The light went out.
Eddie was cold and alone. Lost in darkness. Eddie was not back in the darkness of his cell. He had been cast into an endless space of nothingness. His mother was gone. His friends were gone. Reverend Garret was gone. Had his dream transformed into a nightmare? Or had he been swallowed up by Hell? Had the love turned to hate? Or had it never existed? Had madness taken over? Or had it had its grip on him all along? Had the devil himself come to claim his black heart? Did the beast know his secrets? Had Satan sentenced him to an eternal life sentence in the most horrible prison of all?
A voice called out to him: “Eddie. I know you.” It had to be him. The Evil One. The self-indulgent, fallen angel with a vendetta against his Creator. The voice whispered, “I know the truth.”
Then, Eddie saw her face—her skull. It was lifeless and insect-ravaged. Erin Lambert smiled at him from the grave.
More grotesque faces peered out from shifting shadows. Shrill voices howled from unseen places.
“God did not spare those who sinned but cast them down to chains of darkness…”
“Those who committed evil deeds will pay the penalty of eternal destruction.”
“Has Eddie Nash changed the garments of his imprisonment?”
Eddie saw the cop who set him up. Demario spat in his face. “You killed her, nigger.”
He saw the prosecutor who savaged him in court. “You want to kill again.”
He saw the jurors who convicted him. “Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.”
And the judge who had sentenced him. “Life without parole.”
The TV reporters. “The Hangman of Eden is behind bars.”
Far off in the darkness, Eddie saw a pinprick of light, coming toward him. The tiny circle expanded, until it repelled the darkness. It was not a heavenly light. It was the light of day. In the light, Eddie saw a friend. Yes. He saw Fridge. The benevolent guard. The sage of D-Block. He heard his deep, soothing voice call to him. “Eddie. It’s all okay.” Fridge began singing in sweet, low tones. “Go to sleep and goodnight.” Fridge’s copper eyes danced with delight as he whispered into Eddie’s ear, “I always tell the truth, Eddie.”
“You do,” Eddie replied. “You are the truth.”
“Listen to me, Eddie. I have something to tell you.”
Eddie put his ear to the guard’s lips and heard those words of wisdom, the ones that struck at his heart, the ones that tore at his soul:
“Every con to ever enter this prison was guilty of something.”