Sentenced to Hell

I was being drilled at breakfast by Carmen and Jess about last night; after ten minutes I wanted to kill them both, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

“Do you guys really not know who I’m talking about? It’s really obvious guys…”

“Will you just say it, I need to know.”Jess said while completely ignoring what I assumed was oatmeal.

“I told my cellmate Dylan.” Carmen dropped her spoon and Jess’ jaw fell clean off.

“Why is that such a big deal?”

“Carmen, am I hearing things?”

“I think we both are. There must be something is this mush.” Carmen answered by watching her spoon sink into the, whatever that ‘food’ was.

“Why is it such a big deal? He was just being considerate, after what happened last night.”

“That may be true, but after the rumors I’ve heard and things I’ve seen, I don’t trust him at all.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“He’s had 4 girl ‘cellmates’ in the 2 years he’s been here. Plus the rumors…”

“That’s just a coincidence Jess, but what have you heard?”

“If you two are so close you should know; it’s about why he’s in here. People say it’s because he killed his entire family.”

“Well now; that might be why he freaked out when I mentioned the ‘why are you here’ question.”
It didn’t feel right to talk about Dylan like this; he was the only one I could turn to and he helped me so much. Without him I’m not sure what I would’ve done. Carmen abandoned her supposed oatmeal and was twisting her hair around her finger.

“Finley, all I’m trying to say is that you should watch out okay? The last girl who was there was by best friend and she never made it out. I don’t want you to get hurt too.”

“Carmen, please don’t worry about me. After last night, he’s been acting really weird and is ignoring me anyway.”
I heard a bell ring; we got to go outside. I followed Carmen and Jess through a few hallways, down stairs, and to the ‘yard’. There were a few basketball courts, a lot of picnic tables and not much else. Most of the tables were abandoned and groups were huddled near the walls and corners. Carmen had walked off to one of the groups while Jess and I went to one of the tables and sat down. It seemed odd that all of the knots of people were so far away from everyone else; cowering in shadows and corners.
When I looked up at her, her face was completely blank.

“Jess, what’s wrong?” I looked for Carmen in the groups, but couldn’t see her; she was the only one who could probably snap Jess out of her trance-like state.

“Jess, what’s wrong? C’mon you’re scaring me.” I followed her gaze and saw who she was looking at. It was a man who was about six foot two with red hair and light eyes. His face was completely emotionless and his eyes were fixed of Jess.

“It’s Christopher; he’s been following me again.” She whispered. She got up to leave, and Christopher took a step forward. She sat back down and he went back to his stop against the wall.

“Jess, who is he? Why are you so terrified of him?”

“He follows whoever he’s going to take next. Last time he has me he said I was one of his favorites and that he’s be sure to see me again. I can’t let him get me.” She turned around, looked at me and sighed, almost relieved.

“He shouldn’t move unless I do. Oh God tonight…”

“What’s his story?”

“This is going to sound crazy, but he can’t feel emotion. His condition has some weird name but it’s some mental condition or something. The big deal is that the emotional part of his brain never existed”

“That’s impossible Jess.”

“If you don’t believe me just wait for when he gets to you; he’ll tell you the whole story. It’s the only time it seems like he feels anything.”

“What is it he… nevermind, I won’t ask.”

“No, it’s okay, but I won’t be much help. He’s different to every person he takes. He’s a trained psychiatrist or psychologist so whoever you are he’ll try and get into your mind and fuck you up.”

I felt myself shiver and then my body went numb; his eyes were locked on me.