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“You took , that sentence meant so much Lexi found it hard to say s on me ”

“Waste?”

“I’ll never forget what you did for me ”

Eva started to cry in earnest “Be strong,” she said “I’ll visit as often as I can I’ll write to you ”

“That’s enough,” the guard said, and Lexi felt herself being pulled away, led out of the courtroo hallway and up two sets of stairs Finally, they put her in a room that was about ten by ten, with cement walls; no ; a metal, seatless toilet; and a metal bench The place smelled of urine and sweat and dried vomit

She didn’t want to sit down, so she stood there, waiting

She didn’t wait long Soon, the guards ca that had happened at lunch as they led her out of the back of the courthouse to a waiting police car

“We’re taking you directly to Purdy,” one of the guards said

Purdy The Washington Corrections Center for Women

Lexi nodded and said nothing

The guard shackled her ankles and snapped her handcuffed wrists to the chain around her waist

“Let’s go ”

She hobbled along behind hi low In the police car, she was buckled into the backseat The chains around her waist bit into her back, so that she had to sit forward, with her nose alrill that protected the officers in the front seat As they drove to the corner, they caht

In front of the the street; they looked like paper-doll versions of theile and bent Zach was in the back, alone, his shoulders slumped doard, his chin dropped From this side, his shaved head and burned jaw turned hinized

Then the light changed, and they drove away