"Hello, Clarissa. Welcome back to the land of the living."
Clarissa Gaynor, a twenty-something Black woman, struggled to become completely awake. As she did, she discovered she was chained to a metal chair. She also heard the grim deep voice of a man.
"'Land of the living' is merely metaphorical, you understand; you've only been unconscious. But that metaphor does relate to our business here today."
Looking around, Clarissa saw the room was brightly lit, As she blinked her eyes, she saw a man standing next to a cage. Inside the cage was something that resembled the Hulk only considerably larger, and gray.
Feeling extremely groggy, Clarissa found herself asking the same questions that might be asked by a kidnap victim in a movie or TV show.
"Who are you? Where am I? What do you want?"
The man, who wore a long white lab coat, held up an index finger.
"You're in my lab. Apart from that, there's only two things you need to know right now. We are going to discuss matters of life and death. If I don't like something you have to say, if I find it tired or cliched, I open the cage a little bit so the monster can lash out at you." The man held up a black remote control. "Like so."
He pushed a button, and some of the cylindrical silver bars moved just wide enough for the beast inside to reach out and swipe at Clarissa. The growling and roaring of the beast mixed with Clarissa's screams until the cage closed back up.
It took Clarissa a while to calm down; even then, she covered her mouth and kicked her legs as tears flowed down. When she was finally able to speak, she spoke in a frantic voice while being all wide-eyed.
"What is that thing?"
The man responded in his grim voice and flat tone.
"We'll get to that later. First, there is something you must do, Clarissa. You must persuade me that the work you do is just. You must explain to me why it is all right to let murderers out of prison. If you fail to persuade me of your point of view, I will release the monster."
Imagine the voice of Rod Serling:
"Clarissa Gaynor. A young woman who has devoted her life to saving others from the death penalty. Now her own life is at stake as she takes an unexpected and potentially deadly detour into 'The Twilight Zone.'"
"It wasn't that hard to abduct you," the man said as he adjusted his lab coat. "You have a regular routine while you work at the Death Penalty Project Center. It was easy to slip some knockout pills into the Gatorade you have at the end of shift."
Though still wide-eyed and breathing a little hard, Clarissa was not quite as frantic as she had been before. As she tested the chains a little more, they made a light rattling noise.
Her mind wandered, although perhaps it was a way for her to cope with her strange new situation. With the bright lights in this strange new place, she could not make out the facial features of the man next to the cage. As a new wave of grogginess seemed to set in, Clarissa recalled how friends and family said she looked like Kasie Hines on "NCIS."
To combat the grogginess, Clarissa blinked as she shook her head. She hated to ask but she wasn't sure what else to do.
"What is that thing in the cage?"
The man tilted his head. "That's one of the prisoners you worked so hard to release. That's Earvin." The man managed to sound cold and flippant at the same time.
"No!" Clarissa protested. As she shifted against the cold hard metal, her chains rattled some more. "That's not Earvin! That's not even human!"
"Oh, but it is. I changed him!" The giddiness in the man's voice lasted only a moment. Then back to the grim voice. "It's a formula I invented. It interacts with a person's biochemistry. In simple terms, it gives physical form to the negative emotions inside a person. As you can see, Earvin here was still quite negative, despite your efforts to reform him."
"Earvin? Are you all right? It's Clarissa."
"Oh, he can't hear you. Well, he can hear you but he very likely does not understand. Unfortunately, the formula changes a person in other ways. There's an observable beast-like quality, a decline in mental skills and a rise in primitive emotions."
"Earvin?" When the only response was a tilting of the gray head with a low growl, Clarissa teared up. She she turned to the man and shouted. "You monster!'
The man responded with a light chuckle. "I would say it's Earvin who's the monster."
Clarissa grunted and shrieked as she frantically tried to break out of the chains. Eventually, she settled for sitting back in her chair as she simply glared at the man.
"What do you want?"
He shrugged. "As mentioned earlier, I want to discuss why it is just to let a murderer go free."
The man paced the floor while Clarissa stared with fear in her eyes.
"You worked so hard to free poor Earvin. Now look at him." The man tapped one of the bars; the behemoth inside roared and lunged but the man had already stepped away.
"Why have you done this?" Clarissa asked tearfully.
"You'll learn more about that as we go along."
The thing once known as Earvin growled quietly in the background.
"Some people want to release prisoners and don't care if they're properly reformed or not. The people who like to let prisoners go have been comfortable all their lives so they don't understand how vicious some people can be, so vicious they are beyond reform."
"No one is beyond hope." Clarissa said this in a way that was both pleading and confident.
The man seemed to ignore her.
"Prison just makes them worse," he mumbled.
"That's why we should make prisons humane!"
"Would that be punishment?"
As he casually crossed the room, the man folded his arms over his chest.
"Clarissa, have you thought of the irony of suicide watch?" Clarissa simply shook her head. The man put out his hands. "It's like the government is saying, 'No, you can't do it yourself. We have to do it. We're better at it. We'll make it clean and neat.'"
As Clarissa sat there glaring, the man waved his hand. "Never mind. Let's move on to other matters."
"Do I have a choice?" she grumbled.
The man gave her an intense look. "Why do you do what you do, Clarissa? When you work to free a murderer from prison, you violate the feelings of the friends and family members of the murder victims." He waved a scolding finger. "In this society, violating feelings is the highest crime there is. Against such a crime there can be no defense, no trial, no lawyers. There is only sentencing to be carried out, Clarissa."
Scowling, Clarissa leaned forward. "What about the feelings of the friends and family members of the prisoner on death row?"
The man shrugged. "Maybe they should have loved him more. In any case, they can be comforted knowing their murdering friend or relative will not cause any more turmoil, for them or for others. It could feel good for these friends or relatives to know it's all over."
Clarissa made a face. "How can anyone feel good knowing a life has ended? Life should not be ended."
"Maybe in some cases it should."
"Who gets to decide that?"
"We do. We as a society decide that." He scowled. "Not you by yourself."
"You hate me for helping?"
His index finger went up again. "Ah, but that's the thing. Are you really helping? Oh, Clarissa, you don't think about the ways you are not helping. By keeping the murderer alive in prison, you cause him years of suffering."
"That's why I work to get them out of prison!"
"So they can be a potential danger to more people? And what of the murder victims? They likely had many good years ahead of them. Should the murderer get good years ahead?"
"They may be the only good years they will have but it will still involve a struggle. There's also a little thing called 'grace.' We've all done things for which we should be punished. Like what you're doing now!"
"I don't kill anyone myself."
"So indirect killing is okay then?"
"Better than letting murderers go free. That, too, is indirect killing if someone you free kills again."
"They won't!"
"How can you be so sure?"
Clarissa made a face. The man's eyes narrowed even as he smiled.
"Executing someone is an act of mercy. You spare the prisoner many years in prison. Years of being abused, beaten, raped, even killed." As he turned to Clarissa, he gave her a sharp look. "Is that why you work so hard to get them out of prison, Clarissa? Because you don't want them to get killed there?" As he lowered his head, his eyes became like slits. "Why not let the state do it? It's nice and neat and then it's over."
With her chains rattling, Clarissa stood up. "No one has the right to take a life. Not even the state!"
Once again, the cage door opened partway, the monster lashed out, and Clarissa screamed as she fell back and curled her legs up. When the cage closed back up, Clarissa put one hand to her quivering lips.
"I need original thought, Clarissa. Any more such cliched thoughts as that, you'll get the cage opening even more." As he held out the remote toward Clarissa, he waved it up and down. "The state doesn't execute out of vengeance. It is an act of mercy. For everyone."
Clarissa could barely speak. "Everyone?"
As the man waved a dismissive hand, he seemed to become more erratic in his face and his voice.
"The murderer is out of his misery; he doesn't have to suffer any more. Society is rid of a potential danger. Guards and other prisoners are safe. Friends and family no longer need to worry about their loved one having more misery or murdering more people." With a bright look, the man shook the remote at Clarissa. "There's a lot on the plus side here."
Clarissa wiped away tears. She choked as she whispered.
"Why can't he just stay alive in prison?"
"Because he could still murder guards or other prisoners. Or he could escape." The man leaned forward, putting his face very close to the face of Clarissa. "Or someone lets him out!"
Clarissa curled up once again.
"Listen," she said. "How are we supposed to have a debate, a discussion if I'm scared out of my mind from you opening that cage?"
The man curled his lower lip. "I suppose I could be fair to you, even if you are not fair to others."
"Why would you even threaten me like that?"
"It was supposed to help you think better."
"Fear doesn't help someone think better."
He wore a sulky look as he was silent for a few seconds.
"Very well. We shall try it another way. For a while."
She cautiously sat up. "You know, putting the murderer to death won't bring back the victim."
The man sighed deeply. "I really should open the cage right now, that is such a tired and stupid statement. But I agreed not to, so..."
He put down the remote. As he did, Clarissa lunged forward. When that resulted in a loud roar from the Earvin creature, Clarissa stepped back, looking very fearful as she did.
"It's true, though," she said in a weak trembling voice. "Executing someone won't bring the victim back to life."
"It won't?" As he gasped, the man slapped hands to his face. "I thought sure it would." He sighed as he shook his head. "No, Clarissa. No one actually believes that. It's just a phony argument made up by phony people like you."
The man picked up the remote control but Clarissa waved her hands.
"Wait, wait! Consider this: the death penalty is not a deterrent."
"It certainly is. It stops the murderer from ever killing again." He put the remote down at his side. "But you may be right. Sometimes the death penalty can be an incentive."
"What do you mean?"
"When teachers and students were cruel to me in school, I thought of killing them. I was heartened by the idea that if I was put to death I wouldn't suffer for my crimes. One more reason to do it." He shrugged. "I didn't even care if I went to hell."
From inside the cage, the beast lunged at him, and the man quickly pulled away, having gotten too close to the cage.
"Instead of killing teachers and students, I began developing my formula to turn people into the monsters they are and then have them kill for me."
For a moment, she shivered but then she spoke in a quiet voice.
"Having someone else do the killing still makes you guilty."
"Perhaps so," he mumbled absently as he looked almost dazed.
She stared at him.
"What happened to you?"
"After being abused in school, I was abused at work, and eventually I was fired." He paced once again but kept wide of the cage. "If you violate someone's feelings at work, you get fired. No trial, no hearing, just a firing."
"So that's what happened to you."
He nodded. "We have a legal system where it's impossible to know you've committed a crime until someone tells you. Once you've committed a feeling-violation, it's too late."
"That must have been rough."
He snorted at her. "Don't try to sympathize with me. I find it absolutely incredible we fire people for a crime unknown to them but we let murders go free when their crimes are obvious and well-known."
"How will executing poor Earvin change any of that?"
He curled his lower lip in a pout. "It'll make me feel better. And in this society, all that matters is how you feel." He scowled. "Besides, do you really think someone like Earvin can ever change?"
Once again, Clarissa leaned forward, jerked forward really, and violently. "Only God can know whether a person can change or not!"
Another snort. "God," he sniffed. "You want to bring God into this? What would someone like you know about God?"
"Maybe a lot more than you!" Looking a little nervous, she sat back. "Are you one of those people who believes in hell?"
"I am indeed," he said in that grim voice.
"How can you send someone to hell?"
The man shrugged. "That person had his chance. Besides, the people down in hell are no longer people. Each 'person' is just a collection of sins."
Clarissa pointed to the cage. "Earvin didn't have a chance at all. He'd been abused all his life!"
"Then put him out of his misery. After all, he'll just have a low quality of life in prison. Isn't that what the pro-abortion people argue? We should just get rid of someone who will have a low quality of life."
"Oh, you want to bring abortion into this?" There was a low growl from Earvin as Clarissa shifted in her chair. "What about the anti-abortion people? Don't they say a cluster of cells is a person? A prisoner is a person, too!"
There was another shrug along with that grim voice. "The solution is easy: don't think of the prisoner as a person. Think of the prisoner as an 'it.'" He chuckled as he tilted his head toward the cage. "That should be easy enough with Earvin."
Screeching and roaring, Clarissa lunged toward the man, nearly tripping in the process. The man easily sidestepped her then he held out the remote. Clarissa stood there grunting angrily.
"Those people down in hell are God's children."
"The children of God would show the qualities of God. They would not kill."
"People have killed in the name of religion!"
"Then they are not God's children."
"God kills! God has killed!"
"If He does, it is for good reason, a better reason than a human would have. And He knows more than we do."
A tearful Clarissa sniffled a little. "The reason I work so hard to free these men is because I take my faith very seriously."
"Curious," the man said, his voice more grim than ever. The look on his face was dour and intense. "You say you have faith but you talk like an atheist."
She glared, and her chin tightened. "Be that as it may, I believe the highest thing we can do as a society is to help someone who has been abused and mistreated, help them get better, get well."
The man scowled. "Why? So they can have a miserable life in prison? I believe it's easier, and nicer, to just execute them." Again he shrugged. "Besides, it might frighten them into repenting."
She looked at him with tearful eyes. "Maybe they just need help. You would help a wounded animal, wouldn't you?"
"Sometimes an animal has to be put down."
She jumped forward, and while the chains rattled loudly, Earvin growled quietly.
"How can you call them animals? They are God's creations!"
"They need to be put out of their misery and spared suffering!" the man roared with fists clenched.
While breathing hard, the man stood there with an angry look.
"I'm sorry, Clarissa. You have failed to persuade me. But I shall reward you anyway. You wanted Earvin to go free? He shall go free."
The man opened the door and pointed the remote control while Clarissa screamed.
The man began to close the heavy door behind him.
I don't need to listen to the screams, he thought. I am, after all, not a monster.
As the man thought this, the door suddenly slammed into him, and the man fell unconscious.
Earvin stood over Clarissa, and he broke her chains. As Clarissa looked up at him with some fear in her eyes, Earvin spoke in a voice that was rough yet gentle.
"The more he went on, the more I was able to fight it." Earvin pointed to his large misshapen gray head. "In my mind."
"I'm glad you're okay." Clarissa clumsily embraced him.
"You, too." Earvin glanced around. "While we look for the key for your 'bracelets,' should we look for the formula? We could give him a dose of his own medicine."
Clarissa looked a little stern. "That wouldn't be very productive or helpful now, would it, Earvin?"
"It might feel good."
"Let's not go with our feelings." Clarissa smiled. "Let's help you get back to normal instead. And let's hope he gets better, too."
Imagine once again the voice of Rod Serling:
"This trip into 'The Twilight Zone' brings new meaning to the term 'monster.'"