Life Sentences
Originally written December 16, 2019
As Damian sits, huddled underneath an awning outside a local grocery store, waiting for it to open and trying to avoid the rain cascading over the edge in a torrent of cold water, he looks back on his life and how he ended up here.
The world hadn’t been easy on him. For as long as he could remember, he had been picked on, put down, and belittled. Things never seemed to go his way. It wasn’t his fault that his family chose their vices over paying the water bill. It wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t take a shower, and had to go to school with a distinguishable amount of body odor.
He couldn’t help that he didn’t have any experience out of school, so there weren’t as many jobs available to him as some of the other kids. He tried to make it to work on time every day, but he had to walk over three miles to get there. It wasn’t his fault that the truck full of his old high school bullies drove by him and splashed him with mud and water, causing him to get fired.
He tried to make enough money to keep his parents’ home, but he couldn’t do it on his own, and they were no help. He tried to join the military so he could fight for his country. It wasn’t his fault that he was born with heart problems because of his mom’s poor choices.
He did everything he could to avoid where he was at right now. He had no home, no food, and nobody that cared enough to help him. So he sits. He wraps his coat, which is riddled with holes, tighter around his body to shield him from the bite of the February wind.
He closes his eyes for a moment, and something changes.
He isn’t cold anymore. In fact, he starts to feel a calming warmth come over him. He knows it isn’t a good sign, and that he should get up and move, but it feels so nice. He opens his eyes to make sure he’s still here. He sees the trees waving in the breeze, but he doesn’t feel it anymore.
With everything that has happened to him in his life, he deserves to go out in peace. Damian leans his head back and closes his eyes, ready to leave this world in a state of bliss he has never experienced.
A jolt of pain shoots through Damian’s body, pulling him back to himself. It feels like he is being torn apart piece by piece. The pain emanates through every inch of his body. He screams out, cursing this cruel life that won’t even let him die in peace.
The pain goes on for a minute, ninety seconds, two minutes. Damian screams the whole time. Finally, his weak heart can’t take the pain anymore.
Damian closes his eyes for the last time.
#
“Welcome back, Mr. Carter,” comes a voice that Damian recognizes from what feels like a lifetime ago. “That concludes life sentence number one. How many people did you kill again, you psychopath? Thirty-seven? Looks like you’ve got thirty-six more to go. We’d better get started.”