My name is Harmon Bradshock. I had a family once. A wife named Anna. But she was cheating on me. I loved her with all my heart and soul. There was nothing I would not do for her. When I saw her lying there sleeping blissfully in the arms of some other man, it was all I could do not to break down and die. Maybe it would have been better if I had. If I could of just seen into the future, just one small glimpse into the hell that was to come, then maybe I could have just ended it then and there.
But, I did not do that. Instead, I killed Anna. Anna and her unborn baby. I do not know if the baby was even mine. Even so I fired that gun and shot her in the head, I let the other man go, he just ran away and I did not care. Then I watched Anna bleeding on the floor and felt this perverse sense of joy. It is all over now. She cannot hurt me anymore. The pain, the agony that was beginning to suffocate me suddenly subsided. I was free.
For a short time.
Somebody heard the shot and called the cops. Perhaps it was the man Anna was with, I do not know. The cops found me cradling the gun in my hand and staring down at my dead wife. She just lay there. And she looked like she did when I found her in bed with another man. She was sleeping. But this time there was a whole in the back of her head. One that let her lifeblood flow out into infinity. She was dead. There was nothing I could do about that.
The cops took me down to the station and charged me with murder. I sat, cold and sick at heart. What had I done? Now I was going to pay with my life because of what I had done. I knew that I would get the death penalty. Because Anna was pregnant, I had killed not one, but two human beings. That crime is punishable by death.
So, when the man in the tailored blue suit came to my cell one evening to offer me a deal that would ultimately save my life, I was completely shocked. He told me about this place, an experiment really that was the government’s top secret. It was a type of prison where about thirty men were isolated in small cells. There was no contact with fellow prisoners. All the men there were once given the death penalty. They could avoid it only if they stayed in the prison for ten years.
I agreed to the terms that were set before me. I could tell no one of this deal. When I got out of the prison, it was called The System, I could go back to living a normal life. I wanted to know why they were doing this, they told me they wanted to test what isolation could do to the human spirit. I was ready to give up, but not on life entirely. So the next day, I was off to spend ten years at The System.
I was blindfolded for the transport but they removed my blindfold once we entered the gates of The System. Coming up on the building, it looked like any old warehouse. I felt a feeling of dread. This was the place where I was doomed to spend ten years of my life. They walked me into the building. Lead me to my cell. It was small, the size of a small powder room. There was a toilet in the back, it had a lid on it that was to be my chair. The toilet/chair combination pulled out and doubled as a bed. They told me I would be spending most of my time in this small cell. I would be taken out only to shower and to be checked by the resident doctor.
So they locked me into the cell, there was no window, no clock. They took my watch from me. I would have no idea what time of day it was. Even if it was day or night. With a shuddering breath, I sat down on my seat. Contemplated ten years. Within the first five minutes, I was ready to kill someone. I paced back and forth in my cell. I had no idea how I was going to get through a year of this torture, yet alone ten.
In the next week, I found out more about The System. The toilet was connected to a lab somewhere in the building. All my waste went down there to be analyzed by their people. There were cameras in every cell. My movements were being watched constantly. I felt like an experiment, which was precisely what I was.
It has been one month in The System. Today I actually saw another prisoner. He was being lead to the doctor. The sight of him turned my stomach. He was pale beyond belief, his eyes were sunken in, and he was so thin he was ghostlike. The fact that he did not even look at me as we passed in the hallway really got to me. He simply stared straight ahead, as if in some sort of trance. I wondered how long he had been there. If his time was almost up. I am still thinking about him as I lay here trying to sleep. His image haunts my mind. Follows me into dreams. I wonder, will I end up like him someday?
It has been three months inside. I can feel myself getting thinner. I can feel myself fading. Sometimes I do not even eat the meals that they feed me. My appetite has gone. It has been gone for a long time. I started to throw up last week. I am sure they know about it. That is why they sent me to the doctor. But, he just shakes his head and says there is nothing he can do for me. I just have to survive, like everyone else in this living Hell.
Five months have passed since I saw the outside. My vision has gone bleary from staring at the walls of my cell all day. My thoughts turn to escape. I must get out of here. Either that or I am going to die inside. Without ever seeing the sun again. Without seeing my parents once more. I will escape or die trying. Desperately, I try to remember how I got to my cell. The various guards and checkpoints I went through. Suddenly the will to escape takes over. Now I will do anything to get out.
My plan is simple. I find with time, I can remember the way I got in. And now I remember the way out. This morning on the way to the shower, I study the guards. One of them is a woman. She looks too nice to be inside here. I work to get her alone, maybe she can help me. I discover that her name is Mary. She has two kids. She is here to help support her family. Her husband works all day in a construction site.
I ask her if she can help me escape. She looks shocked and tells me that she could never help anyone here. It would be a death sentence for her. I cannot put her in that position. Then, suddenly, I notice a bulge on her right hip. A gun maybe, I do not know for sure. But then suddenly I am sick of this whole place. I will see the sun again even if it kills me. Like a man possessed, I grab Mary, holding her arms with one hand, I reach for the gun in her pocket. It is there, there to save my life.
Mary screams and runs for the door. I let her put her hand on the doorknob before I shoot her. She crumbles to the floor. I do not know if she is dead or not, and I do not have time to check. After making sure the gun is fully loaded, which thankfully, it is. I sneak into the hallway. I do not know if my cover is blown. Somebody might have heard the gun go off. But, the hallway is deserted. Then I see a door at the end of the hallway. A strange, yet familiar light beckons just beyond this door. Blindly, I run towards the door.
As I open it up, an alarm sounds, piercing the silent corridor with its shrill wail. Guards come running into the hallway. But, I do not seem to care. All I care about is the blinding sunshine. I stare into the dazzling blue sky. I realize that I have been standing still. I begin to run, run towards the fence that separates me from this prison and the glorious world beyond.
Somewhere like a distant scream , I hear gunfire behind me. I turn, just for a second to see that the guards are standing outside the door. They have their guns pointed at me. I run but their bullets catch me. I feel them tear into my back. Yet still I run. On and on I run. Even with blood pouring out behind me. I am free. Then, I fall to the ground, yet it is like I am still running. The blackness seeps into my mind like the venom of a snake seeps into your blood.
I die alone.
Alone, but free.
At long last, finally-
Free.
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