Andrew's Tears

Chapter 17

{Chapter 17}

Anne walked into the state penitentiary with brisk purpose. She couldn’t believe she was about to do what she was. He didn’t deserve it. He really deserved a death sentence.

            Her heart thumped roughly in her rib cage. It seemed to be saying, “Ha! You’re insane for doing this!” As much as she wanted to turn and walk out, never to think about Thomas again, she had to keep moving. She was doing this for Andrew, not for herself.

            An armed guard greeted her at the door. “Hello ma’am. It is nice to see you. You’re here to see Thomas, I presume.”

            “You presume correctly.” Anne tried to keep the strain out of her tone, but it showed anyways.

            “Follow me then, ma’am.” The officer had a southern drawl that was so common in Georgia. It wasn’t backwoods. No, it was the smart, attractive, accent.

            The guard led her to a window and a chair, with a telephone. A cliché prison scene from a television show Anne used to watch played through her head. She had never thought she would stand here, in a place like those on TV, waiting to talk to her ex-husband.

            Minutes passed like days until Anne saw Thomas, dressed like a cliché in his orange jumpsuit, sit down in front of her. Anne picked up the phone absently wondering who all had put the device to their ears. Thomas just sat there, a gleam in his eyes. Anne wanted to punch the man in the jaw.

            After what seemed like a minute or two, Thomas picked up the phone gingerly and spoke into the device before Anne could. “Nice of you to come see me,” his voice was scratchy and less than the deep bravado she had known. It was like he was sick with laryngitis. Anne hoped he was. 

            “Don’t get used to it. After today you’ll never see me again.”

            “Oh, I doubt that.” Thomas’s cockiness sent a flood of anger coursing through Anne. “What brought you to see me today?” Thomas changed his tone from condescending to seductive and it caught Anne off guard.

            “Thomas, I’m here only for Andrew. If not for him, I wouldn’t be here.”

            “I agree. I wouldn’t be here either. Anyways, why did the little brat send you to see me? Oh,” Thomas changed his tone once again, “How is my little boy?” The sarcasm was so thick that it could have been honey.

            Anne’s eyebrows furrowed with intense anger. “You don’t need to know. He’s my business, not yours.”

            “Oh, you’re sexy when you get angry. That’s why I fell so madly, stupidly, in love with you.”

            Those words felt like a slap to the face. Anne could hardly breathe from anger and from the conflicting thoughts in her head. She didn’t know why his words felt the way they did. Maybe it was because she was still in love with him. What? Are you insane? Anne screamed in her head. How can you even think that? He almost killed Andrew!

            Anne hadn’t realized Thomas had been talking. She was in such a mental warfare she hadn’t realized that she had tuned her world out. She caught his last sentence, “If you hadn’t gotten pregnant, I wouldn’t be here.”

            “No, you would have ended up here no matter what. You would still have become as horrible as you are now. It’s not Andrew’s fault that you decided to try those drugs. I don’t care what you say. You still fell for the tricks that were played on you!” Anne was speaking of the devil’s tricks. Thomas had even said that he had fallen for the tricks once. Anne wanted desperately to get away. “Besides, if not Andrew, then someone it would be else. Your mind has caved in on itself leaving you with nothing but insanity!”