It was a long enough trip to the prison that I was no longer making clenching motions with my fingers in an attempt to finish strangling that cancerous boil on the anus of humanity. But I was still angry enough that the sniveling sheep’s turds felt the need to stun me before tossing me through a slightly familiar opening.
The floor was quite pleased to see me again, and left me dazed and covered in dust after our impromptu embrace.
“You’re back,” a repulsively cheerful voice said just behind my ear. “I did not expect to see you back! Congratulations on Living!”
Oh Dear Lord Above have you no mercy? That voice was possibly the only thing that could have made my day any worse.
“Oh dear God. Not the crazy man,” I whimpered before I could stop myself.
“I was not always this,” the old man said, the beard’s smile suddenly melting into defeat. “I was more, once. Alive.” Sane, I added silently, perhaps hypocritically, but I wasn’t in a state of mind to reflect on my own mental well being. I was in no mood to humor anyone, especially the confused ramblings of this particular old man.
Being in prison, I have found, puts me in a bit of a mood.
It was the second time in as many months, and I wasn’t getting out again. No one ever got out twice.
“I was a teacher,” he whispered, imparting this sacred knowledge unto me just as he had the first time I was in there. How the old guy managed to recognize me so quickly in the crowded mess was nothing short of miraculous. If I’d been feeling better, I might have entertained the thought that he had not gone all the way ‘round the bend.
But I was in a mood.
“I taught him, little Pierre. Wish I’d used the paddle more. He has no respect for age or learning. None.”
I ignored him in favor of contemplating how I was going to kill Simon if I managed to escape judgment again. The rat bastard.
“Little Lair Boy, I called him. Always so focused on what he wanted.” The old man’s ramblings barely penetrated the angry haze.
Must’ve been the no good Irish blood comin out in him, a gift from the man that left our Mama. Mama always warned us to be careful, to make sure we behaved French, not Irish.
“He’d do anything to get it.”
Turned in his own flesh and blood. I hoped that they’d arrested him too, just for being related to a “known traitor.” Would serve him right.
“Why I recall one instance when he actually broke his slate so he would not need to write out his Plato translation.”
Just so the inn could be his. I felt my lips curl into a snarl. On top of what I’d found out, it was beyond unforgivable. I didn’t just want retribution. I wanted revenge.
I had tried to strangle him, when I’d realized what he’d done. He’d already called the Committee by then, and as soon as I’d got my hands around his stringy little neck, they busted in and hauled me away. So I was in prison. Again.
“So I made him recite the whole thing. In Greek, Latin, and French.”
There was a commotion by the door. They were bringing more Enemies of the State in. I wondered how many of them used to be part of the state, considering how easily the revolutionaries seemed to turn on people
Then I saw Simon. And I felt a grin stretch slowly across my face.
“It was really very improper behavior for a young man of 15. Very improper.”
Then Simon saw me, and he looked very, very pale.
“Sometimes I think he may have held a grudge. Must be why he put me in here.”
I knew then that I would kill him. He would be one of those bodies that would be dragged out of prison instead of walking to a beheading. It would be so easy, and since I was already a walking death sentence, I figured it couldn’t hurt my chances. I would only have to wait until the evening. The night guards always let the torches burn out.
A serious voice, cultured and out of place in this room of dirty despair, broke into my crazed thoughts. “You should really listen to your elders more, young man.”
My head whipped around to stare at the old man. His serious blue eyes focused and held my face in his mind. “You dislike that young man, yes? I dislike a man too, and I have a plan. You may share it, if you like.” I just blinked. Well this is new, I thought, unable to articulate my confusion.
He leaned forward so his stale breath engulfed my ear. “I’m going to join them. I’m going to be the executioner.”
I just blinked some more.
Then he told me how.
He was brilliant.
