After so long

“After all this time,”

The figure emerged from the shadows of the outside world, bringing with him a faint smell of fresh air. It was unfamiliar in the room. Foreign. Yet other man threw his head back as he savoured the feeling of it in his lungs, getting almost high on its taste.

The figure didn’t move as the other man threw his arms out, head still tipped back, and exhaled. An exhale that turned into a sinister laugh, the kind that echoed through empty halls in the night-time. The kind that stayed echoing in your mind long after it had stopped.

“After all this time,” he repeated.

The figure shivered.

“Not one note. Not one visit. Not one apology.” He dragged out the words, knowing they had the power to place fear into the figures mind. It embedded itself, in his mind and body.

The man rolled his head round, so he stared at the figure still emerged in the darkness through his eyebrows.

“From. You!”

The man jumped forward and pounded his fists on the glass separating them both.

“You left me.” He sang.  “To rot.”

The man placed his head on the glass, keeping his eyes on the figure. He stayed still, staring at him, until his hand came up and was placed onto the glass’ surface as well, his palm almost reaching to touch the figure beyond the glass. He ached to touch him. To hold him. To strangle him.

Slowly.

“You’re guilty. Aren’t you? You feel pity for me. You’re sorry”

“You must understand, what I done what I had to do. It was my job. I’m sorry you were in my way.”

“Was. The fired you, didn’t they? Fired you after they knew the truth.”

The figured nodded.

“Yet you still never came.”
 
The figure stepped forward; his face decorated by a strip of resilient light that shone through the thick grime of the small, locked window. It was dim, but it highlighted the thick scar that run across the side of his face, through his left eye.

“I tried.”

The man smiled tipsily, banging the glass with the tip of his index finger.

“They did that? Did they?”

The figure remained silent.

“Why are you here?”

The figure visibly stiffed from the question. He avoided his gaze and turned his attention to the state of the room. Turning on his heel, he inspected the state of the walls and the thick dust lining the skirting boards. As he passed the window, he reached out and ran his finger through the dirt, clearing a small section of the glass. Another strip of light was created in the room, this one slightly brighter.

“Maybe you should give this place a clean,”

“Are you mocking me?”

He huffed.

“You really haven’t changed.”

“I’s surprised you still remember me. You were always so easy to forget.”

“You obviously never forgot me though.”

“Its hard to forget a face you wish to kill.”

The figure stopped.

He turned and walked over to the glass, inches away from the other man, separated only by the glass. He lifted his own hand, placing his palm over the other. They both looked at their hands, so cruelly separated.

“Did you forget about us?”

The prisoner smirked.

“The reason you were dishonourably discharged?”

 Their eyes met.

“I tried.”

The prisoner waited, hoping he would continue to speak.

“I wanted to. What you done, it broke us, ruined everything! You made a promise. You broke it. Now you’re facing the consequences.”

He shook his head.

“No.” he stated calmly. “You broke your promise. you said we’d be together forever, said we’d do everything together, you said we would rule the WORLD!”

“together”

The man shot the prisoner a glance full of sympathy, sorrow, guilt.

“After all hubby,” the prisoner glared at him. “They were our vows.”

The dangerous glint in the prisoners’ eyes reminded the man just why he done what he had done all those years ago – why he left him here.

He stepped back, signalling to the officers behind the railing to open them, so he could finally leave everything behind. Leave the dirt, the past, and his husband.

“Goodbye”

He stepped back into the shadows as the prisoner slammed his fists against the glass, his screams echoing down the hall where he walked, like they were following him, going where he could himself.

“But I love you!”