Mindy Anderson POV

I walked into the prison dormitory. Tonight, it was just me. The only nurse on duty. The cold stares of the prisoners followed me as I made my way down the aisles. I smiled fearfully as I thought about the crimes some of these people have committed: murder, theft, assault, robbery, arson, abuse, and even rape.

And here I was a little lady all alone with them. 

With fearful eyes, I glanced back at the guard sitting outside through the wide glass window. He looked like he was half asleep. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead.

Alright, all I have to do is give a few tablets to a patient, and then I’ll be on my way. The patient was a middle-aged man named Jimmy who was serving five years for stabbing an innocent bystander. He had a long brown beard with grey patches and was as thin as a toothpick. His bed lay in the left corner of the dormitory. The dormitory having twelve beds for surgical patients and another ten for internal medicine patients. 

When I finally reached his bed, he was sobbing.

I put my hand on his chest. "Is it pain?" I said softly. 

“I can’t go back” He said hoarsely, his words barely audible.

“You’ll be fine darling” I said with a faint smile. “Once you take these tablets, the pain will go away”

“He’s going to kill me.” Jimmy mumbled “My cellmate he’s going to kill me” He looked at me with watery eyes turned red from crying. 

“You have to help me miss” “You have to help me escape”

“Oh you know I can’t do that” I said awkwardly

He let go of my hand slowly and turned his head to the wall, closing his eyes before continuing to cry.

I patted his head “I’m sure you’ll be fine, but if it makes you feel any better, give me his name. I’ll report this to the guard”

“Felix” He whimpered “But they can’t help me. He’ll kill them too.” He said sobbing louder and louder.

“Don’t be silly” I said “You know that won’t happen”

I popped open the container and handed him two tablets. He took them reluctantly before swallowing

“I promise I’ll tell the guards about this.” I said trying to calm him down

“I have to go now Jimmy” I said “But I’ll be back on Tuesday to give you your last dosage.”

Jimmy didn’t respond, instead he just rolled himself up in an infantile position. 

Still feeling uneasy I made my way back outside the dormitory. Sitting outside was the guard fast asleep. I gave him a little push to wake him up.

He squealed 

“What if something happened to me inside there” I said pinching him

“Mam I was keeping a close eye on you” the guard responded

“Sure” I said

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I told the guard about Jimmy and the inmate that was trying to kill him.

The guard responded, having already heard of Felix and said there was nothing to fear because that inmate had been put in an isolation room. 

He said that Felix was a danger to both himself and the other prisoners. Felix had even tried his hand at attacking a guard recently.

He reassured me that I had nothing to worry about and that Jimmy would be fine. I nodded in agreement. Me and the guard chatted for a bit before parting ways.

Going home I had the picture of Jimmy’s cry in my mind. Something about his face, something about his expression. It was all very upsetting.

Felix POV

Drip, Drop, Drip

I watched the water droplets as they fell from the leaky ceiling. Trying to make them out in the near darkness. The droplets formed a puddle of water in front of me. Which gave the cell the scent of seawater.

The scent brought me back to a time when I was on the beach with my cousin. I was around nine years old and he had just turned six. I remember holding his head underwater and trying to drown him. My mother scolded me for weeks after and told me if I didn’t stop my antics, bad things would happen.

I guess she was right. I smiled. Sticking my finger in the puddle and swerving it in a circular motion like a child.

I remember lying to my mother and saying that a demon had told me to do what I had done. Which became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

When I reached the age of fifteen, I heard a voice in my head, a voice that told me to do the most horrid things. The sick things I heard from the voice kept me up at night. I begged and pleaded for the voice to go away and months later it finally did. 

But in its absence left a range. An uncontrollable rage that never seized. A rage that caused me to ravage through dumpsters at night. A monstrous rage that made me lose control and attack anything in sight. This rage later paved the way for a life of criminality.

At first, I was sternly against doing the things that this rage compelled me to do but after a while; I started to enjoy it. I started to identify with it. I started to take pride in it. 

And by my late teens, I was practically living in the juvenile detention center. At the time I had already built up an incredible criminal record: fraud, physical assault, drug possession, vandalism, possession of illegal weaponry and the list goes on and on.

Until I finally wound up doing something that landed me life in prison. And after a few years here the voice came back. The one I heard as a child, saying that he would get to meet me soon.

And now my body grew weaker and weaker by the day. 

Recollections of my past wrongdoings came back to me during this time. Each one was replayed over and over until it became etched in my heart.

I stared blankly into space crying. A man like me didn’t deserve to live. I was an abomination, a horror, a mistake, an error, and a monster.

I looked up to the roof in tears, and I prayed. I prayed. I prayed. I prayed. I prayed.

I prayed that somehow everybody would forgive me. For the heavens to take my sins away and make me new. 

I prayed for sanity and peace of mind.

Then suddenly, I felt a slight pain in my chest and my body flung itself to the ground.

My heartbeat slowed and the surrounding darkness somehow grew darker. I felt my body being pulled into nothingness.

My mind entered a dream-like state. I saw bright lights flashing in different colors all around me. Then I started to feel more pain. It felt like some type of dark energy was stabbing my psyche. 

and then I woke up.

I heard a click, and then I realized I was standing on clouds. I looked around. Directly behind me, I found a stage that was about ten meters high. 

On it stood an angel looking down on me with cold dead eyes.

Two glowing circles then suddenly appeared in front of me. One green and one red.

The angel instructed me to stand on the red.

I stepped forward and stood on the red. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a glowing blue circle. I asked “What about that one” pointing to the blue circle.

The angel didn’t respond but instead started to slowly stretch out his wings.

His eyes closed. Then his face morphed into a furious scowl. 

His eyes then opened which were glowing red.

I fell

Looking up the hole I fell through only became smaller and smaller. 

It was the only light in the darkness. When the light completely disappeared. I fell into seemingly nothingness.