This is the last in a series of fictional posts that starts here.
I wasn’t thinking about my future that night. I wasn’t
thinking about myself at all. I didn’t really even know if these guys were
capable of hurting my loved ones, I just knew I thought so at the time. That
story I wrote happened six years ago, and I’ve been locked up ever since with
no chance of seeing the outside again. I changed some of the locations and
names as to avoid prosecution of certain friends.
I hadn’t paid any attention to my surroundings when we drove
up to the other two on that gravel road. As it turned out, we were less than
300 feet from a house, and those residents called the police as soon as the
first shot was fired. An officer showed up about a minute after I emptied the
contents of Driver’s head onto his own lap. I had already thrown the gun, and I
was taken in swiftly without a fight.
I sat in the back of the cruiser for hours covered in blood
and chunks of skull while the police surveyed the crime scene. Goggles had
actually survived for a little while but eventually died at the hospital. All I
wanted was a shower and a bed to sleep in.
I don’t know that I can say I would have done things
differently if I were given another chance. I perceived a threat, and I acted
on that. The police say that I should have contacted them, but that was never
going to happen. Criminals solve crimes in their own ways, often with violence,
and that’s what happened that night.
After a short trial I was convicted of all three murders in
the 1st degree and sentenced to three 20-year terms to be served
consecutively. That is a total of 40 years I will have to sit, including good
time. If I’m still alive, I will be released under supervision in September of
2051.
My days in Moose Lake prison are very boring. I play a lot
of cribbage and Monopoly 1M1B. My only visitor is my mom, and she only comes on
my birthdays. I told her not to come more often because she just cries when she
sees me. I’m not sure she understands the latent danger she was in, or that,
for me, the whole thing was worth it if it saved her life. I try not to think
about it all too much these days, but I wanted to get the story out so I could
be done with it in my head. I feel a lot better having it all out on paper.
There’s one stipulation to reading this. I’m dead. This
letter was to be sealed and delivered to my mom only upon my death. I didn’t
want to cause any more trouble for any of my friends, nor did I want my family
to have to read this somewhere without first giving their consent. So, that’s
it. That’s the story of why I’m in prison.
After serving 11 years
in Moose Lake prison, Vince got into a fight with a guard and was immediately
swarmed by nine C.O.’s. The official cause of death was ruled accidental
strangulation when the weight of five officers crushed his wind pipe against
the arm of another. I wasn’t allowed to see the body but if I had to guess I would
say that it was probably bruised and battered.
Vince made a lot of
bad choices in his life, and that’s why I decided to publish this story on the
internet. I hope that somewhere, somebody sees this and decides to avoid the
toxic world of drugs and deception. I miss my son every day.
-Vince’s mom
