“So, what’d you do anyways?” Emily’s roommate, Kara with a K, asked from the bunk above her. Kara, who’d told Emily she’d been at Lincoln Juvenile Correctional Center for six months, had hot pink hair, tattoos up her arms, and a piercing in her septum.
Earlier that morning, Nate and Emily had taken a walk to The Pit to watch the sunrise. No Instagram or phones, just them.
“Have you heard all the rumors?” Emily had asked him, her face puffy from crying, as she kicked a rock toward his feet. Emily hadn’t stopped crying since she’d found out about the Thomas family a few days before. There’d been so much talk and gossip in the neighborhood about their deaths. Rumors were spreading that it was Emily’s fault.
“Yeah,” Nate replied, kicking the rock back toward Emily. “I try to ignore everyone. You should too.”
As Nate and Emily had headed back to their trailer, a police car slowly approached them, and two officers stepped out. Emily knew what they were going to say before they even began to read her the Miranda rights. The rumors must not have been total lies because the cops believed them. She’d silently cried as the cops cuffed her, Nate shouting that he was running home to wake up Debbie and call a lawyer.
When she’d arrived at the detention center, the intake officer removed Emily’s handcuffs, had her remove her shoes and earrings, and had her empty her pockets. She then had Emily walk through a metal detector before handing her an undersized towel with a little bar of soap and miniature bottle of shampoo and ushered her through a two-way door into a room with a large shower in it. After she showered and dried off, the officer handed Emily socks, underwear, a bra, sweatpants, a white T-shirt, and a sweatshirt. She got dressed in her new wardrobe and then followed the officer back into the intake room as the officer got more information before leading her to her pod.
“It’s your lucky day,” the officer announced as she led Emily to her cell. “Our facility would put you in isolation since you’re a juvenile, but today we’re at maximum capacity. Looks like you have a roommate.”
As Emily stared at the bunk above her, the whole morning seemed like a dream now.
Kara and Emily were in Pod D. Their cell was furnished with a built-in bunk, a desk with a stool, a sink, and a toilet. Kara was already in the top bunk when Emily arrived, so she gladly lay down on the bottom bunk.
“I didn’t do anything,” Emily said with a sniffle as she stared up at the metal bars of the bunk bed.
“Yeah, sure you didn’t,” Kara said with a snicker. “You haven’t stopped crying since you got in here.”
“What’d you do?” Emily asked her as she wiped her eyes with the rough blanket beneath her.
“Meth. Heroin. Fentanyl. Selling. Buying. Using. You name it,” Kara said matter-of-factly. “God, what I wouldn’t do for some crank right now,” she whimpered longingly.
Emily frowned thinking of how troublesome it was that this girl was hooked on such hardcore drugs and had ruined her life. But then who am I kidding, I’m in the bunk below her, she thought.
“Knock, knock,” a tall prison guard announced in a thick Nigerian accent as he approached their cell.
“My lawyer here?” Kara asked excitedly as she hopped from the bunk above Emily.
“Her lawyer,” the guard directed, pointing toward Emily.
My lawyer? Emily wondered as she sat up and placed her feet into the slip-on shoes provided for her. She stepped out of the cell and followed the guard through Pod D into a room similar to the intake room she’d been in earlier that morning. When she walked into the room, she saw Debbie sitting next to a woman wearing a lime green pantsuit with matching lime green nails. Her flaxen-streaked hair and overly done makeup made her look like she was a clown. She had a large notebook in front of her, probably filled with notes from my case, Emily thought.
“My baby!” Debbie stood up and gave Emily a hug. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there this morning when those monsters arrested you!” Seeing her mom made Emily automatically break down in tears. She began to shake as she sat down in the empty chair across from the lawyer.
“Hello, Emily. My name is Valerie Anderson,” the lawyer introduced herself. “And I’m going to be your court-appointed lawyer for this case.”
“She’s going to help us get you out of this, hon,” Debbie said, reassuringly. “I’ve been talking to her. She’s real good, okay?” Debbie sniffled and wiped her nose with her hands.
“The state is charging you with manslaughter. Under the common law in Maryland, manslaughter is the killing of another unintentionally while doing an unlawful act, a negligent act, or by negligently failing to perform a legal duty,” Valerie read from her notes. I wonder why Valerie needs to read this from her notes. Doesn’t she know this stuff if she’s a lawyer? Emily wondered.
Valerie continued. “I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that the state is charging you as an adult given your age and the nature of the crime.”
Emily stared at Valerie with wide eyes. An adult?
“She’s only sixteen!” Debbie exclaimed, running her hands through her hair.
“Yes, but in the eyes of the law, if a juvenile commits a crime this serious, they can be tried as an adult, and they’re pulling out all their bells and whistles. They could charge you with up to ten years of imprisonment.”
Emily thought about herself as a twenty-six-year-old sitting in prison. All her friends would be graduated from college, married with kids. My life is ruined, she thought.
“You said you had good news?” Debbie asked with a gleam of hope in her eyes.
“Oh yes,” Valerie said, glancing down at her notes. “The good news is at the bail review, I’m requesting to place Emily on probation under supervision in her home. That means that hopefully, during the trial, she’ll be able to stay at home under your guardianship with some sort of an ankle monitor that tracks her whereabouts.”
Emily breathed a sigh of relief. “So, I won’t have to stay here the whole time?”
“I’m not promising anything,” Valerie said, closing her notebook and placing it in a bag on the floor. “Let’s see what happens.”
“Time’s up,” the guard announced as he opened the door and peeked his head in.
“We’ll see you in two days at the hearing,” Valerie said and reached her hand out for Emily to shake it. Emily reached her hand out awkwardly and shook Valerie’s hand, her clammy fingers sticking to her lawyers’. “And just a reminder in case you don’t know this, no talking to anyone about your case. No one. You hear?”
Emily nodded her head slowly.
“And try to get some rest.”
Debbie staggered over and gave Emily a bear hug. “I love you, Em,” she whispered. “We’ll get through this.” She grasped her hands in Emily’s and Emily felt something hard slip into her palm as she did this. As the guard led Emily back into her room, she peeked down into her palm and saw a small white pill. She slipped it into her mouth discreetly before the guard turned back around.