Five Stories Short

The Legacy

After five and a half years, Lydia still shuddered when the iron bars slammed behind her with a bang that echoed across the concrete walls of the prison. Today was the last time she would hear it.

“Before you leave, you’ll need to sign this form,” Officer Bastion told her.

Jen Bastion was a Corrections Officer at Hilltop Women’s Prison. She’d started working at the prison shortly after Lydia was incarcerated and oversaw Lydia’s prison unit.

“Walk through those doors and you can put Hilltop Prison behind you,” Jen said.

With a sigh, Lydia replied, “Leaving Hilltop will be like walking into heaven. When I first got here, I wasn’t sure how I would survive living in a cell. After you gave me this deck of tarot cards, it was like having a friend beside me,” Lydia said, squeezing the ragged-edged deck of cards she was carrying. “I can never thank you enough.”

“Prison life isn’t easy,” Jen agreed. “If a deck of cards could make it more tolerable, I saw no reason not to allow you to have one.”

The prison had strict rules about fraternization between the guards and the inmates. Still, over the years, the relationship between the two women developed into the closest thing to true friendship the jailhouse policy allowed.

“You have a home waiting for you, don’t you?” Jen asked.

“I do. When I came to Hilltop Prison, Ava, my daughter, was expecting my grandson. Rather than close my house, it made sense for her to sell her place and move into mine. It’s a big house, and it is where she grew up. I have a home and a family to go back to.”

“After years inside, it could take a while to adapt to society,” Jen warned. “Going back to a familiar place will make it easier to adjust to a normal life again.”

The guard unlocked the last door that separated the prison area from the offices. “Here we are,” she said, and reached for a form that was sitting on top of the vacant desk. “Sign here and you’re free to put the walls of Hilltop behind you.”

Lydia signed her name and accepted an envelope that held copies of her release documents and a check for the money left in her prison bank account.

Ava had done her best to be sure her mother had everything she needed while she was in prison. Except for a few books and the deck of cards Ava had brought her, everything had to be bought from the prison commissary. Ava never allowed Lydia’s account to become empty.

“Good luck, Lydia,” Jen said as she handed Lydia a business card. “I wrote my cell number on the other side. I’m gaining my freedom today, too.”

“What do you mean?” Lydia’s forehead furrowed.

“I’m retiring. Today is my last day. I’m no longer Officer Bastion. I’m Jen.”

“Congratulations!” A wide smile lit Lydia’s face.

Jen gave her a brief hug and said, “Our paths will cross again.”

“I know,” Lydia nodded as she tucked the card into her pocket.

Although the two women never spoke of it, messages from the tarot cards coupled with Lydia’s clairvoyance told her that Jen had supernatural abilities. Lydia suspected Jen was aware of her paranormal gifts, too.

Before she stepped through the door to freedom, Lydia glanced back over her shoulder. On the other side of the office door, a hallway led to the prison cells. She shivered at the thought of ever walking through that hall again.

With a heavy sigh, she strode outside and down the worn set of stone steps into the parking lot where Ava would be waiting. After five long years, she was free.

Lydia’s thoughts went back to the day that changed her life, and that of her daughter, forever.

“Hi, Mom,” Ava answered the phone.

“You sound sad. Is everything okay?” Lydia asked.

“The baby is doing great,” Ava replied. “It’s Jeffrey.”

“What happened?”

“He doesn’t want a child. Last night, he told me if I want our marriage to survive, I have to terminate the pregnancy.”

“Have you made a choice?” Lydia asked, although she knew the answer.

“I am not ending this pregnancy and adoption is not an option either. There is no way that I will deliver this baby in six months and give him to someone else.”

“Raising a child as a single parent is not easy,” Lydia said. “But you and I are proof it can be done successfully.”

“I told Jeffrey if he makes me choose between him and this baby, he can leave. That’s when he went crazy. He insisted he would not raise the child and shouted he would never leave. He shoved the chest of drawers so hard it fell over. Then he stormed out. He has been gone all night.”

A cloudy vision interrupted Lydia’s thoughts, and a sharp pain stabbed her temple. “Get out of the house, Ava!”

Her mother’s abrupt demand confused her. “What?”

“Leave the house,” Lydia insisted. “Do it now!”

When she heard a door bang against the wall, Lydia knew it was too late. She grabbed her car keys and headed for her daughter’s home.

Lydia got there in record time. Racing through the unlocked front door, she called, “Ava?”

Ava didn’t answer, so Lydia started up the stairs. Before she reached the second floor, her daughter came out of the bedroom. Blood splattered her pale green shirt and spotted the tops of her jeans.

Sobbing and shaking uncontrollably, Ava was bent forward, her arms crossed over her stomach. “He wanted to kill my baby!”

“I know,” her mother said and wrapped her arms around her daughter. Lydia understood exactly what had occurred. She had seen it happen almost as clearly as if she had been in the room.

“Did you call the police?”

Ava shook her head, then looked over her shoulder through the bedroom door, where Jeffrey was sprawled on the bedroom floor. A pair of scissors glistened in the puddle of blood that had flowed from his neck.

“He said he refused to lose me because of an accident he could fix. Then he punched me. He was trying to kill our baby. When I fell against the desk, I grabbed the scissors. I don’t even remember doing it. There’s so much blood,” Ava stammered through tears.

“It’s okay,” Lydia said. “I’m going to call the police. You are going to tell them exactly what happened up to when he shoved you into the desk. That’s all you remember. Do not tell them I came into the bedroom after the argument was over.”

Ava hesitated. “I don’t understand.”

“Tell the police he punched you and you fell against the desk, but you don’t remember what happened next. That isn’t a lie. Tell them the next thing you remember is Jeffrey lying on the floor. That isn’t a lie either.”

“But-”

Lydia interrupted her. “I’m going to convince them I stabbed him.”

“No!” Ava sobbed. “You’ll go to jail!”

“Maybe not. But if someone is sentenced to spend time in prison, it will be better if it’s me instead of you and your baby,” Lydia answered. “Now, switch shirts with me, then change your jeans.”

They exchanged shirts and as Ava pulled on a fresh pair of jeans, Lydia picked up the scissors. She rubbed her fingers over them, then dropped them back onto the bloody floor. Even though she doubted she would find one, she checked for a pulse. But his heart had stopped. The scissors had punctured his carotid artery. Jeffrey bled to death in under a minute. Lydia called the police.

As she disconnected the call, she saw Jeffrey’s spirit hovering. Sadness and remorse radiated from the entity, then anger surrounded it. Before Lydia could communicate with him, Jeffrey’s apparition disappeared.

Found guilty of manslaughter, the judge could have sentenced her to fifteen years in prison, but he took the circumstances into consideration and lowered the sentence to seven years. Paroled on her first request, Lydia had received eighteen months off her sentence for good behavior, reducing her time locked away to five years and six months.

When Lydia reached the bottom of the steps, a tall, dark-haired woman, twenty years younger than Lydia’s fifty-two years, hopped out of a red Mustang convertible. As she sprinted toward Lydia, she called, “Mom! I can’t believe today is finally here!” Ava wrapped her arms around her mother and hugged her for a full thirty seconds.

“Wonderful as it is to be free, to have a greeting like this makes it even better.” Then, with a shake of her head, she chuckled. “You kept the Mustang!”

“Surprise!” Ava smiled broadly. “I kept it in the garage and only drove it enough to keep everything working. A lot has changed while you were gone, but some things are exactly as you left them, including your cat. Although he’s quite a bit bigger now.”

“I can’t wait to see him!” Lydia said. “Isaiah was only a few months old when he wandered into my life, remember? The poor kitten was a sick, half-starved, tangled mess, but he survived. It was like he understood I needed a friend. The little guy stayed glued to my side until I left for Hilltop.”

“Since you’ve been gone, Isaiah hasn’t allowed anyone but Graham or me to touch him. Not very many have even seen him. He doesn’t like company,” Ava told her. “And he sleeps in your bed every night.”

When they got into the car, Lydia asked, “What have you told Graham?”

“He knows you are his grandma, that you have been away, and that we live in your house. He’s excited about meeting you and helped me get your bedroom ready. His favorite color is yellow, so that’s the color he chose for your quilt and pillows. Please tell me you like yellow.”

“I love yellow,” Lydia replied with a laugh.

“He’s a great kid,” Ava said.

Lydia touched her daughter’s arm. “I’m certain he is. It’s the way you’re raising him.”

“He is learning to recognize the difference between right and wrong, but more importantly, between good and evil. Before long, he will understand that sometimes good people must do bad things to stop evil.”

“That’s quite a lesson for a six-year-old,” Lydia replied.

“He is quite a kid. Besides, he adores you already and when the time comes to explain what happened to his father, he will understand.” Changing the subject, Ava continued, “Wait until you see him with a deck of Tarot cards! I told him that his grandma would teach him all about the Tarot.”