The Second Time They Die
Chapter 1
Clara registered the sounds of sirens before she realized how much pain she was feeling. Lying on the road, she slowly opened her eyes and saw a sedan with its windows and a headlight shattered on one side. From Clara's angle, it looked like the car was propped up against a lamppost. There was a handlebar and a tire nearby, presumably from Clara's motorcycle. Clara tried to survey her surroundings, but turning her head made the pain worse. After a few more seconds, she decided to close her eyes.
A loud bang brought Clara back to consciousness.
"Wake up!" someone said. "I want to go home, but I need to complete your orientation first, so wake up!"
Clara slowly sat up and realized she wasn't hurting anymore. As she stood, she noticed she was in a group of tiny prison cells with two other inmates to her left and seven to her right.
"Where am I?" Clara asked a guard nearby.
"Welcome to Agate Manor Prison. I am Kovena Podriss, the transition coordinator here. I don't care what you did to end up in the prison for the worst criminals in the galaxy. I only care that you become quickly acclimated to this prison."
"Wait," said Clara. "I don't understand how I got here."
"You came from far away," Kovena replied. "The stasis procedure likely affected your memory. You'll return to normal eventually."
"But I shouldn't be here! Why am I here?"
"That's not in the files. It's irrelevant now, anyway."
"No, wait. Some of it's coming back to me," Clara quietly said to herself. "There was an accident. Was it my fault?"
Clara tried to jog her memory more as all ten new convicts were processed and transported to their permanent cells among the rest of the Agate Manor prisoners.
"It shouldn't be this hard to remember," Clara told herself. "I know it's there in my head somewhere."
Without a clock or watch, Clara assumed several hours had passed as she futilely attempted to remember what happened between the crash and arriving at the prison. She paced around and leaned against her ajar door. Noticing the movement, Clara slowly opened her cell door with a puzzled look.
"Don't!" a neighbor said. "You must be confused. I can read the look on your face."
"Okay," Clara simply replied.
The other woman opened her door, then shut it. "These aren't locked, but that doesn't mean it's time to walk freely. We are to be confined for the remainder of the day."
Clara looked around the area. "Where are the guards?"
"There are no guards."
"Wait, I'm Clara. What's your name?"
"I'm Pendrell."
"If there are no guards and no locks, why is everyone here following the rules?"
Pendrell shook her head and lied down on her bed.
A wall panel suddenly moved, revealing a small meal. Deciding to figure out the situation later, Clara quietly ate dinner and lied down. Lights outside the cells soon turned off and the lights in the individual cells dimmed.
Clara woke up the next morning when the lights shone bright again. She noticed another small meal had been delivered. Pendrell was eating hers.
"Morning," Clara said.
"Is than an expression where you're from?" Pendrell asked.
"Yes." Clara looked around. She walked over to a toilet and covered herself with a sheet as she used it.
Pendrell smiled. "You'll lose your modesty soon enough."
"May I ask what you did to be sent here?" Clara asked after using the toilet and beginning her breakfast.
"I hijacked a ship transporting tachyon modulation rods. Some bad things happened. What did you do?"
"I think I caused a car accident. I'm not sure. Cars are like small ships that run on the ground using wheels."
"What did the cars carry?"
"Other people," Clara answered.
"Anyone important?"
"I'm not sure about that, either."
"There must've been someone important you hurt if you got sent here."
"I don't know," Clara replied. "This can't be right. There's no one on Earth that I could hurt or even kill to be sent someplace like this. I'm not sure the accident was even my fault. I can't remember. This doesn't make sense."
"Free time begins now," an intercom voice announced.
Pendrell left her cell and glanced back at Clara.
"Did your transition coordinator tell you to avoid the red doors?" Pendrell asked.
Clara nodded.
"We are free to go anywhere else. This free time lasts twenty cycles," Pendrell finished as she headed away. She didn't wait for a response from Clara.
Clara slowly opened her cell door and cautiously joined the crowd advancing outside.
Seeing blue doors, Clara opted to explore the inside of the prison first. She proceeded through multiple corridors, trying to make sense of her location. She eventually reached a large hall with numerous statues in many forms. Some of the statues looked humanoid. Clara took a close look at some of the statues and then continued her exploration. She then arrived at an infirmary.
"Do you need medical assistance?" a doctor asked.
"No. I'm new here. I'm just looking around."
"So it is, then. If you ever need medical assistance, you know where we are."
"Actually, I am having some memory problems. I can't remember how I got here."
"That's not atypical, especially if you were in stasis for a long time. When did you arrive?"
"Yesterday," Clara answered.
"Sleep early tonight and sleep early tomorrow night. If your memories don't start returning after tomorrow night, come see us."
"All right. How about communication? Are there communication systems here?" Clara asked. "I mean, is there a way to contact someone outside this prison?"
"There is no system for prisoners. If you want visitors, speak to a guard. Even our methods of communication are heavily restricted when we're here."
"And supervised," another doctor added.
"Okay. Thanks." Clara decided to head back to her cell until she took a chance. "Do any of you know the Doctor?"
"We're all doctors."
"I meant the Doctor."
The doctors in the infirmary looked at each other quizzically.
"Never mind," Clara said.
"Prisoners are advised to prepare to return to their cells," a loud voice announced over speakers. "Free time ends in five cycles."
"You should go," the first doctor advised.
"Thanks," replied Clara.
Clara proceeded back to her cell, until she reached a room with murals on two opposing walls.
"I didn't see this before," Clara commented quietly. She backtracked until she reached a room with two doors.
"Prisoners should be returning to their cells now," a voice soon announced.
Clara sped through the other door and rushed towards her cell. She started to panic when she reached another room that was unfamiliar to her.
"If you have not done so, return to your cells immediately," an announcement said.
Clara ran until she came across another room with two doors and dashed towards her cell.
"Free time ends in 9 . . . 8 . . . 7 . . . 6 . . . 5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . 0."
Clara continued running, certain that she was headed in the correct direction. She noticed numbness in her left arm. She ignored it until her left arm seemed hard and the numbness spread to her left shoulder. Still running, Clara started feeling pain that quickly became intense. The discomfort forced Clara to stop, and she leaned against a wall as the numbness, hardening, and pain spread.
After a few seconds and hearing a whisper about a warden, Clara passed out from the pain.