Shred

Ending 2

The cart angled up six inches then stopped. The indicator light on the panel flashed red.

"Great," Alvin said as he reset the panel and tried again.

The light flashed red again.

Two more tries yielded the same results.

"Fine!" Alvin growled. "I'll do it myself."

He climbed over the safety rail and wedged himself in beside the cart. He grabbed handfuls of defective books and threw them into the shredder.

I wonder if they feel pain. He thought as he reached for more books and came up with a shoe.

"What the?"

He pulled on the shoe and found a leg.

"This ain't good."

He grabbed books by the armful and threw them in every direction until he uncovered the rest of the body. But he stopped dead when he saw the face.

"Vera?"

He began tapping her face.

"Vera, honey, it's time to wake up now."

As he tapped her face he noticed how cold it was. He felt for a pulse but found none.

"Vera, come on now, this isn't funny!"

He struggled to pull her out of the cart and carried her out of the shred room and onto the warehouse floor. He ran around frantically searching.

"Where is it?"

Finally, he spotted the yellow sign that said, "A.E.D.".

He gently laid her on the floor and pulled the unit off the wall. He ripped her shirt open and placed the electrodes where they were supposed to go. He pressed the button and waited.

"Come on!" he told the unit.

"Analyzing." The unit said in a mechanical voice. "Shock not advised."

"What?" Alvin yelled. "What do you mean, 'Shock not advised'? Shock her!"

He pressed the button again.

"Analyzing. Shock not advised."

"Damn machine! I'll do it myself!"

He put his hands on top of each other and started doing chest compressions.

"Come on, baby, breathe!"

"What the hell are you doing?" said a supervisor.

"Call 911!" Alvin demanded.

"Now just you..."

"Do it!" Alvin snapped, causing the supervisor to disappear.

Five minutes later the paramedics arrived and took over.

Six minutes after that Vera was declared dead.

Alvin was devastated.

He walked around for weeks like he was on autopilot. He never spoke unless necessary. It was no secret that he blamed himself. It was also no secret that Jean blamed him too.

Anytime he would pass by her machine she would loudly say to someone beside her, "There he goes. Isn't it amazing that a murderer is allowed to go free like that?"

Either that or, "I sure miss Vera. I wonder where she's been. Oh, that's right, Alvin murdered her."

Jean was told to stop by several people, including management, but she ignored them.

One day, as Alvin was passing by, Jean made one of her snide remarks.

He stopped and looked right at her.

"Aw, watsa matter, you gonna shed some crocodile tears for little Vera?" Jean said like she was talking to a baby. "I'm amazed you still have the nerve to show your face after what you did."

Alvin walked over to her and beat her to within an inch of her life.

The police arrested Alvin for aggravated assault. His sentence was reduced when several witnesses testified about Jean's constant tormenting. Some witnesses even said that if they'd been in Alvin's shoes, they would've done it much sooner.

Alvin served a year in the local prison. He had a constant stream of letters and visitors, he even took grief therapy classes in jail.

The entire month Jean was in the hospital she didn't have a single phone call or visitor.