Chapter 7: More Hard Times for Clarissa

One of the girls had tried to get away from the prison by climbing over the wall, after a searchlight had been disabled, presumably by an accomplice. The girl had soon been caught and hauled back to the prison where she had been roughly interrogated and then brought before the assembled prisoners, all forced to stand stripped naked for hours in the full heat of the sun. As the rest of them watched she was whipped by two prisoners before being put into the cage to stay for some months before going on to the next stage of a series of horrendous punishments that would take up the remainder of her five year sentence.

Clarissa had been detailed to whip this miscreant and refused, earning herself a spell in a stinking cell, chained to the wall, before being brought back to rejoin the rest, all standing in line, burnt and parched in the heat. The warden had told them all that she wanted the accomplice to own up to her guilt, failing which, the entire prison population would remain where they stood, thirsty, hungry and fainting from heat exhaustion, until she did. She had left them all with a further hour to see if a confession was forthcoming, but none was. Three more hours had passed by now and only half the women were still standing. Miranda, Clarissa and Megan were on their feet, but Stella had fainted, her body horribly blistered where the sun had seared her unprotected skin. Clarissa looked helplessly at the poor girl and finally her pity for her and anger at the guards' cruelty meant that she could take no more.

She knelt down beside her and gently licked her back where it looked to be sorest, hoping that the moisture might do something to ease the pain. There was a shriek of anger from a guard and Clarissa ignored it, continuing to do what little she could for her poor cell-mate. Soon she was dragged away and taken back to the cell, where she was chained again to the wall and told to remain standing. All night long she stood there until, just a couple of hours before dawn, she fainted. In the morning she was taken out and brought back to join her comrades, who were lined up for the second day in a row. After more than twenty four hours without food or drink, Clarissa was more dead than alive and she knew that in a couple of hours she would be lying senseless on the ground.

"How was it, Clarissa?" asked Miranda, shocked at the sight of her. She looked hollow-eyed and grey under her suntan.

"Bad! How about you lot? Have you been fed?"

"Yes. We got bread and water last night after dusk when they finally let us back in. Stella is better today, I think. Aren't you, Stella?"

Stella nodded, but Clarissa could see that the fourth member of their little group was still in a very bad way and would be joining her on the ground before long. Already Clarissa was finding it hard to keep upright, the ground seeming to be undulating and heaving like the sea. She felt sick, despite her stomach being empty and after twenty minutes she looked stupidly at the ground as it zoomed up to hit her hard on the face. She lay motionless and after five minutes, Stella too, fell heavily to the ground.

Megan was about to kneel down beside her two friends to see what help she could give them when salvation came in the shape of Melissa's cell-mate, who stepped forward and admitted to having helped her friend escape. Soon another whipping was in progress, this time administered by a guard, the prisoners being all far too weak by this time to do a good job of slicing up another unfortunate's back. Since there was only one cage and not enough room in it for two (it could hardly hold one!), the accomplice was staked out on her back on the ground, her limbs so taut that her arms and legs were almost out of their sockets, where she would get the sun for the maximum period possible.

After this the other women were allowed back inside and told that, after being fed and given three hours' rest, they would be taken back to work. Those who still had clothes to wear were told they might dress again, so Stella had her burnt body protected once more.

"That was so good of Clarissa, yesterday!" she said as they rested in the cell. "I take back all I've ever said about her. If she gets happiness from having sex with Miranda, then good luck to her! I just hope she'll be back with us soon!"

"I think we may have a long wait if my case was anything to go by!" said Megan sadly.

When the rest had been sent back inside, Megan had picked up the senseless Stella and Miranda had been about to do the same for her lover, but an angry guard had told her to leave Clarissa where she lay. As they all climbed on to the truck having had their much needed rest, they saw that their unfortunate friend was still where she had fallen, with two guards standing over her, presumably to make sure she made no attempt to escape even though it was obvious that Clarissa was out for the count.

As the sound of the diesel engined vehicle faded, Clarissa was picked up and taken to the Warden's office, where she was given her first drink in over two days. It revived her a little, but not much and a concerned Warden ordered her to be taken to her own quarters. When Clarissa woke up, after having been delirious for some days, she wondered if she was dreaming! She was in a proper bed with proper sheets, for the first time since leaving the motel the day before their arrest.

Not recognising where she was, she got out of bed and found that she was still very weak and dizzy. She had to steady herself by leaning against the bed before feeling confident enough to cross the room to the door. When she opened it, there was a guard outside. So this was not a dream! She was still a prisoner - but not in the infirmary.