Conquering The Darkness

Chapter Fourteen

Lorna wakes in the wee hours of the morning a sweaty, shaken, mess. She bolts up in bed, looking frantically around the room. Now that Mendez is back, she can barely think straight or sleep without seeing his smirking face. The thought that he can come drag her away at any moment terrorizes her entire being with fear. There's no way she can go through all that abuse again—she knows she can't handle it.

Seeing only Red asleep in the bed across her cube, she lets out a relieving breath. To calm herself, Lorna decides to take a quick walk to the bathroom and rinse her face with warm water. As she makes the slow walk down to the restroom, she gets a small glimpse of Mendez and nearly loses her footing. Her heart pounds alarmingly fast inside her chest. She tries to sneak her way by without his noticing.

"Inmate!" He shouts, making her freeze up in her spot. "What the fuck do you think you're doing outta your cube?" His breath is in her face as he walks closer towards her. Grabbing her harshly by the shoulders, he stares darkly into her naïve eyes.

Feeling her body trembling, Lorna looks up at him in horror. She tries to wiggle her way out of his grasp but is too weak to do so. "P-please let me go...I just needa use the bathroom," she quietly pleads.

Mendez gives her body an angry shake as he continues to glare at her. "I ain't through with you, Lipstick—ya think what I did to ya before was torture? Just wait; I have much more in store for ya this year. And don't even bother telling that little druggie friend a yours cause' there ain't nothin' she can do to stop me," he chuckles, a cold smirk on his face. He lets a hand roughly grab at her before he pushes her to the ground and walks in the other direction.

Shakily, Lorna continues her journey down the hallway to the restrooms. When she gets in there, she goes over to the sink and starts splashing warm water onto her face. "I-I can't do this—please, please let this just be some sorta nightmare," her voice barely louder than a whisper. She takes a few minutes to stare sadly at her reflection in the mirror and sighs. If only this was a nightmare, she thinks.

"Lorna?" Alex's voice questions as she emerges from one of the stalls. She quickly comes over to the sinks, washing her hands in the one closest to the somewhat quivering brunette. Her eyes peer over at the other with slight concern, "Are you okay? Ya kinda look like you've seen a ghost or somethin'."

"I'm fine, just couldn't sleep," Lorna instantly answers, drying her face with a paper towel.

Looking her over, the taller woman doesn't believe a word that comes out of her mouth. She lets out sigh, finishing washing her hands and drying them. "Ya sure you're okay? You really don't look it, Lorna. Did something happen?"

"I just—I don't wanna talk about it right now. I'm just gonna stay in here for a bit and then, hopefully, I'll be able to fall asleep. So ya know, ya can go. I'll see ya in yoga in the morning," the Italian inmate urgently replies, trying desperately to get Alex to leave the room.

Alex shakes her head while staring firmly into her eyes, "I think the last thing ya need is to be in this bathroom alone at night. I'm not leaving you in here by yourself. I'll just wait here til' you're done doing whatever ya gotta do."

Irritated, Lorna shakes her head violently. She gives her a hard glance with her hands gripping knuckle-paling tightly onto the rim of the counter, "Did Nicky set ya up to do this or somethin'? I don't needa be babysat or nothin', I'm fine!" Her tone desperate with agitation.

Letting out a sigh, Alex realizes there's not much of a point in lying. She slowly nods her head. "She's really worried about ya, Lorna—we all are. Ever since ya came back from the hospital, ya haven't really been the same and we all just want you to be okay," the black-haired woman cautiously says, placing a comforting hand atop Lorna's shoulder.