My Artificial Heart (1) Chapter 1: A New Home My time finally came, I hadn't even heard the footsteps coming when I looked up to see a line of guards standing before me. I got up from my bunk and plugged myself into the wall. No one said anything, only the steady dripping of the faucet echoed in the dead cell. I looked them over, no handcuffs, no straightjackets, just solid forearms and squinted eyes. Was I in trouble? I did take an extra scoop of mash potatoes while the lunch guy wasn't looking. Was that what they were here for? The tallest one of them silently opened the lock to the door. The metal locks setting off a symphony of echoes in the otherwise quiet tomb that I had come to call home. I shrinked away, the tall one took a step inside. Where were the handcuffs? Another one stepped inside, mute sentinals watching my every move but doing nothing else. The third one finally stepped in, his eyes burdened by a mountain of wrinkles. "I didn't do it! I mean, I did, but I was hungry! One scoop of mash potatoes isn't enough." They all marched towards me; I shut my eyes in terror expecting the worse. "Your sentence is up Rytl. You can go home now." The man behind the tall guy was Willards the jail warden. He only appeared for important events, like executions, I had a good reason to be edgy. "Home?" Did he mean the Death Ward? They always used that term 'home'. "Eight years is too long to wait for an execution." I whispered. Now that I thought about it, death would be a perfect punishment for what I did. I shut my eyes again; I didn't want to remember about what I did to Her. "Didn't they tell you? You're being released today; you've done your time. We're taking you home, where you live son." My eyes rattled in my head, I had long lost count of the days. "We're getting outta this place! We're finally going to see the outside Dreeve!" Tammy, my artificial heart leaped for joy inside me. I placed my hands on my chest and crouched over from her sudden outburst. The two guards advanced on me quickly. Willards held out his hands, and the two stopped just as quickly. "That heart giving you troubles again?" Old Willards said. I straightened myself out as Tammy steadied her pace again. "No, no, I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm... good." "Sorry about that Dreeve, I'm just so happy!" Tammy whispered, her voice singed with excitement. "It's ok Tammy, I am too." Tammy tapped cheerfully inside me, her reassuring beat bringing life into the both of us. I really was happy. Today would be the day I could finally show Tammy what the rest of the world looked like, and the day I'd get to eat chocolate again, which I loved. I felt really bad that Tammy was forced to stay with me here in the Rew City Psychiatric Prison. She saved my life, and now she put up with 8 years in prison with me as well. But today I would finally get to pay her back for everything. Tammy only knew the cramped quarters of the psychiatric prison, but now she'd get too see and experience everything else. The guards led me out of my cell. The moment I stepped out I held my hands out in front of me, as was the standard procedure. Willards gave me a weird stare. After awhile I got the message and put them back down at my sides. The tall guard quickly closed the cell door behind me. My tomb was sealed, there was nowhere else to go but outside now. I took a step forward and nearly fell over; I was like a little kid learning how to walk again. I dawdled there dumbly, waiting for some kinda order. "This way Dreeve." Willards led me down the corridor; meanwhile all the inmates that weren't comatose gave me long stares. "Don't trust them Dreeve!" Keddy Reynolds ran to the bars of his cells like an angry caged dog. "It's the Death Ward for you! Hahaha! That's where we're all be going!" He gave a wide insane grin. "Shut it, Reynolds." I took a quick glance at Keddy. "Remember our plan Dreeve! Don't forget it, bro!" Keddy always talked about a 'plan', although he never bothered to actually tell me it. "I won't Ked, see you later." He was in for a double murder, I was never going to see him later. I shook my head and tried to focus on the ground infront of me. Soon I was passed the locked doors that marked the end of the Psychiatric Ward. From that point on was unknown territory. It took me some adjusting to walk through the gated doors, passed the white line and the warning signs on the walls. Running down those halls without being escorted by someone could get you shot. We proceeded down another lengthy hallway, with security cameras every step of the way. Our measured footsteps echoing in the tombly silence that was so common here. "It's really quiet." Tammy echoed inside me. Tammy got scared when things were too quiet; she knew that a quiet heart was a dead one. She always needed to hear something. "How will I get home? Do I even still have my home?" I questioned, breaking the silence and Tammy's fear. "Callaway and I will drive you home, your mother has been kind enough to pay the rent for your home all these years. I don't know what's so important about your house, but that's none of my business. You're quiet lucky, most parents sell everything their kid owns when they go to prison for as long as you did." I nodded. The bad part about having wealthy parents was that people always thought you were spoiled. I wasn't spoiled though, I was just... stupid. "Don't call yourself stupid Dreeve, you're very smart and kind." Tammy leaped out taking down my self-criticism. I smiled at Tammy. "I hope you're time here has actually taught you something Dreeve, for your sake at least. In some places you would've gotten life for what you did." Willards began his guilt trip. "It did." I had to agree with him, I didn't want to put up any resistance and end up getting thrown back into jail again. I was so close to the exits now, I wasn't going to screw up like I did the last time. The real truth was though I was still the same; I was still the same pathetic coward. We reached the end of the hallway. Willards hit a button on an intercom next to the gated door. "Willards here, escorting prisoner 08191 out." "Got it Willards, opening doors." Chelsey's soft voice sounded in the choppy intercom system. In all my time here I had yet to see her in person. She was the only woman I knew that worked here; I spent many nights trying to imagine what she looked like. I always imagined her as a red head with curly hair and green eyes, but I guess I would never know. The doors opened, and I was blown away by an uproar of wind, for the first time ever I saw the sky without prison bars obstructing my view. "Is this the outside Dreeve?" Tammy asked eagerly. "Yes." "There are so many clouds, I can't see the sun. Does that mean it's night time?" Tammy never saw the outside like this before. Everything was as new to her as it would be for an alien. I despised myself for keeping her locked away all these years. "No, it's just a cloudy day. The sun is still up, it's just hiding behind all those clouds." I explained as we walked down a long flight of stairs. "The outside is pretty." Tammy said, peering at the trees and the pigeons that perched on them. After being locked up all these years even the smoggy mountains far off in the distance were beautiful. I remembered seeing those same mountains long ago, back when I could still talk to Her. We proceeded along the edge of the building. I could hear the quiet buzzing of the eletric fences that surrounded the compound. I had the sudden urge to just lie down and take a nap, with the foggy mountains, gray cool sky and humming 5000 volt fences I felt at peace. As we neared the corner though the peace was shattered. I could hear the violent ravings of a large crowd of people. Uncoordinated, unrestrained, it sounded almost like a mob. Thoughts of my trial came back to mind, I tried to shut the painful thoughts away but that angry mob wouldn't let me. "Hear that Callaway?" Willards glanced over at Callaway. Callaway nodded silently. "You sure the media doesn't know about his release?" Willards voice showed a hint of anger. "I never bothered to check. Didn't think anyone would care really." Callaway answered docilely. "Ugh, you should know the Rew City Times, they never let you off easy!"A rumbling rush of footsteps stopped us in our tracks. Shadows began appearing around the corner, lots of them, with strange long sticks sticking out of big squasish blobs. "What's happening Dreeve?" Tammy asked, suddenly afraid. "I don't know..." I did know, it was my past and it was pissed. A stampede of cameramen and news anchors flooded our path, waving their microphones and flashing their cameras. "Ah, shit." Willards spat at the wall. So they remembered me after all. "Who are all these people Dreeve?" Tammy was seeing too many new faces, already she was having trouble keeping up. I held my hand up to my chest, to shield her from the threatening reporters. "They're the media." Microphones and tape recorders were shoved in front of my face. It was my trial all over again. "Mr. Rytl, residents of Rew City are upset about your release. Some still believe you should've gotten a life sentence, others believe you should not be allowed to return to your place of residence which is 400 yards from Rew City Elementary. Any comments?" Willards and Callaway rushed in front of me in an attempt to push the mob away. "What's this all about?" Tammy wondered as she retreated closer inside me. "Why are the people they talk about upset about you being released, shouldn't they be celebrating?" "I guess my reputation proceeds me. I am a convicted rapist after all, people don't like perverts like me." "But you didn't rape anyone!" Technically I didn't, but that was my official crime, so I served the official time as well. "That doesn't matter, what I did was wrong. This is my punishment. This is what happens to bad people like me." We made our way around the corner, the obnoxious news reporters following all along. To my great disappointment a second mob waited just down the final wide flight of stairs that led out of the prison. An angry mob of local residents, I could almost recognize some of their faces. One could've been my neighbor, or the guy who worked at Mc Donalds, they could've been anyone if I could only remember. They all held posters and banners, waved up high above their heads. They were being held back by a couple of roadblocks and a thin line of policemen. They screamed and shouted out my name, seeming to toss it around carelessly like a smashed soda can. It was as if I were a war criminal. They blocked the only way out, they blocked out my only passage back into society. I guess they didn't really want me back, I couldn't blame them. I would have to go right through them, I cringed at the thought thinking they would beat me up. The policemen pushed as many as they could aside, creating a small pathway from me to sneak through. I braced myself as I entered the bloodthirsty crowd. "Go away pervert! Go away pervert!" The chant suddenly rose up, as they practically pummeled me with their banners. Tammy began pounding away inside me, the thundering booing of the crowd causing her pacing mechanism to speed up. All along my hand never left my chest, I needed to feel her reassuring heartbeat to make sure she was ok. "You're not welcome here!" I could hear the shout over all the noise coming from a lady with a really loud voice. The shout was hurled at me like a large stone. That's how I felt, like I was being publicly stoned. More guards and police came to thicken the small barricade around me. I felt really bad, it seemed all of Rew City showed up to "welcome" me back into society. "Dreeve, this is terrible." Tammy cooed like a little girl; she wasn't expecting any of this, and couldn't begin to understand it. "This is what they think of me." I tried to explain. Tammy viewed the viscious mob through my eyes and pouted in disgust. "Those people are mean. I don't like them at all!" I was dissapointed that this was Tammy's first glimpse of the world, I was hoping she'd get to see the good parts before she got to all the bad ones. Once a thick wall of black uniformed police barricaded me from the crowd it seemed the mob became more violent. An empty soda can came hurling through the sky, whacking me on the top of my head. I wheeled from the blow, and would've tipped over had it not been for Callaway who steadied me back on my feet. "Hey! They can't do that!" Tammy was furious; if she had a body of her own she'd be strangling whoever did that. "Let them do whatever they want, let's just try and make it out of here." The policemen pushed away a second wave of pesky reporters that tried to reach me at the end of the mob, and finally Willards and Callaway were able to get me inside a car. I sat in the back, with Callaway besides me and Willards at the wheel. Willards didn't bother to wait for the people to move, he simply started up the car and drove off regardless of the people who tried to get in the way. One man pounded his banner on the windshield, only to be knocked off his feet as the car took off. Soon we were out of the range of the angry mob, and the dead silence that had been so common in prison returned. I peered out the window; Tammy examined and took in every new object she saw. We passed the last gate and were finally off the prison grounds and back in the streets of Rew City. Tammy listened to humming of the motor, the fresh unfamiliar leather smell of the seats, and the strange sensation of moving faster than ever before. Tammy pounded away inside me, but with excitement instead of fear. "What's are those tall things over there with the pictures?" Tammy pointed to a huge Marlboro billboard ad. It had the good old Marlboro man riding his trusty horse with cigarette in hand. "That's an advertisement. They put it up to try and get you to buy what they're selling." I turned my head as the Marlboro ad began fading away behind us. "What are they selling?" Tammy wondered. "Cigarettes." It had been a long time since I last said the word, it sounded new even to me. "Do you eat 'em?" I tried to picture eating a cigarette like a Pixie Stick and laughed. Callaway gave me a strange glance. "No, you smoke them." Tammy kept staring at the ad until it was out of sight. "Are they any good?" I never smoked a cigarette in my life, mainly because I was too afraid to, but also because She never liked people who smoked. My grandpa died of lung cancer and my uncle was in the process of dying from it. By now I was afraid he might have already been dead. "No, they're supposed to be really bad for your heart and lungs." "Oh, I don't want anything to do with those then!" Tammy gazed more at the sights that passed by, trying to take in as much of this new world as she could. I too peered at every object as if it were the first time seeing it, so much time had gone by. We passed by an AMC 20; a completely new line up of movies was displayed from when I had last seen it. So much of my pitiful life wasted, I began to wonder if I could ever get used to living in the outside world again. As we drove longer the buildings became more and more familiar. I recognized the Rew City Park; an entirely new generation of kids were playing in it now. Soon I passed by Rew City High, the school Her and I used to go to, the kids there were wearing different style clothes. There T-shirts had names of bands I had never even heard of before. We passed by the XY Video Store, where I used to work, I could just barely make out the images of the people at the cash register. I scanned it carefuly, there was no sign of that girl I used to work with. I guess she moved on to better things. Finally we turned the corner to the street where I had once lived, the street seemed to be the only place that remained unchanged. Everything unchanged, except for the big red sign on my lawn. I shivered at the sight of my forgotten house, the small lawn was overgrown, the once bright red bricks were now a muddy brown. "Is that your house?" Tammy asked as she peered out the window with me. "Yes." "It doesn't look so bad. It's a lot better than that icky prison!" Tammy looked over the small house that I used to live in so long ago. The car came to a stop. Willards and Callaway both got out, I waited there, expecting them to open the door for me, then I noticed my hands freely on my laps. No handcuffs, I reminded myself. I carefully pushed the car door open and stepped out. Willards handed me my compensated keys. "Just to give you a fair warning, there's another mob heading here soon. Just picked it up on the police radio." "Ok, thanks." I said simply. "Well then, guess that's it. You�re required to report to the parol office every week for the next couple of months. And you'll have to deal with new sign on your lawn as well as some very paranoid neighbors. You know how that Meagan�s Law works in all." "Yeah." I tried to smile, but couldn't. A sign telling the world of what I did to Her, like a scar on my face, what a just and fitting punishment indeed. "You keep yourself out of trouble now you hear?" Willards patted me on the shoulder. He didn't have to tell me that again, prison was the last place I wanted to go back to now. "I will." I nodded and tried to look him in the eye, instead I could only get to his huge ears. "Alright then. Callaway! Let's head back!" They got back inside the car and within seconds they were gone. Soon I was standing in front of my house alone with Tammy.
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