Crimson Lullaby

Her crimson hair gleamed in the evening light of the sun, flowing like a sea of roses. She stared apathetically at the gated fence that surrounded her, not letting the prison walls stop her silky white skin from reveling in the comfort of the sunlight. Today was her 17th birthday. The 2nd one spent behind bars, though to her this place was no different than her home back in New York. Only the strong survive. That was the rules of the streets, no the rules of life.
In the distance she watched as one of the patrol guards, officer Chandly, headed over towards her. He was a stick of a man, barely a shred of muscle on him. But he was a good person and that is why he was able to survive in this hell hole of a prison. “Care free as always, huh Scarlet?,” he asked aloud.
“Life’s too short, gotta enjoy every second of it,” she answered mysteriously.
“That’s funny coming from someone in prison. Whatever, the Warden wants to see you.”
Scarlet let out a small smirk. “Maybe he wants to say happy birthday.”
“You wish,” Officer Chandly laughed. “Follow me.”
Scarlet and the guard began to head off into the interior of the prison, avoiding the small groups of thugs as best as they could. Everyone watched as they passed by, looks of fear and disgust plastered onto their faces.
“Maybe that witch is getting executed.” One of the prison girls announced, looking to her friends for support. But they all backed away from her, glancing towards Scarlet once more.
“Shush! What if she hears you?” one of them squeaked.
As Scarlet passed by them she let out a loud laugh, merrily looking into the eyes of the group of girls. “You silly vermin would love it if I was gone, wouldn’t you?” Scarlet suddenly asked.
The girls all went into a deadly silence. Sweat beading down the brow of the girl that suggested the execution. “Oh Scarlet, you know we were just kidding,” she mumbled, not daring to look into her eyes.
Before Scarlet was able to answer Officer Chandly grabbed her arm. “No trouble today,” he warned. Without a word they traveled the five minutes down the miserable halls of the jail to the office of the warden. The door squeaked as they entered the room, revealing the fat portly man they addressed as the Warden. He was a corrupt and obnoxious man, always stinking of cigarettes and whiskey.
He dared to peer into the elegant cloudy gray eyes of Scarlet with his loathsome beady black charcoals and let out a grunt of irritation. “You may leave Chandly,” he barked. “You!” he shouted, pointing at Scarlet. “Sit.”
“Polite as always,” Scarlet puffed, sitting heavily on the rickety old chair across from the Warden, waving to Officer Chandly as he left. “Now what do you want to talk about chief? If you wanted to give me a birthday cake you could have sent it to my cell. Would of saved you a lot of trouble.”
The warden found no humor in the joke. “There is someone here for you,” he puffed. And then a man emerged from the shadows of the room behind him, previously invisible to the naked eye. Scarlet was shocked beyond comprehension but she would never allow anyone the satisfaction of seeing it on her face.
The man was dressed in a clad black suit, tightly fitted on his muscular body. His eyes were cold and black; Scarlet could feel his loathsome glare. He slowly lifted the sleeve of his suit revealing a tattoo of a pyramid with an Egyptian eye in the middle. “I found you Scarlet,” he wheezed with a cruel smile.
Scarlet let out a deep sigh. “Took you long, I thought you might have forgotten about me.”