Because they'd gone to bed midday, they woke up two hours before the alarms. Kora knew because she had a watch.
"How do you know?" Alex asked.
"I have a watch."
"Oh." Alex had already been awake, apparently. And bounding with energy. She jumped onto Kora's bunk.
"It's three in the morning," Kora said, rough morning-voice.
"I know. You just said."
"I did? Everything's kind of a blur."
Kora tried sitting up. She got a bit of the way, adjusting her pillow so she had a better view of Alex. Alex was sitting cross-legged, per usual. Apparently.
Kora had a migraine. Lack of coffee and food. And water.
Kora and Alex were both targets of Theresa and gang. A few minutes passed, and neither of them brought it up. It was the elephant in the room. It was the thing that they didn't want to acknowledge because it was likely to kill them later on today. It was the threat hanging over their heads like the ceiling fan. Why talk about it? Why make a big deal of it? They would have to deal with it whether they wanted to or not.
That was Kora's thought, anyway.
Apparently, Alex's too.
"You drink a lot of coffee?" Alex asked.
"As much as I can get my hands on."
"Why are you here?"
This again, thought Kora.
"Because I got caught."
"There has to be a reason."
"There doesn't have to be a reason. I'm here because I'm here, because I got caught."
"Doesn't make sense."
"It doesn't make sense that there would be a reason I'm here."
"There's a reason for everything," said Alex.
Kora didn't know how to argue with her. All she knew was that Alex was crazy. That wasn't just apparent. It was true. She talked crazy, acted crazy, had crazy amounts of energy at three in the morning, and was confused about who the hell Kora was.
"I'm just a smuggler," Kora said, feeling the need to say it.
"You undervalue yourself."
"What about you, then? Why are you here?" Kora asked.
Alex laughed to herself, a little too loud for comfort. Waking other prisoners up this early would only make more enemies. But Alex must have realized. She quieted herself.
"Probably to protect you," said Alex.
Kora smirked. Couldn't help herself.
"Why'd you laugh?" Alex asked.
"It's a nice thought. But you're not getting it from anywhere. The world isn't telling you that you're here for me. You're making it up. You're making up grander reasons for our confinement than there are."
"Of course not the world, silly." Alex paused. Lowered her voice to a quiet whisper. "The voice."
Kora got chills despite herself.
She waited for Alex to explain herself, but she didn't.
"What voice?" asked Kora.
"The one that speaks to me."
That made too much sense. Alex was hearing voices.
Confirmed. Crazy.
"I'm not crazy," Alex said, but soft enough that it made her seem even more crazy. "I'm different. I'm not crazy."
Slowly, with emphasis, Kora said, "Then why do you hear voices?"
Alex shrugged. Kora couldn't see well in the darkness, but Alex's eyes looked like they were glistening with tears.
"What's wrong?" Kora asked, coming more awake than ever. This conversation was so shockingly abnormal that it was waking her up.
"The voice just spoke to me."
"What did it say?" Kora asked.
But she didn't get the answer. She saw movement, bodies, through the bars of their cell. Dark figures nearly blended into the darkness. She heard the clinking of metal on metal. A key inserted. Twisted full circle. Kora and Alex looked. Kora could make out the lead figure, turning the key: Theresa. Theresa had gotten ahold of the key somehow.
Theresa unlocked the door and threw it open. The door slid hard into the wall. Kora felt like screaming, but knew it wouldn't help any. The prison wanted it this way. Gave the keys to Theresa. Two fewer prisoners. As far as the prison was concerned, Kora and Alex were dead already.
"Hey, girls," said Theresa, moving into the room.
Her crew fanned out behind her—five big women. Not as big as Theresa, but well-sized.
"Ready to have some fun?" Theresa said, attaching a little wicked laugh.