As I watch, the bars slide closed across my mother's cell, and I sigh. It's been eighteen years since I was born, and ever since I was a little lamb, I've come here to see her every day. My father lives here too, but I don't dare see him, not after what he did to our city. My mother, she knew what she did was wrong, and she repented. She pled guilty, and it got her life with parole after fifty. There's thirty-two years to go.

My father, on the other hand, he's tough, he'll never admit he did anything wrong, no, even though he was the real brains behind the scene, something he told me that I should never tell anyone, lest he never get to see the light outside of a solitary confinement cell ever again.

It seems like a common theme that the children of criminals either a, become criminals themselves and carry on their parents' legacy, or b, shun that world entirely and turn to any other positive light that they can find in their lives, distance themselves as far as they can from what their parents did.

I was born here in this prison, it's only logical that I want to get out of here. I wish it hadn't happened, but at the same time, that would mean that I don't exist. Combine those two mindsets and you get a young ewe who really wants to do better, both than what her parents were, and than the world she's grown up seeing.

I put in my application to the academy a few months ago, and I still haven't heard back, not from Commissioner Bogo, not from Chiefs Wilde. I know what precinct I want to be assigned to, the same one that anycop who's anycop wants to be assigned to. City Center, Precinct One. Whether I'll be given the chance, though, that remains to be seen. Even now, after what's going on two decades after the Night Howler Crisis, Zootopia still hasn't quite settled down to what it used to be. There are still those mammals who still see our city as the city gripped by fear.

What my parents did, well, that didn't help anything, and now, well, I have some pretty big hoofprints that I've grown up standing in that I don't want to fill.

I grew up in an orphanage, of course I knew who my parents were, but I try to keep that under wraps from most mammals, because I know they're going to hate me, heck, probably even try to do worse to me, but I want nothing to do with what my parents got themselves into, no thanks, no sir, this young ewe wants to be a mammal in blue, and if they'll let me, I hope any I pray that they will, I'll serve and protect until the day I can't walk this planet any longer. I refuse to be what they're afraid of, and believe me, I know what they're afraid of, a certain blue flower that I thank Mister Wilde for swapping out, and I have every day of my life.

I know what the bar that I'm going to be held to is, I know it's going to be higher than most any cop, considering that I'm shooting to be in Precinct One, even higher than that given my family history. I need to break free of what they're going to think and make myself my own mammal.

It's going to be hard, I know that, but that was a guarantee, being me. I've tried to get work, but they take a look at who my parents are and they call the cops on me. Maybe that's why I want to be one, because I've spent quite literally my entire life around them, living with them, fearing a few of them, loving other ones.

If there's anything that's going for me, it's the fact that I'm a straight shooter. I never got in trouble at school, never got asked to be quiet by the teacher, never got sent down to the office, never, never, never, never never. I hope that the selection committee won't be as harsh on me as I think they will be, but I can only hope any pray, really. If I get lucky… then my whole world will change, and I can get out of here, and maybe even start making enough money to ask that cute fox I know out to dinner sometime. He's pretty nice, we met when he and I were at an info session for prospective Academy applicants. We've met again at the park a few times, but it hasn't really gotten real yet. Heck, I don't even know if his parents would approve, considering his parents are the Chiefs of the Precinct I want to be a part of.

It's all going to come down to luck, really, that's what I think, luck and a whole truckload of begging whoever might listen to make things work for me…

Anyways, it's nearly lunch time for all of the inmates, and that means that it's the only time today that I'm going to be able to see both of my parents together before they get brought back to their respective cell blocks. Everyone knows who I am, like I said, I've basically quite literally grown up and lived here my entire life. I need to get out of here, though, and see the wider world. That's why I'm thankful that the MII still exists, and that I could use it.

The rest remains to be seen, and considering that my name is Mary Bellwether, that my parents are Dawn and Doug, I'm really hedging my bets on the fact that this is going to be the hardest thing that I've ever done. If I'm going to succeed at this, then I need to prove that I'm more than what they're going to think I am, more than just their first impressions, more than all of that.

I'm ready to take on this challenge, I'm more than ready. Now just to hope and pray that I survive my first hour.

I'm going to need a lot of luck, but I think I'm going to need more than that. Whatever that extra unknown thing is, though, I have it, and I can do it, and I'm going to prove them wrong.