My wrists are very large, so these small hand cuffs slowly are cutting off my circulation. I stand here waiting to be left to my fate for the next five to ten years. The police officer jingles his keys in search of the one that will open up my new home, my jail cell. This is my first time ever living in a cell, all because of one mistake. I’m standing here with my classic orange prisoner jumpsuit on staring into my cell. The smell is extremely rancid, almost too bad to describe. I look between the steel bars which will soon conceal me within that 6x4ft area. I see a basic unmade bed, a sink and shelve, and other numerous odds and ends which lay in the floor. There had been a shortage of cells but recently this one opened up because its prior occupant died and it seems it is still just the way he left it.
I was left to this fate by the verdict of my trial just 2 weeks ago. But It all began 3 weeks ago. I was sitting in the car with my buddy Steve, near our neighborhood in New York and then suddenly Steve told me the real reason he had practically begged me to come on this drive with him. He had, had some real issues with a fellow neighbor of ours and decided he was going to “take care of him”. He shot him right then and there in the head, just because of some silly arguments. Steve had been my buddy since pre-school so I had to help cover for his small mistake. We threw that body in the river in hopes it would never be discovered because the murdered man had no friends or family who would come looking for him. But just our luck three days later he was found behind that dumpster with mine and Steve’s fingerprints on him.
Now I stand here, in shock because a simple act of friendship destroyed my life. I would not wish this experience on anyone, not even my worst enemy.