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Lightning |
| Written by Brian Miller | |
| Wednesday, 02 April 2008 | |
The air was cold. The light was dim. The loneliness was maddening. The silence was deafening. Nick Douglas sat alone in his cell in Farnworth Federal Prison. The orange jumpsuit he wore stuck to his back and legs due to the perspiration flowing from his pores. Sitting on the hard bunk of the holding cell, Nick thought back to the reason he was here. Stupid, he thought. What was I thinking? He had been cut off from society, labeled as a criminal, a thief, and a murderer. Yes, he was a thief, but he was a thief with good intentions. He hadn’t robbed that liquor store so he could go and buy a new car or buy drugs. He had done it so that he could feed his six-month old daughter. She was all he had been thinking about. He pictured her sitting in her crib in his dirty apartment, crying from hunger. The thought brought a tear to his eye. The murder hadn’t been planned. Get in, get the money, get out, he had thought as he was preparing to enter the liquor store. Nick winced at the memory of the pistol going off. The store attendant was reaching for his gun behind the counter. Reflexively, Nick pointed his pistol at the young man and squeezed the trigger. The bullet had caught the young man in the neck, just barely severing the jugular vein. Nick had watched as the killing blow brought the boy to his knees behind the counter. The pistol had fallen from his hand and bounced as it hit the floor. Shocked at what he had done, Nick stood there in that one spot, watching in horror as the young man bled out on the floor, turned pale, and then slowly died. It was then he had been tackled by a passing police officer who had heard the shot. Nick thought back to the day of his trial. With a loud voice, the judge had declared the verdict so that all could hear. “GUILTY!” the judge had shouted. The courtroom had erupted in cheers as the boy’s family and friends realized they would see justice. Then had come the sentencing. Life in prison he could have lived with, but what he heard chilled him to the bone. “…sentenced to death by electric chair for the murder of…” Everything else had been tuned out. Numbness had filled his body. For the last six months that word had stuck with him. Death. Was he ready for that? Was he ready to meet his maker? He knew the whole story of spiritual redemption through Jesus Christ, but he had never taken the steps towards a better life. He could almost feel the fires of Hell burning the bottoms of his feet. He could hear the whispers of the demons telling him it was just a matter of time before he belonged to them. The burning feeling in his chest intensified with each passing moment. And as the moment of his doom approached, he felt more and more desperate for any peace of mind he could find at all. That’s when he made the choice. He slid from his bunk and hit his knees, kneeling on the cold hard floor. Tears flowed from his eyes. He wanted a way out, but of course there were none. Nick opened his heart and began praying for the first time in his life. “Get me out of here…” he said out loud, hoping God could hear him. “Please…” He hadn’t meant to do what he did. He had never meant to hurt anyone. He prayed God knew that. He prayed for a peace of mind in the coming event. Suddenly, as though a switch had been flipped, the burning in his chest vanished. The sweat on his body dried. The tears in his eyes disappeared. Nick looked up at the ceiling with eyes clearer than they had ever been. “Thank you God…” he mumbled. It was that moment when the door to his cell opened and two armed guards entered, eyeballing him like a caged animal. This was it. This was the end of the line. He stood up slowly and faced the guards. They approached him and put him in hand and ankle cuffs. As they led him from his cell down the long narrow hallway, Nick felt at more peace than ever in his life. After what seemed like hours of walking, the trio came to a single door with a darkened window in it. One of the officers pressed a button on the intercom speaker next to the doorknob. “We’re here,” he said. A moment later, Nick heard a whine as the door unlocked. The room beyond was eerily silent. A long window on the right side of the room revealed four faces: the mother and father of the liquor store attendant, a pastor, and his daughter. Why did she have to be here now? Part of him was glad to see her because he hadn’t in six months. She was a year old now. She sat in the arms of the pastor as the four spectators looked on. Nick looked back to the center of the room where a single chair sat, waiting for him. The guards removed his shackles and positioned him in the chair. He turned his head towards the glass window and met eyes with the pastor as his year-old daughter began to cry. He watched as the guards strapped his arms and legs to the chair. He prayed silently to himself as he watched the technicians prep the chair for the execution. When they were ready, he heard the executioner yell, “Roll on one!” Nick decided to look inward and to think about what he did and why he was here. He could hear his daughter crying through the glass. Lord, I hope she forgives me for leaving her this way, he prayed. He glanced at the faces of the boy’s parents and found smiles of satisfaction on both. This can’t be happening, he thought. He watched as a single guard came forward and placed a black bag over his head and face. Now, there was blackness. He would never again use these eyes. The thought was saddening, but he wouldn’t have long to worry about it. He wished he could take it all back. If he could go back in time and fix it, he would. But now there was nothing he could do. Through the thick black bag, he heard the lead technician shout, “Roll on two!” At that moment, he jumped in the chair. Pain shot down through his legs and arms. He felt the heat frying his innards, and he could feel his brain slowly shutting down. He shook violently as the electricity coursed through his malnourished body. He tried to control the seizures, but all control was lost. And at that moment of realization, he felt something give way in his brain. A small pop echoed through his ears, but it went unheard. The pain was no longer felt. The stinging sensation in his body stopped, and the shaking ceased. Nick felt as though he were being lifted out of the chair by an unseen force. He stood up, but when his legs were fully extended, he kept floating up. Turning, he saw the lifeless body of the one he had once been sitting in that chair peacefully. He looked over to the window and saw the tears falling from the mother and father’s faces. The pastor closed his eyes. His daughter cried. Even at her age, she somehow knew what was going on. Nick quickly felt a hand on his arm. He looked up and saw a shimmering white being taking his hand and pulling his up through the ceiling. As the two figures left earth’s atmosphere and began the journey to what Nick guessed was Heaven, he prayed again. Lord, I hope you forgive me for living my life this way. That was the night that Nick Douglas rode the lightning to his final resting place. Copyright 2008 Brian Miller |
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