Interviewer: Austin, thank you for taking the time to talk to me today. Not everyone gets the chance to hear directly from an inmate at Blackwood Prison—especially one with your background.
Austin Page: (chuckles) My pleasure. Not much else to do in here besides read, write, and, well… think. A lot of thinking.
Interviewer: Let’s start with the obvious. You were a professor before you ended up here. That’s quite a leap. Can you tell us how you landed in prison?
Austin Page: (smiling) Now, that’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? Let’s just say… love makes you do things you never thought you would.
Interviewer: That’s a bit vague.
Austin Page: (shrugs) Some things are better left unsaid. But I will say this—when you love someone the way I do, the rest of the world fades away. Consequences, reason, even fear. None of it matters.
Interviewer: You’re talking about Mario Cruz.
Austin Page: Of course I am. (soft laugh) Who else? Mario is—he’s the kind of man who shouldn’t need saving, but if he ever did, I’d throw myself into the fire without a second thought. He’s hard, rough around the edges, but there’s something in him… something raw and real. He doesn’t lie. He doesn’t pretend. He’s the first person I’ve ever met who sees me—not just as some soft-spoken professor, but as a man willing to fight for what I love. And I do. Every day.
Interviewer: What was it about Mario that drew you to him?
Austin Page: (smirks) Is ‘everything’ an acceptable answer? Look, I know what people think. That I’m some naive fool with a penchant for bad boys, that I threw my life away for someone who wouldn’t do the same for me. But they don’t know him. Not like I do. Mario doesn’t say much, but when he looks at me—really looks at me—I know I belong to him. And he belongs to me.
Interviewer: That sounds… intense.
Austin Page: Love is intense. If it isn’t, what’s the point?
Interviewer: So, to clarify—you didn’t end up in prison because of Mario?
Austin Page: (pauses) I ended up here because of my choices. And I’d make them again. No regrets.
Interviewer: But what were those choices, exactly?
Austin Page: (grins) You ask a lot of questions, you know that?
Interviewer: It’s kind of my job.
Austin Page: (leans forward) And mine is to keep a few secrets.
Interviewer: Fair enough. Final question—if you could go back, would you change anything?
Austin Page: (softly) No. Because in the end, every road, every decision, every damn mistake led me to him. And that? That’s worth everything.
Interviewer: Thank you, Austin.
Austin Page: Anytime. Just don’t expect all the answers.
The first episode of the Prisoners Of Sodom serial is now available for purchase exclusively at the Cruz Publishing bookstore. It will soon be available on other online bookstores.
Ian O. Lewis and Luke Jameson 