The Man in the Prison

David didn’t say a word to the officer that told him about his new cellmate. He ignored the mocking tone from the guard as he led the new guy into his cell. David took a quick peek at the newbie.

The man’s eyes were open wide and were looking back and forth in what David assumed was fear. He was going to be stuck with a crazy one, that was going to claim like the others that he doesn’t deserve to be here.

At least David could give himself some credit, he had the gall to admit that he deserved to be behind bars. The man stood frozen in place as the guard removed his handcuffs and left him with David.

The man looked over at David, his eyes now as wide as saucers.

“I can’t be here,” he whispered.

David sat up a little straighter in his bunk, not wanting to make eye contact with the stranger.

“That’s what everyone around here says,” David replied.

“No. You don’t understand. I can’t be here.”

The man started to walk back and forth, his eyes searching the cell.

“I can’t be here. It’s going to happen again,” the man babbled.

David grunted. He did not want to be stuck with this idiot. He lied down on top of the bunk bed, facing the wall. He could hear the man continue to pace back and forth in the cell.

He wished he would just go to bed. He was going to be here for who knows how long. Might as well get used to it. David could feel himself beginning to fall asleep when the man suddenly let out a scream.

David covered his ears, frustration kicking in. He hated getting into fights with inmates, but if he needed to shut one of them up, he wouldn’t hesitate to do so.

David turned over to address the man. He was on the ground, his mouth wide open. He was on his hands and knees, tears leaking out of his eyes. Now the man was having a panic attack.

Once it was time for lunch or dinner, the other prisoners were going to have a field day with this one. David was about to go back to attempting to fall asleep again, but then the man screamed again.

David whirled around, his hands balled into fists.

“You fucking piece of shit. Let me fucking sleep!’’

The man was groaning loudly, clutching at his stomach. His legs flailed around. Sweat was trickling down his face, leaving a small pool of sweat. Then blood began to leak out of his eyes.

“Oh shit.”

David ran toward the cell bars.

“HEY! HELP! WE NEED HELP!”

The other prisoners began to throw out insults or mimic David’s plea for help. David heard a guard yell at the inmates to shut the hell up. David banged his forehead against the bars in anger.

The man was obviously having some kind of seizure. He needed instant help. David rushed over to the man, not sure what to do. Blood continued to pour out of his eyes. David placed a hand on his shoulder.

Then he drew back his hand when the man released another scream. This time, a guard did show up. The same one that had thrown the man into David’s cell. The guard struggled to use the keys to open the cell door.

He dropped his keys at one point. David slammed a hand down on the floor.

“HURRY UP!,” he yelled.

The man surprised David when he took hold of his prison uniform, pulling him closer to his ear.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Before David could process this information, the man lifted him up with both arms in the air and threw him against the cell door. David’s body and head collided with the cell doors.

He began to fade into darkness when he hit the floor. He thought he saw the man burst open, blood flying everywhere, and the guard screaming before he passed out.

When David awoke, he assumed that the blood on his head was his. Until he saw the man’s body in front of him. David gasped, sitting up in the cell. He let out a cry of pain when he felt something poke him in the back.

He looked back. The guard was dead. The cell appeared to be torn open, with several of the cell bars sticking out in different directions.

It looked like some kind of beast had crashed through the cell doors.

The prison was too quiet, but David knew something awful had taken place. The lights were flickering, and there was a lot of blood in the hallway. The rest of the cells resembled the one that David resided in.

He tried not to panic when he noticed several bodies littered in either the cells or the hallways. David couldn’t tell who was a guard or a prisoner. There was so much blood. David looked back at the man’s body.

It looked like some disgusting version of a flower that had just bloomed.

David wasn’t sure if that thing was still out there, but he wasn’t going to take any chances. David felt the tears begin to fall as he slowly made his way through the prison. Whatever it was, he was hoping to survive.

Even though he did a bad thing, he didn’t want to die.

A massive roar echoed throughout the prison, and David released a sob as he could faintly hear footsteps approaching ahead.

Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn