Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Adrian sat bruised and battered in his cold, dingy prison cell. He paced the small cell, a stabbed feeling in him. He had now spent three endless months locked up for a crime he didn't commit. The wounds from the daily beatings were nothing compared to the sting of betrayal he felt. He couldn't still comprehend why the woman he'd dedicated his life to loving would order for a divorce so cold-heartedly - in a way that was capable of striping him of every last form of dignity he had.

“Get up you idiot. You have a visitor”

Adrian stood up reluctantly, not wanting to go through another round of beating for stubbornness. He was in no mood to see anybody be they his friends. Not to even talk of any of his in- laws.

Now Rosa had come once again to torment Adrian under the guise of being a concerned ex-wife.

“Oh Adrian, look at you! This is what happens when you try lying and avoiding accountability for your actions. All this pain could have been avoided if you had just admitted what you made me go through and apologized for it.”

Adrian glared with unrestrained anger. “What are you talking about Rosa? What apology?”

Rosa shook her head in a disappointed way. “Even now you still don't see it. You think I really wanted to divorce you ? The pressure from my family was getting way too much. You kept disgracing me all the time and you weren't even making efforts to make things better. Do you know the insults I had to keep silent to, because of you? I was tired Adrian! I was drained!”, Rosa said, her voice breaking like she was about to cry.

But Adrian wasn't fooled. He scoffed.

“The only thing I'm guilty of is not realizing how manipulative and vindictive you truly were until it was too late. You think I didn't see the smug smile on your face? Or notice the exchanges between you and that Godforsaken husband of yours? You think I'm a goddamn fool, don't you?”

Adrian paused to laugh a little before he continued.

“But trust me Rosa, when I get out of this place, you and your crooked family are going to regret what you've done to me.”

Rosa pretended to be offended. “Hear yourself, Adrian. “Even now you try to put the blame on me! I came hoping you had learned your lesson and were ready to take responsibility. But I guess leopards don't change their spots. You are still acting like the victim when you have only yourself to blame.”

“Save the sanctimonious speeches, Rosa. Okay? What are you really here for? ” Adrian snapped back.

“I came here for you Adrian”, Rosa said, putting effort to be persuasive. “Look at you. Everyday you get beat up really bad. You don't need to be here, Adrian. I know the evidence is against you and there's no way you can defend yourself. Just tell the truth and admit to the crime. I'm sure my family will drop the charges against you and then you can get out of prison. It breaks my heart to see you like this. Just look at those bruises”

For a moment there, Adrian wanted to believe her. But he knew what he'd seen and his guts never lied. He was going to have to push her to the limit if he wanted to get the truth out of her. He laid back, a blank face on him.

“It’s obvious you came to try squeezing a false confession out of me. It must really frustrate you that your underhanded schemes haven’t worked.”

“Is that your final answer?” Rosa asked, coldly. “You leave me no other option then but to stop protecting your pride and make you admit what you did...”

She leaned in closer and whispered viciously: “If you don’t sign the confession I’ve brought today, this ‘misunderstanding’ might end up having deadly consequences for you, Adrian. Stop being foolish”

“Do your worst, Rosa! Go ahead. Enjoy this temporary power trip while you still can. Because mark my words – you and your crooked family will regret wronging me like this someday!”

Rosa scowled, frustrated that her threats proved futile yet again. “Keep up that defiant arrogance Adrian! We’ll see how long it sustains you in this hellhole.”

Rosa stood up and walked out angrily. On her way out, she met with the prison warden.

“Kill him. I want dead before tomorrow”

The prison warden nodded in approval and proceeded to pass the instruction to the execution officers.

*****************

Adrian was fast asleep in his prison cell when two hefty officers jerked him up suddenly off the ground.

“What? Where the hell are you taking me too?”

“Shut the hell up”

They led him to the execution room and Adrian's eyes cleared in realization as they stood him on the raised platform.

The two armed guards forced a noose around his neck, Adrian struggled with them. But more guards came to overpower him and soon they tired Adrian out.

The end of the noose was connected to a device that would pull him up and gradually strangle him. Adrian struggled fighting with his legs and desperately trying to get the damn noose off his neck. With every passing second, he was losing breath and consciousness and as Adrian felt himself ascend and slowly die, he kept his promise in his heart.

“I’ll have my … re…revenge Rosa. I … promise…”

Black out!

********************

He squinted his eyes as the white light appeared, strong in its luminescence. He put his hands over his eyes to prevent himself from getting blind, only to discover that his body was still fully intact.

He touched himself, too surprised to be alive. He'd been strangled to death and had seen only black just a moment before, so what the heck was happening?

Just then, his eyes caught a strange white form coming before him. He stepped back a little, the energy from the strange being was overwhelming.

“Who…who are you?”