Siren Awakened - C.R. Jane Page 0,39

I was not in the mood to be stalked by a ghost.

I took off on a dash, not caring about the prisoners who stared at me as I passed by. I slammed my cell door shut behind me and flopped against the wall, taking a deep breath.

“I suppose this will have to do,” came the ghost’s voice from my cot.

I let out a little scream. She was lounging on my bed, her arms behind her head, as she took in the room with that same revulsion-filled look that she’d had the entire time.

“What are you doing here?” I screeched.

“Well I can’t exactly give you lessons from across the prison, can I?” she responded calmly.

“Get out! Get out! Get out!” I yelled, officially done.

She stared at me, her mouth gaping in a very unladylike manner.

“I won’t stay where I’m not wanted,” she finally said in a very pissed-off voice before she disappeared with another loud pop.

I waited for a second, expecting her to appear again at any second. But my cell remained blissfully quiet, besides the usual howls and screams from the miserable prisoners around me.

I stripped off my jumpsuit and grabbed a clean one before laying on my bed. I was exhausted, but I was afraid to close my eyes. Where would I wake up next?

What was happening to me?

Despite my best efforts to keep awake, sleep’s call was finally too strong, and I slipped away into dreamland, where a stern faced Mary Poppins figure was ready to deliver a lecture to me.

I woke up the next morning after somehow sleeping for twelve hours straight, relieved to see that I was still on my cot in my cell. I sat up, grateful before I looked down and saw that my shoes were covered in mud.

I didn’t go outside in this prison. And the sections of the prison with dirt floors were definitely not places that I would want to find myself during the day, let alone while I was sleepwalking at night. Even the garden area Laz showed me was completely covered in overgrown grass and weeds, not mud.

Before I could freak out appropriately, my cell door clanged open and a guard appeared. “Time to go to the crazy doctor,” he grinned savagely, the effect minimized by the fact that he was missing at least two teeth.

I groaned and flopped backwards as he cackled.

“Give me a second,” I told him as I got up from the bed, steadfastly keeping my gaze averted from my muddy shoes until I had to put them on.

This guard was not one of the okay ones, and he watched me hungrily the whole time I changed, although I did my best to cover myself up.

I felt nothing but dread as we walked to the prison psychiatrist’s office. My mandatory “counseling” sessions, as they were called, had thankfully been few and far between. Evidently, there were people in this prison who needed sessions more than me. Imagine that. There was no rhyme or reason to when a session was scheduled, so there was no way to anticipate them.

I sighed as I saw the familiar Prison Psychiatrist sign on the door. Like usual, the guard knocked on the door, and we waited for the doctor to call out for me to come in.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to walk confidently into the room and not give the lady any reasons to schedule more of these. The doctor spent most of the time watching me closely as she prodded me with quiet questions. It felt like she could see all the way beneath my skin.

She didn’t say anything as I walked towards the couch. She just stared at me quietly. Her lipstick today was her usual red, and she was dressed in a sleek, black pantsuit that I was immediately jealous of. What would it be like to wear something other than a jumpsuit?

I settled down into the couch, wondering how long our session would be today.

Before saying anything else, she grabbed one of her long cigarettes from the tin box next to her, lit the end with a match and took a long drag, closing her eyes almost in relief as she did so.

“You’ve had quite the eventful last few months,” she said quietly as she opened a file on the table in front of her that I assumed was mine. Strangely, it looked far thicker than it had been last time.

“Most recently, you had a near-death experience,” she commented calmly without looking up from the