When the night falls

Emily

Beep!

 The sound of the prison bell goes off as the door creaks open, Emily stands behind the door waiting for the guards to get her.

The guard gives Emily her clothes and show her where she can get changed.

Emily discard her orange jumpsuit and put on her old worn out top and trousers with her torn sneakers.

  Her tangle hair look like an untame bush. She quickly wet her hair and try to pack it which was unsuccessful.

 Emily sighs and did her business before leaving the restroom.

  She didn't bother about her look because she do not care. Being in prison for seven years made her who she is today, a bitter person.

" You are free to go Emily", Vanessa says to Emily. She is the only one that was nice to her.

" Thank you very much Vanessa, I appreciate you", Emily sincerely speaks with her hoarse voice. This is the first time words came out of Emily's mouth since she knew she was going to be released.

When they finish with the clearance, she is permitted to leave the prison.

" Hello, I am officer Lucas. You can call me Lucas", he introduces himself and extend his hand to her to which Emily stares at his outstretch hand like it is full of trash.

She thinks he understands what she mean because he immediately retract his hand.

" I am the parole officer assigned to you", he explains.

Emily nods her head and she look around clearly not interested in his statements. She is not in the mood for conversations which he understands.

  " This way", he says as he point to his truck that was parked across the street.

" What for?", Emily questions in a rather rude way.

He must have notice that but he didn't reply, he just smile and toss a key to her which she swiftly catch.

" Since I am your parole officer, I am the one in charge to watch you and make sure you won't return back to your crime ways", he speaks calmly to which she roll her eyes.

Emily squint her eyes in a dangerous way and stand in front of him even though he is a six foot two giant, she don't care.

" Listen Mr parole officer, I don't care who you are. Like you said, I am a criminal then you should know how dangerous I can be", Emily threatens him to make him scared or quit pestering her but instead he just smile.

   Emily groan inwardly, covering her face with her bruised hand. Lucas looks at her arm as the sleeve roll down when she raise her arm, he is intensely staringat the old scars and fresh gashes on Emily's arm. Most of them are inflicted on her arms by herself.

   " What are the keys for?", She inquires.

 " The key to your new home since your former house belongs to your uncle who doesn't want to see you."

" Psst", Emily scoffs. That bastard thinks he won after successfully framing her. She balled her fist in anger.

   " So.... Are you coming with me?", He carefully asks..

  Emily grimace and drag her hands across her face. 

  Getting out of jail into this cruel world after seven years is much more difficult than she thought.

   She has no other choice but to follow him, only if she want to become homeless which she didn't want to be.

  The cold breeze blew her hair sending chills down her spine. She looks around to check if something is out there but none. Only few tree dancing to the sound the wind and some few cars passing by.

" Are you coming or not?", His voice brought her back to reality.

 She quickly walk towards him and hop into his truck.

      When they arrive at her new apartment, Emily sighs, she look at the small house in the middle of the neighborhood.

" This is your new apartment", Lucas says to her, he stares at the house and smile. " The environment is peaceful, the apartment might be small but it is much better because there are many job opportunities around."

  Emily grunts a reply, she swallows hard and push the door forward.

  When her sneakers touch the ground, Emily wiggles her toes. She miss the smell of grass and dirts. It was much better than the prison where she has to be tough to get what she wants.

   She look behind her and just in time, she sees Lucas opening the door to her apartment.

" Come in", he says.

     Emily enters the apartment, it is a small cozy apartment.

  " Thank you", she whispers. She has been rude to him but still he helped her.

" You are welcome", Lucas replies. He help her set the room before the night becomes dark.

" I will be taking my leave now, be good. I will see you tomorrow, good night", he says immediately he stands up from where the couch he sits on.

   " Thank you."

" And one more thing", Lucas searches through his bag, he brings out a new phone and extends it towards Emily.

" Here, it is yours."

  Emily reluctantly takes the phone, she wants nothing from him or the government but she needs it.

  She murmurs a thank you and move to close the door.

     Her stomach rumbles as a sign of hunger.

  Emily winces, she forgot to ask him for foodstuffs. She hopes she finds some in her kitchen.

' her kitchen', Emily smiles at the sound of that, she likes it.

 She roams around the house, checking the windows and doors, it is indeed comfortable.

  Emily moves around her empty kitchen, in the middle is just a stove and pots for her. She notice a mini fridge resting against the wall.

   Emily opens it and almost choke when she sees how full it is. She quickly prepares noodles for herself.

The room became darker as the only light shown is that of the moon.

  Emily gulps down her water, this is her most difficult time of the night. Sleeping time is a difficult time for Emily because she dreams a lot and have scary nightmares.