"Elaine, what are you doing here?"

Maya's voice carried a mix of shock and excitement as she looked at me.

Her hair was cropped short now, and the plainness of the prison uniform was a jarring contrast to the vibrant, spirited girl I once knew. Yet her eyes—bright, determined—were different. They held a strength I hadn’t seen before.

Seeing her like this stirred a strange tangle of emotions in me: relief that she was alive and holding on, ...