Read Online Yours for Eternity: A Love Story on Death Row by Damien Echols, Lorri Davis - Free Book Online Page A

completely swept up in ecstasy, in bliss, and they would form the stigmata of Christ on their own hands and feet, or be able to hear the angels whispering, or even singing to them. I know how it feels. And I know that nothing else matters, because grace did shine on me and you are my grace, and I love you for it. Maybe I can explain it a little better when I talk to you tonight. Maybe you’ll understand. I know you will.
    Sending love forever to my dearest,
    Damien

July 24, 1996
    My dearest Damien,
    I can’t believe when you read this, we will already have seen each other. I wonder how we will feel. It’s funny, writing this . . . I feel like a fortune teller—I know the future—when in fact, I don’t know it at all. Maybe there’ll be an earthquake while we are together, and the walls of the prison will crumble around us and we’ll just walk out together, and you’ll never even see this letter.
    *
    Please don’t be upset about me saying I may scare you—I don’t mean my physical appearance—I know you better than that—I know why you love me, I just think sometimes seeing something that you’ve only had in your imagination can be jarring—and I must say I use the word “scare” in my own special way—let me think of an example . . . OK—since we’ve spoken of them—praying mantises kind of scare me and I truly love them. Does that help?
    *
    We should both try to read a book together, something we both love, or that we have never read—we could read 10 pages a day or something—(because I am so slow and you would finish so quickly). Think of a book—so will I—I love doing anything that will synch us up even more—if I could breathe in the air you breathe or wear your clothes, I would. Maybe we could read Interview with the Vampire , since I’ve never read it. What do you think? I’m going to read it, anyway.
    *
    I know that you will be the only one who truly understands me, Damien. This, I know. There is no doubt. You already do—and I understand you. All my life I have been so sad that no one could see me, or hear what I was saying, sometimes so quietly, sometimes screaming at the top of my lungs. But you know. You are my true one. And I’m so happy and feel that all the pain and struggles were worth it.
    Thank you a million times.
    Thank you for enduring.
    *
    This letter has now spanned from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning.
    Sending much love to you,
    L.

July 29, 1996
    My Dearest Lorri,
    Today is Saturday, the day after I saw you in person for the first time. I couldn’t write last night, I just had to lie and think. I don’t even really know what I was thinking, I was just drifting, feeling you. You are very beautiful, but still so simple at the same time. I don’t even know what I mean by “simple”; it just seems as if you are so “uncomplicated.” It hurt me to see the way you had chewed your fingers. I just wanted to kiss them, to kiss the places where you had chewed the skin away.
    I felt extremely frantic twice. Once was when you began to cry, and the other was when you had to leave. I felt so desperate, there was nothing I could do, and it was ripping me apart. I couldn’t even touch you, I couldn’t do anything to make you feel better, and because of that I was in agony. It was a sense of desperation that was so close to being overpowering that for a second I thought I would lose all control. When you had to leave, I just wanted to scream, “No, no, no, no.” But I knew that if I ever started, then I would never be able to stop. I could see it very clearly in my mind: I would have been sitting in the corner with my head in my hands, eyes clenched shut, mouth in the shape of a perfect “O,” just screaming and screaming, but not being able to hear myself. The only thing that kept me sane was knowing that one day soon there will be no glass wall, and no one to come in and say it’s time to leave, and no one on either side of us constantly making noise.That’s