PART I
Blue and red lights gleamed in Rex’s rear view mirror. He breathed sharply.
“This is not happening,†he muttered to himself, his hands shaking.
Rex was just driving back from a party. The 20 year old college student was alive with youth; he had drank a lot, danced, made out with several girls, and was looking forward to the warmth of his bed.
The sirens sounded.
Rex unconsciously adjusted his baseball cap, which had been turned backwards at a jaunty angle. He breathed in deep. “Okay, I can fake this.â€
He pulled over, and waited. From the flashing lights behind him he saw a flickering shadow as a police officer emerged. His mind raced….Could there be anything that could make this situation worse? He already had a DUI on his record, in addition to two drinking in publics and an assault charge from a fight he had gotten into at a local fraternity party.
His heart sank, and his right hand dived into the pocked of his jeans. He had a half smoked joint wrapped up.
Before he could even contemplate the seriousness of this he heard tapping on the window of his car. He rolled down the window and blinked. There standing before him was a beautiful lady cop.
She was in her mid twenties. Raven black hair flowed from behind her police hat. Her eyes were blue and frosty like. In them was a stern gaze. Her body was to die for.
“Wh-what’s the problem, officer?†Rex asked, trying to compose himself. The collar of his shirt was already soaked in sweat.
“License and registration please,†she responded. Rex squinted as she shined her flashlight into his eyes.
Rex handed over the correct documentation to her. She took a quick glance at it and leaned closer to him. There was a pause and her eyes locked with his.
She smiled, “I’m going to run this, young man.â€
“Uh, alright,†he responded, trying not to stare at her breasts.
She nodded and turned around, proceeding back to her cruiser. Rex could hear her speaking into her radio.
“Do I run for it?†Rex asked himself. His inner conscious snorted at the idea. Rex slumped back into his seat and felt the cold wind of the inevitable sweep over him.
The lady cop returned. “Young man, have you been drinking?â€
“Uh, no officer…†his voice trailed off. Ordinarily Rex was a good liar. But this time, there was something about this cop that just shook his soul…
“You sure?†she asked again, her voice a bit softer.
Maybe if he told the truth….â€Yes, ma’am, actually I have.†He instantly regretted the words.
“How much?â€
“Three or four beers.â€
“Try again,†she snapped.
“Ummm….a bit more than that.†He couldn’t take his eyes away from hers. They were almost hypnotic.
“Please step out of the car,†she ordered, her hand slowly reaching to her belt. First flirting with the handcuffs, and then her pistol.
Miserably, Rex stepped out of the car.
The female officer ordered him to repeat the alphabet backwards, and then walk a straight line. Whilst rex did this, failing, of course, with flying colors, she observed him. He was a good looking boy. Clean cut, too, his shirt was tucked into his designer jeans and his hair, a little long, hung neatly out from his baseball cap. It was a shame. She had a cousin who was a judge and after observing Rex’s prior offenses she knew what was coming to him.
“Alright, that’s enough!†she commanded, after he stumbled for the fifth time walking the line.
Rex stopped walking, and turned to stare at her. He knew what was coming. He had heard the words before and he acknowledged that sometimes they brought a sense of serenity, like a cool breeze flowing over you, beneath summer sunlight.
“Turn around and place your hands behind your head.â€
Rex sniffed a little bit, and complied. Shaking, he raised his hands behind his head and locked his fingers.
Almost immediately after doing so he felt her body press against his and she shoved him against the car. He felt her shove him forward and kick his feet apart, throwing him off balance and bringing him deeper under her control.
“You know,†she said coolly, bringing her face close to his ear. “My aunt was killed by a drunk driver.â€
Rex opened his mouth to speak, but decided against it. He gulped as he heard the clattering of handcuffs behind him. Expertly, she locked a cuff around his right wrist. He felt the cold steel dangling against neck, right before she brought his hand down behind his back. She looped the second cuff through his belt loop before grabbing his left hand and bringing it down to join its partner. Rex heard the final few clicks and realized his fate was sealed. Desperately, he hoped that she wouldn’t search him, or search him shoddily, but deep down he knew this wasn’t going to happen.
“Spread your legs,†she said, kicking them further apart to emphasize. He complied.
“Wider!†she said, raising her voice.
The officer took her time searching him. First she removed his baseball cap and ran her fingers through his hair. Rex could feel the blood pumping through him as she ran her thrumbs behind his ears, and felt his loins surge a bit as her fingertips brushed by his adam’s apple. She roughly put his baseball cap back on before probing around and under the collar of his shirt, and then his shoulders.
She pressed herself closer behind him as her hands searched his chest and arms. She crunched the cloth around the buttons of his shirt and inspected where his sleeves were rolled up. She clenched his biceps fiercly as she did this, demonstrating her control.
“Ugh….†Rex thought. Soon she would go through his pockets.
As if delaying the final, horrible result, she descended and inspected his ankles. She ran her hands up and down the sides and inseams of his jeans in a rapid motion before her fingers gingerly inspected his cargo pockets. She tugged on his belt buckle and searched his waistband.
She was very attractive, and through the whole body search Rex had been getting firmer. When her hands ventured around his anatomy, pushing, patting and crunching the denim between his legs Rex’s heart quickened. Finally, after the humiliating search of his groin, her hands swept into his front pockets.
Rex closed his eyes and felt the joint being yanked from its hiding spot.
There was silence before she spoke. “Do you realize…..do you realize….that there is a high school not a hundred yards from here? That you’re in a drug free zone?â€
Rex could feel some moisture welling behind his eyes. He knew what that meant. Possession sentences were much harsher if the offender was caught in a drug free zone. “Please….,†he pleaded, a sob welling up in his throat. “I could go to jail…†Again, he thought sardonically.
“You probably will go to jail. For some time.â€
“Please…could you just give me a warning?â€
As soon as the words left his lips she yanked him from his position on the car and dragged him toward the police cruiser.
“No way,†she said.
She threw open the back door of her police cruiser and roughly bent Rex downward. Strapping on his seatbelt, she shook her head before closing the door and entering the car herself.
Rex slumped in the backseat miserably. His hands strained against the cuffs. The lady cop’s words in her radio became a blur as he wondered what fate had in store for him….
PART II
The next morning Rex sat cold, exhausted, and hung over on the thin mattress of his jail cell. He could only recall bits and pieces of the nights before. The gleam of the red and white lights, the eyes of the arresting officer, and the glisten of the handcuffs were but a few of the harrowing images he could recall.
Rex apprehensively eyed his surrounding. The cell was five by ten feet. It had a solid steel door with a narrow window and a slot for item delivery. The walls were institutional white. A airplane style toilet was attatched to a cylinder with a sink that could only spit a small trickle of water. Rex had spent some nights in the drunk tank, but they had never strip searched him or gave him a uniform. He had never been confined alone, either.
Rex fingered his uniform. It was a bright orange jumpsuit made of heavy fabric,. He wore a white t shirt beneath it and prison issue boxers. During his strip search and delousing they had taken all of his effects. In big black letters on the back of the uniform read “department of corrections.†They had taken his shoes and given him a pair of high-top sneakers.
Rex mulled this over. It was a miracle that he had never spent more than a couple nights in jail given his previous offenses. His family was wealthy and knew good lawyers, and all that he had gotten for his assault charge was probation…
Probation….he was still on probation. This was getting worse. Rex put his hands in his face and he could feel the tears welling up again. After the door had slammed shut yesterday he recalled crying for a good while.
BANG BANG BANG. The guard was knocking on the cell door.
Rex looked up abruptly. He didn’t want anyone seeing him crying.
“Stand up! Approach the cell door and put your hands behind your back!â€
Rex did as he was told. He nervously approached the cell door, turned around, and positioned his hands around the empty slot.
Once again, handcuffs clicked around his wrist. The hands of the guard shifted his prisoner’s identification bracelet on his hand in order to secure him properly. Once he was cuffed Rex was ordered to step three paces away from the door.
“On your knees!†the guard ordered.
Rex complied and sighed as he did.
The door creaked upon. Rex could not see the guard. He felt someone grab the collar of his jumpsuit and force him against the wall. This aggressive action sparked a bit of anger in Rex. Why was he asked to be on his knees in the first place?â€
“What was that for?!†he snapped, turning around to face the guard.
A female guard stood before him. Unlike the arresting officer from the night before she was bigger, noticeably crueler, and had an easily noticeable no nonsense attitude. She spun him around and forced him up against the wall.
Rex lost the breath from his body as she pushed him, and surrendered.
The guard said nothing, and procured a thick leather belt. She brought it around Rex’s waist and secured it tightly. Grabbing his cuffed hands, she padlocked them to the belt. Kneeling over, she remarked. “Don’t even think about kicking me. It’s a five year offense.â€
Rex nodded, and heard a clatter from behind. Leg irons with a fourteen inch chain were secured about his ankles. Another chain, attatched to the leg irons, was drawn up and secured to the leather belt.
Rex tested the restraints. He couldn’t move, but they weren’t terribly uncomfortable.
Rex was immediately frisked again. He tried not to sigh or moan, though he thought this was quite unnecessary as he had been stripped the night before. He waited patiently as the guard’s hands maneuvered around his jumpsuit, under his arms, over his groin, around his legs.
“C’mon, let’s go,†the guard said, locking her arm around his and pulling him out of the cell.
“Where are we going?â€
The guard shot a look at him and rolled her eyes. “Court. Obviously.â€
“I’m going to court restrained like this?â€
“Standard procedure…â€
“Can’t you let me….put a suit on or something?†he asked desperately. The thought of going to court like this, wearing a veritable scarlet letter, was unbearable.
“The court system is too clogged up. It’s Monday morning and there’s a lot of people that need to be processed,†she explained. Rex groaned.
Rex was arraigned that morning, and his trial was set for four weeks later. His lawyer advised him to plead guilty…