A Death Sentence
I woke from a silent, dark, dream-free sleep by a gruff demand to 'TURN THAT OFF'. It took a moment to wipe the slumber from my brain and decipher the cryptic growl from the land of the wake. I looked around and decided the under-lying message was 'Will you please blow out the relaxing, rose-scented candle on your nightstand?'.
Begrudgingly, I blew it out.
I woke in a gray, concrete room. I looked down and found my hands viciously clasping each other through black silk gloves. I checked and found the rest of my attire to be predominantly black. It was then I noticed my chest hurting. I felt intense pressure like I was both scared out of my mind and had been sobbing for hours. My head throbbed from both sadness and the pressure of not knowing what was going on. I looked up and understood.
On the other side of a thick sheet of glass sat my oldest friend from my hometown. She was shaking and her lips were moving as her head darted back and forth to meet the eyes of the men strapping her in to a big metal chair that was bolted to the ground. She appeared to be pleading with them as they shifted focus from her hands and feet to steadying her head and fitting it with that weird, metal cap.
I realized I was about to watch my friend be put to death. I leapt from my chair and began pounding on the glass. The armed men in uniform paid me no mind. They left my friend and vacated the room. I watched them through another glass window on the other side of the room. One of them lifted their arm and grabbed a big, square, handle and started to pull down. I turned away from the glass and pinched my eyes closed.
Gun shots rang out. I opened my eyes and turned my gaze back to the room that had held my friend. She was no longer in the chair. I felt the corners of my mouth pull upward as I saw her dash past the guards who looked as confused as I was. I banged on the glass as hard as I could. She stopped and for a split second, her eyes met mine. 'Run to the place I told you about.', I thought. She was gone.
I was removed from the room and put through questioning, none of which I remembered. I reflected on the events that had just unfolded in front of me. I drove home, pulled up to my house, parked, and walked onto my porch.
As I slid my key in the door, I slowly drew my breath inward. Lilac. 'I've loved that smell since I was little kid', I thought with a smile. I tossed my keys on the coffee table and went to the kitchen to make myself some dinner. I ate in the living room in front of HBO. When the movie ended, I put away my dishes and went upstairs.
'Run to the place I told you about....', it was as if the words rang out of nowhere. My steps hastened up the stairs. I went straight to my closet and whisked back all the hanging clothes.
And there it was.
That little door that scared me as a child, even though I longed to venture through it and sift through all the treasures that reflected what was left of my uncle. I knelt down, opened the door and scooted through. Inside, there was a little ray of light from a small sky light that lit the antique bed against the wall. It had a sort of canopy fixture over it with a sheer cloth hanging perfectly around the bed.
I walked over and sat on the side of the bed and patted my sleeping friend. She frowned and opened her eyes. 'Dude. What took you so long?', she said, smiling. 'I know, right? I almost forgot you were up here!', I said. 'What are we supposed to do now? You can't stay HERE forever?', I asked her.
Without speaking, we both knew we had to get her out of the city and out of the state. As quickly as the thought appeared, we were driving. She and her ex-husband sat up front and I sat in the back. I felt relaxed. I knew I was being driven to my mother's house in Texas. The windows were all down and our hair swirled crazily around our faces. I leaned between the seats and asked her if she had a plan. Her plan was to move. 'Where?' I asked her.
She dreamed aloud about a nice small town with a tight community, not unlike the one that'd raised us. Unlike the one that raised us, she obviously wanted to be somewhere where people minded their own business.
'Golden, Colorado', I told her. Golden is exactly the place you need to be. she argued that since we were already on our way to Texas, maybe she'd settle into one of their small towns.... I argued that we weren't far enough from our home state and that she didn't want to live anywhere where they have an express lane to the electric chair.
She seemed all but untouched by her experience earlier. I plead with her until my temples ached. We stopped at a mexican restaurant to eat. My piglet was still feeling sick so I took her in with me. The waiters showed us a tree in the middle of the restaurant that appeared to be real, but had too perfectly placed branches for climbing to be real. Her ex-husband took off and climbed up. She asked me to get him down before he drew any additional attention to us.
I followed him up, lugging my limp piglet over one shoulder. I found a suitable crevasse in the tree and placed my piglet there and continued climbing after the dreaded X. He laughed and jumped down. I started backing down the tree myself.
Once on the ground, I realized my piglet was still up there. I looked up and saw her swaying in the crevasse. I blacked out.
I came back to in my mother's house in Texas. Oddly, I began hearing my cd playing faintly in the background. I walked over to the tv and jerked the plug out of the wall. It continued. I pulled the plug on the stereo. It continued. I walked to the back of the house and pulled the plug on my brother's tv, it continued. I crossed the hall and pulled the plug on my mother's tv, it continued.
Becoming more angry by the second, I ran to the garage and kicked the stereo off the work bench. It continued.
Then I opened my eyes and saw my alarm clock going off. I sat up with a splitting headache (that persists even as I type this.) I turned the alarm off. (Beautiful silence.) I picked up my little ragdoll piglet, carried her to the bathroom, spread out a towel on the floor, laid her on it, and lit the wall heater.
Begrudgingly, I blew it out.
I woke in a gray, concrete room. I looked down and found my hands viciously clasping each other through black silk gloves. I checked and found the rest of my attire to be predominantly black. It was then I noticed my chest hurting. I felt intense pressure like I was both scared out of my mind and had been sobbing for hours. My head throbbed from both sadness and the pressure of not knowing what was going on. I looked up and understood.
On the other side of a thick sheet of glass sat my oldest friend from my hometown. She was shaking and her lips were moving as her head darted back and forth to meet the eyes of the men strapping her in to a big metal chair that was bolted to the ground. She appeared to be pleading with them as they shifted focus from her hands and feet to steadying her head and fitting it with that weird, metal cap.
I realized I was about to watch my friend be put to death. I leapt from my chair and began pounding on the glass. The armed men in uniform paid me no mind. They left my friend and vacated the room. I watched them through another glass window on the other side of the room. One of them lifted their arm and grabbed a big, square, handle and started to pull down. I turned away from the glass and pinched my eyes closed.
Gun shots rang out. I opened my eyes and turned my gaze back to the room that had held my friend. She was no longer in the chair. I felt the corners of my mouth pull upward as I saw her dash past the guards who looked as confused as I was. I banged on the glass as hard as I could. She stopped and for a split second, her eyes met mine. 'Run to the place I told you about.', I thought. She was gone.
I was removed from the room and put through questioning, none of which I remembered. I reflected on the events that had just unfolded in front of me. I drove home, pulled up to my house, parked, and walked onto my porch.
As I slid my key in the door, I slowly drew my breath inward. Lilac. 'I've loved that smell since I was little kid', I thought with a smile. I tossed my keys on the coffee table and went to the kitchen to make myself some dinner. I ate in the living room in front of HBO. When the movie ended, I put away my dishes and went upstairs.
'Run to the place I told you about....', it was as if the words rang out of nowhere. My steps hastened up the stairs. I went straight to my closet and whisked back all the hanging clothes.
And there it was.
That little door that scared me as a child, even though I longed to venture through it and sift through all the treasures that reflected what was left of my uncle. I knelt down, opened the door and scooted through. Inside, there was a little ray of light from a small sky light that lit the antique bed against the wall. It had a sort of canopy fixture over it with a sheer cloth hanging perfectly around the bed.
I walked over and sat on the side of the bed and patted my sleeping friend. She frowned and opened her eyes. 'Dude. What took you so long?', she said, smiling. 'I know, right? I almost forgot you were up here!', I said. 'What are we supposed to do now? You can't stay HERE forever?', I asked her.
Without speaking, we both knew we had to get her out of the city and out of the state. As quickly as the thought appeared, we were driving. She and her ex-husband sat up front and I sat in the back. I felt relaxed. I knew I was being driven to my mother's house in Texas. The windows were all down and our hair swirled crazily around our faces. I leaned between the seats and asked her if she had a plan. Her plan was to move. 'Where?' I asked her.
She dreamed aloud about a nice small town with a tight community, not unlike the one that'd raised us. Unlike the one that raised us, she obviously wanted to be somewhere where people minded their own business.
'Golden, Colorado', I told her. Golden is exactly the place you need to be. she argued that since we were already on our way to Texas, maybe she'd settle into one of their small towns.... I argued that we weren't far enough from our home state and that she didn't want to live anywhere where they have an express lane to the electric chair.
She seemed all but untouched by her experience earlier. I plead with her until my temples ached. We stopped at a mexican restaurant to eat. My piglet was still feeling sick so I took her in with me. The waiters showed us a tree in the middle of the restaurant that appeared to be real, but had too perfectly placed branches for climbing to be real. Her ex-husband took off and climbed up. She asked me to get him down before he drew any additional attention to us.
I followed him up, lugging my limp piglet over one shoulder. I found a suitable crevasse in the tree and placed my piglet there and continued climbing after the dreaded X. He laughed and jumped down. I started backing down the tree myself.
Once on the ground, I realized my piglet was still up there. I looked up and saw her swaying in the crevasse. I blacked out.
I came back to in my mother's house in Texas. Oddly, I began hearing my cd playing faintly in the background. I walked over to the tv and jerked the plug out of the wall. It continued. I pulled the plug on the stereo. It continued. I walked to the back of the house and pulled the plug on my brother's tv, it continued. I crossed the hall and pulled the plug on my mother's tv, it continued.
Becoming more angry by the second, I ran to the garage and kicked the stereo off the work bench. It continued.
Then I opened my eyes and saw my alarm clock going off. I sat up with a splitting headache (that persists even as I type this.) I turned the alarm off. (Beautiful silence.) I picked up my little ragdoll piglet, carried her to the bathroom, spread out a towel on the floor, laid her on it, and lit the wall heater.