The Release

Susan's POV

I huddled in the corner of the cell, knees pulled to my chest, trying to make myself invisible. The sound of heavy boots echoed through the cold concrete, and I tensed. Maria, the prison bully, stopped in front of me.

"Hey," she sneered, grabbing my tray out of my hands before I could react. "I think you've been keeping my lunch."

I tried to hold on to it, but she yanked it away roughly, sending the food spilling to the floor.

"Please, I’m hungry..." My voice was barely a whisper.

Maria slapped me hard across the face, making my cheek sting. "Shut up," she growled. "You're lucky I'm just taking your food." Then, she picked up a handful of rocks from the floor and tossed them at my head.

Just then, a little boy rushed up and stood in front of me. "Don't bully my mom!" he shouted.

I hugged him tightly, feeling a rush of emotion. "Thank you, Justin." Justin was the child of my only friend in prison. She died when giving birth to Justin so I'd stuck with her son together for four years.

Maria was about to strike Justin, but just then, a guard's voice cut through the tension.

"Susan, Justin, step forward," a guard called, unlocking the cage door.

"Stay out of my way next time," Maria spat at me, then turned and walked away.

The day had finally come. I clenched my fists in excitement.

I walked down the dark, cold corridor, following the guard in front of me, as I ignored the many calls around me. Shouts from the inmates watching me from within their cells. 

I didn't care about what they think or say, though. Four years living under the same roof as these disgusting people, who think me worse than them. Not even the guards did I care about. Not when they view me as the same exact lowlife as the rest of these criminals. Even though I was different.

"Here's the exit," the guard said, opening the door in front of us. He turned back to me, and undid the cuffs on my wrists. "Better not see you come back here. I'll have you know, we don't do well with repeated criminals."

"Whatever you say," I only scoffed, having little to no energy to bother with him.

The guard narrowed his eyes in a glare before stepping out of my path, allowing me to leave this prison at last. As I walked past him, though, he placed a hand on my shoulder and stopped me. "Keep in mind. No one gets second chances so easily. Use it well," he advised.

I gave him no response, as he removed his hand from me, once again letting me go.

I winced as I stepped into the outside world, the sunlight shining down on me, causing me to raise an arm up to block the sudden brightness. Being stuck in that prison for the past four years, the only source of light we’ve had was the dim lighting of the lamps there. Once my eyes have adjusted to the brightness, I lowered my arm, and welcomed the brighter scenery of the outside world, compared to the dark prison life I was forced to subjugate to.

“Whoa…” I heard, though not from my mouth, as I looked down at the small figure standing beside me. He who had been the sole reason why I was able to withstand the four torturous years here.

“What do you think of the outside, Justin?” I asked the child.

“It’s bright,” Justin answered, still in awe. He saw something from the corner of his eyes and, releasing his hand from mine, walked over to it- to the small patch of grass with a few dandelions growing out of it. “Are these the flowers you told me about?”

A small smile formed on my face at the question, as I joined him in flower watching. “Yes. These are a special kind of flowers called ‘dandelions’,” I explained. “Unlike most flowers, this one blooms in two stages. Right now, we’re looking at the first stage of blooming.”

Justin’s eyes widened at my explanation, his awe growing more. “Wow… Will I be able to see its next blooming stage?”

“Yes, of course.”

Justin looked back up at me and asked, “Where do we go from here?”

My heart hurt a bit when he asked that. It wasn’t as though I could tell him we would be going ‘home’. Not when I no longer have a home. Not with ‘them’.

I could still remember it like it was yesterday. How my supposed ‘lovely marriage’ changed drastically in the two years prior to my imprisonment. Particularly, the day I was arrested.

I was the wife of our pack’s Alpha- Alpha Duncan- and yet I was anything but loved by my husband. Not only did he never look at me as his wife, but ever since his childhood friend- Ashley- returned to Bluemoon Pack several months prior to my arrest, he had been treating her like she was his wife. Not just him, Dylan- our son- looked at Ashley like she was his mother. Me? All I ever get from the two who were supposed to be my family were nothing but disdain. It did not help that in the short time she had returned to the pack, Ashley had constantly accused me of things I did not do. Did Duncan listen to me? Sadly… he never did. Especially not after that one incident that led to my arrest.

It all happened so fast. What was supposed to be a peaceful birthday celebration turned into a chaotic one, when Ashley got poisoned. All blame went straight to me and, without question, Duncan ordered for me to be arrested. Worse, he ordered for me to be beaten and broken. I remembered crying, screaming that I was innocent, and had nothing to do with her being poisoned. Yet, neither my own husband nor son believed me. Why, the words Dylan said that day still rang strong and painful in my ears and heart.

“How could you?! How could you do something so evil?! You should never have been my mom. I wish Auntie Ashley has always been my mother!”

Even now, remembering that day, those words hurt.

As if that wasn’t enough, once I was sent to prison, not only did the inmates beat and mocked me, the guards also treated me as a being lower than them all. Tormenting me physically, mentally, emotionally.

The only person who believed and helped me was a fellow inmate named Julie. She who was convicted of murdering her abusive husband in self-defense. However, because of the reputation he held in the pack, no one believed her when she tried to reveal his true colors. Once he was found dead by her, no further investigation was needed, and she was arrested on the spot for murder. And like me, no one bothered to listen to what she had to say. Perhaps it was because of how similar our situations were that she was the light of my dark tragedy.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t stay as my light for long, for she had been heavily pregnant with a child at the time of. I didn’t know if it was because of the abuse she was forced to endure from her late husband, or the stress of living in this prison life, but she died giving birth. To make matters worse, no guard even offered to help with the process; I was the only one who tried to help her get through with it, only for it to be for naught.

Before she passed, Julie asked me to take care of her baby. A responsibility that I tearfully accepted. Promising to raise him with much love and care.

“Mommy. Are you okay?” Justin asked, brushing a hand across my face.

It did not take me long to realize the tears that came out of my eyes, reminiscing all the pain that happened that year. “I-I’m fine,” I assured, wiping the tears away. “As for what to do-”

Before I could answer his previous question, I saw several cars pull over to the sidewalk and looked at it. My eyes widened and my face paled when the passenger seats opened, and a pair of werewolves exited out of it. Rather, a pair of ‘familiar demons’.