MyersWalter Dean - The monster: short story

I couldnt have changed that much in a few months. I wonder if I will look like myself when the trial is over.This morning at breakfast a guy got hit in the face with a tray. Somebody said some little thing and somebody else got mad. There was blood all over the place.When the guards came over, they made us line up against the wall. The guy who was hit they made sit at the table while they waited for another guard to bring them rubber gloves. When the gloves came, the guards put them on, handcuffed the guy, and then took him to the dispensary.

He was still bleeding pretty bad.They say you get used to being in jail, but I dont see how. Every morning I wake up and I am surprised to be here. If your life outside was real, then everything in here is just the opposite. We sleep with strangers, wake up with strangers, and go to the bathroom in front of strangers. Theyre strangers but they still find reasons to hurt each other.Sometimes I feel like I have walked into the middle of a movie. It is a strange movie with no plot and no beginning.

The movie is in black and white, and grainy. Sometimes the camera moves in so close that you cant tell what is going on and you just listen to the sounds and guess. I have seen movies of prisons but never one like this. This is not a movie about bars and locked doors. It is about being alone when you are not really alone and about being scared all the time.I think to get used to this I will have to give up what I think is real and take up something else. I wish I could make sense of it.Maybe I could make my own movie.

I could write it out and play it in my head. I could block out the scenes like we did in school. The film will be the story of my life. No, not my life, but of this experience. Ill write it down in the notebook they let me keep. Ill call it what the lady who is the prosecutor called me.

Camera goes slowly down grim, gray corridor. There are sounds of inmates yelling from cell to cell; much of it is obscene. Most of the voices are clearly Black or Hispanic. Camera stops and slowly turns toward a cell. INTERIOR: CELL. Sixteen-year-old STEVE HARMON is sitting on the edge of a metal cot, head in hands.

He is thin, brown skinned. On the cot next to him are the suit and tie he is to wear to court for the start of his trial. CUT TO: ERNIE, another prisoner, sitting on john, pants down. CUT TO: SUNSET, another prisoner, pulling on T-shirt. CUT TO: STEVE pulling blanket over his head as screen goes dark. VOICE-OVER (VO) Aint no use putting the blanket over your head, man.

You cant cut this out; this is reality. This is the real deal. VO continues with anonymous PRISONER explaining how the Detention Center is the real thing. As he does, words appear on the screen, just like the opening credits of the movie Star Wars , rolling from the bottom of the screen and shrinking until they are a blur on the top of the screen before rolling off into space. Monster! The Story of My Miserable Life Starring Steve Harmon Produced by Steve Harmon Directed by Steve Harmon (Credits continue to roll.) The incredible story of how one guys life was turned around by a few events and how he might spend the rest of his life behind bars. Told as it actually happened! Written and directed by Steve Harmon Featuring...

Sandra Petrocelli as the Dedicated Prosecutor Kathy OBrien as the Defense Attorney with Doubts James King as the Thug Richard Bobo Evans as the Rat Osvaldo Cruz, member of the Diablos, as the Tough Guy Wannabe Lorelle Henry as the Witness Jos Delgado... he found the body And Starring 16-year-old Steve Harmon as the Boy on Trial for Murder! Filmed at the Manhattan Detention Center Set design, handcuffs, and prison outfits by the State of New York VO Yo, Harmon, you gonna eat something? Come on and get your breakfast, man. Ill take your eggs if you dont want them. You want them? STEVE (subdued) Im not hungry. SUNSET His trial starts today. He up for the big one.

I know how that feels. CUT TO: INTERIOR: CORRECTIONS DEPT. VAN. Through the bars at the rear of the van, we see people going about the business of their lives in downtown New York. There are men collecting garbage, a female traffic officer motioning for a taxi to make a turn, students on the way to school. Few people notice the van as it makes its way from the DETENTION CENTER to the COURTHOUSE.

CUT TO: PRISONERS, handcuffed, coming from back of van. STEVE is carrying a notebook. He is dressed in the suit and tie we saw on the cot. He is seen only briefly as he is herded through the heavy doors of the courthouse. FADE OUT as last prisoner from the van enters rear of courthouse. FADE IN: INTERIOR COURTHOUSE.

We are in a small room used for prisoner-lawyer interviews. A guard sits at a desk behind STEVE. KATHY OBRIEN, STEVEs lawyer, is petite, red-haired, and freckled. She is all business as she talks to STEVE. OBRIEN Let me make sure you understand whats going on. Both you and this King character are on trial for felony murder.

Felony murder is as serious as it gets. Sandra Petrocelli is the prosecutor, and shes good. Theyre pushing for the death penalty, which is really bad. The jury might think theyre doing you a big favor by giving you life in prison. So youd better take this trial very, very seriously. When youre in court, you sit there and you pay attention.

You let the jury know that you think the case is as serious as they do. You dont turn and wave to any of your friends. Its all right to acknowledge your mother. I have to go and talk to the judge. The trial will begin in a few minutes. Is there anything you want to ask me before it starts? STEVE You think were going to win? OBRIEN (seriously) It probably depends on what you mean by win.

CUT TO: INTERIOR: HOLDING ROOM. We see STEVE sitting at one end of bench. Against the opposite wall, dressed in a sloppy-looking suit, is 23-year-old JAMES KING, the other man on trial. KING looks older than 23. He looks over at STEVE with a hard look and we see STEVE look away. Two GUARDS sit at a table away from the prisoners, who are handcuffed.

The camera finds the GUARDS in a MEDIUM SHOT (MS). They have their breakfast in aluminum take-out trays that contain eggs, sausages, and potatoes. A Black female STENOGRAPHER pours coffee for herself and the GUARDS. STENOGRAPHER I hope this case lasts two weeks. I can sure use the money. GUARD 1 Six daysmaybe seven.

Its a motion case. They go through the motions; then they lock them up. (Turns and looks off camera toward STEVE.) Aint that right, bright eyes? CUT TO: STEVE, who is seated on a low bench. He is handcuffed to a U-bolt put in the bench for that purpose. STEVE looks away from the GUARD. CUT TO: DOOR.