Hello!  Welcome back!  I hope you are ready for the next blog post in the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  If you missed the last blog post, definitely go read that one.  Click here, or you will be very confused in reading today’s installment.

For this story, I am participating in the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  I felt that this was a really good opportunity for me to not only express my creativity, but challenge myself to building a very long story that could be cut up into multiple parts.  And for it all to make sense!  So if you want to follow along with other blog posts in the challenge, check the hashtag #AtoZchallenge to follow along.

Also!  Before you get into the final part of the story, I just want to say THANK YOU!  I put a lot of work into this story and I am very proud of it.  And it still amazes me that you have even read it, so thank you.  I really appreciate every single one of you who spent some time reading my story on this tiny little blog.  So from the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading my Alphabet Series for the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  I hope you come back and read some of my other stories because I plan on adding a lot more!

So without further adieu, this story would be categorized as Dark.  Thank you so much and I will see you in my next short story.  Enjoy!

Z is for ZZZZZZZ

Aspen yelled as her eyes flew open.  She was still laying on the floor of her cell and she was in a lot of pain.  She felt exhausted even though she had slept.  The door rolled opened and the warden stood in the doorway.  He smiled.  “Good morning Thompson.  I hope you are ready for today because it will be your last one.”

A cart was wheeled around the corner and brought into the cell.  There was a sizzling steak sitting on a plate, a large loaded baked potato, garlic bread, a 2 liter of Pepsi, and large slice of cheesecake.  It smelled delicious.

The warden pushed the cart toward her.  “Here you go.  Enjoy.  You have 30 minutes to eat this and we have a few hours until the time.”  He walked out to leave Aspen by herself with her food.

She chowed down.  She couldn’t remember the last time she had that good of a meal.  The steak was juicy and wonderful, every bite was so satisfying.  The baked potato was full of delicious foods like butter, bacon, chives, cheese, and some sour cream.  And the cheesecake was moist and fluffy.  Aspen made sure she ate everything that was in front of her as this would be her last meal alive.

The cart was taken away and Aspen was left by herself for a couple hours.  She spent the day trying to relax, even though she knew what was to come.  She wasn’t able to draw much more because she didn’t have the art supplies she needed.  But it made her uncomfortable to just sit there.

After what felt like years the warden came back to get her.  Aspen was handcuffed and led out of her cell.  She not only followed the warden but she was guarded by 3 other officers to make sure nothing happened on the way to her death.

They arrived at the room and Aspen was led in to see people sitting behind a window.  She saw her parents both sitting in the front row, Jacob’s parents and sister sitting in the second row of seats, and the governor of the state filling in the last seat.  Tears started to trickle down her cheeks as she was placed in a chair in front of them.  Her arms and legs were tied down so she didn’t move.

Her eyes blinked faster as the tears flowed.  She didn’t want to be here.  She didn’t do this on purpose, she never intended on killing Jacob.  And now she was here.  What happened?

A doctor came in a wrapped a small tourniquet around her forearm.  She felt him clean her arm and a finger pressed on the inside of her arm.  Aspen knew what was happening but she didn’t want to watch it happen.  She looked her parents in the eyes and mouthed ‘I’m Sorry’ to both of them.  She could see tears streaming down their cheeks and she couldn’t do anything about it.

Aspen felt a prick in her arm.  It was painful but she didn’t let it bother her too much.  She felt her eyes become heavy and she leaned her head back in the chair.  She took a deep breath, the cold air burning her nostrils.  She took one final breath and all of her life left her body.  Aspen fell into the eternal sleep, the darkness filling everything around her.

ASPEN MARIE THOMPSON.  OFFICIAL TIME OF DEATH: 4:37 PM ON AUGUST 27.  CAUSE OF DEATH: LETHAL INJECTION.

Hello!  Welcome back!  I hope you are ready for the next blog post in the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  If you missed the last blog post, definitely go read that one.  Click here, or you will be very confused in reading today’s installment.

For this story, I am participating in the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  I felt that this was a really good opportunity for me to not only express my creativity, but challenge myself to building a very long story that could be cut up into multiple parts.  And for it all to make sense!  So if you want to follow along with other blog posts in the challenge, check the hashtag #AtoZchallenge to follow along.

This story would be categorized as Dark.  Thank you so much and I will see you tomorrow for the next installment.  Enjoy!

Y is for Yelling

She laid of the floor of her cell trying not to look up at the wall again.  She couldn’t believe what she had actually drawn and she really couldn’t believe that she had drawn it on her cell wall.  Aspen curled herself into a ball and hugged her knees to her chest.  She laid there for a little while longer before she drifted off to sleep.

Aspen woke up with a start.  Jacob was laying next to her, breathing peacefully in his sleep.  She tried to relax but felt herself needing to get up and get away from him. 

She slowly sat up and turned toward the edge of the bed.  Her feet touched the floor and she quietly walked into the bathroom.  She shut the door and let out a breath.  She didn’t wake him up, that was a good thing.

Aspen stripped down and stepped into the shower.  She didn’t need to wash her hair that morning, it was still clean from the day before.  Her hands rubbed up and down her body, scrubbing the sweat pea body wash onto her skin.  She washed her face and stepped out of the shower to towel off.  Aspen dressed herself before quietly opening the door to the bathroom.

Jacob was awake.

He was not happy either.  He pouted.  “You woke me up.”

She shrugged.  “I’m sorry.  But I have things to do today so I had to get up.”

Jacob scowled.  “Where are you going?”

“I’m meeting a friend for lunch and some shopping.  That’s it.”

“Did I allow you to do that?”

Aspen stopped in her tracks and took a deep breath.  “I don’t need your permission.  I have had this planned for a couple days so you can’t tell me anything different.”

A hand grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.  Aspen faced Jacob who raised his hand and slapped her across the face.  It hurt, but she didn’t want Jacob to think she was weak.  “You know you always need to ask me permission before you do something like that!  Are you stupid?”

“Apparently I am!  I’m leaving for a couple hours.  I’ll see you later.”  Aspen marched toward the door and walked outside, slamming the front door behind her.  She made her way to her car and drove to meet the man she bought a gun from online.  She met him, paid him for the gun, and left to go home.

Suddenly she was home and holding the gun in front of her.  Jacob lunged toward her and her finger pulled on the trigger.  Jacob’s body fell to the floor and blood spilled onto the carpet.  Aspen screamed as she dropped the gun and fell to the floor as well.

Aspen yelled as her eyes flew open.  She was still laying on the floor of her cell and she was in a lot of pain.  She felt exhausted even though she had slept.  The door rolled opened and the warden stood in the doorway.  He smiled.  “Good morning Thompson.  I hope you are ready for today because it will be your last one.”

Hello!  Welcome back!  I hope you are ready for the next blog post in the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  If you missed the last blog post, definitely go read that one.  Click here, or you will be very confused in reading today’s installment.

For this story, I am participating in the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  I felt that this was a really good opportunity for me to not only express my creativity, but challenge myself to building a very long story that could be cut up into multiple parts.  And for it all to make sense!  So if you want to follow along with other blog posts in the challenge, check the hashtag #AtoZchallenge to follow along.

This story would be categorized as Dark.  Thank you so much and I will see you tomorrow for the next installment.  Enjoy!

X is for X-Ray

The warden scribbled what she had said in his notepad before standing up and leaving the room.  Aspen was soon unchained from the desk and led out the door.  Her final wishes were now laid out on paper and she hoped that they were okay.

Aspen sat on the floor of the cell and looked up at the new blank wall.   She had filled the rest of her cell with leaves and flowers and beautiful foliage to make her happy.  She had one wall left to fill in and she didn’t know what to draw.

She slowly stood up and started drawing on the wall.  Her hand flew back and forth as the sharpie left black marks along the cinder blocks.  Even though she was drawing, she still didn’t really know what she was drawing.  It was something that just came to her mind as she was doing it.  Nothing was planned for this drawing, she was just letting it flow onto the wall.

When she was finished she took a step back to admire her work.  She dropped her sharpie on the floor and it clattered to the floor. She fell onto her knees and tears started to fill her eyes as she looked at what she had created.  It was nothing like she had ever drawn before and it hurt to see it.  Her emotions overtook her and she fell onto the floor in front of her masterpiece in a puddle of tears.

On the wall was a body.  It looked like there was an x-ray over it as all of the bones were exposed.  The sternum was broken with a perfectly round bullet hole through it.  4 ribs were broken from the broken sternum, cracked inward toward the injury.  More ribs were cracked from injury,   The lungs underneath were exposed with the walls broken from the bullet.  The diaphragm was shriveled as it was trying to grab any ounce of oxygen it could.  The heart was still, turning black from the lack of oxygen.  The body was still and broken, just like Jacob’s.

The x-ray didn’t belong to anyone in particular but it reminded Aspen of his body.  It was a horrific reminder of what she had done.  The accident was going to be the thing that people remembered her by.  She wasn’t going to be remembered by her high grades or how sweet of a person she was or how she went to high school on a volleyball scholarship.  None of that was worth anything anymore.  She was a murderer according to the world.

She laid of the floor of her cell trying not to look up at the wall again.  She couldn’t believe what she had actually drawn and she really couldn’t believe that she had drawn it on her cell wall.  Aspen curled herself into a ball and hugged her knees to her chest.  She laid there for a little while longer before she drifted off to sleep.

Hello!  Welcome back!  I hope you are ready for the next blog post in the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  If you missed the last blog post, definitely go read that one.  Click here, or you will be very confused in reading today’s installment.

For this story, I am participating in the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  I felt that this was a really good opportunity for me to not only express my creativity, but challenge myself to building a very long story that could be cut up into multiple parts.  And for it all to make sense!  So if you want to follow along with other blog posts in the challenge, check the hashtag #AtoZchallenge to follow along.

This story would be categorized as Dark.  Thank you so much and I will see you tomorrow for the next installment.  Enjoy!

W is for Wishes

Aspen felt herself smile at her parents.  She was thankful for them even if they couldn’t do much.  An officer put his hand on her shoulder, telling her it was time to leave.  She gave both their hands a squeeze before standing up and being led out of the visitation room.  It was nice to see her parents but at the same time she wished they hadn’t seen her in the prison jumpsuit.  She felt like she was a disappointment to her parents, but there was nothing she could do.

She spent the next couple days filling her walls with artwork.  She had actually managed to fill all of the walls and while she was out in the visitation room, someone came in and painted over a wall for her to start over.  It was kind of nice.

It was two days before Aspen was supposed to die and she still wasn’t prepared.  She tried to forget that anything was happening, but that wasn’t going to happen.  She still wasn’t completely sure why this was happening to her, but she couldn’t do anything about it.

After her visitation with her parents, Aspen was lead to another room.  It reminded her of an interrogation room, a single table and 2 chairs with a light above them.  She was seated in one chair and her hands were chained to the table.  The warden walked in and sat across from her.  He cleared his throat as he set a pen and notepad down on the table.  “Aspen Thompson.  I am here to get your wishes.  What you would like done with your assets and what you would like your final meal to be.”

Aspen nodded.  “Uh…yeah…so I want my parents to have all of my stuff.  They deserve to have any of my money and belongings that still exist.  Not that I had much anyway.”

The warden scratched a note down on the notepad and looked back at her.  “And your final meal?”

She had to think.  What would be the best thing to have on her final day alive?  “Uh…let’s see.  I want…”  She paused.  What did she really want?  “A steak.  A nice juicy steak cooked medium well.  And a baked potato, but not any kind of potato, like a giant loaded potato with lots of butter and bacon.  And some garlic bread, maybe 2 slices.  And a large Pepsi to wash it down with.”  She nodded.  “Yeah…that’s what I want.”

The warden wrote down what she wanted and smiled at her.  “That sounds like a nice hearty delicious meal.  I could go for one of those right now actually.”

She nodded.  “Yeah…uh, can you add a slice of cheesecake?  I think that would be a great dessert.”

The warden added the dessert to the list before looking at her again.  “Is there anything else you would like?  Anything said about you in your obituary?”

“Yeah.  I would like it known that I was innocent.  I never intended on killing my ex-boyfriend, it was a complete accident.  Even though nobody will believe me, I still want it known.”

The warden scribbled what she had said in his notepad before standing up and leaving the room.  Aspen was soon unchained from the desk and led out the door.  Her final wishes were now laid out on paper and she hoped that they were okay.

Hello!  Welcome back!  I hope you are ready for the next blog post in the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  If you missed the last blog post, definitely go read that one.  Click here, or you will be very confused in reading today’s installment.

For this story, I am participating in the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  I felt that this was a really good opportunity for me to not only express my creativity, but challenge myself to building a very long story that could be cut up into multiple parts.  And for it all to make sense!  So if you want to follow along with other blog posts in the challenge, check the hashtag #AtoZchallenge to follow along.

This story would be categorized as Dark.  Thank you so much and I will see you tomorrow for the next installment.  Enjoy!

V is for Visitor

“NO!”  Aspen screamed at the men.  This wasn’t what she wanted.  This wasn’t supposed to happen.  Her whole life was falling apart and there was nothing she could do about it.  The men left Aspen screaming in her room, sliding the heavy door behind them.  Aspen fell onto the bed and cried into her pillow until she was cried herself to sleep.

Her head was pounding when she woke up.  Aspen knew she had cried herself to sleep but she must’ve hit her head against the wall while she slept.  Hopefully that was all she did.  Her eyes slowly opened to a giant black flower that she had drawn the night before.  It was so much bigger than she remembered drawing.

She rolled over when she heard the creak of the door rolling open.  She quickly stood up and ran her hand through her hair.  An officer stepped into her room.  “Thompson.  You have a visitor.  Come with me.”  Aspen reached out her hands and they were handcuffed together.

The officer led her out of the cell and down the long hallway.  She walked quietly, not sure who was going to visit her.  She didn’t have any friends on the outside.

Aspen was led into the visitation room to see her parents sitting at a table.  She wanted to run and hug them, but she knew that was against the rules.  She swiftly walked over the the table and sat down.  “Hi.”

Her mom grabbed onto her hand.  “I’m assuming you’ve heard the news…”  Her voice trailed off.

Aspen nodded.  “Yeah…I heard…unfortunately.”  She could feel tears starting to form in her eyes.  She didn’t want to cry in front of her parents but she couldn’t tell where her emotions were.

A couple tears fell down her mom’s cheeks.  “I…I don’t want you to die Aspen.  You are my baby, my only daughter.  I know things happened between you and Jacob, but that doesn’t mean you were completely at fault.  But I need to know if you did it on purpose or not.  I want to hear it from you.”

“No…I didn’t do it on purpose.  It was a complete accident and I never meant to kill Jacob.  If the person I bought the gun from had told me it was loaded I would’ve been more careful.  But I was dumb.  I’m sorry.”

Her father shook his head.  “What’s done is done.  You can’t change anything that happened in the past.  And we wish that we could’ve done more but there’s no changing the governor’s mind.  He had said wanted you to die the moment you ran away.”

Aspen felt tears starting to form in her eyes.  “I don’t want to die.  I don’t want to be stuck here.  I know I made mistakes but I don’t want to die.  I have so much more to live for.”

Her parents both grabbed her hands and squeezed them.  Her mom frowned.  “I know sweetheart, but like your father said there is nothing you can do and there’s nothing we can do.  But we will come and visit you everyday.  We want to see you as much as we can.”

Aspen felt herself smile at her parents.  She was thankful for them even if they couldn’t do much.  An officer put his hand on her shoulder, telling her it was time to leave.  She gave both their hands a squeeze before standing up and being led out of the visitation room.  It was nice to see her parents but at the same time she wished they hadn’t seen her in the prison jumpsuit.  She felt like she was a disappointment to her parents, but there was nothing she could do.

Hello!  Welcome back!  I hope you are ready for the next blog post in the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  If you missed the last blog post, definitely go read that one.  Click here, or you will be very confused in reading today’s installment.

For this story, I am participating in the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  I felt that this was a really good opportunity for me to not only express my creativity, but challenge myself to building a very long story that could be cut up into multiple parts.  And for it all to make sense!  So if you want to follow along with other blog posts in the challenge, check the hashtag #AtoZchallenge to follow along.

This story would be categorized as Dark.  Thank you so much and I will see you tomorrow for the next installment.  Enjoy!

U is for Uncapped

Tears started to trickled down Aspen’s cheeks.  She hated thinking about what was going to happen while she sat and rotted in the cell.  But she had to try to stay calm while she was here.  She didn’t want to lose her mind while sitting in her cell.

She sat there for quite some time before dinner was served.  She was given her tray of a bologna sandwich, a slice of chocolate cake, milk, and some vegetables.  She slowly ate it, trying to savor whatever flavor there was in the meal.  The officer came by shortly after and collected her tray.

But when Aspen turned around she heard something fall on the floor.  She turned back to the door to see a sharpie sitting on the floor.  How did that get there?  Did the officer drop it?  Aspen bent down and gently picked up the sharpie.  She opened the cap, it looked like a brand new pen.

She looked around the room and saw an empty canvas.  The walls were blank except for the window that someone else had drawn and the random words.  She uncapped the pen and drew a straight line on the wall.  A chill ran down her spine, she hadn’t drawn anything in a very long time.

Aspen’s hands moved back and forth as she drew leaves and flowers on the wall.  Large leaves covered the cinder block walls, creating the illusion of being in the jungle.  Giant flowers started to bloom around the leaves.  Aspen stood up on the bed and stretched as close to the ceiling to keep her drawing going.  She drew over the window, adding extra detail to make it more realistic.

The door to her cell slid open and Aspen pinned herself against the wall.  The officer walked into her cell and his eyes widened.  “What?  What is going on in here?”

Aspen swallowed.  “Uh…I found a sharpie in here and started drawing.  I…I know I shouldn’t but I just thought it was a good creative outlet.  I…I’m sorry.”

The officer stood in awe at the art that was on the wall.  “This…this is beautiful…I know I should be mad but this…this is stunning.”  He backed out of the room.  “Don’t do anything else until I get back.”  He quickly closed her door and she couldn’t see him anymore.

She sat down on the bed and twiddled her thumbs as she waited.  It felt like an eternity before the officer came back.  But this time he came back with the warden.  They both stepped in the cell.  “See sir.  I told you, I should be mad at this but I can’t be.  It’s beautiful.”

The warden’s eyes scanned the entire room.  “I can see we have a talented artist here.  Sergeant we are going to leave her here, feel free to get her more art utensils.  Not like she’s going to be living here much longer.”

“Wait?  What?”  Aspen stood up and looked at the officer and the warden.  “What do you mean I won’t be living here much longer?  Am I getting released?”

The warden laughed.  “No sweetheart.  The governor signed a letter early this morning sending you to lethal injection at the end of the week.  So I might as well let you have some fun before you die.”

“NO!”  Aspen screamed at the men.  This wasn’t what she wanted.  This wasn’t supposed to happen.  Her whole life was falling apart and there was nothing she could do about it.  The men left Aspen screaming in her room, sliding the heavy door behind them.  Aspen fell onto the bed and cried into her pillow until she was cried herself to sleep.

Hello!  Welcome back!  I hope you are ready for the next blog post in the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  If you missed the last blog post, definitely go read that one.  Click here or you will be very confused in reading today’s installment.

For this story, I am participating in the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  I felt that this was a really good opportunity for me to not only express my creativity, but challenge myself to building a very long story that could be cut up into multiple parts.  And for it all to make sense!  So if you want to follow along with other blog posts in the challenge, check the hashtag #AtoZchallenge to follow along.

This story would be categorized as Dark.  Thank you so much and I will see you tomorrow for the next installment.  Enjoy!

T is for Thoughts

“Welcome to solitary.  Your new home for the next however many days you are here.  I hope you can get comfortable and enjoy your new home.”  Aspen was spun around, handcuffs removed, and she was pushed into the tiny cell.  The door slowly rolled shut, closing with a loud thud.  All that was left was just Aspen and her thoughts.

She slowly unpacked her box.  She fitted the sheet and blanket to the tiny mattress and placed the pillow against the wall, trying to make her little cell feel like a home.  Aspen sat down on the bed and looked around at the four walls that were now her home.

Someone had etched a window into one of the walls.  It wasn’t a real view, but it was something to look at it.  Whoever was in this cell last had a lot of time on their hands.  There were a lot of random words written on the walls, none of them making much sense.

Aspen sat back on the bed and leaned against the wall.  She took a couple deep breaths, trying to keep her cool while she was sitting in solitary.  She didn’t want to panic and lose her mind while sitting in this tiny cell.

Okay Aspen.  Deep breath in.  Deep breath out.  Relax.  Okay…why are you here?  Oh yeah, I ran away.  But does that warrant me being in solitary confinement?  Maybe…I guess…I guess that’s up to the officers.  Or maybe the warden made that decision.  But do I really deserve to be in solitary?

Maybe it’s so they can keep a better eye on me?  Since I got away in the first place, they probably had to take extra measures to make sure that I stayed here.  I wonder if they other girls who got out were put in solitary as well?  Who knows…I’ll never get to talk to them anyway.

And this probably hasn’t help my cause.  Escaping has probably sealed my fate as never getting out of prison and being free.  Great…good job Aspen.  You have just ruined the rest of your life by running away from prison to just be caught and stuck back in this hellhole.  You have just stamped your passport to hell and are now stuck in here forever.  Wonderful.

They have probably changed my sentence.  I’m never getting out of this place.  I’m never going to see the outside again and live a normal life.  I’m never getting married.  I’m never getting to have kids.  I’m never going to grow old and sit on the porch while drinking tea with my husband.  I’m never going to find love.  I’m going to go crazy sitting in here.  I am just a waste of space in here.  I am nothing.  I am useless.

Tears started to trickled down Aspen’s cheeks.  She hated thinking about what was going to happen while she sat and rotted in the cell.  But she had to try to stay calm while she was here.  She didn’t want to lose her mind while sitting in her cell.

Hello!  Welcome back!  I hope you are ready for the next blog post in the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  If you missed the last blog post, definitely go read that one.  Click here, or you will be very confused in reading today’s installment.

For this story, I am participating in the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  I felt that this was a really good opportunity for me to not only express my creativity, but challenge myself to building a very long story that could be cut up into multiple parts.  And for it all to make sense!  So if you want to follow along with other blog posts in the challenge, check the hashtag #AtoZchallenge to follow along.

This story would be categorized as Dark.  Thank you so much and I will see you tomorrow for the next installment.  Enjoy!

S is for Solitary

The officer turned back to the door and exited the room, leaving Aspen to her own thoughts.  Aspen thought it was kind of strange that the officer was asking her all of these questions, but she wasn’t ready for what was to come.  She knew that she was heading back to jail, but she wasn’t sure what was going to happen while she was there.

She sat by herself for what felt like hours.  It was very quiet in the room: no music, no people to talk to, no anything.  She was all by herself just like the past month.

Suddenly 2 officers barged into the small room and grabbed Aspen.  She was dragged out of the interrogation room and forced into a police car.  She felt like she was an animal being forced to go to the slaughterhouse.  It was humiliating.

The drive to the their destination was long and uneventful.  All Aspen could do was look out of the window and try to watch the world through the bars of the cop car.  She tried to pretend that she was in a racecar and they were racing against the other cars on the freeway.  She was also able to listen into the officers talking about their favorite fast food places.  The driver liked McDonald’s while the passenger liked Sonic.  Aspen preferred Taco Bell.

The arrived at the prison where Aspen was once again dragged out of the police car.  The building seemed so much bigger than she remembered.  The doors to booking seemed much more daunting now that she was coming in again.  But then again, the first time she was crying so hard that she didn’t have time to notice.

She was pulled into booking and forced to change into her inmate jumpsuit.  The red color made her shiver as the bad memories started to flood into her brain.  The officers yelled at her to quickly get dressed.  She did so, hoping to not get into any more trouble before she got past booking.  When Aspen finished dressing, her hands were cuffed and she was led down a long hallway.  They passed through a couple doors before the officers stopped at a single door and opened it.

Inside was nothing.  There was a single toilet and a single metal bed set with a thin mattress.  There wasn’t a window, making the room even darker and seem smaller than it actually was.  It wasn’t pleasant.  And all that Aspen had was the small box that she was given in booking.  Inside the box was a single sheet, blanket, toilet paper, and a small pillow.  She was excited to have her own room, but she wasn’t excited for what it meant.

“Welcome to solitary.  Your new home for the next however many days you are here.  I hope you can get comfortable and enjoy your new home.”  Aspen was spun around, handcuffs removed, and she was pushed into the tiny cell.  The door slowly rolled shut, closing with a loud thud.  All that was left was just Aspen and her thoughts.