Vital Signs

A layer of fog ran cold through the floor of the prison cell. Green mold grew throughout, which was only noticeable for fifteen minutes a day when the sun was highest in the sky. The walls were tattooed with small, illegible scribbles. When the wind kicked up, an empty shallow breath could be felt. Otherwise, there was no life present.

In the chamber, days blurred into years, and thus the area became cosmic; in that anything inside its modest perimeter transcended space and time. Eternity was trapped there with its sole incumbent. He was dead. At least he thought so. He was slowly becoming part of the cell, as his hair from his wiry beard began falling out. He had no memory of when he last ate or showered or slept. He only had one true memory left. He looked down at the heart shaped locket around his neck and opened it. The picture had in fact faded from all reasonable visibility years ago, but not to him. At least not yet.

Fifteen years ago, the revolution started with explosions outside his window, waking him up. He cursed under his breath as he wasn’t ready for this, but he quickly came to terms with what he had to do. He hid under the bed as the guard came in looking for him. When the guard turned around to call for help he took out the shiv from his pocket, quietly crawled out from under his bed to stand up and slit the guards throat. He walked out and heard the rest of the guards coming. He hid in the hall closet to let them pass, and when he heard them enter his room, he made his escape by running down the stairwell. The guards in the lobby were already dead, and he made his way out in to the street. As everyone was running toward the dividing line, he swam against the current and went further into the city center.

The square city center had eyes in the shape of two glowing electric billboards, which covered the entirety of the dual tower’s fronts. Despite the shop windows being destroyed and the convulsions taking place on the ground, the towers remained vigilant and functioning. The city had not fallen yet. He ran to the corner of the square, and began to feel his heart pump realizing he was only two blocks away from her.

Suddenly, he was struck by a formidable blow to the jaw. A rogue guard had spotted him and pointed a gun at him. He got on his knees and interlocked his hands over his head, palming the shiv he had constructed. As the guard came over to handcuff him, he struck and punctured the guard’s cheek with the weapon. A rush of adrenaline hit him, and as the guard cried out once more, he stabbed the guard repeatedly without hesitation.

He sprinted to her apartment and used all of his force to break down the door. Once inside he climbed the staircase to her floor. His force encompassed his entire being and nothing could stop it. He kicked in the door and saw her.

She had hung herself. The note on her body read “I’m sorry. I love you. I’ll see you where eternity ends.” But the tears in his eyes blinded him too much to be able to read it. He knew what it said anyway. He could feel every word she poured into her dying breath. It lived inside of him, and now it was suffocating inside of him. He screamed in anguish, and he knew he could not bear to feel her suffering anymore. The window was open and he climbed out onto the ledge. He looked back at her corpse and noticed the locket hanging from her neck. He climbed back inside, gently took it off of her, and kissed it. He went right back to the ledge. He looked down at the crowds who had begun throwing Molotov cocktails at the guards- now opening their fire on men, women, and children. Holding the locket close to his heart he said “I’ll see you soon” and jumped.

As he jumped, gravity reset him and the weight of the world counteracted his movement. He ended up back inside the room on the floor. A guard had pulled him in, but was passed out on the floor from the effect of the rebound. He grabbed the locket and put it in his pocket, right before ten more guards stormed inside the room. He screamed as they handcuffed him.

He remembered all this sitting in the isolation of the eons; his heart gave out that day years ago. The locket was the only vital sign he had left.