U NFEELING
cell. His face is red and mean. Almon backs towards his cot. “I’m gonna beat you ‘til you can’t turn your head,” says the guard. “I’m gonna beat you ‘til I can see your bones.” He swings his club at Almon. “Come here pretty boy.” Almon kicks the guard in the shin. The guard is blind with anger. He clubs Almon in the stomach and then the head. “This is what bein brave gets you,” he says. Almon is calm. He reaches under his pillow and grabs his concrete. The guard swings at Almon and hits his back. It hurts, but Almon doesn’t care. “You’re out of breath,” says Almon. “You’re red.” The guard misses Almon’s face. Almon raises his arm and smashes his concrete into the guard’s nose. The guard is dazed. Blood trickles from his nostrils. “You got Freddy,” says Almon. “You got Freddy.” The guard raises his club but Almon grabs it from him. “You shouldn’t have done that,” says Almon. “He doesn’t deserve that.” The guard senses Almon’s unfeeling. It gives him shivers. He is afraid. Almon hears the other guards running towards the cell. He clubs the guard in the temple and he crumples to the floor. “You made me feel,” says Almon. “You made me angry.” He clubs the guards head, and then his neck. He has never hit anybody this hard before. The guard is not responding. “I’m going to kill you,” says Almon. He bashes the guard’s eye. The guard is not moving. He clubs him in the mouth and then the forehead. The other guards reach the cell and rush in. Almon smiles and drops the club. It is a moment of feeling.
volume 30
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