Florida State Prison, April 2011
Dear Ava,
I know that it’s only been a couple of days since I last wrote to you, but I needed to do something constructive, I desperately need some form of distraction to stop my head and my heart from exploding.
It’s 2a.m. and sleep is the last thing on everyone’s mind here on the row. You see today is the day of Pete’s execution. He was only told a couple of days ago that his time was up and the poor soul has wept ever since. Sometimes I can hear him gently sobbing in the cell next but one to mine. At other times his yells and screams hurt my head and I huddle in a corner with my fingers stuffed in my ears, and I hum a loud tune and focus on rocking backwards and forwards, anything to block out the terrible sound of his fear.
I remember rocking back a
