The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!
Whatever Happened to Olivia?
by Kendra Smart
Porthos was a small countryside city that had led the world in a new take on how to deal with criminal activities. Debates had been had for years about the studies into the Death Penalty and whether those truly mad, not psychotic, were unfit for the punishment befitting the crime committed.
But, if Death was unfair, what was the answer? Some cried support in a hospitalized setting while others lauded that answer to be too cushy a life for one able to commit such travesties. Regardless of how or why something happened…it still held the same end result for those left to mourn.
But in Porthos the question was could a living punishment meet the crime?
So their best minds came to an assembly and began to piece their proposal together. A way to make those who were deemed accepted by polite society to face punishment but not competent enough to face death, to be held accountable.
A program had been tailored and trialed, secretly but it in fact yielded results. The kind of results that brought attention.
Porthos became the hub of innovation and with that came scrutiny.
But Olivia didn’t care about any of the politics. She was running late. By over fifteen minutes at this point. The loss of time had gotten far worse.
Lunch bag packed with the best intentions, abandoned in the fridge. Hair was an absolute mess but nothing a good, reliable hair tie couldn’t fix. At the very least her clothes were clean. There were worse things that could be wrong. She grabbed her keys and badge as she raced out the door, only pausing to lock the door behind her.
She had worked a lifetime it seemed in the medical world, at one time she had thought it to be akin to home. A career devoted to helping people who needed it most. That had been the sugarplum coated fantasy, the last line, hook, and sinker she had planned on swallowing down. She had tried many aspects of the medical world, thinking maybe a change of pace or scenery would help, but Long Term Care was no longer the life they showcased on their flyers and Assisted Living held the same cracked egg that eventually ran down her face.
But then she found a job where indifference was the name of the game, you were expected to come in…do your job, and leave. No interactions unless you wished for it. So working overnights for the Porthos Prison was where Olivia had made her home. They paid her well, she made in two nights what it took two weeks to make anywhere else she could have worked.
So Olivia had made the obvious and logical choice. She chased the money.
Porthos was indeed smaller than some cities, but the citizens carried the same ignorance and fear that anyone else would have. There had to be motivation for knowledge it seemed and no one wanted to be motivated by something that would cause them to care. To show concern. Far easier to just let others handle it, those more suited to deal with the issues. Who wore clear or shaded colored lenses rather than rose colored.
“I could never do what you do, your spirit is so strong and your heart so big.”
It disgusted Olivia hearing these things, just say what you meant. You could do the job, but you don’t want to. There was the choice not to. Olivia had the same choice, but that would mean multiple jobs just to make ends meet. She wanted more than just to survive.
She had always found it odd the reverence people spoke of the Prison with. It was as though the prison housed all the evil and barred it behind the steel, stone, and souls tasked with walking and guarding its halls. Those who it was believed held the same fortitude to handle the jobs.
Olivia has learned quickly in her time that not everyone had the strength to stay. The money was bait, but it didn’t mean every fish hooked was caught.
The sky was overcast as she pulled into the parking lot. The clouds were beautiful though, fluffy cotton ball puffs. She should have been paying better attention as she exited her vehicle.
They grabbed her as her door shut.
Her last sight before the black hood fell over her head and her eyes could find nothing to pinpoint on but darkness and her breath immediately became like a moist swamp against the rough fabric.
Olivia felt her hands restrained from the moment her brian had finally kicked in and reacted to resist.
Strong hands held her on each side and she heard the doors open as Olivia found her body being maneuvered into a vehicle. She found herself seated between two men in an enclosed moving vehicle before she could catch her breath.
From the front of the car came a low and clipped male voice dripping with authority.
“Olivia Leeanne Mills, you have been found guilty of breaking the law set forth by the City of Porthos in 2035. As of 2035 citizens of Porthos have been required to not only go through screenings of Mental Wellbeing but are also to report any defect on their screenings. You have failed to submit these screenings.”
Olivia felt her mouth go dry, she had been waiting on replies from the Prison therapist to advise of what the next steps after testing were. She had been told to think of the test as a game. But it is a hard gauge on winning or losing a game when you don’t know the stakes. Olivia had always been taught to be honest. That had sealed her tomb.
The program that Porthos had started was coined “The Removed.”, and that was exactly what they delivered. The housing for this program was underground, each ward able to hold twenty five “rooms” complete with the bare necessities. A bed, sink, toilet, and four solid concrete walls with no windows. Circulating air came by a small round vent and built into one wall was a tube system like that of a bank or pharmacy to aid in delivery to customers.
But here, the purpose was to provide sustenance. No human contact once the prisoner was introduced to their room.
Olivia thought of that final sky view.
“Welcome Prisoner 4791.”
Fiction © Copyright Kendra Smart
Image © Copyright Rie Sheridan Rose
More from author Kendra Smart:
Just Emotions:
A Gothic Bite Magazine Anthology
A collection of poetry.
‘Just Emotions‘ is exactly as it states, a group of writers who had feelings they wanted to express in poem form. Inside, there are a range of emotions to explore. Each writer has given a bit of themselves to you, each in their own way.
We hope that you enjoy these writings and that among the poems you may find some thing you can identify with or relate to. Thank you for giving us this chance to open the catacombs and share with you.
Spreading the Writer's Word 