Write-In 2019: 'Prison of the Mind' by Kate Miller

‘This call will be recorded and monitored; I have a collect call from an inmate at..’

I slam the phone down, a wave of sickness flashes over me. I don’t want to listen to his voice again, not today.

A different phone rings. Again, and again..

‘I know it was you, Helen.’ ‘It should be you here instead of me. You can’t hide from me.’

Then the phone cuts off –

How does he know? How does he know I killed her and not him? As I look outside the window; with every noise I hear, every movement, each shadow – I see an outline of what I’ve done, and I can feel him watching me. Even though he’s locked away and I’m free – it feels as though I’m in prison.

I wake up - the same routine, feeling almost like an illness I can’t shake off. And each day the phone rings, at the same time and I know it’s him; so haunting –

‘I know what you di-

So I took all the pills she had in her handbag that day – to break free.

Jail-break.




@katemillerrr