"Black Out" - Flash Fiction Challenge

Ellie knew where she was as soon as she opened her eyes; the drunk tank. A wash of anxiety, mixed with claustrophobia, spread in a cold wave throughout her body. Having no idea what happened, Ellie looked down at her clothing and gasped in terror- her clothes were covered in blood. Now that she noticed it, she could smell it too. The irony tang that flew up her nostrils brought a foul-tasting liquid to rise in the back of her throat.

Ellie went up to the small window in the door, began banging on it with her fists and screaming for an officer to tell her what she had done, what had happened. The anxiety of not knowing took her breath away, as the panic filled.

Finally, a man in a dark suit and tie walked up to the little window in the door.

"Ellie? Ellie..." he looked at some papers in his hand. "Ellie Martin?"

"Yes, please wha-wha-what..." she stuttered as tears began blubbering over her cheeks.

"You have court this afternoon Miss Martin." he said, without looking at her. "You're being charged with two counts of murder in the first degree. Your boyfriend and roommate have been positively identified as the deceased. There will be no chance of bail. We will see about plea negotiations, but with your criminal record...."

A warmth began to run down Ellie's legs as her bladder let go. Her life, as she knew it, was over. Ellie had done some dumb things while she was blacked out, but nothing like this...

She wanted to speak but couldn't, as she was frozen with fear. Ellie Martin stared through the bars in the window of her cell, as stiff as her blood-sodden clothes, for hours after the lawyer left.