Chapter 38 – Last Days

Ellie's and Alice's last days at the Cold Mountain Penitentiary flew by like dust grains in a storm, much to Brutus' regret. Though he knew very well that his parting with Ellie wouldn't last very long, he had become so accustomed to have her by his side all day long, that the mere thought of her going home was enough to make his stomach knot.

You're pathetic. A sick woman is going to jail for the rest of her life, an innocent man is going to die and you're complaining about caring too much about someone…

He sighed with a tight guilty feeling in his guts and looked up at the dark sky. If was the second-to-last night before the transfer of Alice and he couldn't even pull himself together long enough to give her even the smallest of thoughts. He leaned back against one of the supporting pillars of his veranda and felt Ellie's scrutinizing glare, when she raised her head from his shoulder to look at him.

"A penny for your thoughts," she said.

He smiled. "They're not even worth half of that. How's Alice holding up?"

"She coping – or maybe she has just giving up, you can never really tell with her, can you?"

"It's not the worst woman's prison she can be sent off to," Brutus comforted her and put his arm around her. "I know a guy there, Jeffrey, that used to work in A-block and he says it's like a walk in the park in comparisons – well, a walk in a gloomy, rainy park with occasionally crazy hobos, but it's not to bad at the end of the day."

Ellie snorted. "Is that supposed to cheer me up?"

"I'll talk to Jeff, make sure he keeps an eye out for her, but a lot of the women in there are in the same shoes, Ellie, they won't hate her for no reason. If there's something that can bring women together in a prison it's the mutual hatred for abusive, raping men."

Ellie was quiet for moment, before saying: "Could you drive us? You and Paul?"

"Of course." He hesitated, but he might as well ask her now and get it over with. "We could drive you home too afterwards. I doubt Paul would mind that."

"That would be nice, but I'm not going home the day after tomorrow," Ellie responded calmly.

Brutus frowned. "You're not?"

"No, not until next Saturday."

"Next…? What?"

"Oh, I haven't told you that?" Ellie said in a casual tone, despite her mouth curling into a mischievous smile. "I called my boss this morning from Paul's office. Turns out I have done so much overtime while I have been here that I could easily take a whole week off."

Brutus suddenly realized how beautiful this night was.

"You're not going home?"

"Not for a whole week," Ellie said, smiling at the look on his face. Then she sighed dramatically. "Now if I could only find somewhere to stay…"

"Hmm…" Brutus said, before leaning in and kissing her emphatically, just because he could, pushing her flat down on the porch in the progress. Ellie laughed.

"What exactly are you suggesting?"

He pretended to ponder about it for a second and said: "We got loadsof empty cells on the Mile, how 'bout that? Then I could keep an eye on you all the time."

She wrinkled her nose at him. "I think I have had my share of prisons for the rest of my life, thank you very much."

"Okay," he rumbled, one big, warm hand resting on her waist. "How about you stay here… with me?"

She tilted her head with a smile and touched his face, the joints of her fingers brushing over his jaw line.

"Go on."

"I think I might be able to take a couple of days off, if I beg hard enough. We could go into town. A real town, not just those five houses in Bunkie. We could go out for dinner, movies…" She removed her hand from his cheek and slid it under his shirt, her palm caressing his abdomen and for a second Brutus completely forgot what he was going to say. "… clubs, dancing…"

Ellie chuckled.

"I thought you hated dancing."

Her hand moved to his chest, fingertips following the notch up between his chest muscles. God, he really had to kiss her.

"Not with you."

She wrapped her free arm around his neck and they didn't break apart until Brutus felt dizzy, his heart beating with hard, heavy beats.

"How many people know about this?"

She looked at him with a significant smirk, her hands travelling down his spine under his shirt, making his skin shiver in delight.

"Not a soul beyond you, me and my boss."

"Good," he growled and claimed her soft lips again. "The less the merrier."

oOo

"I could come and visit you sometime, would that be all right?"

Alice wrinkled her brows thoughtfully at Ellie, chewing on a mouthful of creamy potatoes. It was the last afternoon before her transfer and Paul had ordered her favorite meal, as a kind of a farewell gesture. Alice had protested halfheartedly ("I'm not going to die, Mr. Edgecomb, it would be against the tradition…"), but here they were now, eating gratin dauphinois and beef outside in the rosy sunset. Harry and Dean watched them from a distant with their own portions from the staff kitchen.

"You shouldn't be wasting your time on me," Alice said. "The drive alone to the prison will take you hours."

"I don't mind. I'm going to be down here visiting Brutus as often as I can anyway."

Alice looked at her curiously. "Is it that serious?"

"Of course it is. I love…"

She restrained herself, blushing hard and unable to stop herself from smiling. She had never told anyone beside Brutus. Alice beamed.

"Oh, sweetheart," she sighed and for a split second Ellie thought she saw her eyes tear up, but then the old woman turned her attention back to her potatoes and could very well just have been the sunlight in her eyes.

"I love him," she finished softly and Alice smiled from ear to ear. "You think that's silly? I mean…"

"Does he love you?"

"Yes."

"The no, it's not at all silly," Alice said gently. "It's just a way of telling you that you're doing the right thing."

They finished dinner and Harry and Dean walked them back inside again. Alice let out a tiny, sorrowful exhale of air and came to a halt outside the cell that has once belonged to Delacroix. Ellie stopped to, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Something wrong?"

"No," Alice said, looking around behind her specs. "I just… I never thought I should say this, but I think I'll miss this place."

"That's only understandable," Harry growled behind her. "Now that Percy and Wharton are gone, this place's now almost tolerable. I miss those two like I miss a toothache."

Dean provided him with a harsh look, but Harry pretended not to notice.

"It's actually not bad," he said again, as though his own words dawned on him.

"It has never been bad," Alice assured him. "If the rest of my sentence is going to be just half as good as my stay here, I'll be very grateful."

She smiled at Ellie and the guards and stepped forward again, passing by Coffeys cell – and a voice spoke from inside the semidarkness:

"Don't worry, there's nothing to be afraid of, missus Alice."

The two guards looked confused. Alice peeked in through the bars, where Coffey was sitting quietly on the bunk bed, hands folded in his lap.

"Afraid, Mr. Coffey?" she repeated serenely. "What should I be afraid of?"

Ellie had never seen them share a word before, but Coffey was smiling at her.

"To move on," he rumbled in his deep, dark voice. "It's not the end. It's just a new beginning."

They looked at each other in silence for a moment and Alice nodded, almost to herself.

"Yes, I think I've started to realize that, Mr. Coffey," she said thoughtfully, glaring around at Dean, Harry and Ellie with a soft look. "I think I have."

Back in her cell, she turned to Ellie and said: "A curious man, isn't he, that John Coffey?"

Ellie nodded, thinking: You have no idea…

Alice hadn't witnessed any of Coffey's miracles, expect when he revived Mr. Jingles. Ellie was glad of that decision; John Coffeys execution date was still provided for next week and she wasn't sure Alice would be quite as calm if she knew what Coffey was truly capable of.

"No prospect of a pardon?" Alice whispered and Ellie shook her head, her throat tightening. The Governor hadn't called and she had a sick feeling he might never do so.

Alice sighed and sat down on her bed.

"Well, perhaps that's for the best."

Ellie glared at her, until she remembered that Alice hadn't been told that Coffey was innocent – and that she felt no desire to tell her. Something was just best left in the shadows.

She cleared her throat, desperate for a change in subject, and gestured towards the front desk.

"You want to play card? Or I could read you something?"

Alice looked at the clock above the front desk. "It's past seven, Eleanor. You should be heading home."

"I could stay. I wouldn't mind. Really."

Alice just smiled – a kind of a Mona Lisa smile that you couldn't quite figure out the meaning of, other than perhaps it would be foolish to continue arguing with her.

"I would," she said calmly, but firmly. "You're not getting paid for overtime."

Ellie hesitated in the cell door. She hated leaving her in a time, when there was even the slightest risk of Alice having a seizure due to stress or anxiety – but on the other hand she seemed quite calm and Ellie knew how much the old woman despised to be coddled, not to mention that she had already talked to Paul who was on night duty. If something happened tonight, even the smallest of things, he had promised to call her immediately.

"If you're sure…"

"I am."

"Good night, Alice."

"Good night, Eleanor."

oOo

On the day for Alice's transfer, Ellie woke up with a stomach that felt like she had been eating stones for dinner last night. The only comfort she had, was the prospect of spending the following week with Brutus – just Brutus – far away from anyone. The bare thought of him still being there, when this day was over, was the only thing that could get her out of bed. She had dreaded this day since she had arrived at Cold Mountain months ago and she just wanted to get through it without to much trouble and tears.

Has it really only been a couple of months? It felt like she had been here for years, when she looked back, almost a life time. And what had she learned? It was difficult to put it into word, but whatever it was, it would stick with her for good; long time after she would have forgotten everything else, even her own name, she would remember Cold Mountain and the Green Mile.

Ellie pulled the curtains back and walked out into the bathroom for a quick wash. She had just started to get dressed, when someone knocked on her door very softly.

"Yes?"

Mrs. Potter poked her head in.

"Oh, good, you're up," she said, before lowered her voice to almost a whisper. "There's someone here to see you."

Ellie glared at her, then back at the clock on her night stand; 5:20.

"At this hour?" she said baffled. "Who?"

"Mr. Howell, you know:" Again this secretive whisper. "Your carnival-date," as if Ellie could ever forget. "He said he'd something to tell you. I told him you'd be right down, so he's waiting in the dining room."

"Thanks Mrs. Potter. Tell him I'll be down in a second."

She buttoned up her dress as fast as she could, an odd feeling in her stomach. Not that she wasn't happy that Brutus was here, but why? It was still dark outside and he should be on his way to work. Something wasn't right…

Her premonitions were only confirmed, when she stepped inside the dining room moments later. Brutus was standing, not sitting down, his cap in both of his big hands. He looked rueful and grave. Something was indeed not right…

"Brutus, what's wrong?" Ellie asked and a weird cold sensation tingled down her spine.

Brutus approached her slowly and reached out for her.

"Alice is dead," he said quietly.