Cuffed Up

Prologue

The first day in a new city can always be nerve-wracking. For most, it's filled with the fear of having to start over, needing to make new friends, or, the worst part, getting lost. For Isla Wilson, this was not the case. She had deliberately moved to Millow, Arizona, to get a change of pace. She was recently divorced, trying to find a life for herself after being dependent on her now ex-husband for the past five years. 

Included in that change of pace was a change of career. After spending the past few years as a nurse in her hometown, she decided she wanted something different—something more. She had applied to the Cade County Sheriff's Department to become a corrections officer. She felt that being in a role of power would help her overcome her need to depend on someone else. 

Sure, she felt nervous. At the young age of 24, she was pulling herself away from her family, away from the only place she had ever known. She had never set foot in Millow before. Everything was new to her. From the way people acted to the food. It was as if there was a Mexican restaurant or at least a cart selling hot dogs on every corner. It was also a smaller city. She had always lived in a busy, lively city. Here, everything seemed to be smaller. There were less traffic jams, there wasn't a freeway going straight through the middle of town, hell, there were even mountains surrounding the area. 

Another big change was the weather. Millow, Arizona, was in the middle of the desert, with blazing heat in the summer, cold winters, and rarely any snow. The heat was something Isla didn't account for. Her usual outfit of jeans and a shirt would no longer cut it. Over the few days that she had been in town, she was constantly having to peel her skinny jeans off due to how much sweat had gotten on them. The mental note in the back of her mind to buy shorts was constantly forgotten.

She had been focusing all her time on preparing herself for an academy that was said to be para-military style. Which only meant that she would be getting worked hard every day. Possibly yelled at for the smallest mistake. Was she prepared for it all? No. But she knew she would push herself to her farthest limits to make sure she made it through. She was too proud to go back home after accomplishing nothing. She was too proud to admit to her parents that they were right after they told her law enforcement wasn't for her. She had made it her one and only goal to prove her family wrong, that she was in fact good enough for this sort of work. 

In addition to being nervous about the new city, she was nervous about the academy that was starting tomorrow. A 6 week academy of learning how the jail worked, the rules and regulations of it all, and worst of all, the fitness portion of it all. Now, as a nurse, fitness wasn't all that important. Sure, Isla would go out on runs every now and then, but she was never consistent. Even during the fitness evaluation, she struggled during certain things. There was a 140 pound dummy she had to drag about 15 feet and she could barely get the thing off the ground. 

She was built smaller, short, and everything was against her. Even in school her friends would joke about her getting blown away with the wind if it blew hard enough. She barely weighed 120 pounds, she was roughly 5'3, everything was gonna be a struggle for her. But she knew that when she signed on. She knew that there were going to be issues she had to work around. She had faith in herself that she would be able to do it. She had even gotten a gym membership when she moved into Millow. She had started going to the gym every morning to start working up her strength. 

The days have been long and hard for her already, and the academy hadn't even started yet. Between going to the gym and getting her apartment set up, buying furniture and other items she might need, every day had been filled up with something for her to do. She was just glad she at least had some savings so she wouldn't have to worry about if she'd be able to afford her rent. 

Either way, everything was about to change for her. And she knew it. But she was ready for it. 

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And there is the beginning to my new story! We are going to follow Isla on her journey as she becomes a corrections officer. This will have real life depictions, as I have gone through this kind of training before. Millow, as you may have found out, is not a real place in Arizona, nor is Cade County. But hopefully my experiences will make for an interesting book for all of you! Enjoy!