First a warning.
If you've read any of my stories before, you know they've been light-hearted, comedy-driven things where nobody really gets hurt.
This is not one of those kinds of stories.
It was inspired by a picture and is fairly dark. There are lots of much darker stories on the Forums, but this one is definitely NOT light-hearted.
When I saw the picture, the story flowed out of me quickly.
Interview in the Dungeon
When they opened the cell door for Gloria, she gasped. She’d been warned, but it hadn’t prepared her for what she saw.
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She turned to the warden standing at her side. “I’ve been told you’ve kept her like this for eight months.
Always like this.”
The small, rotund man smiled. “That’s not true.”
“Thank God!”
“Sometimes we stand her up.”
“What?”
“The height of the chains is adjustable. There are two lengths – sitting and standing.”
“No lying down?”
“No.”
Gloria closed her eyes and tried to stay calm. “So, it’s true? She’s been in those wall chains for
eight months?”
He smiled again. “Yes.”
“My God, man, how can you—”
“She should not have sold drugs.”
“This!?” Gloria pointed around the tiny cell. “
This for a few grams of weed?”
“My country’s rules are very strict.”
“And that
thing next to her?”
“A constant reminder. Prisoner 3482 will remain where she is until
she becomes … a thing too. Of course, we had to wire the bones together, but it makes the point, does it not?”
Gloria blinked back tears.
Oh my God, the poor girl, she thought,
eight months! Eight months chained to that wall. She knew Michelle was twenty-one, half Gloria’s age, but she looked almost a child. Gloria turned to the seemingly mild-mannered man standing next to her.
You’re a fucking monster! She thought
.
Ruled by a family of despot maniacs for decades, this postage-stamp-sized, hellhole of a country almost no one had heard of and no one in their right mind would ever visit was the only place in the world that would sanction something like this.
Eight months already! And then, the rest of her life!
Gloria and the warden walked up to Michelle, still asleep and hanging in her chains. The warden kicked the young woman softly and said, “Prisoner 3482, wake up, you have a visitor.”
Gloria took in a big breath. The air was stale, but there wasn’t the fetid dungeon stench she had anticipated. “Do I smell disinfectant?”
“Yes,” the warden said, “we keep her clean, even groomed, and she is well fed. Her waste is removed promptly. Our Great President hates all drug dealers, no matter how much or little they sell. They make our workers less productive. The ones he doesn’t crucify, he wants to suffer for as long as possible. My job is to make sure her life sentence will be a
very long one. And when potential drug dealers read the story you will write, see the videos, perhaps they will think again.”
“She was just driving through your country. She only sold it to get money to fix her car.”
“Which still makes her a drug dealer, no? Besides, look on the bright side,” that irritating smile again, “she wasn’t crucified.”
It took all of Gloria’s will power to not punch him. His country was the only one in the world that used crucifixion as a judicial punishment for some crimes. She looked around the cell. And certainly, the only one that does
this.
He kicked Michelle again, harder this time. “I said, wake up!”
Michelle opened her eyes wide and immediately began shaking her head from side to side, obviously terrified.
“It’s alright,” the warden said, “you’re allowed to talk.”
Michelle was gulping in huge breaths and tried to move away, her chains clanking loudly.
“I said, 3482, you’re allowed to talk, do you understand me?”
Michelle looked on the brink of tears. She nodded her head.
The warden pointed at Gloria. “This is Gloria Stephens, she’s here to interview you. You are to cooperate with her. Do you understand?”
Michelle nodded again.
“I said you’re allowed to speak! Answer me!”
“I …” Michelle’s voice cracked. She tried again. “Hard to … sorry …”
The warden looked at Gloria. “Prisoners are never allowed to speak, and no one ever speaks to them, except to give commands. It’s been months since she’s said a word to anyone.”
He grabbed the back of Michelle’s hair and pulled her face over to look at him. “And the last time she did, she caused her guard friend to be executed. Isn’t that right, Michelle? And now you’re going to spend the rest of your life chained to that very wall, next to your little reminder. And you’ll be with us even after you die in what, maybe fifty, sixty years?”
He turned to Gloria. “We’re very good at keeping our prisoners alive here.”
Then, back to Michelle. “Don’t worry, they’ll do a good job wiring your bones back together too, so you can be the next reminder. You will
never see sunshine or anything other than these grey walls ever again.” He laughed and rattled the chains above her head. “And these are now as much a part of you as your arms are.”
Michelle broke down into loud sobs and her shoulders and head bobbed up and down.
The warden let Michelle go. “You are to cooperate with this reporter fully, do you understand?”
“I … don’t … I …why?”
He grabbed her upper arm and squeezed, hard. Michelle yelped.
“You don’t get to ask why. Perhaps you’d like a full
sixteen hours of exercise today, instead of eight?”
Michelle’s eyes widened again, even more, and she shook her head vigorously. “Please no! … I … I’ll do what you want. Please?” Between sobs, “Just tell me what you want, PLEASE!”
“Leave her alone,” Gloria said. “What is
exercise? Why is she so afraid?”
“Ah, I’ll show you.” He called out. “Jailer, exercise position.”
Michelle sobbed. “No, no. We don’t do exercise now. It’s not till later. Please! No.”
The chains creaked and began to move upward. Michelle had no choice but to pull herself up. Gradually, she stood, her arms above her head. “Please, it’s not time to do exercise. Oh, please!”
Gloria said, “Look, whatever the fuck
exercise is, I don’t need to see it!”
“Oh, but you do,” the warden said. “It’s one of the main reasons you’ve been allowed to do this interview. In fact, you will film it later. It’s a
very effective form of punishment.
Much better than flogging. I’m sure it will discourage many from following in her footsteps.”
Michelle’s tears were falling to the ground as she cried out, “I don’t
want to do exercise. Oh please, not now.”
The chains stopped rising.
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The warden said with a smile, “Now watch this.”
... To Be Continued ...
