"Open 76!" called out a guard.
"Open 76!" replied another at a control desk, singling out and pressing a button from an array on a mounted panel. A loud buzzing was heard as the cell door rattled and slid open.
"Number 528491, step forward," ordered the guard.
The prisoner did as instructed. The cell door closed with a loud clatter, and the two walked silently down the hall, their footsteps echoing along the way. They reached a security door at the end and approached a reinforced glass security window to the side with a narrow counter and slot. Papers and a pen were handed through from the other side while a voice spoke to the guard through a tiny distorted speaker built into the window. "Sign here, and here. ...No personal effects to deliver. The caseworker is on the other side."
The guard handed the paperwork and pen back through the slot, thanking the window, nodding to it.
The security door buzzed, and the guard opened it as the two passed through.
The other side of the door was a lot more welcoming than the cold hard interior of the prison. Cuffs were removed as pleasantries between the guard and the caseworker were exchanged.
"You are free to go," said the guard. "Try not to end up here again, you might not get so lucky to leave," he added before walking back into the prison.
The caseworker and the newly freed prisoner walked past a series of barbed wire fences and checkpoints to a parking lot. The car doors were unlocked, and the caseworker climbed into the driver seat while the other sat in the back. The car started and they drove off down the road.
"You're very lucky," said the caseworker as he drove looking up in the mirror periodically at his passenger. "Given your circumstances, I think you got off pretty easy."
The passenger sat silently, watching the world go by outside the window as they drove.
"Anybody else, and they might have thrown the book at you, you know? You were tried as an adult, after all." The car stopped at a light.
"There's help for people like you," said the caseworker. "All you had to do was ask. Just trust the system. The state has you now. We'll take care of you."
Students outside the window walked about, some heading into the school while others gathered in small groups as they hung out. The passenger looked up as she saw something very peculiar happening out front. A girl, seemingly appearing from the inside of the base of a statue monument, stumbling into a group of students. She looked very familiar. Too familiar. The face of this girl matched the face in the reflection of the car window.
The driver turned around. "Hey, are you listening to me? Say something."
A moment passed before she finally answered. "Golly."