Remembering (standard:drama, 1755 words)
Author: Lori	Added: Mar 26 2004	Views/Reads: 3741/2343	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
I did a rewrite on it. Thanks to Tim for his kindness. Thanks for everyone that made comments on it. It's still a story of a woman's last day on death row.

Remembering 

By:cowgirl_11 

Looking out her lonely cellblock window, she watches the sun rise; it
makes her think about the past. Nora recalls both the good, and bad 
times. Knowing that if it were a race, the bad would win hands down. 
Nora had led a hard life. That was part of the reason she ended up on 
Cellblock C, looking out at the swamps surrounding the compound. It was 
a life that she didn't wish on anyone. Nora's first memory began at 
seven. 

The little girl in her, remembers being taken away from her parents on a
spring day in 1977. She had been an unwanted child. Her parents had 
been famous for taking their anger out on Baby Nora. They had almost 
beaten and starved her to death before the state did anything about it. 
"If only I could have afforded the abortion." Her mother used to tell 
her all the time. Nora also thinks about her father's last words, 
"'Bout time and go to hell, brat!" 

She was put into one foster home after another. There had been all kinds
of abuse there. Once Nora was abused so badly they had to do surgery. 
At thirteen, she was no longer a complete woman. The doctors couldn't 
repair the damage. The operation had been the only way to save her 
life. Nora thinks back to girls in school complaining. She wished, in 
her heart, she could complain about something so normal as cramps and 
bloating. 

The young woman thinks back to the day she turned eighteen. It was
suppose to be such a wonderful day. She was finally free. There was to 
be no more abuse. Nora dreams about living her life to the fullest. 
Wonderful things were to happen to her. That was the only happy day of 
her life. 

Nora recalls being arrested for prostitution at the age of nineteen. She
had been hungry for days. It had been an easy way to make a buck. Her 
first "john" had been an undercover cop. It had just been the luck of 
the draw. She had been at the wrong place, at the wrong time. Nora now 
had a record.  Life had failed her. 

The drug addict inside her  thinks about the first time she tried crack.
"It wouldn't hurt you, baby. Just try some for me. It will help you 
loosen up." Her pimp had told her. The drug did numb her. For the 
little time she was high, there was no pain. Nothing bad happened to 
her when she was high. 

Crack also made Nora feel really good. She was able to smoke a few
rocks, and "work" all night long. The men didn't care.  No one cared 
that she was dead inside. It also turned her into a junkie. She had 
started having panic attacks. Her life had been filled with anxiety, 
depression, and paranoia. Nora had started hallucinating. She thought 
there were people out to get here. They were going to do bad things to 
her, and make the pain come back. 

The lonely one remembers the night she tried to take her own life. There
had been no one in her life for a long time. Nora's pimp was the only 
contact she had, besides her "regulars". He certainly wouldn't care if 
she disappeared. It would just be one less girl to feed or clothe. It 
was only the money he cared about. The "johns" wouldn't have cared 
either. There was always another girl on another corner. 

Nora smoked one rock after another. How brave she felt that night,
taking control over her life. She had waited for the rocks to do their 
magic. How high she had gotten, floating high above the clouds. She was 
filled with a feeling of peace that surrounded her that night. That was 
until she got the jolt that had brought her back. The pimp had come by 
because she had been late. Nora had been so naive then. She hadn't 
thought about the punishment he would give her. 

The woman thinks about the beating he gave her when she got out of the
hospital. He had been madder than a wet hornet. He beat her so bad that 
it had taken three more days to return to "work". He had accused her of 
not loving him. She had been supposed to help take care of him. He 
needed the money, she made in those days, to take care of a sick aunt. 



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