Just the feeling of sitting in the same room with her put me on edge.  The rough, uninviting texture of the metallic bench I was sitting on matched the consistency of the air perfectly.  We might as well have been stuck in a Jell-o mold of tension.

    "Yo' move, Anna," said my opponent in her rough, Harlem accent.

    Being the chess champion of the Audrey Belkin's Juvenile Detention Center for Girls, I knew that she was just trying to make me rush.  I knew what I had to do to win, but I usually try to savor the moment before I claim my dominance over the one thing I'm good at.
   
    I looked over towards the other side of the room, where she was playing poker with some other girls.  Her hair was an ugly brown, as was her personality.  Always jealous of whoever was better than her, always trying to prove herself as the Queen Bee.  And no one denied her that privilege...except me.

    "Hey, you' gon' move, or what?" asked my partner impatiently.
   
    "I'm goin', I'm goin'," I replied.  I delivered the finishing blow, moving my queen to 7a.
  
    "God dammit, Anna.  Why you gotta be so good?" she asked playfully.  It makes me wonder how such good people could end up in a place like this.

    "It's the one thing I actually enjoy doing," I responded.  Just then the bell, signaling our free time was over.  The other thirty girls drained out of the room, leaving only me and her.  I began to follow the crowd when she stood up, c***ed her head at me, and exposed the most hideous grin I have ever seen.  Her teeth were yellowed with horror, tongue black with resentment towards me.

I don't know why, but five years on the streets teaches you when something ugly is about to happen.  I felt it ascend into the room.  I dashed into the hallway.  She followed me, and began to cackle like the witch she was.

    "I'M COMING FOR YOU, YOU LITTLE SNIT!" she screamed.  Where were the guards?  Where was my help?  Why wasn't she being tasered right now?

    Another thing growing up wild has taught me is how to run.  I ran like I did the night the fuzz was on my tail  after I took that make up from the cosmetics store. 
   
    "Get away from me, you creep!" I exclaimed.  More insane cackling.  I was getting closer to my cell, my safe haven from this cruel, unfair world I have been cursed to live in. 

Only 30 more feet.  I felt like my heart was trying to aid her, making me weak, trying to make me slow down.  I risked a look backwards to track her progress...and what I saw horrified me. 

    Her eyes had changed from brown to a crimson red, like the blood running down my fingers after I killed that woman for her wallet.  Her hair had turned into snakes, lunging forward as if they thought I owed them something.

    "WHAT DO YOU WANT!" I screamed, only fifteen feet away now.
   
    "I ONLY WANT YOU TO PAY, PAY EQUALLY FOR ALL THE THINGS YOU HAVE TAKEN!" she shrieked.
   
    I couldn't make sense of the monster’s riddle.  All I wanted at that moment was a cigarette.  I had made it into my room, and I tried to throw the door closed, but a furry, talon-tipped hand stopped it.

    I made a mad dash for my bed, only to be caught and thrown onto the ground.  I still heard no sirens or alarms announcing the journey of my saviors, which struck me with a horror equal to that of when I heard that my best friend died in the Deadwood shooting.

I turned around and got a good look at my past.  Mangled, arms bent at odd, hyper extended angles.  Teeth, twisted in spirals, like a shell you might find at the beach.  Feet, bare, exposed to the harsh effects of life.  A sound escaped out of me that never had before.  The worst part was its smile.  It resembled my mother’s exactly.

"How could you, Annabelle?  How could you?" the creature asked in a strange, hypnotic tone, slowly tilting its head until it was parallel to the bleached cell ceiling. 

    "I-I-I don't know wa-wa-what you're talking about," I stuttered.  It's irises began to swim and swirl.

    "Oh, what a shame.  I guess there's only one thing left to do," it sneered.  It's eyes suddenly spread wide open and it screamed, "TAKE WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY MINE! AHHHHH!"

    My vision went black.  The next thing I know I wake up...and discover that I am covered in blood.  I am unable to move.  Staring up at the ceiling where my eyes stay glued, I notice a message.  Written in blood:

    Check Mate.