Richard, or Dick, Rollins was sentenced to death for the triple murder of Mr. and Mrs. Wallis, and their infant baby. Mr. Wallis was found tied up, with his head beaten beyond recognition. Mrs. Wallis had been raped repeatedly, and then a shotgun was inserted in her vagina and the trigger was pulled. The infant baby was stabbed and had its head smashed in. The Wallis’ were found in their remote house by a delivery driver, who had looked through the front window and seen Mrs. Wallis’ body on the floor in the living room.

The police had never seen a crime scene like it - and all of them hoped they would never see a crime scene like it again. Mrs. Wallis was found in the living room. Mr. Wallis is the basement. And the infant baby was found in the nursery.

Dick Rollins was arrested after he tried to cash a cheque he had stolen from Mr. Wallis in a town about 90 miles away from the scene of the murder. Dick Wallis was found to have some of Mrs. Wallis’ jewelry, and forensic evidence from the scene tied everything back to Dick Rollins.

The jury deliberated for 50 minutes, and then returned a verdict of guilty on all counts - and Dick Rollins was sentenced to death.

The public defender had claimed his client was mentally incompitent, and court appointed doctors said that Dick Rollins had lower than average IQ. But the public defender, the prosecution, the doctors, the judge, the jury - and everyone else - all knew that Dick Rollins was guilty, and he was sentenced to death.

Dick Rollins was led from the courthouse in shackles, and taken to death row at the state penitentiary where he stayed for the next five years.

The five years on death row were uneventful - and he spent most of his time in his cell staring at the ceiling and waiting. He was visited by some lawyers. One of the lawyers was older, and had a neatly trimmed white beard and wore a colorful bow tie. The other lawyers were all younger - and the older lawyer said he would like to represent Mr. Rollins, and appeal against his death penalty.

Dick Rollins signed papers, and the older lawyer with the neatly trimmed beard and colorful bow tie smiled - and said that they would be working very hard to save Dick Rollin’s life.

When the lawyers came to visit they would bring Dick Rollins some candy bars, and comics. Dick would sit in the meeting room, with his ankles and hands chained together and read the comics whilst the lawyers discussed things he didn’t understand.

The court of appeal rejected Dick Rollin’s appeal, and the lawyers said they would be re-calibrating their strategy. Dick smiled and asked if they could bring more comics with them next time they came. The older lawyer said yes, of course they would.

The state supreme court ruled against Dick Rollins, and then the lawyers said that they would be petitioning the US Supreme Court, and the Governor.

The US Supreme Court refused to hear the case, and the Governor held a press conference - where he stated that there were no circumstances under which he would offer clemency, and that Dick Rollins would be executed and would die on death row.

And then the lawyers stopped coming, and were replaced by nuns who would ask Dick Rollins if he would like to join them in prayer. Dick asked the nuns if they could bring some comics for him to read, and they smiled and said the bible was the only thing that he should be reading.

A priest named Father Dan visited Dick, and he would sit with Dick and talk to him about sin, and his spirit. Father Dan told Dick that God loved him, and that God would welcome him to the Kingdom of Heaven if he confessed his sins and accepted Jesus Christ as his savior.

‘Jesus Christ’ - Father Dan would say - ‘Died for your sins, Dick. Jesus Christ died for all of our sins. God sent Jesus Christ to earth and sacrificed his own son so that all of us could be welcomed in heaven. But, Dick - God requests that you confess your sins - to me - so that this can happen. Do you understand?’

Dick would smile at Father Dan, and say yes he understood.

‘Are you ready to confess now, Dick Rollins?’ - Father Dan would say, and then Dick would tell him fantastical stories about monsters and aliens and robots - recited from the comic books.

‘Very good, Dick’ - Father Dan would say, smiling and leaving him in his cell.

And then there was a new visitor. A doctor. The doctor was a woman, and she would take blood from Dick, and take measurements. She would ask Dick to perform tests, and answer questions. Dick liked the doctor - and after each session the doctor would give Dick a candy bar. The doctor visited every week, and every week there were new tests and new questions and always a candy bar.

And then the warden came to see Dick, with Father Dan. And the warden told Dick that he had received something called a death notice from the Governor - and that Dick would be executed in one week. The warden asked Dick what he would like for his last dinner, and Dick replied that he would like a cheeseburger and some onion rings with a Dr. Pepper. The warden wrote this down, and Father Dan smiled.

The doctor visited Dick one last time, and she asked Dick to sign some forms. She said that the forms were for her records, and that if Dick signed them she had an extra candy bar for him. Dick signed the forms, and then the doctor handed Dick a glass vial of pale colored liquid.

The doctor told Dick that when they brought him his cheeseburger, he was to crack the vial open and to drink the contents. The doctor told Dick to keep this secret - and to tell no one or else there wouldn’t be anymore candy bars. The doctor asked Dick to repeat what he had to do, and then she smiled and said that she would see Dick next week. Dick smiled back, and then opened his candy bar and ate the soft, sweet chocolate.

And then it was the day. Father Dan joined Dick in his cell, along with one of the nuns and they said they were here to support Dick. Father Dan tried again to gain a confession - and Dick obliged with a long yarn about robots and dinosaurs. The warden arrived with one of the guards, and Dick was served a cheeseburger, onion rings, and a paper cup filled with Dr. Pepper. Father Dan and the nun left Dick whilst he ate, and he quietly slipped the vial of liquid the doctor had given him from his sock, and snapped the top off. Dick quickly gulped down the pale liquid, and then ground the glass into the cell floor until it was a fine powder. Dick ate the cheeseburger and onion rings, and sipped the Dr. Pepper.

Father Dan and the nun rejoined him in his cell, and then the warden and a group of guards arrived. The guards entered the cell and cuffed Dick, whilst the warden read out the death notice. Dick was pulled from the cell, and father Dan walked with him along the corridor with his hand on his shoulder. Dick was taken to a brightly lit room, and stripped to the waist. He was uncuffed and then placed on a gurney, and strapped down. A doctor was in the room, and he used a stethoscope to listen to Dick chest - to check that he was alive before they killed him.

The doctor then wiped Dick’s arm with an alcohol wipe, and inserted cannula in his arm. The doctor taped the cannula in-place, and then attached an IV line. The IV line was then attached by one of the guards to a machine.

The gurney was then leaned up, and Dick Rollins was staring at a glass window with a curtain behind it. The warden nodded and the curtain opened. There were about 15 people sitting in a little room staring at him. Some of them were crying. Dick looked at the faces - some looked stern and others looked terrified.

‘Hey, that's my grandma!’ - said Dick, smiling.

The woman he was referring to was sobbing, and holding a handkerchief to her face whilst another woman comforted her.

‘Richard Rollins’ - said the warden - ‘Do you have any last words?’

‘That’s my grandma in there. I remember her!’ - said Dick

The warden waited a few more moments, and then said - ‘We are ready’

A US Marshal nodded - and the warden turned to two guards and nodded. The two guards turned two switches, and then both pressed a button.

A clear liquid traveled down the IV line and into Dick Rollin’s arm. A few moments later Dick Rollins was unconscious, and the liquid kept traveling into his arm. Several minutes passed, and then the warden gave the signal for the doctor to check Dick’s body. The doctor placed the stethoscope against Dick’s chest and listened for a while. The doctor then placed two fingers against Dick’s throat for a few moments, and then nodded at the warden.

‘I hereby declared that the inmate Richard Rollins to be dead, and the time of death to be 12:13 AM’

The warden nodded, and the curtains were closed. The door to the execution chamber was opened, and Father Dan stepped in and read the last rites over Dick Rollins body. The guards left the execution chamber, and the female doctor and a team stepped in.

‘He’s all yours, doctor’ - said the warden.

The team began unfastening the restraints and then lifted Dick Rollins body off the gurney and into the hall, where a coffin shaped polystyrene box was waiting on a trolley. Dick’s body was placed in the polystyrene box, and ice packs were placed over his torso. The warden stood and watched.

‘What you gonna be doing with him now?’ - said the warden as the polystyrene lid was placed on the box.

‘Organ harvesting’ - said the doctor, smiling at the warden - ‘Important research’

‘Well, maybe some good will come from the death of Dick Rollins, because there certainly weren’t no good in his life’

And at that, Dick Rollins was wheeled away to a waiting ambulance that sped away.

Inside the ambulance the lid of the box was opened, and there was a hive of activity. Dick Rollins was injected in his neck, and then an oxygen mask was placed over his face and electrical sensors were attached to his body and then the doctor stood over Dick body holding two defibrillators.

‘Clear!’ - said the doctor and then she shocked Dick’s chest.

The team studied the EKG machine Dick was attached to.

‘Going again - clear!’ - said the doctor and Dick was shocked again.

They looked at the machine.

‘One more - clear!’ - said the doctor and shocked Dick a third time.

Everyone stared at the machine, and then the sound of the heartbeat could be heard beeping from the EKG machine.

‘50 more cc’s of necroliser’ - said the doctor, and Dick was injected again in the neck.

The doctor sat back as the ambulance bounced and raced through the streets with lights and sirens blaring.

***

Dick Rollins woke up, and slowly opened his eyes. His head was pounding, and he couldn’t move his arms or legs. The doctor was standing over the bed, and reading through some notes. She looked up and saw Dick’s eyes flicking open, and she smiled.

‘Good afternoon, Dick’ - said the doctor, placing the notes on the bed and taking a pen light out of the breast pocket of her gown. The doctor shone the light in Dick’s eyes, and then picked up the notes and wrote something down.

‘How are you feeling Dick?’ - said the doctor.

‘My…head…hurts’ - Dick mustered, weakly.

‘Yes, that is one of the side effects unfortunately’ - said the doctor, smiling.

‘What happened to me?’ - said Dick.

‘You died’

Dick was kept in the bed, and restrained for the next month. He had been in a coma for two weeks, but was now regaining his strength. After the month of recuperating Dick had his head shaved and was moved to what appeared to be a futuristic operating theater.

Inside the operating theater was the doctor, and two men dressed in suits. Dick was lifted onto a table, and then restrained again.

‘He won’t remember anything?’ - said one of the men.

‘Nothing’ - said the doctor, making some adjustments on a computer screen.

Dick was confused - he didn’t understand what was going on.

‘Now Dick, we are going to do a little procedure on you’ - said the doctor as some of her team placed a device over his shaved head - ‘Now you won't feel a thing, and when we are done I will get you an extra special candy bar. How does that sound?’

Dick smiled.

‘Now you just relax, and this will all be soon over’

‘Ready when you are doctor’ - said one of the assistants.

‘In five, four, three, two, one’ - said the doctor, and then she pressed a button and Dick’s body went rigid and then he relaxed with his eyes closed.

***

The next day, he was sitting up in bed. The restraints had been removed and he was in a ward - with other patients. Nurses were walking between the beds, and helping the patients. A nurse wandered over, and poured him some water.

‘How are you feeling today?’ - said the nurse.

‘Okay’

‘The doctor will be here shortly, and she will be checking on you’ - said the nurse

He looked around. He couldn’t work out where he was. He was confused.

‘And how are you doing today?’ - said a voice.

He turned back to the end of the bed, and a female doctor was standing there reading his notes.

‘Where am I?’ - he said.

The doctor walked over and took a pen light and shone it in his eyes. The doctor placed the pen back in her breast pocket, and then smiled at him - ‘Can you tell me your name?’

He looked at the doctor, and didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know who he was.

‘Your name is Richard Ladd. You were in a car crash Mr. Ladd, and you are suffering from concussion. You sustained a severe head injury, Mr. Ladd’

‘How long have I been here?’ - he said.

‘Two months, Mr. Ladd. You have been in a coma’

‘Where am I?’

‘New York - do you know where that is?’

He looked vague, and confused.

‘Just rest Mr. Ladd. My name is Dr. Janus, and I will be taking very good care of you’ - said the Doctor, smiling.

Dr. Janus clipped the notes back on the end of the bed and then walked away through the ward. He watched her walk away, and saw her stop and talk to a man in a suit.

‘Does he remember anything?’ - said the man in the suit.

‘That is unlikely’ - said Dr. Janus.

‘I asked you a question’ - said the man sternly.

Dr. Janus stared at the man, and then answered curtly - ‘No’

‘And when do you start the next phase?’ - said the man.

‘In about a month’

‘Good’ - said the man, and he left.

Dick Rollins the murderer was dead. He had been executed and pronounced dead at 12:13 AM. Richard Ladd had survived a car crash and had been in a coma for two months - and had no memory of anything that had happened before waking up in that hospital. Richard Ladd would be helped by Dr. Janus, and he would go on to have a truly amazing life.