"...The time for your execution has arrived."
The voice, despite carrying the dreadful weight of awful news, had no shred of sympathy laced in it.
It was too practised.
No… it was more mechanical and seemed to have come from a place of routine and duty, seeing that it lacked compassion and pity.
The one who was being addressed continued to pace his eyes across the words written inside the book that he was reading, seeming to be more engrossed in these letters than the man standing on the other side of the world — the free world.
"...Xander Westley," the man called, his face mildly churning in anger.
He had not lost it just yet with this prisoner, but if care was not taken, this officer was going to go nuts on Xander soon.
Xander sat on his prison bed, going through the contents of the book.
…The Truth of One's Self by Alan Ryder.
The officer clinked his baton against the metallic bars of Xander's cell, a place which had held him captive for three years now.
…All for what?
A crime he had only committed to keep the sanity of the world.
Hearing the harsh clanking of metal, Xander paused his reading and lifted his head for the first time since a few hours ago when he started.
He turned to his left, casting a soulless glare on the group of four police officers who had been assigned to escort him.
The emptiness in his pair of azure eyes was deep and drawing if one stared for too long.
Eyebags that underlaid his eyes expressed his eternal exhaustion with the world around him.
The three officers behind the one who struck the bars shuddered, one even stepped back involuntarily.
This was an unintended reaction to Xander's action but it was not unprecedented.
Xander was revered and feared within the prison.
Not for being the strongest or raising his shoulders with a group of hard-muscled men backing him.
Xander was feared and revered because he cast a role on himself inside the walls of this prison.
Xander Westley was the needed good and the necessary evil that existed among the inmates.
"Forgive me, officer but can I have…" he paused midway and looked at the book, going further to count the pages that were left.
"...Can I have about ten more minutes?" he asked in the most gentle tone.
For someone feared, Xander was young and soft spoken.
A glance at him and a few interactions, one would wonder what brought him into this place.
Xander stayed his gaze at the officer and seeing as the one whom he made the plea with shook his head, the young inmate smiled and rose to his feet.
He adjusted his orange prison uniform and walked towards the bars of the cell with his book still in his hand.
Approaching the officers, he put the book forward and smiled again at them.
Upon a closer look, they feared him, but Xander also had their respect.
After all, he had saved a few policemen from the hands of these deadly inmate's even in situations he didn't need to.
…The needed good and the necessary evil.
"I have one favour to ask of you, Officer Quincy."
Officer Quincy glanced at the book and then at Xander.
Out of the four of them, he was the only who stood close to the inmate, expressing no iota of fear.
Perhaps, he did feel it but his position as the most superior of the four did not allow him the liberty to show such weakness.
"What is it?" he coldly replied.
Xander smiled again and pushed his book forward a little.
"As my final wish, can you do me two last favours?"
Quincy's eyes narrowed and his brows crumpled lightly.
"Two…? It wouldn't be a final wish if you get to ask for two things, you know."
Xander chucked and shook his head. "You were always my favourite officer, Officer Quincy. I like your sense of humour."
Officer Quincy adjusted his cap and thought about the request for a few seconds before giving a response.
"What is it you want? I hope it's something I can do though."
Xander nodded his head, giving the officer some room to relax as he looked past him to the other three standing behind them.
"Can you have one of them read the rest of the book to me as we walk down my death isle?"
Officer Quincy turned and glossed over his subordinates for a bit.
It didn't take long before he singled out one from the trio, choosing the one who was the calmest and most coordinated of them.
"Thank you, Officer Quincy."
Officer Quincy gave Xander a half smile and then took the book from him.
He looked at the cover and then at Xander, fascinated that he was interested in philosophical themes such as this.
"...Alan Ryder. I didn't think it to be true when I heard you were invested in such books."
Xander put his hands forward, wrist to wrist, for Officer Quincy to do the rest.
"You never visited. So, you wouldn't have known anyway."
The officer opened the cell and allowed Xander to step out before cuffing his hands and leading him to where he would be executed.
Per his granted request, one of the three officers following behind read through the book as they walked along.
******
Thirty minutes later…
Xander was seated on a chair, bound from his torso to his waist, all the way down to his hands and legs.
However, he continued to listen as the officer read the last part of Alan Ryder's book to him.
"It ends here," the officer announced to him.
"Thank you, officer," Xander said, unable to move any part of his body except his mouth.
The officer walked away and out of the confined room.
As Xander watched through the glass barricade, he could see no one but he was certain that there were people behind there, on the other side.
"Even he did not find the answer…?" Xander muttered to himself, reflecting on Alan Ryder's book.
He was soon snapped back to reality when the mic ushered the voice of an officer into his cell.
"Xander Westley. Do you have any last requests?"
Xander moved his eyes to the direction of the mic.
Recognising the voice of Officer Quincy behind it, he spoke.
"Just the second one…"
Only he and Officer Quincy understood.
"Answer me this," he said. "Am I a good person? Or am I evil?"
Everyone behind the glassy barricade heard this questions and it threw most into a confused state.
Even Officer Quincy did not know how to go about it.
Seconds passed and there was no answer.
Even Xander had no answer.
He just smiled and soon another voice interrupted this deep moment of reflection.
"Pursuant to the warrant of execution issued by the State Governor, Inmate #21071997, Xander Westley, will be executed by electrocution for the crime of 12 counts of first-degree murders."
Xander listened and said nothing.
The spectators watched as this inmate who was few minutes away from heading to the great beyond sat speechless.
There was a medley of feelings.
Some were indifferent.
Some wept, especially those related to Xander's victims.
Some were excited because they believed that Justice had prevailed.
It was etched in stone that Xander was going to die today.
On command, the circuits were turned on and electricity was passed into his body from his head down.
As his body vibrated under the influence of the electric current that passed into his body, Xander couldn't help but think to himself.
'Perhaps, peace is what I needed all this time. Peace for my troubled mind.'
Within minutes, Xander Westley, aged 25, was executed as a serial killer.
******
Elsewhere…
"My lady, please do your best to push…" a soft-spoken voice advised.
The one she was talking to was in too much pain to even understand what was being said.
Had the pain not warped her mind completely, she would have probably slapped heavens out of this maiden's eyes.
"We can see the head, my lady!" the delivery nurse shouted, "Please do your best."
The woman continued to push as hard she could, her body a drench of sweat.
She was tired… exhausted beyond measure.
However, she had to push.
If she didn't, it was her baby who would suffer the brunt of that decision.
Her bed was soiled with urine and faeces, forced down by the pressure she exerted on her womb to let the baby out.
"You are almost there. Almost there, my lady," the delivery nurse urged her on.
She looked at the maiden and nodded her head. "Get me the blanket."
The maiden nodded and hurried to a corner of the room where she had lumped different equipment together.
She searched through the bunch quickly and found what was requested of her as she hurried back.
The delivery nurse straightened up and massaged the thighs of the woman in labour.
"Just one more push, my lady…"
Despite being in severe painful distress, she nodded and gave one last push.
She tried for a few minutes and just as she was nearly close to finally losing it, the cry of a baby was heard.