It was Tuesday and Lily's nerves had the best of her. She was meeting with the warden at the Richard Donovan correctional facility to pitch the pet rehabilitation program, several prisons around the U.S. had already adopted their program. As the director of the local no-kill shelter, it was Lily's mission to find new meanings in life for the deserted animals that she and many other volunteers rescued. She arrived at noon as requested and it took about 20 minutes to get parked and through the check-in.
A correctional officer escorted her down the dismally lit hallway, the walls were off white and she hadn't seen a smile since she arrived. She wasn't paying attention to the officer who had stopped in front of her and bumped right into him. Lily apologized and he mumbled as he opened the door. She went ahead in and as she lifted her head to greet the warden, she stopped in her tracks. The Warden was neatly dressed, but standing to his left was none other than Erik Menendez.
"Hello, you must be Lily with the local paws for prison chapter," the warden says as he shakes my hand.
"Hello yes, I'm Lily, thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me today " I respond.
"Lily, I'd like for you to meet Erik Menendez, he's the mentor of our rehabilitation program here" As the warden finished his sentence, I raised my head to find two piercing blue eyes staring into my soul.
"Hello" is all I manage to squeak out when he leaned forward to offer his hand to shake. It was firm and yet soft, it felt like he shook my hand forever. I managed to pull my hand back without making eye contact with Erik. My face felt a furnace and I'm sure it was showing.
"so Lily, please have a seat and tell us about this program" the warden spoke softly, he seemed like a very nice man. After about 30 minutes of passionately pouring my heart out on the statistics of implementing this program into their prison and going over costs, I finally managed to look at Erik, who hadn't taken his eyes off of me for one moment.
"Erik, what do you think, do you think there are enough inmates that would be interested in housing a pet" Without taking his eyes from me, Erik said "absolutely", and I don't know why but I felt butterflies in my stomach.
The warden agreed to a three month trial period in which Eric and I would decide which inmates in their program were going to be matched with either a cat or a dog. There were 10 inmates being selected and the warden asked if Erik and I could select those inmates today. I looked at Erik who was quick to respond "If Ms. Daneko has enough time for today, yes we could go over the profiles"
"What do you say, Lily," asked the warden
"Uh Um, well sure, absolutely, the sooner the better right" I managed to stutter out. The warden then let me know that Erik would escort me to their rehabilitation center where we could discuss the program and start the selection process. Thankfully I was prepared with the pictures and cases of the animals we had available. Erik and I stood up, and the warden assured that I was safe within these concrete walls, a corrections officer would escort us to the center and two guards would be on patrol at the door. I'm guessing he could read my face, which wasn't showing signs of fear, just uncertainty.
Erik smiled as he stepped in front of me and said " after you Ms.Daneko", I swear it was like I forgot the English-language when this man talked to me which made my head hurt. Here he was, a notorious murderer from the 90s, killed his parents in cold blood and yet I didn't feel scared in his presence, I felt something else.
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Guilty until proven innocent
FanfictionShe never thought in a million years she'd come face to face with one of the most notorious murderers from the early 90s. Lily was only 10 when the Menendez brothers would open fire in their home killing both of their parents, she was fascinated wit...
