They always said that the first night was always the hardest. I have just arrived here a few hours ago, but I have never been humiliated like this my whole entire life. It was a place where they took away everything from you and made you feel less than an animal. They deprived you of your privacy, dignity, dreams, and above all, every little bit of your freedom. But you had to keep in mind that it was temporary and that you would be free at last because hope was the only thing that was left for you in here, and if you lose it, you would lose everything including your sanity, and humanity.

I was laying on my bed alone in my cell. I was thankful that it was solitary, though. Having a cellmate would have made everything much harder. I sighed, I have been handling a lot of things above my tolerance point lately. I have been trying to maintain my strength as much as I could. I couldn't let Eric see me broken, so I had to stay strong for him, also I couldn't let Jake see my weaknesses. However, now I was all by myself, and it was going to be that way for a very long time to come, so there was nothing holding me from breaking down.

I have done terrible things throughout my life, and I had to know that at some point, my actions will come around, and hit me in the face. Now, the feeling of guilt was burning deep inside of me because of everything that I had done, and what I did to the one person I have deeply loved. A sob escaped my mouth followed by a shower of tears that I couldn't hold in anymore. My life was already ruined, why was I still fighting?

I didn't sleep a bit that night, and I ended up crying my eyes out.

><><><><><><><

Two weeks of torture had passed in this hell of a prison. I have been avoiding people and troubles as much as I could. I just wanted to serve my time, and get the hell out of here even though I felt that I might strangle myself before the end of my sentence.

I sighed, maybe I really deserved everything that happened to me, after all.

It was yard time and all of the inmates were outside. Some were talking, some were walking, and some were playing, but I was sitting alone with a book in my hand in a faraway corner.

Unexpectedly, a fellow inmate came and sat next to me.

"Emma Lawrence, isn't it?" she asked with a smirk on her face.

"Yes?" I answered but it seemed like a question more than an answer. I was really surprised, how did she know my name?

She didn't comment but smiled in satisfaction.

"And you are?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It doesn't matter who I am," she said, smiling mischievously at me. "I just wanted to tell you that Adam Blake says hi."

She stood up, and walked away, leaving me with my eyes wide open, and my whole body shaking. I thought I would never hear that name again, and I prayed to never do. He was the reason for my nightmares for a very long time, just hearing his name sent shivers through my body.

I met him almost five years ago. Eric met him during a heist back in Europe and had done business with him, then he introduced him to me. The three of us became a sort of team and started doing a lot of heists and business together. And through the course of time, Adam and I became so close, and then we fell in love or so I thought at the time.

After a while, Adam started getting out of control, he started hurting people and getting armed during the heists. Eric and I stood to him because we had a strict rule to never hurt people under any circumstances, or even use guns. He disagreed with us but finally, he promised to stop whatever he was doing.

One day, I was pulling off a heist with him without Eric. I finished cracking the safes and came to find him having a poor security guard at gunpoint after beating him up till he lost consciousness.

"Adam, what the hell are you doing?" I asked in fear once I saw the security guard lying on the ground.

"The bastard found me and tried to call the police," he answered, still holding the gun in the direction of the guard.

"He is unconscious, can we leave now?" I argued. "And please, put that damn thing down."

"Emma, the son of a bitch saw my face. I can't let him live." He scoffed.

"What, no!" I said in disbelief. "You can't do that."

He laughed sarcastically before he looked at me. "Emma, can't you see? Everything will be easier that way, everybody will fear us, and having witnesses won't be a problem anymore, we will be untouchable, and invincible."

"Oh yeah, really?" I asked, waving my hands in frustration. "And then, the police won't chase us for theft, they will chase us for murder. Adam, you are definitely out of your mind."

"No, you need to understand that this's how these kinds of situations should be handled," he hissed, his tone unnerving me.

"No, I won't let you do that," I said, a plan forming in my head.

I succeeded in making him drop the weapon for a few minutes so we could discuss everything out. But I knew that Adam was totally out of control, and needed to be stopped once and for all. So, I tricked him into one of the separate rooms and trapped him inside, then I called the police. After that, Adam was arrested and was put in prison. I never heard of him after that until now. Did he break out of prison?

"Lawrence," a prison guard called, breaking the cycle of my thoughts. "You have a visitor."

It took me a moment before I realized what he had said, then I stood up and walked beside him to the visitors' room.

A smile made its way to my lips, and I forgot what happened for a moment when I saw Eric. I walked toward him and was about to give him a hug when the prison guard cleared his throat loudly, giving us a stern look. "No touching allowed."

Eric glared at him. "She's my sister, for heaven's sake."

The prison guard shrugged. "Those are the rules."

Eric groaned before he took a seat in front of me. "How are you doing in this place, Em?"

"I'm doing okay." I gave him a reassuring smile. "I will live, don't worry."

"Are you sure you are willing to stay for five years in this place?" he whispered, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't think they're giving me much choice in the matter." I chuckled quietly. "Unless you are planning to break me out of here."

"I could do it if you want." He smirked.

"No thanks, I will save you the trouble." I smiled. "Now tell me, how's Mom and Dad?"

"They are fine but it's killing them, you know," he started. "You being locked up here, and they being far away, not allowed to see you for five freaking years."

"Just tell them that I'm fine and that they don't need to worry about me," I said, I knew that my parents wouldn't be able to come and see me, because it would be so dangerous for them. Eric nodded.

"So, how's Alice?" I asked, changing the subject of my parents.

"She's good. She wanted to visit you so badly, but she's out of the country at the moment." Eric sighed, and I nodded. Then he seemed to remember something. "Emma, what was with that look you had on your face when you came in?"

"What look?" I asked, trying to act clueless.

"Emma, what is wrong with you?" Eric asked in a serious tone. "Did anybody hurt you?" he demanded.

I shook my head, and he let out a breath of relief. I then sighed and decided that it would be better if I told him the truth, in case anything happened. "A girl came and reminded me of someone."

"Who?" Eric asked, frowning.

I let out a deep breath. "Adam Blake."

Eric's eyes widened. "What!" he shouted in disbelief and received a glare from the prison guard which made him lower his voice. "Isn't he supposed to be in prison?"

"I don't know," I answered with a sigh.

"It's over," the prison guard said firmly.

"Can't we have five more minutes?" Eric asked him with a pleading tone.

"No," the prison guard answered coldly. "You have to leave now, sir."

Eric groaned as he stood up. "Don't worry Emma, I will figure everything out."

I nodded and smiled at him before I started walking with the prison guard back to my cell.

><><><><><><

It was a few hours later, I was sitting in my cell thinking about everything that happened today, and what possibly could be the matter with Adam! Later, a prison guard that I didn't recognize unlocked my cell, and stepped inside.

"The doctor wants to see you in the infirmary," he said in an authorized tone.

"Why? I'm not complaining of anything," I said, my eyebrows brought together in confusion.

"It's a random examination." He gave me a strict look.

Something was suspicious but I decided to go with him anyway to save me the unnecessary trouble.

I swallowed hard as I walked silently next to him. After a while, I realized that we weren't going in the direction of the infirmary as I visited it on my first day.

"Excuse me, officer. Are you sure we are going in the right direction?" I asked. Panic was starting to make its way to me.

He didn't answer or even look at me, I wanted to hit him and run so badly but I stopped myself. Then, we were in front of a locked room, I was about to make an action but he opened the door quickly and pushed me inside, forcefully.

My eyes widened once I was in, there were two more people inside. One was another prison guard and the second was the girl I met earlier this morning, but this time, she was wearing a prison guard's uniform.

I started to panic and make myself ready to attack but then a hand covered my mouth with a piece of cloth from behind me.

I started to kick my attacker with my elbow in his stomach but he gripped both of my hands and bent them painfully, so I wouldn't be able to move them.

I continued to struggle with my attacker, but then I started feeling weak and dizzy, and that was when I realized that the piece of cloth was covered with a liquid that had a sweet smell.

Wait... a sweet smell? I knew that smell.

My eyelids started getting heavy, and I started to lose control of my body.

Chloroform.

'Damn it!' I thought as I fell to the ground, and blackness became the only thing I could see.