Chase Campbell – Classified
Sisler Dern – Murder (22 counts), Attempted Murder – Life (22) plus 5 years
Molly Dworecki – Involuntary Manslaughter (4 counts), Driving Under the Influence, Minor in Possession – 28 years, possible parole 20 years.
Louise Gray – Aggravated Assault – 18 Months
Tatum Gretzinger – Murder (7 counts) – 86 years, possible parole 60 years
Monica Hull – Murder (16 counts) – 218 years
Angel Losano – Murder, Conspiracy to Commit Murder, Intimidation (2 counts), Minor in Possession, Possession with Intent to Sell, Importation of Controlled Substance – 15 years
Crystal O'Keefe – Murder, Attempted Murder – 21 years, possible parole 16 years
Elizabeth Powell – Murder (2 counts), Motor Vehicle Theft, Minor in Possession – 64 years, possible parole 51 years.
Brianna Renfrow – Voluntary Manslaughter (2 counts), Burglary – 20 years, possible parole 13 years
Jennifer Rizzo – Murder (15 counts), Attempted Murder (31 counts) – Life (15) plus 173 years.
Olivia Sharp – Murder (5 counts) – 43 years, possible parole 29 years
Irene Standing Horse – Murder (2) – 20 years, possible parole 16 years
Heidi Vantreese – Involuntary Manslaughter, Minor in possession – 10 years, possible parole 8 years.
Andrea Cha read over the list a few times, her feet propped up on her desk and a burner phone to her ear. The temporary office she'd been given was sparse, as she had only moved in recently and wasn't planning on staying long. It had a short grey carpet, and aside from her desk, its décor was limited to a tall plastic plant in the corner, rooted in a flowerpot full of cat's eye marbles. Of course, these things alone still made it far more plush than the rest of the prison.
“You're sure you want all of them?” she asked gaily.
Director Abraham voice was slightly tinny when he responded. “Yes,” he said.
“But why?” asked Andrea. “I thought this was just about Chase.”
“You don't need to know why. Do as you're told.”
Andrea smiled to herself and leaned back in her chair. “Now is that any way to ask someone to do something for you? I've been good, you know. I haven't indulged in my urges one bit, although it was tempting.”
“Somehow I doubt that,” said Director Abraham directly. “The cannibal is not the only young woman with potential for Project ARTEMIS. If she were, you and I would not be having this conversation.”
“Did you just call me a young woman, you flatterer?” she teased.
“It was true when you were recruited.”
“Hm. How mean.”
“The prison system provides a perfect means for discovery and transport of potential candidates. Otsego County Women's, specifically the cell block I have instructed you to house the cannibal in, is their final pit stop before being transferred here.”
This was very enlightening news to Andrea. She looked back at the list, skimming it with a new perspective. “I dunno about some of these. One of them is doing eighteen months for assault. That doesn't sound like a super soldier.”
“I can assure you the scouting process was quite rigorous,” said Director Abraham calmly. “Of course, you're not wrong that the cannibal is a special case.”
“Chase.”
“Yes, yes...'Chase'.”
She heard the unease in his voice. The sadist smiled slyly, unable to resist the little morsel of weakness placed before her. The Director showed so little weakness, after all. “What do you have planned for her, I wonder, if naming her makes you so uncomfortable?”
The man's voice hardened once again. “That is none of your concern.”
Still smirking to herself, Andrea tossed the list down on her desk. “But does this really have to take so long? It’s so boring here.”
“It takes time to arrange a prisoner transfer of this size. More time still to prepare for the subsequent disappearance. Especially since some of them are high profile prisoners. Excuses need to be made. Smokescreens and obfuscations need to be deployed. A lot of precautions have to be taken.”
“Well, try and hurry, won’t you?” asked Andrea. “Can I tell her?”
“No! Do not inform the...Do not inform Chase until I give the order. That is all.” This sentence was punctuated by a click as he hung up.
...........
Tatum breathed deeply and steadily as she did her reps on the bench press. Chase stood behind her. She had gleaned from the context of the situation that this was 'spotting.'
The gym was not as impressive as the one at Sunnycrest High. There was a basketball court and hardwood floor, just like in Sunnycrest, but it seemed smaller somehow. After a moment, Chase realized this was because there were no stands. There was enough room to play a game of basketball, and that was it.
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Adjacent to the basketball court, separated from it by large panes of reinforced bulletproof glass, was the weight room. There were some bench presses and weight machines inside, as well things like exercise bikes, rowing machines, and treadmills.
“Getting, hff, used to things around here?” puffed Tatum, pushing the barbell up in the air, then lowering it back down.
“Yes, some,” said Chase. “Still not know much girls.”
“Yeah, I noticed that,” said Tatum. “Hff. You're not missing much.”
Tatum had taken off her uniform's orange shirt and tied it around her waist. Beneath it was a white, midriff-baring tank top. Chase still didn't have any clothes other than her prison garb. Tatum must have gotten that from commissary. Sweat was forming on Tatum's forehead, arms, and her drum-taut navel.
“Feel like miss much,” said Chase. “Thought this place was meet girl like me.”
Tatum paused with the barbell low, then pushed it up again. “Hff. Yeah. I hear ya. You have a hard time functioning on the outside, huh? It feels like in here is where you belong? You're not alone. Lotta kids like us end up feeling that way.”
As Tatum said this, Chase's gut response was that Tatum wasn’t quite right. In some ways, Chase had been at her most functional when she was a cheerleader. That was what felt really natural. But of course, that couldn't be true. “Yes, kind of.”
Tatum raised the barbell up and held it there. Chase realized she wanted help racking it, so she did.
“Hate to say it, but this isn't really that kind of place,” said Tatum, sitting up. “The girls in here keep to themselves. We might be on okay terms with each other, but it's not like we're one big happy family. In here, you don't trust anybody. Not all the way, at least.”
Chase was confused. Had Miss Cha been wrong? Well, she had said that Chase would meet girls like herself here. And she was right, that had happened. But a week had passed and Chase was nowhere near as close to any of these girls as she had been with her cheerleading squadmates by this point. She was beginning to feel a gnawing loneliness, a gnawing emptiness in her heart where the love of her friends had been. Even though she was supposed to be feeling better than ever now that she was making new friends who were just like her, she instead found herself clinging desperately to Miss Cha’s promise that her old friends could come visit her. Even though she should have been turning over a new leaf and optimistically facing a fresh start, it really felt as though this fabled visit was all she had to look forward to.
“Liv make lots friends. How she do?” asked Chase.
Tatum picked up a towel and wiped her face. “Liv? You mean Olivia? Those aren't really her friends. They're people like you: People she uses to get what she wants. But with them, it doesn't stop at a couple candy bars.” She tossed the towel aside. “She targets new girls, scared ones who are freaked out about their first time in jail, or girls who need structure, need to feel like they’re part of a posse, like they're not alone in here. Olivia acts like that's what it's all about, when it's really about manipulation and taking them for everything they have. And I don't mean just commissary money.”
“What else?” asked Chase.
Tatum hesitated, then stood up. “Never mind.” She patted Chase on the shoulder. “Your turn.”
Chase looked at her, then down at the bench. “Can have more weights?”
“You want more? Sure,” said Tatum. She slipped the collar off, then turned to the pile of extra weights. “How much do you want?”
“Twice much,” said Chase.
Tatum expected Chase to reveal this as a joke, but the blonde new girl kept a straight face. “Twice as much?” asked Tatum. “You're sure?”
“Yes, that fine for now. Not lift steel bar before. Want start small,” Chase explained.
Again, Tatum paused for Chase to tell her how much weight she REALLY wanted. When she didn't, Tatum shrugged and picked up a weight. While Chase watched her, she asked sadly, “So it no good to try? Not make no friends?”
Tatum slid the weight onto the bar with a heavy scraping sound. “Do whatever you want,” she said. “Just be careful who you trust, that's all. For everybody's sake.”
“Why you sake?”
“Because you're obviously strong, Chase. Strong, and naive. The wrong person could easily misuse your trust to do something much worse than just take your candy bar.”
Chase didn’t respond. In silence, she watched Tatum secure the weights in place, letting her words marinate. Once the bar was burdened to Chase’s liking, she lay down on the bench and took hold of the grips. But as she did, she felt deeply troubled.
Was it what Tatum said? Yes, that was part of it. She didn’t think she was as...naive as Tatum said, but if she could be tricked so easily into parting with her Big Hunk, what else could she be tricked into? Yes, it was that, but it was also the fact that they were not just talking about Olivia anymore. Olivia might have fit the bill, but was there someone else in Chase’s life who did as well? An ambiguous knot of unease in her stomach told her that maybe there was.
On their way to the showers after finishing their workout, they crossed paths with Andrea in the hall.
“Mom miss!” said Chase excitedly, running over to her, wrists cuffed.
“Hey! Don’t do that!” said one of the guards who was escorting them.
Andrea gave him a smile and a wave. “It’s fine. It’s fine. Hi, Chase. Sorry it’s been a while, I’ve just been so busy. What’s up?”
“Ask cheer to come yet?” asked Chase eagerly. “Leash and Cait and Lin come soon?!”
Andrea’s expression faltered. This little thing was enough to make Chase’s heart sink. Instead of answering, Andrea looked at Tatum and the guards. “You can go on ahead. I’d like to speak with Chase alone.”
“Huh?” asked the other guard. “But-”
“Go on ahead,” Andrea repeated. “It’s alright.”
The guards looked at each other, then shrugged and continued on toward the showers with Tatum. Now that they were alone, Andrea led Chase into the nearest empty room.
“What?” asked Chase uneasily. “Leash, Lin, Cait...come?”
Andrea recalled the way she’d rehearsed this moment. She looked at Chase with sympathy, and said in a caring voice, “I’m sorry, Chase. I should have told you sooner, but...it’s not an easy thing. I wasn’t sure how.”
“Not how what?” asked Chase.
Andrea took one of Chase’s cuffed hands into her own. “I asked them to come. Not just them, either. Some of your other squadmates like Victoria, Melissa, and so on. Chase...no one wanted to come.”
Chase blinked. She heard what Andrea Cha said, but it didn’t make sense. “Not...want come? No.”
“I’m afraid so,” said Andrea. “I tried to talk them into it. I told them it would only be a short visit. But they weren’t interested.”
Chase was dumbfounded. “No, that not sense. That not true.”
“I’m afraid it is,” repeated Andrea. “I think they would have come, if the prison was closer. But they’re all very busy with school, and with cheerleading...and…” She stopped herself.
“And?” asked Chase numbly. There had to be further reason for them not to come than just them being busy. They were her best friends, after all!
“Well, and...and you have to understand, they’re not quite in the same situation as you,” said Andrea. “They’re not hurting for friends. They have lots of other friends. Lots of friends who are just like them...who aren’t violent, who don’t do bad things...oh, they love you in spite of all that...but...they told me that with you gone, things are going back to normal for them. And they forgot how much they like that…”
Chase couldn’t speak. She heard Andrea say these things, and perhaps if she didn’t hate herself, if she didn’t already hold such similar beliefs about herself, she could have seen them for the lies they were. But she did not. The words rang painfully true. They confirmed to Chase what she had long suspected, what she had long believed: They were better off without her. They would have been better off if Chase had never come into their lives. And now, all of them knew it too.
Chase began to cry. Andrea opened her arms, and Chase buried her face in the smaller woman’s shoulder, and her loud sobs echoed shallowly in the empty room.