The Prisoner Project

FOUR

"Ted Dekker or Stephen King kind of horror?"

I sighed. "Serious, Diana. Please, take this seriously."

"Sorry, I'm listening."

I waved away her apology and scrubbed a clean hand across my face in exasperation. "I signed an NDA and I don't know if this room is tapped so I can't tell you anything. I'll try my best to tell you what I can though."

Diana groaned dramatically. "Sure. I'll live."

"OK. The Prisoner I was asked to interview is named Nicholas Dementia, infamously known as Banshee. He terrifies me so much and I haven't even met him yet." I admitted, leaning against the marbled kitchen counter.

"Interesting. His name sounds just like the mental disorder." She mused.

I shrugged. "It's spelt the same way too. A quick summary of my job is basically to interview him, befriend him almost, as a way to milk out the reason why he committed the crimes that he did."

"Wow. That sounds weird as hell." I heard tapping of keys. After a few seconds, Diana came back to the phone. "Just typed his name into Google and there are no results. Who the hell is he?"

I sighed, feeling like throwing up again. I tossed the half eaten apple into sink with the knife. "Don't bother. He's not on the Internet, or anywhere, really. He's confidential."

"Then tell me about him."

And I do.

I tell her how serious the Prisoner Project is, I tell her everything about it and what it stands for. Then I talk about Banshee without being specific, I tell her that his crimes are gruesome, and because I want her to have a glimpse of his horror, I tell her tales of the images I saw and the details of his gruesome murders. I told her the kinds of people that were kept in the Correction Centre and I projected my fear onto her in order to put her one inch into my shoes.

It was only at the end that I had realised hat I probably broke the NDA. I smacked my forehead.

Diana replied with silence, and then worry.

"God, Aria. That's fucked up. I didn't think that was what you had to do. I didn't even think the job was real. I half expected you to come knocking at the door with a rejection letter." She rushed through her words. I could hear the concern in her voice. "Are you OK? Like really okay?"

I breathed out slowly. "I'm fine. The Super Intendant, Frank, told me I could have a few days to think about it. I'm probably not even going to get the job now that I've broken the NDA entirely."

"Gosh! I just realised. Aria, you talk too much."

"Fuck, I know." I sighed. My brain was buzzing with a lot of thoughts and I was in too many places at once.

"Overthinking is bad for you." Diana muttered, as if she knew exactly what was going on in my head.

I rolled my eyes. "I know. That's why I'm glad you called. I'm really freaking out, I don't know if I'm cut out for this job you know? I'm freaking the fuck out. The Prisoner Project is a real thing and it's big."