Down the hall from where I am sitting waiting for my class to begin is a woman yelling to the police to put her in jail at the top of her lungs.
“PUT ME IN FUCKING JAIL! PUT ME IN FUCKING JAIL! I’D RATHER BE IN FUCKING JAIL! JAKE IS FUCKING DEAD! PUT ME IN FUCKING JAIL!”
Her’s is a voice that I can recall more clearly than any sweet whisper or my mother’s voice. The crackle and strain in her yells and the shake in it just after the end make it seem she may be strung out. And it makes it just a little more sad and terrifying for her.
I can hear her struggling against the policemen’s grip and other jagged and uncomfortable movements.
Jake is no longer the concern, not for right now. He is nearly irrelevant. Because her voice has permeated everything at this point. It has been going on for about 3 minutes by now.
The linoleum underneath me is suddenly more solid.
Men’s strict voices try to calm her down, but there will be no success against her distress. I stare at the book I wanted to try reading, asking myself if I could even be comfortable with making myself read with her whole world being put through a red filter.