She had been staring out the dirty window of the bus for hours. Shackles weighed heavy on her wrists and ankles. The bus would occasionally hit pot holes, making it jolt wildly. She watched as the grassy valley disappeared and desert and canyon took it's place. The middle of nowhere; perfect place for a prison. She hated herself for being sent here. Why, Nymph? Why did you get yourself mixed up in this? She thought to herself.

She had gotten tired of staring out the window, it only reminded her of her immanent doom. She looked around. There was a broad-shouldered man with heavy eyebrows, and a short, dark-skinned Muslim woman. There were two teenage boys holding hands. One with brown hair towering over the other blonde-haired one. Misery loves company. She blew her long brown hair out of her face, only to have it fall back into place. She had the worst kind of nervous feeling in her stomach. The kind where you know something's going to hurt. Like waiting to get punched in the stomach.

As a child, her caretaker sometimes took her to angry mobs insulting and yelling at people being loaded onto these buses. She sometimes joined in with the yelling and insults, just to fit in. If only she knew how horrible it felt. She remembered when she had committed her 'crime'. She had been sitting and talking with her only friend, on the grass, and no one was around. The girl had only been her friend for a few months or so, and Nymph had never had a friend before, so she got attached. They were sitting, and the girl was talking, about normal things like boys and school, when Nymph planted a kiss on her mouth. She didn't know what came over her, it was sudden and even she felt strange about it. The girl immediately ran away screaming and crying "LESBIAN! A LESBIAN KISSED ME!" She shouted it in the streets until every person in the neighborhood poked their heads out the window shouting, "SEND HER TO THE FACILITY!" at the top of their lungs. Nymph felt betrayed. She never wanted to trust anyone ever again. She knew she wasn't a lesbian, she had recognized feelings for boys before. She wasn't sure what she was. The first thing that came to mind was, 'monster,' because that's what people were shouting at her. She hated it.

She snapped back to reality, when the bus came to a stop. She felt her stomach churn. She wanted to die the second she saw the armed men with terrifying masks, concealing their identity. What would be in store for her? Torture(?) . . . Work(?) . . . Rape(?) . . . or even perhaps, Death? An armed guard harshly grabbed her arm and led her to the front of a line of people that were on the bus. There was a line heading towards a small door in the front of the building; she being in front of it. Another masked man wearing latex gloves and a lab coat led her through. Behind the door was a small hallway, bearing a larger steel door. He led her through it, into a large circular room with a huge machine in the middle. The man ripped and sliced off her clothes with a pair of long scissors and tossed them in an incinerator. Nymph felt very embarrassed, and vulnerable. She wanted to just get it over with, whatever he was going to do. He chopped off all her hair, leaving it only two inches below her ears, exposing her neck. He then pulled over a part of the large machine, and applied something to the end of it. Some kind of extension.
"Look away." he said in a calm, casual voice. A grin played upon his lips, as she did so. What she felt then was like having her skin burned off and then having salt and lemon juice poured into the wound. She jerked a little, but was quickly grabbed by the neck by a cold, gloved hand. He tossed her some kind of folded uniform and pushed her through another door, into another hallway and slammed it behind her. She fingered the burn on her neck. It stung like a b**** every time she so much as turned her head. She tried to put on some of the clothes the man tossed to her before a guard came through the other door. She had only managed to get her pants on, but it was good enough. She held the shirt tightly against her chest as the guard led her to her cell. Before shutting her in, he took her shackles. The cell was basically a cement square with bar doors and a chunk of foam on the inside.

It was cold in there, and lonely. People who were in their cells stared at her. They all looked like normal people, not the monsters/demons her caretaker told her about. They all looked as scared as she was. She put on her shirt in the corner, so no one would see her. She sat there, for a while, soaking up the misery.

Not much later, the blonde boy from the bus arrived and was led to her cell. He was short and stout, with a round face. She didn't like the idea of sharing. But he was like her. He had most likely been seen holding hands or kissing the boy who was with him on the bus. She found some comfort in knowing she wasn't alone. She didn't say hello or look at him, she only sat quietly in the corner leaning against the cement wall.
"Hi...What's your name?"
Nymph didn't respond.
"Don't wanna talk, huh? Well...I'm Gabriel, Gabe, for short." He said with an awkward smile.
She didn't respond, again. She promised herself she wouldn't trust anyone ever again. The one person she decided to trust, turned on her in seconds.

Gabriel leaned against the wall and slid down to the ground. He held his legs tightly to his chest. He shivered as cold breeze blew through the entire facility. Perhaps someone had left a window or a door open.The entire area surrounding the spot on Nymph's neck was tender, scarred. She still didn't know what it was. She turned toward Gabriel slowly, to avoid hurting the burn on her neck. He seemed just as miserable as she was. She felt rude, having not responded.
"My name is Nymph." She said.
"Oh? Cool, Nymphs are like...spirits or mythical creatures...right? They roam around lakes and rivers." He asked, a slight note of question to his tone.

She only nodded, to avoid further conversation; she wasn't in the mood to talk. It was dark out, so she assumed it would be alright to sleep. She hugged her knees to her chest lightly. She sighed, the ground being harder than what she had expected. Wait, what had she expected? She was in a god damn cell. Cement floors. No bathrooms. No privacy. A cell. Prison.
Prisoners sleep in cells. She was one. She closed her eyes, shutting away the thoughts for awhile.
She missed the soft comfort of a bed to sleep on, the way the mattress hugged to her curves. Sleep took Nymph into it's grasp, and lulled her to sleep with it's soothing touch.