08.26.10
The girl on the makeshift operating table stares up at me, pleading, her eyes bulging partly through fear and partly because she is trying to scream through a mouthful of gauze. The muffled sound that escapes her is not even loud enough to be heard over the other voices. After I kill her, her voice will join them and I will hear her loud and clear, along with all the others.
Read the rest of this entry »
02.26.10
We reach the double doors at the end of the long, grey corridor and the warden ushers us in with a sombre greeting. I want a good view of the proceedings, so I stride towards the front row of seats, my wife’s hand in mine. She pulls me back gently and I see she doesn’t want to get that close; we sit down in the second row and I put my arm around her shoulder. A few more people trickle in and quietly take their seats. No one sits in the front row and only one other person sits on the second row, as far away along from us as possible. Everyone stares straight ahead, not wanting to meet anyone’s eye. At last, after what seems like an age, the correctional officers bring in the monster and march him to the front of the room.
Read the rest of this entry »
12.11.09
I was still dry-heaving when the police arrived at the scene. I didn’t think I’d be going for a run in this part of the woods again, somehow. The sun, still low in the east, was shining straight into my eyes, but this was preferable to looking in the other direction. Not that it would have made any difference – the image of the bludgeoned girl was plastered all over my mind’s eye and was unlikely to go away any time soon.
Read the rest of this entry »
