A Broken Promise Across the Glass
A young woman pressed her palm against the glass divider inside the visitation room, gripping the heavy black phone receiver tight against her ear.
Tears rolled down her face, glistening under the bright overhead fluorescent lights, as her mouth shook with intense distress.
She reminded the man sitting across from her that he had promised to stay by her side if she agreed to take the legal charge for his crime.
On the other side of the thick glass, a man wearing dark sunglasses, a red polo shirt, and heavy gold chains held his receiver to his ear with a calm demeanor.
His blunt statement cut through the phone line, reminding her that the court had just sentenced her to twenty years in prison.
He asked why she expected him to give up his own life for two decades, labeling her request as completely selfish.
The Cost of a Sacrificed Future
The woman raised both hands, her orange prison jumpsuit bearing the dark stamped letters of her inmate number across the front.
She wept loudly as she told him that she was on her way to college before she let him talk her into making this decision.
Her fingers trembled as she pressed her palms flat against the cold counter in front of the glass partition.
The man sat back in his chair, leaning his elbow onto the surface while looking at her through his black tinted lenses.
He stated flatly that he appreciated what she had done for him, but insisted that nothing could be changed now that the judge had ruled.
An Abrupt Cutoff
Her eyes opened wide in shock as she hit the metal desk in front of her, leaning in closer to the microphone screen.
She shouted into the receiver, telling him that tricking her into taking his prison sentence was the ultimate act of deception.
The man leaned into his receiver one last time, shouting back that he had never physically forced her to do anything.
He cut off the line by dropping the heavy handpiece back onto its metallic hook with a sharp clatter.
He stood up from his chair, turned his back to the visitation glass, and walked out through the exit door without glancing back.
Left alone behind the partition, she covered her face with both hands, her chest heaving as tears continued to fall.
Walking the Corridor
A few moments later, a tall uniformed officer escorted her through the wide hallway, with steel handcuffs binding her wrists together in front of her waist.
Her head remained tilted downward, her ponytail bouncing slightly with each step as her dark shoes shuffled along the smooth floor tiles.
The officer walked right beside her, watching her tear-streaked face while speaking in a calm, firm voice.
He noted that he saw too many young women taking criminal sentences for men who lied to them and abandoned them when trouble arrived.
He advised her to hold her head up as they reached the halfway mark of the long corridor lined with heavy metal doors.
She took a shuddering breath, keeping her bound hands resting against her orange waist while adjusting her stance.
The officer gently rested his hand against her arm, guiding her down the white cinderblock hallway as they walked away toward the secure wing of the building.
Send this to someone who needs a reminder to protect their own future and never sacrifice their life for someone who won’t stand by them.
