We were put in different cells. My neighbor was a one of those creepy creatures I had seen on the train to Dawn. Tall, green, scary. Dare I say a troll? Well I wouldn’t say it to him. But he paid me no mind. He stood there, in the corner of his room, back leaning on the wall, looking nowhere. Just seemed sort of zoned out.

  I stood inside my cell, at my door, hands on bars, like a scene from a sad movie. There were a few guards walking about. Mostly though, there was what you’d hear. It was a constant unsilence. A grey noise. Maybe a mix of echoed chatter, doors opening and closing, footsteps, coughs, groans. But much more prominently, there was a smell. There was nostalgia in that smell. Mix of iron, rust, stone, mold, shit, pee, and maybe rain water. But I can’t tell you how strange it was to feel nostalgia here.

  I think I saw Alice being escorted by guards. It was too far away to know for sure. I hadn’t been told anything. I had no idea what I was charged for or what to expect. I was one clerical error from being lost in the system forever, with no lifeline. No plan. At least not one that I was aware of.

  I pictured Nessy ‘thinking’. Devising a new plan. I involuntarily shrugged just thinking of it. Let her. Save us. She always does. And as troubled as I was, with plenty reason to be mad at Nessy, I wasn’t.

  I entertained the possibility that perhaps even this was part of her plan. Would I be so shocked? I allowed a part of myself to accept the truth that I’m enthralled by her. A willing victim of manipulation. Is there such a thing?

  But at least I knew it, to my credit. I knew my fate was in her hands and I’ve known it this whole time. More importantly, I know she knows it, and I wager it all that deep down inside, she’s not a bad, uh, elf, no more than she isn’t an inept one.

  I’ve made my decisions by deferring them to her. Deference is a choice. And here I am. I’ll start from here. And if Nessy doesn’t save me, I’ll just have to.

  I watched as light faded from the building. I don’t remember sleeping, but I could be convinced I did. I watched the light fade back in. There were windows somewhere, but I didn’t see them.

  I tried to avoid looking at the troll. To be honest, he terrified the living shit out of me. I’d half-look, from time to time, just enough to see his form still in that corner. When I closed my eyes, I imagined him looking over at me. I’d reach a point where I became more scared not to look than to look, and, each time I did, he would be standing there, always staring at the same spot. The floor. Center of his cell.

  I got up and stretched. Figured I should keep track of time. I couldn’t find anything to scratch the wall with. I kept looking, but there really was nothing. Then I wondered if perhaps I’d get a harsher sentence for scuffing up the wall. I abandoned the idea. And so I just paced along the wall furthest from the troll.

  An orc guard came and delivered food. I really don’t want to get into that description. Suffice to say, it looked like cat food and tasted like a mousepad. It was the type of food that made you hate your hunger. But I ate it. And before I could finish, a different orc guard came and opened my door. The visual was euphoric. That gap in the cell. Knowing I'll soon be on the other side. My heart started racing. I’d have smiled or hugged the guard if not for a deep fear that I'd be disappointed. I stood there and looked at the guard, waiting for an order.

  “Visitor.”

  He took me down six halls and eleven doors. I counted. The destination looked like a school cafeteria. He motioned for me to continue following, so I did. But then I saw her. Nessy. She was wearing street clothes. I was gobsmacked.

  I continued following the guard. He seemed confused, so I pointed to Nessy and he allowed me to walk forward and take a seat across from her.

  “Dude,” I murmured.

  “Good to see you,” she said.

  I sat quietly and thought about her choice of words. The guards are probably listening. I need to choose my words carefully.

  “You okay?” she asked.

  I nodded. “How are you… how did you…”

  “Get out? I didn’t.”

  I re-examined her clothes. “Your clothes…”

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  “I’m working through our release. These fuckers are clueless. The problem though is El. Which is why I’m here.”

  “What’s the problem?”

  “They want a fall guy. I want to give them El.”

  “No.”

  “Got a crush on her?”

  “You can’t leave her here. She even tried to walk away.”

  “Now you see why I didn’t let her.”

  “Nessy, figure it out.”

  “It'll take longer now.”

  “How long?”

  “A month? I don’t fucking know. But some good news; I found our fighter.”

  “Great. Now get us out. Faster than a month.”

  “I’ll do what I can. I’ll meet with you again in a day or two. Just… read a book. Meditate. Avoid trouble.”

  “I think my cell neighbor is a troll.”

  Nessy didn’t immediately react. “I’ll look into it,” she said.

  “How?”

  “Avoid eye contact.” And with that, she left. Fucking Nessy.

  I was led back towards my cell by the same guard. The whole way, I couldn’t stop thinking about the troll.

  I realized the guard was taking me a different way than we had come. Then he took me down a stairwell. I didn’t like the feeling of going down deeper inside a prison. We went down at least six flights of stairs. The security here looked tighter. My guard handed me off two two goblins in suits. I didn’t like this.

  I followed the suits through a sort of prison guard lounge. Many of the guards looked up at me and glared. We then entered a long stone hallway, with various doors, each labeled in a language I didn’t understand. We stopped at what looked like a utility closet door. The door was cracked open.

  “In,” one suit told me.

  I entered. At the desk was a goblin. He looked young and surprisingly handsome, for a goblin. The desk was a mess. The whole room was really. I closed the door, but it re-opened.

  “Have a seat.”

  There wasn’t a chair so I just stood where I thought a chair ought to be.

  “Well?” he asked.

  “I'm sorry?”

  “You met with her, didn't you?”

  “Sorry. Who?”

  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “THE DARK ELF!”

  “Yes.”

  “Uh huh. And?”

  “Is this about the troll?”

  He frantically looked for something on his desk. He crawled up on his desk and grabbed a newspaper roll and slammed it on the desk. “No!” Then he slowly, carefully crawled back into his seat. “The high elf.”

  “Oh. Yes. Include her too.”

  “Al-right,” he said, in a sing-song ‘if you insist’ sort of tone. “Go.” He looked down at his desk and began writing on some fancy parchment.

  “Just to be clear,” I said, “I mean she’s coming with us. Out.”

  The goblin, still facing his parchment, slowly closed his eyes, then slowly opened them, now glaring at me. He then blinked and his eyes were back on the parchment.

  I glanced around the room, trying to see something, anything, that might give me a sense of what was underway. The only thing I learned is that this guy liked peanuts and apparently always wrote in red ink.

  “Uh, before I go—”

  “Oh?” he interrupted. “Before you skedaddle, huh?” He nodded with a fake smile. “How can I be of service, your highness?”

  “Well, I was wondering—”

  “Oh,” he nodded with a wicked grin. “You had a wonder. What little wonder did you have?”

  “Will you run me through the plan?”

  “You're not privy,” he hissed. “I have what I need from you. Thanks for stoppin’ by!” he said mockingly.

  I lingered just a little longer. I noticed a tiny goblin-sized chair jammed in his window. Cool air was blowing in.

  “Your chair,” I pointed. He turned and looked at it, then turned back to face me. He gently set down his pen and then leaped atop his desk. “GET OUT!”

  I left the room and followed the guards back.

  When we arrived at my cell, I wasn't thinking. Maybe I was overtired. I just didn’t have my guard up. And, I glanced at the troll. He was asleep. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was the first I’d seen him sleep. Still in the same corner. He really hadn't moved since I first arrived.

  The door locked behind me and I laid down on my mat. Time passed. Light faded. My mind wandered to familiar places. The question of what happens when I die. The regret of not reading In Real Life when I had the chance, before I lost it. The fear of spending decades here like Tom had.

  I fell asleep at some point, but woke to a nearby slam. I sat up and listened. I convinced myself it was no threat, but then had trouble going back to sleep.

  Truth was, I had to take a shit. But the toilet was on the side of the cell next to the troll’s cell. I tried to ignore the feeling. But I just couldn't get comfortable. So I got up and, without looking, I sat on the toilet.

  I didn't dare look over. I just tried to mind my business, and fast. I could tell from my periphery the troll was in his corner. I tried to focus. But I noticed something. Maybe a shadow, or a slight noise, or a change in the air. I'll never know, but my heart started pounding. Something was wrong but I didn't know what. I could hear myself starting to breathe hard.

  I looked.

  The troll was staring at me.

  I was afraid to look away.

  He smiled.

  I looked away, then got off the toilet, nearly falling over, and scurried back onto my mat.

  I couldn't sleep. Until eventually I guess I did. I had a dream that I was back home. I was at a movie theater, but not like any I’d had been to before. This one was old timey, small, and local. Ernest was there, and so was Gibbly. I remember someone a few rows ahead of us got up, like to get popcorn or use the bathroom. And she looked just like El. I got up, I went after her. I think at that point I knew it was a dream. It felt lucid. I saw her in the lobby, but she was leaving the whole theater. And when I got outside, it was the darklands. The troll city was up ahead. I turned back and the movie theater was still there, but closed, dark inside. There was a reflection. Something was standing behind me. Then I woke up.

  In the morning the troll was sleeping. Near my cell's door I noticed two trays of food, one half-eaten, the other untouched. I couldn't remember if it had been two days or three. I was constipated, hungry, spooked, sore, and not sleeping well. Nessy better hurry.