A sound woke Tiffany up. The sound of someone sobbing. She gazed out of the barred window. It has to be past midnight.

“I see the shock has passed huh?” Tiffany peeked her head out of her bed and looked down on the girl below.

Yoona wiped her tears from her cheeks.

“I’m fine. Just ignore me.”

“Well…” Tiffany jumped down, “If you are thinking your life is over, little girl, think again. The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

“You have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Ah, we’ll see, rookie. We’ll see.”

Even in the dim moonlight, Tiffany could see Yoona’s red swollen eyes. Yoona closed her wet and sore eyes and slowly drifted off into a sleepless slumber.

***

The morning sun shone right on Yoona’s face and it was blinding. Yoona covered her face with her pillow and tried to shut out all the light and sound, but it was just too bright and noisy. The sound of hundreds of people can be deafening. Her eyes were still sore and painful and she had a massive headache. She barely slept and she wasn’t sure if she could ever sleep again.

“Rise and shine!!! Ugh, you don’t look too hot, rookie.”

“I’m really not in the mood, Tiffany.”

“You don’t sound too hot either. All those tears, tsk tsk tsk. Don’t waste your tears, girl.”

“What the hell do you know, Tiffany!?” Yoona snapped.

Tiffany smiled thinly.

“All that anger, rookie,” Tiffany edged closer, “It’s dangerous around here. You better learn how to hide it.”

“Are you threatening me!?”

“Hah! Don’t be stupid, rookie.”

The bell rang. Lunchtime.

Yoona reluctantly got up and lined up according to code and proceeded to the cafeteria. Guards were everywhere, all with that same violent look plastered on their faces, carrying their stun guns. No funny business or be ready to pay for it.

The food was still as horrible, but slowly everyone became used to the poison. Yoona still sat alone, far away from the rest. She was starving, so she gobbled up the food on her plate. Still tasted terrible though.

She was about to get up when two hands firmly gripped Yoona’s shoulders and pushed her down on her seat. Yoona turned around and saw another girl looking down on her.

“Hello there,” the girl snarled. She looked menacing.

“Wh-what do you want?”

She leaned closed to Yoona’s neck and sniffed it, making the latter to jerk away.

“You smell that? Fresh meat.” The girl her own lips.

Yoona tried to put up a bold front like she always had but that girl, she was something else. She was intimidating. Her heart was pounding. There was just this feel, this aura of dread and tension that surrounded that girl, like a grim reaper. Fear.

The girl edged closer and traced her fingers along Yoona’s back before reaching her rear and squeezed it. The sensation must have jolted something in the latter. She snapped out of the hypnosis and slapped the other girl’s hand away.

“What the hell are you doing!? Get the heck away from me!” Yoona screamed.

That spurt drew attention. Everyone turned their gaze towards Yoona but when they saw who she was with, they turned back and continued their meal like nothing happened.

The girl smiled coldly.

“Stay the hell away from me!” Yoona scurried off. That girl made her even more nervous and she didn’t want to stick around any longer. Her heart still raced when she told the guard she wanted to return to her cell. Her hand was shaking.

***

“Congratulations. You just kicked the hornet’s nest! I told you to be careful. Fantastic for you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That girl. You just spat in the wrong face, little bird.”

Yoona scoffed.

“Right.”

“Listen, rookie. Her name is Jessica. We call her Diabolus. It’s Latin for devil. You do not want to be in the wrong books with her.”

“What’s her crime?”

“We don’t know. She changes everytime we ask her. Word is she murdered her whole family when she was ten. With a screwdriver, they said. But it doesn’t matter who she is, what matters is what she has done. She has been here for nearly seven years and for seven years, she ruled this kingdom.”

“That’s what you heard. It’s probably all lies, Tiffany.”

Tiffany sat next to Yoona on her bed. She traced her fingers along the bed sheet.

“Rookie, I wasn’t without a cellmate, you know? Once there was this girl, hothead like you. She did some petty crime and she thought she was some badass, going around, taking charge. Of course, she got on the wrong foot with Jessica. This was her land. Someone who invades and steals her territory will not be tolerated.”

“What happened?”

Tiffany gave a thin smile.

“In this jungle, where the darkness of night seems more friendly and familiar than the light of day, cold and blazingly unnatural, comes a monstrous vulture that hovers, biding its time.”

She looked at Yoona in the eye, “She is learning Braille now. Jessica carved her eyes out.”

***

Well, life goes on. That phrase truly lived up to its reputation. Yoona got used to the uneasy atmosphere and its inhabitances. If there was one thing that she looked forward to everyday was the timeout into the fields at night, which was optional. Apparently some inmates were afraid of the dark. Who knew?

Yoona sat at her favourite spot and stared into the night. There were girls playing basketball at the court which was brightly lit. Somehow, she didn’t feel like joining them. Sports was her life, her passion but now, nah. She wasn’t in the mood.

It has been more than six months. She wondered how were Yuri and Taeyeon holding up back in Korea. She had not seen them in a long time. They were so far away from her now. It felt like they were from her past life. Everything felt so…distant.

The bell rang. Freedom’s over, back into the box. Yoona got up and took a deep breath of fresh air. There were no stars in the sky. It was dark and bleak. It was the same every night. After the bell played its music, everyone would groan in reluctance and the guards would scream over the PA:

“If you wanted freedom you should have thought twice before doing what you did! Now line up and get back into your cages! This is not a democracy!”

A typical night.

Yoona lined up and walked in a line headed back into the building when a pair of hands grabbed her body and shoved her into a dark room. Three figures entered the chamber and locked the door behind them. With a flick of a switch, the lights .

“Jessica!”

“Oh you remember me? How sweet.”

“What do you want?!”

“God, always the same old phrase. ‘What do you want?’. ‘What are you gonna do to me?’. HEY! Will it hurt to be creative once in a while!? Come up with a phrase! Come on! Something catchy!”

“You are crazy!”

“No…I heard that before,” Jessica replied coldly before giving Yoona a taste of the swing of the back of her hand. The latter’s cheek stung. Yoona’s eyes turned red. The same aura of anxiety suffocated her. Her heart was racing.

The other two girls grabbed her and pushed her brutally on a chair.

“Can’t you see, little child? I do not like to hear the same thing over and over again. I want something different. Incidentally,” the Diabolus grabbed a chair and sat right in front of the girl, staring right into her eye, “One girl told me, long time ago, insanity was the attempt of doing the same thing, over and over again, only to expect a different result. I liked it, so I let the girl live…with her most of her body intact. Now, you come in here, giving me the same results, the same phrase, I hear all the time. ARE YOU CALLING ME INSANE!?” Jessica stood up and slammed the wooden chair across the room, smashing it to pieces.

“No…No, I’m not,” Yoona stammered.

“You know what I find scary? You don’t know what happens to you when you die, nobody really knows. Do you want me to show you?”

“Oh God! GUARDS PLEASE! HELP! GUARDS!”

“SCREAM SWEETFLESH SCREAM!” Jessica laughed, jumping hysterically and cupped the girl’s cheek, “There ain’t nobody here to help you. My girls, they took care of the guards. We have this place all to ourselves.”

“Jesus. Okay. Okay. What do you want?”

“You see, I am not unreasonable. I have given you plenty of time to get used to things, recover from your trauma, amend with God and especially… to make more new friends… so that if you are forced to betray the one closest to you, you have others to turn back to. Am I right?”

“What-what are you trying to say?”

Jessica turned and faced the other two. “This one is a little slow huh. No matter. Patience is the essence. Oh, I learnt that phrase from another little chick too. Too bad she has to limp from now on.”

The Diabolus returned her gaze on the terrified girl.

“You look scared. Did I not entertain you?”

“No…that-that’s not it…ju-just tell me what you want me to do and I-I’ll…”

“Shhhhh. Now is not the time for fear. I haven’t done anything to you yet. But remember. If you fail, you will suffer. That is my promise,” the ominous girl edged closer and whispered, “I want you to stab Tiffany.”

***

“Where are you taking me, rookie?”

“Over here, it’s some cool stuff. Haven’t you seen this before?”

“Since when you became the tour guide, eh? I thought I was the senior here.”

“Over here. Hurry!”

“Why are you even showing me this, rookie?”

“I figure it’s time to warm up to our friendship.”

“Hmmm. Interesting. How much further?”

“Here,” Yoona opened the door and guided Tiffany in, “It’s just inside.”

“I don’t see anything, rookie. It’s so dark. What’s so-” She got slammed down on the floor. The door was locked behind them.

“Diabolus!”

“Hi. It’s been a while.”

Tiffany stared at Yoona in disgust. “Friendship huh?!”

“Oh don’t blame the poor girl,” Jessica interrupted, “She is fighting for the cause. It hurts me to say this, but you have become the martyr, the sacrifice.”

“No. Stop. I only have one more month to serve. Please don’t.”

Jessica put a finger on Tiffany’s lips. “Sweet young thing, everything doesn’t matter. It’s all in your head,” she giggled, “It has all been set into motion. What’s got to be done has to be done.”

Jessica stood up and stared at Yoona. “Go on then. Do your work.”

Yoona unsheathed her knife and walked towards the girl sprawled on the floor. Both girls were trembling.

“Don’t do it! Don’t be stupid!”

Yoona continued pacing towards the girl, gripping the knife so tightly that her fingers hurt.

“Yoona! Stop! Stop! Goddammit! Don’t be stupid, alright!!?”

Yoona stopped right in front of the girl and positioned the knife on her abdomen. Tiffany’s eyes were wide open in fear as she felt the cold metal pressed on her body.

Tiffany stared at Yoona in her eyes. The latter froze.

Jessica rested her hand on Yoona’s shoulders. “Go on then, all you need,” Jessica moved her hand to Yoona’s fingers, “All you need, is a push!”

She forced it in.

The knife went into Tiffany’s body.