Vengeful Desires

9-

As Amirah returned to her cell, she laid down, staring at the ceiling while adjusting her prison wear. The thin mattress provided little comfort, and the rough fabric of her uniform scratched against her skin. Lost in thought, her memories took her back to a time long past, a time when her life was filled with promise and possibility. Maybe it had been a mistake after all, to be so easily swayed... as she was then...

"Who was it?" Yun asked, her voice cutting through the silence of the cell as she stretched her arms above her head, her joints cracking with the movement.

Amirah released a weary sigh, eyes still trained on the dingy ceiling above as she lay on her bunk. "It was my sister-in-law," she replied, tone flat and devoid of inflection.

Yun arched an eyebrow from her position across the cell. "Oh yeah? What'd she want?"

A sardonic smirk ghosted across Amirah's lips, though her gaze remained resolutely fixed upwards. "Isn't it obvious? To check on me." She turned her head slightly, regarding Yun through lowered lashes. "You jealous of the competition for my undying affections?"

The balled-up sock she halfheartedly lobbed in Yun's direction earlier seemed to emphasize the teasing lilt. Yun snorted, catching and immediately whipping it back with a little more force.

"As if, Princess. I'm more curious what you asked her to put that miserable pout on your face when you moped back in here." She jerked her chin towards Amirah meaningfully. "Don't think I didn't notice that little storm cloud hanging over your head after visitin' hours."

Amirah's brief spark of playfulness dimmed once more. She turned away, shoulders slumping as one hand reached up to absently toy with a stray curl. "I asked her to stop coming around," she murmured after a protracted pause.

Yun cocked her head, studying her cellmate's troubled profile intently. "That what you really want though? To shut out one of the few people who still gives a damn about your dramatic ass?"

The other woman's only reply was a minute shake of her head from side to side - nearly imperceptible. When she spoke again, her voice rasped with a painful undercurrent of weariness and resignation.

"I think I just...need a break. From everything." Amirah's brow knitted, eyes squeezed shut against some unseen inner turmoil. "Her coming here to see me would only make her a target too. Considering I don't even know. Who... or what led me here. I don't want to put her in harm's way because of my shit. And I can't...I can't protect her from this place. From any of it, really."

She exhaled a shuddering breath, seemingly folding in on herself. "I already feel so helpless enough as it is."

A heavy silence fell over the cell as Yun absorbed her companion's words. For once, no smart retort or barbed quip sprang immediately to her lips. She simply watched, allowing Amirah to marinate in the intimacy of her own rawness for a long, suspended moment.

Finally, she cleared her throat - shattering the melancholy tableau with a practiced nonchalance. "Did you just cuss?" Yun stated unexpectedly.

Amirah's eyes fluttered open, her brow furrowing slightly. "Yun..."

"Okay, okay." Yun waved a dismissive hand. "Well, if you want lil' sis to keep visitin' and making your bunk a stop on the pity party tour, just tell her to bring me some money and a juicebox next time. Maybe I'll consider playin' nice then. And helping her win your favor."

Her lips quirked in a teasing smirk, deflecting from the sudden burst of naked vulnerability with their customary snark and bravado. Amirah seemed to recognize the gesture for what it was - an olive branch of sorts, extended without fanfare.