Chapter 8
The night time was the worst as Bea was alone and that meant she was alone with her thoughts. And that scared her. Since she had been stabbed, all she kept doing was replaying the whole nightmare on loop in her head, thinking about what had gone wrong, thinking about small little things that were driving her crazy. Things such as how the freak had gotten to the showers to hotshot Allie, she was supposed to be in protection. So one of the guards must have let her out. So one of the guards must know. But who? And why would they help her? She also couldn’t help wondering who had killed Nils Jesper for the freak. Jesper was her thug so who would she have to kill him? None of it made any sense. Where did the freak get the drugs from to hot shot Allie? There were too many little things that made Bea certain that the freak wasn’t working alone. She had someone on the inside and maybe the outside helping her. But who and why? And what did they have planned next? Having all this playing on her mind made Bea nervous for what was to come and how she could sort it all out.
Another 2 weeks passed and eventually after much begging and pleading from Bea, which fell on deaf ears, she was finally allowed back in to general population and to her unit. She was told in no uncertain terms that she was still on bed rest with no excessive walking about and no work duty for some time. Bea had agreed to everything in record time just happy to be leaving the confines of the medical cell and be back with Allie and her friends. Plus, she knew that she needed to be back amongst the women and the guards if she was going to find out who was on the inside helping the freak. She had kept her suspicions to herself, she didn’t want to involve the others and put them in harm’s way, she could do this on her own. She had taken down Brayden Holt and his family on her own, she could take down the freak too. She just needed to play the long game and strike when she was least expecting it.
Mr Jackson kept him arm gently around Bea, his hand resting in the small of her back as he supported her on the walk back to H1. The no touching the prisoner’s policy had long since gone out the window with Bea as far as he was concerned. She needed a lot of help now to do things and he was more than happy to do that. To him, Bea didn’t feel like an ordinary prisoner. She was in here for the long haul and to him that meant that she was given leeway when others weren’t. She had a long time inside these prison walls and he wanted to make sure she at least had some happiness inside here.
She ground to an abrupt stop just before the gates to H1. Her hands coming to rest lightly on her stomach. Mr Jackson gave her back a small rub looking down in to her eyes.
“You okay Bea?”
She nodded, “Yeah, just a bit sore. Not used to all this walking. Also I’m preparing myself for going back in there.” She nodded towards H1. “Never thought I would see this unit again. All the girls. It’s a bit overwhelming.”
Will noticed the tears that were present in Bea’s eyes and he gave a small smile.
“There’s nothing to be scared of here now though Bea, all your friends are in here and they will all look after you and help you.”
Bea gave a wry smile, “Nothing to be afraid of, apart from the freak who is just a few corridors away eh?”
Will shook his head, “There is no need to worry about her, trust me Bea. The security around her is tight and there’s no chance of her playing people like she did last time. Any worries though, any worries at all about anything, just press the panic button yeah and we’ll be here within moments.”
Bea gave a small nod, “Guess it’s time to see my public then.”
Less than an hour later Bea lay curled up on her bed with Allie wrapped around her. Her cell had been full of all the women off the unit, plus most of the prison it felt like, just a few moments earlier. All of them delighted to see Bea back and alive. It had taken Liz to kick them all out on noticing how drained Bea was looking. It was lovely to see them all and she was overwhelmed by their support but she was glad to have some alone time with Allie again, back in her own cell and not in the open medical room where she was constantly being watched.
“You okay?” Allie enquired gently stroking her thumb across Bea’s bottom lip.
“More than you’ll ever know.” Bea replied smiling as she leaned in to kiss Allie. “I never realised before how popular I was.” She gave a small chuckle, “Although I think it’s more a case of people wanting to have a look at my gruesome scars!”
Allie laughed her eyes sparkling, “Nah, it’s because everyone loves you. You tried to take down the freak for all of us in here and people won’t forget that. You risked your life for each and every one of us and that’s not something to be taken lightly.”
Bea looked at Allie her mind whirling, looking into Allie’s eyes she knew she couldn’t keep secrets from her.
“Allie, listen. You know I promised you that I would never keep secrets from you again…. Well I meant it….”
“What have you done?” Allie quickly replied.
Bea shook her head, “I haven’t done anything. Not yet anyway. I plan to though, and I feel like I have to tell you about it.”
“I don’t think I’m going to like this am I?”
Bea shook her head, “Probably not. Look the Freak, I can’t, no I won’t let her get away with everything she’s done. I need to finish it.”
“And you will in court when you testify.” Allie stated her face pale already at what Bea was saying to her, “That’s the best way to beat her now Bea. Let the courts decide her fate.”
“I can’t do that. I can’t live each day knowing that she’s alive and able to hurt someone else. I can’t cope with that. Mostly I can’t let her get away with what she did to you.”
“Bea, no. I don’t want you taking revenge on my behalf, that’s not going to happen. This is over, the court will punish her for what she did… I won’t let you get involved in this… I’m not risking having you hurt again, so stop this now.”
Bea reached out her hand and gently stroked her thumb along Allies cheek,
“You don’t get to decide that. I’ve already made my mind up. I know what I’m doing and I’m not changing my mind.”