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- #9
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I completely forgot I still had this saved in my computer, so I decided to post it here and share it with everyone. This is a fictional prose that I entered in my school's Liberal Art's Fair this May, 2008. So...uh, I dunno'. It's about this dude that's been charged with a capital crime that he's convinced he didn't do; whether or not he really did it is up to you, yo. It's not as good as I wanted it to be - sure, it's wordy and whatnot, but the concept isn't what I WANTED it to be. Notwithstanding, I won 2nd place to some 11th grade whore. I forget who.
Spoiler: click to toggle
Day was finally coming to a close. The magnificent Sun that gave off a majority of the little light that found its way into my cell was gradually descending into its impalpable divan. The window, which regularly appeased my desire for natural light, was soon to become frustratingly inadequate. No longer would I be able to gaze into the belittled world from the outside in. No longer would I be able to witness the day’s zealous, brisk happenings. No, it was time to submit myself to the unrivaled power of darkness, left to suffer the consequences of unjust justice. I was condemned to rot in a cell meant for some other delinquent, punished for a crime that I had no business in. My innocence was wrested from my very possession, and for ninety-three days I slowly decayed. I am unfortunately forgetting who I once was…
The time as of right now must be between eight or nine, easily determined by both my notorious sense of time, and the current events of the jail. My sense of audition provided me with a crisp, highly defined voice of one of the few cell guards from just outside of my steel chamber. An indistinctive conversation between a daily television show and the guard was taking place, and confirmed that, once again, my mental-clock was accurate. It was now officially time to go to sleep, and with only about eight hours allotted for repose, I had no other choice but to quietly lay down on the brutal, excuse of a bed, mat.
Suddenly, without any prior warning, a panicking sound raced through the once silent halls of East Jail and inadvertently caused my insentient body to jolt upwards. My eyes fixed themselves towards the general location of the source of said sound, my ears twitched in recognition of the noise, and my body entered a defensive state of being, overflowing with a surplus of newfound alacrity. My ears quickly deciphered the noise and identified it as one of the innumerable cell doors slamming behind a new guest. I quickly convinced myself that it was nothing more than a newly acquired criminal, adding on to the ever-growing populace of felons stationed here in East Jail. Gradually, my body began to calm itself down.
Reassuring myself that there was, in fact, no obvious danger, for the time being, I let my guard down, and forced myself to enjoy my time to myself. The chamber, in which I was held against my will, was suffocatingly dark and difficult to perceive. It was a petite room to say the least, and roughly summed up to a rueful five feet by seven feet, with a height of ten feet. The room was poorly equipped with a dysfunctional sink, uncooperative toilet, and the aforementioned mat used to sleep on. A window was perched on the south-most wall, with a protective set of bars on the outside to prevent any feasible absconds. The walls were of heavy-duty cement, as were the floor and ceiling. However, the door to the outside of my cell was a modern, steel plated door coupled with strong, insuperable sets of locks and bolts.
I ran my dominant hand through my neglected head of rich brown hair. Sighing, I brought the same hand down my face, feeling the roughness of my unshaved face and the exhausted eyelids that covered the uneasy feelings evinced by my own eyes. I lay there, vacuously staring at the ceiling before me, trying to sift through the millions of thoughts running spontaneously within my mind. Insanity was undoubtedly becoming a powerful contender in the race of becoming the most of my worries. I was divested from the world itself, and forced to suffer a paucity of human interaction for more than three interminable months. I haven’t seen a human’s face in over ninety days. I haven’t spoken in over two thousand-sixty hours. I was literally decaying; becoming a distorted figure of what I once was.
I forced my demented mind to work on somehow recalling the unreal events that allegedly took place over a year ago. The events that caused the perverse jury to rule me “Guilty” is absent from my mind, yet, for some reason, I have reoccurring nightmares about that day, the day that I was officially sentenced to … East Jail.
“Silence!” Bellowed the judge from her infamous bench, elevated high above our current position. She vigorously pounded her mallet against the stained wood. The authoritative nature of the sound sent echoes bouncing off of the walls around the courtroom and successfully manifested a forced silence. All eyes were on the judge, and I was as intimidated as any person could be. My life was in the mercy of this select group of persons, and if I made the wrong move I would be sentenced to an unbelievable amount of time within an inhumane cell. It was now or never.
“Your honor,” I began, inadvertently displaying my shaky voice. “If I could just-“
“’If you could just’ nothing!” The judge shot down my request to speak and continued with a string of offensive dialogue. “ When I say silence, you play along. You are not exempt from my word, Mr. Carter, especially not you.” She proceeded to turn around; facing the hand picked jury before her. With a nod of her head, and an unusually soft bang of her mallet, the jury spoke its final words.
“Your honor, we’ve reached a verdict.” Said one, who rose ceremonially to face the judge.
“Go on…”
“In the case of Adrian Carter versus the city of Los Angeles, we find the defendant not guilty in the alleged breaking and entering. However, we find the defendant guilty against the charges of first-degree murder, and deny the plead of insanity.”
My heart skipped a beat, a tennis ball formed within the depths of my throat, and the ability to speak was momentarily stripped from my mouth. Seconds later, I collected my thoughts and blurted out. “I did not kill my wife! I did not kill her!”
Two officers, who were previously guarding the entrance to the room, rushed towards me and took a hold of my arms. Being manhandled into submission, I struggled to break free, yet my attempts were futile. I felt the cold medal of handcuffs being strapped around my wrists. I felt the jabbing knee of one of the officers digging into my back. I also felt my life escaping…
“Have fun with your life, kid…”
I awoke from my daze to the sound of multiple bolts clanking and banging. My cell was being forcibly opened and went through an incredible number of ten locks, four bolts, and one protective bar before even being cracked open. The colossal door moaned heavily as it was being pulled open. A flood of light raced into the cell, disturbing the peace that was established within. My eyes shuttered, readjusting themselves to the sudden brightness, and refocused themselves on a moving target…
“Ninety-four days… Get up!” demanded the cell guard, blasting his hoarse voice. The door was successfully swung open and revealed the hallway just outside my cell. A plethora of identical cells decorated the walls left to right and low hanging lights crowded the ceiling.
I reluctantly rose from my den and stood on my own two feet for the first time in God knows how long. I proceeded onwards, being motioned by the guard to hurry up, “or else.” One step. Two steps. I was outside of my cell for the first time in ninety-four days. Three steps. Four steps. I gradually advanced forward. Five, six, seven… We turned a corner, leaving the cell hall and entering the lobby. Twelve, thirteen, fourteen… We exited the lobby just as easily as we entered, and carried on. Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three… We were nearing our destination, and I was growing weak. Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty… We entered a secluded room, a rather large one, and joined a group of people. Thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven… We stopped, finally, and awaited further instructions.
A chair stood in the middle of the room, accompanied with a set of straps on the arm rests and legs of the chair. A huge transformer stood not so far away, and was connected to the chair. I stared at it with fear, becoming light headed at the thought of what was about to happen. Trustees of the prison setup the mechanical chair and made sure that the thing was operating perfectly. I took a deep breath, and looked on.
“Adrian, you know why we’re here…” Asked an unknown man. I turned to face him, and stood in complete amazement. “…Right?” He asked me once again. I brought myself to nod my head, and he nodded back. I was then propped onto the ironically comfortable chair, strapped, and prepared for my “punishment.” My legs were shaven, as were my arms and face. I was soaked with a sponge wet with some sort of chemical. I had an electron planted on my head and another onto my leg, creating a closed circuit. I lived an entire day in one minute.
The electric shock was charged, and during that time I knew I had lost. I knew there was nothing left to live for, no reason to fight the inevitable, and no reason to argue now. My life was, after all, predetermined. However, I knew I was innocent, and if I didn’t know any better, I could swear that I was going home…
“Adrian Carter, on the fifteenth day of this month of February, year nineteen seventy-eight, will be punished for a capital crime. May God have mercy on his soul…”
I smiled… Pfft. May God have mercy on your soul.
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4:54 AM Sep 6
