The Walk

It was time.

“Come,” the warden said. He stood in the opening to Ricky’s cell, flanked by somber guards.

Ricky knew them well. The warden, Aaron Mapleton, was gritty, brutal, but with soft spots. For instance, he could never stand to see a man go hungry. The guards were Sven Jorgenson and Brian Finn, two enormous linebacker types who had played for the same high school football team.

Ricky stood, his shackles jangling. Horrid things. Designed to limit movement, in fact they took the man out of the man. What had he become, after a year in their confines? An animal.

Mapleton cleared his throat. “Is there… anything more you want? You may have a meal, if you choose. Anything you like.”

Too little, too late. Ricky narrowed his eyes at the warden. “No. Thank you.”

Mapleton turned to lead the procession. The guards flanked Ricky, and they began their slow walk down the corridor. Evidently, even in this final hour, he must be shackled. Unbelievable.

The other inmates watched silently as he passed. He focused his eyes forward.

They halted at the steel door. Mapleton unlocked it, and the four entered a chamber. This was it. Jorgenson and Finn bent to unshackle him as Mapleton bolted the first door and unlocked another on the other side of the chamber.

Finally, Mapleton handed him a brown parcel.

Ricky glared at him and accepted it. “You always knew I was innocent.” He stepped out into the sunlight, then, a free man.

Thank you for reading my 250-word micro-fiction story. Your comments are welcome!

I wrote this story when I ran a weekly micro-fiction writing contest, and I would also often contribute my own piece, just for fun. This story was my piece for the prompt, “time.”