The Prisoner Project

TWENTY FIVE

I sat up, reaching over to wipe a stray tear. "D, fuck, don't cry. This person is so not worth it."

Diana cried too easily. It was worse because I knew she had actually liked Dante. At least the idea of him. Because she was loosely attached as a child, she would grasp at any affection shown towards her and fall so easily and so hard. All it took was Dante to say a few sweet words to grab her attention.

Three months later, she was telling me she thought she loved him.

She smacked my hand away and wiped at her own face. She sniffed, snuggling back into the double bed. "Don't be so moist. I'm just upset. Do you know how much it was to post those fucking letters? How much paper I wasted? The fucking trees."

Despite how I felt, I couldn't help my small hollow smile. Diana was like a magician when it came down to my emotions. "Oh yeah, that was totally about the trees."

"Just promise me one thing."

"For you, anything."

She wiped at her eyes again, softly this time and then reached for my hand. She squeezed. "When you find the bastard, let them know that they owe me 50 fucking pounds."

"Don't worry, I'll find him."

"Or her. Find her."

Diana had said that casually but it had hit me cold in the spine. I had never considered it being a woman. That struck me as bizarre. Possible, but a hundred times more horrifying.

"I will. I promise."

Dianas eyes resembled butterflies as it fluttered closed, letting sleep blissfully win the battle against her and anxiety. "Ari. Don't do it for me. Do it for you."

"What if-"

She cut me off with a rough pillow shove. "Nothing is going to happen. No one knows what you did. Hell, you didn't even know."

Oh, but someone knew and I had used my subconscious to tell it to him.

______

I HAD NEVER been to the SSCD Tech Center without official escorts before. They would usually meet me at the main hall of my accomodation and we would take the short walk needed to Front Hall. They would then point me to the halls where the interview rooms were lined up. So when I got to the front doors and the beefy security detail had asked me for my ID, I had stuttered.

"I don't have one." I muttered. That sounded fucking stupid but it was true. Apparently, I didn't need an ID, I usually just scanned my fingerprint at the door and the officials would let me find my way from there.

My eyes scanned the building before us. It was just as daunting as it was when I had first arrived. My bags had been taken from me and I had stood there with nothing but my brain telling me that I was stupid for coming here. The building was a giant and it looked down at me like it's next meal. A miserable place with miserable people on the inside.

"You don't have one?" Beefy asked, eyebrows slashed across his face in a comical menace. He looked at me like I was the gum under his black boots. He was so huge that I was pretty sure he would kill me if he so much as shoved me. His shirt strained at his arm muscles.

I shuddered.

"I forgot my bag." I blurted. "It has my ID in it."

I knew he didn't believe me. I was an expert liar but I knew this wouldn't cut it. This was a high risk prison and even as this was just the technical centre, it was important that all parts be secured at all times.