love with Flaca even more. The way Flaca cared about her was so precious. Maritza had never really gotten so much care and affection from anyone before.
The last few days have been amazing. They both got a taste of freedom and had kind of normal life for a little while. As bad as this place and their life were, it gave them each other. If it wasn't for this terrible place, they wouldn't have met or fallen in love. Even prison can be beautiful when you find a soulmate to spend days with, the days that can feel like eternity when you're getting through them alone.
Maritza is in love with Flaca. She's lived her whole life being sure that she's straight, and she is for the most part. Before she went to prison, she once read an article about a spectrum of sexual orientations. And even then she found it very interesting, even then she suspected that there might be a small percentage of her that is into women, but she had never experienced it first hand before. But then when her and Flaca became so close, she knew she was really attracted to her. There just is something about Flaca. It isn't just their emotional connection, or how they understand each other, or how they find each other funny, or how they spend hours laughing together, or how they're inseparable. It also is something physical. Some kind of electricity, that makes Maritza want to kiss Flaca's delicious lips. She's kissed them before, so she knows just how great they feel and taste.
Their first kiss was amazing, it was like the whole world just stopped and it was just the two of them. Then the kiss stopped and the world started spinning again. Maritza wouldn't have pulled away, if Flaca hadn't, and she definitely wouldn't have said no and laugh, if Flaca hadn't. They did so to indicate that they weren't into it, but Maritza felt like they were both pretty into it, because you don't just make out with someone like they did, if you aren't into it. They felt lonely and vulnerable, but that kiss was way too passionate for it to not mean anything.
When Flaca pulled away, Maritza was kind of surprised maybe even disappointed, she would've definitely continued. When Flaca started laughing, Maritza immediately started playing along. She had no intentions whatsoever to ruin their friendship because of her feelings. So they just kept on being Litchfield's most adorable besties.
But tonight, when the horrible circumstances separated them, scared that she might never see Flaca again, Maritza had finally said "I love you" to Flaca. She didn't care that everybody heard. Only thing she cared about was that Flaca didn't say it back.
"Where do you think we're going" woman in the orange jumpsuit asks. She has a raspy voice, but she doesn't sound scared. She sounds like the kind of person, that's been through a lot of shit in her life, so nothing can really bring her down.
Maritza is taken back to reality.
"Honestly, I have no fucking idea. They might just as well drive us off of a cliff for all I care." She replied, and there was no hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"Yeah, I actually think that would be for the best. I'm Donna by the way. First five days in prison, and this shit goes down. Shows how lucky I am, I guess. What about you? How long you been there?"
"With all due respect, I'm not really in mood for chitchat right now, I just wanna enjoy this ride to wherever quietly." Maritza says, annoyed.
"Saw you with your friend. Looks like you guys really like each other, sucks y'all got split."
"Yeah, it does."
"Y'all scissoring buddies?"
A wave of anger washes over Maritza. She looks the puta sitting next to her in the eyes for the first time and is about to say something very nasty to her, but the anger leaves as fast as it came. She looks out of the window, in between the holes of the bars she can see silhouettes of the trees.
"Best buddies." She says quietly.
The bus stops.
"Are we here yet?"
"The fuck are we?
"I gotta pee!"
"You gotta tell us where the fuck you're taking us, we got rights."
Maritza can't fight the tears anymore.
"Heaven knows I'm miserable now, Flaca."
