I looked at Leda, her face was as pale as I'm sure mine was. I clenched my eyes shut as I tried to wrap my head around this new information, what was she talking about? Mike and I had lived in the same house as she had, she knew the address, she could have wrote or called and then she'd have known we were just fine, but she never did, we waited but she never ever did.

"Will you please sit so we can talk this out? I think there's been a misunderstanding." Leda spoke after the silence dragged on for far too long and I couldn't find my voice. I opened my eyes and saw my mom nod her head and slowly sit down, looking a little irritated. I sat down too, my brain heavy in my skull and my heart heavy in my chest. I sighed.

"What do you mean your sons are..." I couldn't finish the sentence so I just left it hanging there in the air. Unfinished.

"Dead." She finished for me, her face not showing one ounce of emotion. I nodded, a lump in my throat. "my husband, he came to see me one day, he hadn't come for a year..."

She sat in her cell, on the bottom bunk bed, staring at the floor. The grey ground didn't actually hold her interest, of course not - it's just where her eyes stayed as her mind frantically flew in all directions. She dug her nails into the palm of her hand, it was a habit of hers, a habit she never realized she was doing until it drew blood.

"Shit." She muttered snapping out of her deep thoughts and staring at her hand, the crescent dents in her palm were ever so slightly bleeding, she put her palm on the orange material of her thigh and sucked in a breath, this was all just a waiting game for her. Her life had always been a waiting game:

Waiting for everything to end,
Waiting for her son's to grow up so they could get out of that Hell hole of a house,
Waiting for police to gather evidence and realize that she didn't do what she was accused of doing, (which never happened obviously)
Waiting for her husband to visit her again, and maybe this time bring her children too. (Of course that never happened either)

She growled deep in her throat and slammed her balled up fists down on her thighs, the force slowly sent both legs dead but that didn't matter, she groaned in pain as the feeling in her legs grew heavy and awaited for everything to go back to normal - a few seconds later, it did. Her cell mate lay on the top bunk bed lightly snoring, peacefully, she betted he was dreaming of something great, she grew envious, she wished she could dream. It's hard to dream when you can't even sleep.

"Fuentes!" Someone called sharply and her head snapped up like a meerkat.

"Yeah?" She replied, her eyes wide like she'd just been caught in some kind of sinful act. Maybe she had, maybe driving yourself slowly crazy by over thinking was a sin? Nothing made sense anymore so who knew.

"You got a visitor." The guard who had called her name replied, her mouth fell open as every single word in the dictionary fell away from her brain. A visitor? - who? She subconsciously began running her fingers through her hair, combing it, sorting out it's wayward ways. She hadn't showered in a couple of days, she didn't feel the need to considering she never got any visitors that came to see her and it had become greasy, lifeless and mussed up with neglect. Talk about bad karma. "Are you gonna stand there wide eyed all day or are you going to go see them?" He snapped, scaring her out of her daze. She did that a lot, got lost in daydreams, there was just too much time to think in this place, too much time to wish and hope and think and think over and over again.

"Um, yeah, uh sure." She nodded, she was almost child like, in the sense that she had become so afraid of almost everything, she used to be a strong woman, she took no shit from anybody, but now? Just the guards irritated town made her want to cower away. He pushed a key into the lock and it clicked swiftly right before it slid to the side and she was allowed to step out and onto the other side of it. The crash of the cell door slamming against the wall as the guard closed it made her jump and she put a hand over her racing heart, reminding herself that everything was okay, even though she knew better.

He escorted her quickly to the visiting room, it was filled with benches, run down and over used metal death trap benches, but it was better than sitting on the floor. A man sat on a bench, alone, her heart sped up as a smile washed over her face, even as she noticed the grim expression on his face and the dried blood on his knuckles, she loved him and nothing negative could stop that 'butterfly' feeling from flooding her stomach every time she saw him. She rushed over to him, knowing she wasn't really supposed to run but overwhelmed with the sight of him.

"You're here...You came!" She breathed, tears brimming her eyes as she took in the sight of him, his gorgeous blue eyes, the first thing she'd ever fell for, the sharp shape of his jaw line, the grizzly beard he usually shaved, over grown and rugged on his face. Everything else slipped away from her, she forgot about the fact he hadn't visited her for over a year now, she also forgot how the last time he visited her he told her she was a piece of shit and how she could rot in here for the rest of her sad life and he wouldn't even be an eyelid. She forgot because she loved him and he was here now and that's all that mattered.

"Oh how I have missed you!" She clasped her hand over her mouth in disbelief, he was really here!

"Sit." He commanded tearing his gaze unhappily from her, she obeyed and sat down quickly.

"So tell me, how have you been? How is everybody? What's been going on lately? I do hope you're being kind to Mike and Vic." She blabbed idiotically, too happy to care that she hadn't stopped for breath.

"I have something to tell you." He said plainly as if she hadn't even opened her mouth since approaching the table.

"Jeremy, you're making me nervous..." She attempted to laugh it off a little but it came out anxious and strangled. She tapped her fingers against her thigh, waiting for him to spit it out, the anticipation building by the second.

"They're dead." He said bluntly, his face in the same stony expression that it always had been. Her heart fell from her chest into her butt and she almost laughed at how unemotional he was, how he just came out with it like that. He had to be joking, didn't he? Nobody could tell somebody about somebody else's death without being pained or if not at least a little sympathetic right? Especially if those somebody's that were dead were your sons.

"Who?" She asked even though she'd already figured it out in her head She knew exactly who it was.

"Mike, Vic, they're both dead. Gone." His expression was bored and he looked her dead in the eyes, his eyes frosty and bottomless. A light went out in her eyes and her expression fell along with her heart.

"My babies." She breathed almost inaudible. He didn't look sympathetic or hurt at the situation, just bored, like he had a million things that were more important than the death of his two children.

"That's all I really came to tell you so I'll be going now." He mumbled standing up, now when she looked she saw something she hadn't before, she'd been so wrapped up in his presence she hadn't realized the fact he wouldn't meet her eyes, his blue eyes concentrated on everything but her, that hurt her what had she done wrong?

"How'd it happen?" She asked sounding strangled and honestly that's what it felt like too. He shrugged haphazardly as if he couldn't be bothered to dignify that with a response. She let that slide.

"Will there be a funeral?" Her voice became more and more broken, she definitely wanted to attend that, no matter what, oh she hoped the prison would allow her to. He shook his head no.

"Nope." He said cooly and she slammed her fists down on the table top between them. How dare he be so calm when she was breaking apart on the inside.

"What the Hell is wrong with you?" She yelled, "you tell me our sons are dead and you don't show one tiny ounce of sadness!" She was beginning to lose control, she stood up from the bench and slammed her fists against it again, causing him to rise to his feet too. She turned it the bench on its head and screamed.

"You killed my babies didn't you? Didn't you?!" Everybody instantly began to stare at her, some with smirks on their faces, others with horrified expressions. She gripped her hair in her hands. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" Soon guards came and tried to calm her down but it was no use, grief had claimed her. She kicked at the air viciously as they carried her back to her cell, he watched and smirked as she felt everything crash down on her. She had nothing left.

Tears built up in my eyes as she finished her story, tears already scattering down her face and she didn't even bother to wipe them away.

"I have no proof but I know he killed my babies...my beautiful babies." She sniffed and put her head into her hands and I swallowed hard for the millionth time today

"No, he didn't I promise." I shook my head, I had to make her believe me, I wasn't leaving here until she believed me. "I'm right here." I whispered and she looked up.

"No, you can't be, my son, both of my sons, they are dead." She sounded my hurt than angry, as if she was stunned I'd have the audacity to pretend to be her so when I wasn't.

"It's really me...please believe me." I replied hopeful, I reached across the table to touch her arm and she flinched away.

"No." She shook her head "listen to me. Dead, my sons are dead, they are gone, he killed them." She was starring to sound desperate, as if I were pouring salt in old wounds, hurting her more than necessary.

"Jeez, will you just believe him, he's your son, trust me, I've met your husband and he's not exactly a saint and the way you described him sounds precisely like the kind of person I met, so please believe him when he tells you he's your son, he is." Leda stepped in, her hands flat on the table, determination plastered all over her face, both my and me were taken aback by her forceful tone. Mom didn't say anything and neither did I, and Leda took that as her cue to continue to keep talking.

"I've met your other son too, Mike-" my mom jumped in and cut her off.

"You only know his name because I mentioned it." She snapped and Leda shook her head, no.

"No, I've met him, he's kind and loving and extremely handsome," my stomach rolled at the admiration in her tone as she spoke about my brother, "he's alive and kicking, you have to believe me, believe us." She continued, grabbing my hand under the table and smiling at me, I reciprocated it but pulled my hand out from hers and pretending to itch the back of my neck with it simply not to hurt his feelings. My mom looked from me to Leda pondering her words, wondering whether to believe us or not.

"I know why you're in here, I know you didn't do what you're in here for." I spoke. Her eyes widened at that, as if there was no other way I could know that than if I was who I was claiming to be.

"Vic?" She raised her eyebrows and swallowed hard. "How can I be sure it's you..." She bit her lip with a frown, she really didn't know what to believe and my heart broke a little for her.

"I'll call Mike, you can talk to him on the phone or I'll get him to come here, we can all talk about it and-" I was cut short by the guard coming up and grabbing my mom's arm, it looked a little too rough to be procedure and he face twisted but she didn't complain.

"Visiting is over, you have to go back to your cell now." The guard spoke curtly and my Mom nodded a little afraid of the guard. Leda and I stood up as he pulled her from the bench, her eyes were a little scared but she tried to smile genuinely. I saw past it though. "We know what your like for throwing a temper tantrum when visitors come to see you." The guard cooed in her eyes with a smirk as he began dragging her away.

"If it really is you, visit me soon...and bring Mike!" She talked loudly so I could hear and I nodded in reply, glad I was getting somewhere, glad she was starting to believe me.

"Bye mom." I waved, sadness coating my voice. She smiled sympathetically before being dragged around the corner by the guard. I looked at Leda and she looked back, she rubbed my arm and smiled.

"We should get going." I nodded, she was right, we had another three hour drive back to Baltimore.

Notes

Hmm unsure whether I'm satisfied with this.

the italics are in third person so I didn't have to type the whole story in speech marks.

Feeeeeeeedback please, y'all are fab:)


p.s. if anyone knows anything about boarding schools because you've been to one or you're just a knowledgeable peach please message me. It'd mean a lot thank you (: