Shelley sat on the wooden stool, trembling as she spoke to the officer.
"Like, sir, I promise that I will, like, not do it again. I, like, promise!"
The officer shook his head and said dryly, "That's what they all say, sweetie."
He saw the look of despair on her face. "Besides, it's only a night in jail. Don't think too much about it."
Tears started forming in her eyes and she started stuttering, "P-p-please help me! I-i-if my parents ever, like, find out about this, they'll... they'll, like, kill me!"
The officer shrugged in response.
A guard came over to her and told her to follow him. She quietly followed him as he led her to a cell. There was a man and a woman sitting there. Shelley looked at the two with a confused face. One man was in his 30s and the other woman was in her 20s.
As the guard left, the woman snickered, "Why are you here? Did you throw a cup of Starbucks in some girl's face after she insulted your shoes?" The man chuckled at what the woman said.
Shelley didn't respond, her eyes wide with shock. The two stopped laughing and gawked at her.
"Wait a minute, this actually happened?"
Shelley shrugged and sat down on the bench. It was definitely a lot cleaner than she expected it to be. "What did you guys do to get in jail?"
The man sighed and replied, "It's a long story. Do you want to hear about it?" She nodded.
"I was on my way home from work enjoying everything when I heard a familiar cry. I looked around, wondering where the noise was coming from when I finally saw a child on the edge of a sidewalk. In disbelief, I realize that the crying was from my child, Nicholas. Her mother was nowhere in sight. I reminisced the confusion on taking care of the baby, the joy at when he started to walk and talk, and the great deal of pain when I found out that my wife had been cheating on me. I ran up to him asking where she was at the moment. The moment he saw me, he stopped crying and jumped up to hug me.
'Mommy just decided to leave me here... I'm not sure where she is.'
I immediately took him to a restaurant and we ate a little bit while we conversed. As I was paying the bill, his mother ran into the restaurant, pointed at me, and screamed, 'There's the person who took my child!'
I don't really remember what happened after that. All I remember is the look of sadness on Nicky's face and the anger that I felt after realizing that that wretched woman framed me."
The woman sitting next to him sighed loudly and said, "That's just tragic... I guess I'll start telling my little life story then. I was raped a little over a year ago by my step-father. When my mother found out that I was pregnant, she freaked out and kicked me out of her house. I had no money, no job, and I didn't even graduate college yet. One day, my baby was really sick. She was running a fever and I had no choice other than to steal some medicine from my neighbor. I did it and I got caught."
Shelley looked at the two with sadness. The guard opened the door and told her, "It's time to go." As she left the cell, she looked back at the two of them and said, "'Hope is a waking dream.'"
Word Count: EXACTLY 600.
