My First Official Contest .....

OK I'm entering my first official contest...how apropo is this for me?  It's a short story, of sorts, where the contestants HAVE to start the story with these words.... "The cell was eight feet wide."   Don't ask me how or where these ideas in my head come from, but here's what I have so far....and I hope nobody steals it to submit before me! lol

The cell was eight feet wide.  As the heavy steel doors clanked behind me, my stomach rose to my throat with the thought that I’d die within these walls.  I was afraid this might happen.  I’d been so careful, but there was always a chance of getting caught, and I was fully aware of that fact.

Why didn’t I listen to Jud?  He taught me well, but I strayed from the script.  He wouldn’t save me now.  He couldn’t.  He’d wind up in the cell next to me if he did.  I’m on my own and need a good lawyer.  Jud has the money and connections to hook me up, but again, he won’t.  He was my mentor, but now he’ll disavow me.

I slam my fist into the thin mattress I’ll be forced to sleep on for the rest of my life.  Even the pillow is smaller than one they afford you on an airplane.  My eyes fill with tears, but they’re not for regret over what I've done.  They’re for me.  I know it’s selfish and weak, but there it is.  I’m so angry at myself that my next punch hits the wall and renders my knuckles raw.

My only solace is the fact that I don’t have a cellmate.  I’m too pretty to withstand the diabolical brutality that would be visited upon me if I were in gen pop.  Yes, I’ve said it.  I’m pretty.  Prettier than most, in fact.  That’s how I met Jud.

He threw a garden party for all of his neighbors, and I was the new kid on the block.  He later told me he did it just to meet me.  It had all been a ruse, because I’m 22 years younger than him, and he didn’t want the appearance of impropriety.  God forbid he gave the ‘ladies who lunch’ more fodder.  They already mercilessly gossiped about him, foolishly thinking he didn’t know.  It was pure jealousy on their part.  He was an eligible bachelor with more money than Trump, and they wanted to get their perfectly manicured hands on it.