Double Noose

by Jay Sharman

  Julian replied, ‘No sir, I do not do any drugs or cigarettes.’

  The prisoner shouted, ‘What are you doing in the prison, mate. Get used to these fucking stuffs, your time will pass quicker’

  To diffuse the situation, Julian engaged with the prisoner in a conversation about football, which brightened the English man’s eyes. The flow of conversation went quite smoothly, and Julian felt that by just talking to somebody about any subject of their interest, made people felt better.

  Julian had the experience of counselling, while working as a doctor. He was not surprised when the man asked for a cigarette in the end. That was the time when Julian asked the prison officer to take him back to his room.

  The next person was an Irishman who lived quite near to the prison. He told Julian that he was feeling low because he felt suffocated inside his room, so he wanted to speak to somebody as his cell mate did not speak English very well. The Irish man told Julian that he had come to prison many times but now he was approaching fifty and finally the age had caught up with him. Julian encouraged him to talk about himself, as much as he could.

  The Irish man compared the prison life of twenty years back to that of the present time. He told Julian that in the past, there were no toilets inside the prison rooms and prisoners were provided with a bucket to pass both urine and faeces, which was collected each morning.

  The Irish man squeezed his nose upwards and said, ‘Fellow, the smell in the room used to be unbearable and we had to sleep throughout the night in that atmosphere. The other main difference now is the presence of television in the room and in my opinion, it has controlled the behaviour of aggressive prisoners and caused lesser frustration and violence among the prisoners.’

  Julian looked at the time and it was past midnight. He realised that he had to catch up with sleep. Julian changed the subject with the Irish man and asked, ‘How are you feeling now?’

  The Irish man laughed and that showed two missing teeth from the front of his mouth caused by consistent use of drugs over many years, he whispered, ‘Yes fellow, much better now. By the way do you have a cigarette. I am dying for one, fellow.’

  Julian was waiting for that question and he smiled to say. ‘No, sorry, I do not smoke.’

  Julian rang the bell to ask the prison officer to take the Irish man back to his room. Julian asked the officer whether there were any more prisoners waiting to see him and if the officer had informed the prisoners that they would not be provided with any cigarettes by the listeners. Julian was pleased to know that there were no more prisoners waiting to see him that night.

  Chapter 33

  Julian came out of the listener’s room and walked with two prison officers to go back to his room.

  When he reached in the corridor, Julian suddenly felt a cold breeze flowing past him, with a soft hissing sound in the background. A piece of paper slipped from the hands of the officer to fall on the floor. The officer bent forward to pick up the paper, but it started to fly again.

  Julian looked at the door leading to the gallows, the white figure was still standing there. His both hands were stretched forwards and was moving his fingers in a rhythmical cycle towards him. His head was moving backwards and upwards. Julian realised that this was not a human being, it was definitely a ghost standing there. Although he never believed in them, yet he could not ignore that figure. His eyes were white like a stone and expressionless. He just stood there behind the gate to stare at Julian. The prison officer managed to pick up the paper and asked the other officer, ‘Where did the force of wind come from?’

  The officer opened and closed his eyes few times, looked around the corridor with a frown on his forehead and replied, ‘I do not know, it seems that it must have come from some open window.’

  The first officer replied after looking at both sides of the corridor. ‘We do not have any windows in this corridor.’

  Julian then moved away and stood behind the officer and pointed toward the gallows’ door and muttered, , ‘Maybe the wind is coming from the gallows. Can you see a white figure standing behind the door?’

  Both officers looked towards the door and asked simultaneously, ‘Which man are you talking about? There is nobody standing here.’

  To Julian’s amazement, that white shadow of a man had disappeared from the door. Julian said, ‘I saw somebody standing here a few moments ago.’

  Both prison officers looked at each other and said, ‘Come on Julian, let us go from here now. There might be a ghost of somebody here, who was hanged many years ago. Some people had mentioned about hearing noises coming from that area, but nobody had ever said about seeing a ghost.’

  All three reached the end of the corridor and the officer took his keys out to open the gate to go to the next wing. Before he could put the keys inside the lock, he heard a crackling noise in front of him, as if somebody was unlocking the gate.

  The gate started to open gradually on its own. The other prison officer and Julian were looking in the other direction and they simply turned back and walked past the gate without realising that the keys were still lying in the officer’s pockets.

  Julian’s heart was racing faster, and he was terrified after seeing a ghostly image earlier. He just wanted to go back to his cell so that he could stay away from the ghost.

  The first prison officer was still standing near the open door. He could feel a presence there that was stopping him from taking any steps forward. He wanted to close the gate, but his strength was not powerful enough to shut it.

  The whole corridor was empty, as both Julian and the first officer had gone to the next wing. The officer decided to run like mad, as he felt that he could not do anything else. All the prisoners were inside their rooms, most of them were sleeping, but some were still watching television. The officer could not ask for anybody else to help him, so he tried to catch up with Julian and the other officer. By the time he caught up with them, Julian had already gone inside his room.

  Nicki was still awake and found Julian looking worried and tense with drops of sweat on his face and his mouth wide open.

  She asked, ‘What is the matter with you. You look like as if you have been beaten by someone.’

  Julian cleaned his face with a towel and said, ‘I saw a white figure of ghost standing behind a door in ‘A’ wing and he was calling me to come near him.’

  Nicki smiled and said, ‘Do you believe in ghosts? I thought that being a doctor, you will be more scientist thinking. What did this ghost look like?’

  Julian sat down on a chair, and whispered, ‘He had a very white face, his hands were like separate lumps from his arms, his feet were missing and there was a gap between his legs and the ground.’

  ‘Did anybody else see him?’ asked Nicki as she was getting more curious as well.

  Julian took a deep breath and whispered, ‘Nobody else saw him, although two other officers were with me. One officer saw his papers fall from his hands which started to fly in different directions.’

  Nicki sat down in her bed and whispered, ‘Julian, I do not know whether that was true or not, but you do not seem to be too well after coming to prison. I feel that maybe you should see a doctor, maybe even a psychiatrist?’

  Julian stood up from his chair and shouted, ‘Nicki, are you saying that I am imagining things. I saw this white figure tonight. That was the most frightening experience I ever had. Something is not right in this prison. All those deaths by hanging under mysterious circumstances cannot be explained. The prison officers felt that I have some special supernatural powers because I was found at the site of those hangings each time. Now I can start to guess who is behind those killings, after recent sighting of a white figure in the gallows.’

  Nicki said abruptly, ‘Stop there, I do not want to talk about ghosts in the middle of the night. You are making me scared now.’

  Julian touched Nicki’s face with his hands, as drops of tears started to fall from her eyes. She looked into Julian’s eyes and asked, ‘
What are you doing to me. Thank God, I did not feel any electric current from your hands now. Julian. please go to sleep now in your bed and do not come near me.’

  Julian withdrew his hands and took off the black coat and hanged it on the door opposite the bed. He said, ‘Good night Nicki, sleep well.’

  Nicki turned her face towards the wall and tried to close her eyes as she could feel presence of somebody else in the room after Julian switched off the light.

  Nicki went to sleep quickly but then woke up two hours later as Julian’s snoring was getting louder and louder. She turned to the other side and felt that there was somebody sitting on her bed and stroking her hair. The touch was so soft and gentle that it hardly moved her hair. She opened her eyes and saw in the room a black figure with some white in the centre moving towards her. Nicki started to feel her heart beating faster and sweat pouring from her face. She thought that the figure was about six feet tall. In panic, Nicki started to shout, ‘Who is that, ghost, ghost?’

  Julian woke up and said, ‘What is the matter Nicki?’

  Nicki sat down in her bed and pointed towards the door with her finger, ‘Look at the door, there is a ghost standing there, quick.’

  Julian quickly jumped out of his bed and switched on the light and asked, ‘Where is the ghost? You were looking at the black coat which has a grey hood, that probably gave you an impression of a white face.’

  Nicki cuddled Julian by putting both her hands around his neck.

  She whispered, ‘I am frightened. I am sure that I saw a ghost standing near that door.’

  Julian then switched off the light and said, ‘Look at this coat again, it does look like a human figure in the dark.’

  Nicki held Julian even tighter and tried to kiss him on his cheeks, ‘I need to get out of this prison. This is a spooky place, and something is not right. I have to find a plan to run away and you must do the same as this ghost must be after you as well.’

  Julian smiled and said, ‘Go to sleep now and we will talk about it tomorrow. By the way, you can use your art teacher, Mike to get out of the prison. He is madly in love with you, as he thinks that you are a pretty boy.’

  Nicki extended her neck out of the bed to whisper, ‘Do not be silly, Julian. How can he help me to escape? He could lose his job even after we are successful in escaping from the prison.’

  Chapter 34

  The following day, Mike Jackson had called a meeting with other officers and, he wanted to talk especially to the prison officers who were with Julian the previous night. The first prison officer told about the gush of air and the opening of the gate by itself. Jackson asked officer Smith, ‘Did you see any shadows or hear any noises in the background?’

  Smith smiled and then shook his head, ‘No Mr Jackson, I did not hear any noises or saw anybody else, but a paper flew out of my hand.’

  Jackson asked, ‘How about Julian, did he see anything, or did he behave in any weird way?’

  The second prison officer replied, ‘No Mr Jackson, he was frightened himself. At one stage, he did not want to move forward, as if he was afraid that someone was going to kill him.’

  The first officer said, ‘Julian did ask me if I could see anybody standing behind the door leading to the gallows. I told Julian that he was imagining, as I could not see anybody standing there.’

  Jackson became more curious as he had already guessed that Julian was associated with some kind of supernatural powers. He said, ‘Gentlemen, my doubts are confirmed that these deaths in the prison could be related with some eerie phenomenon. As more than hundred people were hanged in the prison gallows, there is a chance that the ghost of one of them is still hovering around in the prison.’

  Few prison officers started to laugh and one asked, ‘Mr Jackson, do you still believe in ghosts? That is like a fairy-tale you read in books.’

  Jackson maintained a stern expression and thumped on the desk hard to get everybody’s attention and shouted,

  ‘I did not believe in ghosts myself, but I have observed few abnormal things in the prison in last few weeks. We can't sit back here and let things happen with adverse effects. Mr Smith, I want a list of all the prisoners, who were hanged in this prison, their backgrounds, their crime and if there were any weird incidents at the time of hanging. In theory, I want as much information as possible that you can get.’

  There was a silence in the room, as the officers realised that there might be some truth in Jackson’s statement, who continued, ‘I want all of you to keep an eye on Julian’s movements, where he goes, who does he talk to. Also keep an eye on Greg, as he is the last surviving Greens left. I think that he is the next target.’

  One officer asked, ‘Shall we also look inside the gallows for any evidence of a ghost there.’

  Jackson laughed, ‘Officer, if you believe in ghosts, then you can go ahead to do it, but keep an eye on Julian and also his friend, Nick, he is dumb but he might know something that we do not’

  Chapter 35

  Nicki had enjoyed going to the arts class, she had improved her painting with water colours. Mike had shown special interest in her and spent lots of time with her, giving tips for improvement in her painting.

  Nicki had also started to like the adulation given by Mike and was slowly getting attracted to Mike. Although she was still in love with Julian, but these feelings for him were decreasing slowly, especially after display of his supernatural powers.

  Mike still thought that Nicki was a man and Nicki had started to respond to Mike’s gestures more positively. She realized that Mike was the one person who could help her to escape from the prison, as she was fed up of staying within those confined walls and acting as a dumb man.

  Julian did not come to the class that day, so Nicki felt more at ease with Mike. Mike started to touch Nicki’s hands more frequently and she did not move her hands away as she was getting used to it.

  Nicki then wrote a small note to Mike, ‘Why do you keep teasing me?’

  Mike wrote back, ‘I am madly in love with you. I can do anything for you.’

  ‘What can you do for me?’ Nicki asked in her note that she handed to Mike secretly.

  ‘Anything and everything.’ Mike replied.

  Nicki started to blush and as she realised that her feelings for Mike were growing stronger. ‘What do you expect from this relationship?’

  ‘I wish that we could live together, spend time together and do things together.’

  ‘How can that be possible, I am in the prison for murder and if found guilty, then I could spend more than fifteen years of my life in the prison.’

  Mike wrote back, ‘You look too innocent to kill somebody, I am sure that you will be found not guilty.’

  ‘What would you do if I am found guilty?’

  Mike wrote back, ‘I will take you away to some remote island in the world where police would not find you.’

  Luckily that day only two other prisoners attended the arts class, Mike and Nicki were sitting in one corner of the table where nobody could see them exchanging notes.

  ‘If you want me to come out of prison, then you should do this before my trial. Why take a chance with the outcome of my trial. You need to do something now.’

  Mike looked taken aback by Nicki’s request and said, ‘It is very difficult to do that. Everybody checks all the people who come inside the prison. My job would be in jeopardy if I am found out.’

  Nicki held Mike’s hands tightly and wrote, ‘Two minutes ago you said that you will do anything for me. That meant you were lying to me.’

  Mike looked into Nicki’s eyes and started to write a note, after the remaining students had also gone out of the class.

  Mike moved nearer to Nicki and whispered, ‘I can help you escape. Let me think about something. I can't promise anything but will try my best.’

  In a split-second, Mike’s lips were on Nicki’s lips and she could not resist kissing him back. Mike tried to touch Nicki’s chest, but she pushed him away as she
did not want him to know about her true gender.

  Mike said, ‘Nicki I have never felt in love with a man like this before. Your lips give me a kind of kinetic energy that I have never experienced before. I never thought of setting up a home with anybody, but after approval of gay marriages by the government, I am inclined to take you as my partner in the future.’

  Nicki started to blush, as she realised her feelings were becoming stronger and stronger, despite the fact that she was still in love with Julian.

  Chapter 36

  Julian was on call that night for the listener’s job and had received no calls the whole evening. The time was nearly half past midnight and he changed his clothes to sleep. The moment he had gone to his bed, Julian heard a knock on his door. The prison officer had come to take him to listen to a prisoner.

  Julian had not seen that particular prison officer before, but did not take much notice of that, as many new prison officers were appointed from time to time. Julian walked with him quietly just few steps behind him. Normally, the officers were talkative, but he did not talk much.

  Julian did not want to pass the gallows door, as he still had memories of the white shadow last time he was around there. The night was dark and the whole corridor was quiet, with no signs of any sound. Julian suddenly felt a gush of air, as he walked past the door leading to the gallows. The prison officer opened the listener’s room and let Julian go inside the room and said, ‘You stay here and I will get the prisoner for you.’

  The officer left the room but did not lock the door, as normally the custom was. Julian sat down for another ten minutes, which made Julian worry. He decided to step out of the room to see if he could see the officer in the corridor of the wing. The whole landing was empty and there was a deep silence everywhere.

  Julian could not see the prison officer anywhere. There were no lights in the area but in the far corner of the landing Julian could see a dim light coming from the office of the prison officers. Julian decided to walk towards that room and then again, he felt a sudden gush of air go past him. Julian saw the same white figure standing at the door of the gallows. His hands were stretched out and he was indicating to Julian to come towards him.