"Seventy-two hours?" Colleen frowned, holding her clipboard in both hands. "I can't do that."
"You can and you will," Meloni said ominously. "If she gets out before Wednesday, she'll be allowed in the yard for fireworks on the fourth. We can't reward this type of behavior."
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Ariana's pulse was racing. She stared at Colleen. Felt almost dizzy.
Please. Please, no.
Colleen placed her hands on her sizable hips. "I'm sorry, but I can't. The standard is forty-eight, and you know how the warden has been cracking down on procedures lately. I'm not going to lose my job on your whim."
Wow. Go, Colleen. Ariana had known there was a reason she wanted to be under Colleen's watch. Her eyes shifted to Meloni. Holding her head up was becoming difficult. She watched as his jaw worked. As he considered his options. Pull rank and make a scene, or back down. Luckily, his spineless side won out.
"Fine. Forty-eight it is," he said authoritatively. As if he had been the one making the decision. He turned and yanked the door open as wide as it would go, then stormed off down the hallway. Colleen rolled her eyes toward the ceiling and touched her cross before going about her business. Hiding a smile, Ariana dropped her head back onto the pillow and sighed.
Everything was okay. Everything was going to be okay.
"Colleen?" Ariana croaked. "Are these restraints really necessary?" she asked, slipping into her Southern accent. "Y'all know I'm not going anywhere, right?" She glanced meaningfully toward the door, knowing that at least one guard was standing watch in the hall.
Colleen considered and, probably on a power high from putting Meloni in his place, quickly loosened, then removed, the leg straps.
"Just promise me you won't try this again," Colleen said seriously as she unbuckled the wrist straps. "As long as you're drawing breath,
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you have the opportunity to repent. You have the chance for redemption."
"Thank you," Ariana said, touched. It was the first time in all her many days at the Brenda T. that she actually felt as if someone other than Kaitlynn cared about what happened to her. "I'll remember that."
"Good girl." Colleen patted Ariana's arm and doused the lights on her way out, enclosing Ariana in comforting darkness. "I'll be back in an hour to check on you."
The door clicked closed behind her and Ariana shoved her feet under the sheet and thin blanket that had been tucked tightly around the foot of the bed. She bent and yanked the covers out and pulled them up to her chin, then settled back and sighed. For the first time in a year and a half, she felt at peace. The other inmates always complained about suicide watch. How the staff checked on the patient every hour. How there was no rest. But Ariana was looking forward to it. Forty-eight hours in her own private room sounded like heaven. She loved Kaitlynn, but the girl could prattle on for hours, and right now Ariana could use some silence. Forty-eight straight hours of quiet contemplation. Forty-eight hours to rest up and prepare for what came next.
43
NEED TO KNOW
"Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!"Kaitlynn threw her bony arms around Ariana's neck and barreled her right back into the guard. Thrown off balance, Ariana laughed as Kaitlynn's curls tickled her face. She didn't even mind when the guard shoved them both into the center of the room, causing her shoulder to contract in pain--it was still sore from when she'd fallen on it the night of her "attempt." None of it mattered, because it was the morning of July 4. Her independence day. Finally. Her time inside the Brenda T. was about to come to a close.
"Are you all right?" Kaitlynn asked as the heavy door slammed shut behind the guard, locking them in together.
"I'm fine," Ariana said lightly, dropping onto her twin bed.
She was surprised at how good it felt to be back in her room. Even though suicide watch had been peaceful, the room she shared with Kaitlynn was much cozier than the infirmary. The walls were
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covered with posters of exotic destinations like Bali and Thailand and Sri Lanka on Kaitlynn's side, and tear-outs from fashion magazines on Ariana's, chronicling the spring and fall shows from the past year and a half. They had dozens of books they had taken out of the Brenda T.'s library lined up on a shelf under the picture window, and a reading corner they had constructed out of extra pillows and blankets they had accrued over the past few months. Most of all, Ariana had missed the brushed cotton blanket on her bed, her one little piece of luxury sent to her by her mother for her last birthday. The one in the medical wing had been much coarser.
Kaitlynn sat down beside Ariana on the bed, studying Ariana's face with her big green eyes.
"Oh my God. I was so worried!" Kaitlynn cried, her accent thicker than ever.
"Please, Kaitlynn--you're overreacting," Ariana said with a scoff. She kicked off her sneakers and wriggled her toes happily. She felt so rested after her time in the medical wing. She should have tried this faked suicide attempt long ago. It had been like a little vacay.
"Overreacting? You tried to kill yourself," Kaitlynn said, squeezing Ariana's fingers. "I was so freaked when you wouldn't wake up. I thought you were a goner for sure."
A goner for sure. She was so cute."Well, I'm fine," Ariana said again, wresting her fingers from Kaitlynn's too-tight grasp. She patted Kaitlynn's arm and leaned back, folding her pillow behind her neck to prop herself up.