THE NURSE AND THE GUARD
'The Green Mile' belongs to Stephen King, as well as the characters - except Ellie Brent, Alice Reardon and some other OC's
This is not only my very first fanfiction - in English! - but also the first love story I have ever written. So please be gentle with me and my grammar mistakes ^^, You are very welcome to correct me though - that's how I learn (:
I have been a fan of The Green Mile, since I saw the movie in high school and the line "Brutal's a single man' always makes me so frustrated. How can a man like Brutus be single?! Well, I thought he deserved someone... So here goes:
The story is rated T, because of sexual themes, language and violence.
Prologue
It's was half past eleven in the evening and Paul Edgecomb – leader of the death row, E Block in Cold Mountain Prison in Louisiana – had just made himself comfortable in his office with the newspaper and a sandwich, when a huge shadow felt on his desk. A dossier was tossed on the article he had been reading.
"I think you oughta take a look at this, Paul," the shadow said, with its deep, rough voice that could only belong to Pauls next in command, Brutus Howell. Paul looked up and met his eyes; there was something in his bright blue gaze that gave Paul a bad feeling. Brutus seemed genuinely worried and concerned – and Paul knew, that the ground would have to shock violently, before Brutus was shaken: He was almost six and a half foot tall; a former football tackle, who had been a guard on the E Block for almost seven years, so he had seen it all. His anxiety was not a good sign. Not at all.
Paul finished his mouthful of sandwich. "What is it?"
"The information about the new prisoner." Brutus hesitated for a moment. "An elderly woman."
"Is that what's bothering you?" Paul asked, almost relieved, as he pulled the file closer. "Heaven, we have had women in here before – not exactly old ones, but I don't see the problem…"
"It ain't her, that worries me," Brutus said dourly. "It's her sentence."
Paul shot him a puzzled look, opened the dossier and started reading:
"Alice Reardon… 60 years old – one tough grandma, huh? Blah, blah, blah… Murdered her husband in his sleep, then later her brother-in-law… suffering from fits and must be supervised by…"
At this point, Paul stopped and glared at the last sentences, before finally raising his head. Brutus met his eyes and nodded slowly.
"Yes," he simply said. "We'll get another woman on the Mile – and she ain't gonna be doing time, that's for sure."
"They can't be serious," Paul said and flicked through the pages. "Why would they give a murder her own private nurse?"
"'Cause they wanna make sure, she doesn't die before time – the families wanna to see her get toasted in the chair. They want their revenge." Brutus shook his head. "But that's not my problem – they could have hired an entire police force, for all I cared. I just hate the idea about having an innocent woman here. The Mile is not exactly overflowed with the best people of Louisiana, now, is it?"
Paul shook his head in disbelief. No, you could say a lot of things about E Block, but good people weren't the easiest thing to find on the death row. The poor girl would possibly break, before her shift was over...