Chapter 11
October 21, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Friday, April 11
I awoke to the bright fluorescent lights and the sound of the inmates’ voices. So I had fallen asleep after all. I sat up feeling extremely groggy. I saw that breakfast was being served. As exhausted as I was, I managed to stumble out of bed for a tray. I wanted to revive myself as fast as I could, for the sooner I woke up, the sooner I could begin my investigation.
I took a seat next to a petite, dark-haired girl. “Hi,” I said.
“Hi,” she said back as she took a bite of her cold cereal.
“Do you know if Officer Jackson ever works this dorm?”
“Who?”
“Officer Jackson.”
“Don’t know her.”
I ate as much as I could stand to, then got up to set my tray on the cart where another inmate was scraping leftover food off trays into a large garbage can.
“Hi,” I said.
She turned to look at me.
“Do you know if Officer Jackson ever works this dorm?”
“I hope not,” she said.
“How come?”
“’Cause she’s a jerk.”
“Oh, is she?”
The inmate nodded. “Most of us think so, I’m sure.”
On and off throughout the day, I made inquiries— inquiries that got a lot of dubious responses. With each person who told me of their ill feelings for Kya, my heart sank a little deeper. I just couldn’t understand it. I would’ve thought most people would be like, Oh, Jackson? I wish she’d work here all the time! She’s way cool. One of the best. Instead, while some said they didn’t know her, I got the same general response from those who did: she was a mean, bossy bitch. It seemed no one had anything nice to say about her, though a few judged her to be “okay.”
Marilyn hadn’t seemed the least bit bothered by her, I thought to myself, and she knew Kya prior to the day we met. Surely she would’ve said something, wouldn’t she? Well, it didn’t matter, I decided. If others had had problems with her, that was between them and her. Meanwhile, she treated me like a little queen, so that was all that mattered. She hadn’t done anything to hurt me in any way—at least not yet she hadn’t—so I would pray for her to rescue me and hope for the best.