Adele gulped. She pictured Caroline staring maniacally at her husband as she sawed through his private parts with a kitchen knife. A cold sweat trickled down her back as a rush of fear swept through her. She was sickened at the thought of how long it must have taken Caroline to cut off his penis and testicles, but she remained silent as Caroline continued.

‘Then, when it was done, I was still raging. I don’t know where it came from. It must have been building up for years. I just wanted rid of the bloody things. I hated them!’ she cried. ‘So I burnt them.’

‘Oh my God!’ cried Adele, and she then quickly swallowed down the bile that rose in her throat.

By this time Caroline was sobbing. ‘I’m sorry,’ said Caroline. ‘I swear, to this day, I’ll never know why I went that far. I don’t know what possessed me.’

‘It’s alright,’ said Adele, rushing to Caroline’s side and putting her arms around her.

Adele felt tears cloud her own eyes. Although she was appalled by what Caroline had done, who was she to judge? After all, it wasn’t that different from her own story. She too had been in that position. She had lost all control and hit her father repeatedly even as his skull cracked open and his brains spilt out.

They remained there for several minutes, Adele now also in tears and shaking. She didn’t know what to say. What could she say? There were no words to explain why either she or Caroline had reacted so violently to their tormentors.

As she sat there silently, a rush of thoughts flashed through her mind. Everything made sense now. The way the other prisoners were wary of Caroline, even though she seemed such a caring person. And the way she and Caroline had been drawn to each other.

Eventually she spoke. ‘Did you seek me out?’ she asked.

Caroline looked up, her face red and blotchy and streaked with tears. ‘I know what you’re thinking,’ she said. ‘That perhaps I thought we would understand each other because of… our crimes. But no, not particularly. I mean, I knew what you were in for, and maybe I’d have judged you differently if it wasn’t for my own experiences. But I didn’t deliberately seek you out. I just liked you as a person.’

Adele nodded, unsure what to say next.

‘Well, it’s out in the open now,’ said Caroline, with a sardonic smile.

‘I won’t hold it against you,’ said Adele. ‘How could I?’

And as she spoke those words Adele realised just how much her world had changed. At one time she’d have run a mile from someone who had committed such a heinous crime, no matter what the circumstances were. But inside these walls she saw Caroline as a best friend.