The Judge
This is my first short story in quite a long time, so I'm going to post it. It's a few months old and for some of you, you will see how I relate in this storyIt was my last chance out of this. As I lay here writing away the last years of my life, I will tell you the story of how I almost made it out. March 11th 2008 was the date and I had made the worst mistake of my life. I had finally snapped and killed an innocent man. I knew I was guilty and that my odds of getting out of this were very slim. On that same day, I was arrested and set to go to trial.
The day had arrived that I go to trial and meet my fate, life in prison, or life in the real world. We were all seated in our own spots and then the judge came to his seat. There was something about him, he seemed familiar. I plead not guilty to the judge; I knew I had committed the crime, and so did he. He dismissed the trial without announcing what my sentence was, but he came to me. He said to me “Look, I know you did it. You know you did it. Everyone knows you did it, But there’s something about you, you don’t seem like a man that would kill someone. Here is your sentence: I am giving you 24 hours to find your purpose in life, if you find it, you are free to go. If you don’t, I will have you put in jail for life.” The odds were slim for me. I didn’t know where to look or who to ask. There was no hope for me.
The first thing I did was look through all that I had left of my possessions. Anything that was an accomplishment for me from high school or in college would help, but I couldn’t find any. I called my parents and asked them “What do you think my purpose in life is?” They said “You are an excellent story-teller and you are great with children. You should have been a teacher, but we don’t see that happening anymore.”
As soon as I heard my parents tell me that, I crashed down onto my bed, and stared at the ceiling. I tried to think of any memory possible of what I was good at. This was hard as it was years since I was in high school. People called me a class clown and that I had a great personality; I never noticed it, but apparently my friends did. But at this point, I needed my rest.
Time was running thin for me. I had nobody I could go to, other than my parents. But then it hit me, My best friend from high school, John Malkovitch. I rummaged through my closet and cabinets looking for any high school yearbook. John would always write his house number and his cell number in it. After searching for an hour, I struck gold and found what I was after, my senior yearbook. On the second to the last page, there it was his cell number. I snatched the phone from its socket and dialed the number listed. I thought he wouldn’t answer as the phone had been ringing for quite some time. But at the last second, he answered.
I asked him the question; “What do you think my purpose in life is?” He responded “Why do you ask? Personally, I never looked at what my purpose of life was. I don’t know what to tell you man. Life is about whatever you want it to be and you can make it that if you work at it. My grandpa would always tell me, you will find your purpose in life when your life is about to end, so you couldn’t find out until you were about to die.”At that point, I knew what my fate was, jail.
My time was up, and I had to report to the judge my answer. I told him “I couldn’t find my purpose in life other than the sake of living. A wise man told me, you will find your purpose in life when your life is at its end.” I knew it wouldn’t work, but he respected me for trying my best. He told me “That is my favorite saying of all time, it is very true and I’m proud that you found it out. You can’t know your purpose in life until you lived your life to the end. I was sentenced to 40 years in jail. It felt as if my life was already over, but it wasn’t, my new life had begun, and it was my job to find my purpose. I have found it and as I wait out these last few years, I will always remember that judge.
