Monster Minds [completed]

Chapter 30

"I couldn't find any meaning for my life when I was out there, I'm sure as hell not going to find it in here. This is the grand finale of a life poorly spent and the end result is just overwhelmingly depressing... it's just a sick, pathetic, wretched, miserable life story, that's all it is. How it can help anyone, I've no idea."

- Jeffrey Dahmer was an American and , who committed the rape, murder, and of seventeen men and boys between 1978 and 1991. Many of his later murders involved the permanent preservation of body parts—typically all or part of the body. On November 28, 1994, Dahmer was beaten to death by a fellow inmate. 

Chapter 30

The Main Locking System was the electronic system of connectors to every cell door within the prison. It was activated at all times, keeping all cell doors locked with an electronically controlled bar which connected the cell bars with the wall. This meant that even if someone acquired the key to a cell, the system to that door would also need to be turned off for them to be granted access. That is why someone sat by the switch at all times.

Only guards of high standing could call in with their radios and ask for the system to be turned off, except in emergencies, where all guards were able to call in requests.

Each hallway had their own electronic switch, which could be turned off by entering a four-digit code. Once it was turned off, the door could be opened by a set of keys, which I already had in my possession. All I needed to do was get into the room, deactivate the right switch, and get out without being caught. I already knew the code; I had found it amongst the things on my father's desk, as well as a metal drink bottle.

I walked quickly, never once looking behind me, afraid of what, or who, might face me. It was crazy, insane, but I thought that if I looked back, even for a moment, a slither of doubt would consume me and I would abandon my plan, abandon Vans, and run back to my home and bury myself in my blankets. I couldn't, wouldn't, let that happen; if I went back, there would be no future for me. I would be shipped off to a different place, away form my job and my dream, forever. I wasn't stupid enough to believe I would be going back because I knew my father; he never gave anything up, even for my mother.

I felt around in my heart for any emotions that may have remained for my father, but found none. I was greeted by hollowness greater than I had ever felt before in my life. It was almost as if someone could reach their hand inside of me and go straight through the hole that was left in my chest, the hole where that love for my family should have been. But that hole was no longer filled and remained an open like a black hole, swirling and sucking at the surrounding air, desperate to be filled with something—anything—except the emptiness.

Slipping the keys for Van's hallway into my pocket, I turned the last corner before the control room. My heart recoiled in my chest as if held too close to a flame. The danger of my situation was so solidified I felt like I could touch it.

I peaked my head around the corner slowly, careful enough so I wouldn't be noticed. As I had hoped, the security guards usually stationed outside the door were nowhere to be seen. That meant that Vans had succeeded in his distraction; I knew I wouldn't be bothered by any security guards for at least ten minutes.

Stepping into the hallway, I scanned the area to make sure it was safe before gliding over to the doorway. I placed a delicate hand on the knob, shoved the metal drunk bottle under my armpit, and fumbled around my pockets in search for the key. Then I heard the sound of my life ending; footsteps approaching the hallway.

My eyes widened as I searched through the set of keys to find the one that would unlock the doorway. The footsteps thwacked on the ground like a butcher tenderising meat, each beat getting faster, louder, and more gut wrenching. I slid one of the keys into the hole, but it would not turn. I swore under my breath, heart beat quickening with the onslaught of footsteps. My hands shook wildly, I selected keys at random, but none of them seemed to work. I knew it was one of them; my father had a key to every door, but which one was it?