Convict

32.

He laughed "Feel's like being twenty-nine...Just with added death around the corner"

"Sometimes your sense of humour amazes me" I smiled "I got you something?"

"What?" He propped himself up on his elbows "You didn't- "

"I know" I put my finger to his mouth to stop him talking "I know I didn't have to, and believe me it's nothing extravagant...Just sentimental"

He eyed me suspiciously "You got me a candle didn't you?"

"What?" I laughed at him "No, you even said yourself they're prohibited"

He laughed and leant down to kiss me again, soft and sweet. I smiled and watched as he laid back down, his chest rising and falling in the steady rhythm of his breathing "Chloe?"

"Yeah?" I whsispered

"If we weren't in here, and you found out you only had twenty-four hours to live...What would you do?" He didn't look at me, he continued to stare above him.

"I- I don't know" I sighed, truthfully does anyone really know what they would do with their final twenty-four hours, there were so many things that any one person could do in that time frame "I would watch the sun come up, I would spend my day with my loved ones, I would indulge myself in life's finer things and I wouldn't take a second spent for granted"

"Mm" He nodded "I don't want to waste a second spent with you today" He wrapped his arm around me "I don't want to miss a single millisecond...Tomorrow this will all be gone"

"I know" My emotions failed me, a tear fell down my cheek, I felt his hand wipe it away and he pressed his lips to my forehead "It's okay to cry, Chloe"

I nodded and just moved closer to him, my head in his chest as we laid facing one another, his arms holding me, protecting me. My favourite sound filled my ears and I was happy again. I took a deep breath, taking in every note of his smell. I didn't want to ever forget him, any part of him.

Before we knew it Henry had come to let us know that it was lunch time. Oliver was taken to the canteen as I headed towards the staff room, my feet dragged as though they were made of lead. I pushed the door open and a few of the guards were there enjoying their lunch break, as usual I headed straight to the coffee machine and requested my usual. Even this reminded me of him, the smell of the coffee brought back memories of him teasing me over my apparent caffeine addiction.

The machine beeped and I went and sat down on the chairs, Harper, one of the few female guards came and sat beside me. We had shared a few conversations, she was in her late forty's and was one of the prisons longest employee's. She put her hand on my knee and smiled at me sympathetically "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah" I sipped my coffee "Is it supposed to be this hard?"

I felt the tears start falling again as I spoke to her, she took my hand in hers and gave it a comforting squeeze "Of course it is. It doesn't matter what they've done, you still spent every day nearly for those months with them. You're only human"

I nodded, she gave me a quick hug before leaving to resume her shift, a few of the guards apologised to me as they left. I just nodded and thanked them until finally I was alone, all I could hear was the mechanical whirring of the vending machines and the drip of the tap by the sink. I looked down at the cup in my hands and noticed that I hadn't even drunk half my coffee that was cold by now. I sighed as I put it on the table in front of me, not in the mood to get up and pay for another one.

I laid my head back on the wall behind me and closed my eyes, my emotions were so unpredictable today. I didn't know if I was going to burst into tears or break out in a fit of rage at the injustice that was about to happen. My brain was going into over drive, I was finding it hard to process even the simplest of things said to me, I hardly remembered how to even function.