There’s nothing like a cigarette at 3AM. You’re not supposed to smoke in the lockup, but I was smoking ‘cuz what else am I supposed to do? Epstein is just sitting in his cell like so much meat, staring blankly ahead. They say he hasn’t slept in days. Suicide watch means 24-hour guard, but I don’t mind being up at 3AM smoking, watching this kidfucker.

Sometimes weird shit happens in a prison durin’ “witching hour.” Block lights flicker. You might hear voices inside empty cells. I don’t really believe in shit like that, but the few shifts I’d watched Epstein had definitely been the strangest. One time the lights in his cell blew out for no reason; happened a few times, actually.

When the lights came back on, there was words written in blood all over the bulletproof glass of his cell, and I rushed in to check him, but he didn’t have a scratch and his hands was clean. His eyes were bugged out like a fish and his skin was pale and cold, but he wasn’t bleeding.

He didn’t say much, ever. Mostly stared at you like you wasn’t there, or laughed all creepy like. Tonight was one of those staring nights.

“I could ash this cig between your eyes and you probably wouldn’t flinch, would you, Epstein?” He didn’t even blink. The guy was odd. Most times he didn’t even eat his food, wouldn’t even look at it. Just stare at the ceiling or the floor. There was a loud buzzing noise and I looked up just in time to watch his lights all turn off.

“What the fuck, dude.” Turning to my radio, “The lights in Epstein’s cell just went out again. Will you send someone up here?” There was nothing but static from the other end.

“Hello, can you send someone up here?”

“Cortez is on his way up now.” I stood up and walked over to the darkened cell. The lights in the hall were all still on, so I could see a little way inside the cell. Epstein was still sitting on the floor; hadn’t even moved an inch. The buzzing continued. One by one, the lights above the gangway blew out as well, each with the audible shattering of glass. My heart dropped and I slowly turned back to Epstein’s cell. It was now totally dark and I couldn’t see shit.

“Cortez, where you at, man? It’s gettin’ fuckin’ weird up here.”

Fucking nothing. The red emergency lights snapped on and I could hear a dull siren coming from the main wing of the prison. Something was happening.

Epstein’s cell was bathed in crimson light, and I watched him slowly stand up.

“You did this, didn’t you!?!” I screamed at him. ”What are you?” He gave me his demonic smile and it sent chills down my spine.

“I HAVE TAKEN ON THEIR SIN, MY BODY IS THE SACRAMENT,” he said, but his lips didn’t move. The air around him began to boil and beams of light shot from his body as he began to float from the floor of his cell.

“I AM BECOME THE EMBODIMENT OF ALL EVIL. THIS IS MY FALL.”

A noise filled the air that pierced my ears and I fell to my knees vomiting blood and the burger I’d eaten earlier. Epstein’s eyes were glowing a vitrifying green and just looking in them paralyzed me. I could feel my bones turning to dust. The glass in front of his cell exploded into a million shards without him even touching it. The sound got even louder, shrieking and wailing in awful cacophony. All the alarms in the prison burst on, compounding on the wail. I was still unable to move, unable to breathe.

As I watched, Epstein’s body started to change. His face lengthened and twisted, luminous eyes bulging larger, his pupils bubbling and melting away. Yellowed teeth were dwarfed by his expanding jaws. His long grey tongue undulated as he continued to spew hideous syllables. His arms and legs grew veiny and bloated. Epstein’s arteries pulsed with arcane light tracing his putrid body in luminous paths. He ripped off his shirt and it burst into flames. I could hear him laughing.

Strands of static electricity arced from his hair, chaining together down his oily, tumefied chest. He was gaining mass by the second; his fat veins coiled and slithered like glowing snakes beneath his sickly skin. They spelled out strange letters and twisted into hexagrams. His body was a pulsating mess, folding up upon itself in fleshy waves.

The noise stopped abruptly and slowly I found that I could move again. I stumbled away from Epstein’s bloating body, scrambling on all fours like a rat.

There were soldiers rushing towards me down the gangway, their laser sights tracking across the walls as they passed me. There were no identifying insignias, just jet-black armor plating. They surrounded Epstein, although they kept their distance, his malformed body now piled up on the floor like a beached beluga.

It was deathly silent. I tried to speak, but I couldn’t make any words come out. The click-clack of high heels could be heard in the quiet, and Epstein’s glowing eyes opened wide, his fat lips peeling back in an inhuman grin.

“THE WHORE OF BABYLON COMETH.”

Click clack, click clack. She emerged from the darkness in a mauve pantsuit escorted by two suits. She smiled, and somehow it was more terrible than even Epstein’s demonic grin.

“Hello Jeffrey, you look so nice. Have you been expecting me?” Epstein’s mouth opened, but the bleating of goats and sheep came out instead of words. She stalked a circle around Epstein, studying him with a razor gaze. She extended a gloved hand and one of the suits handed her a long leather case. Inside was a wavy silver knife.

With a single fluid motion, she sliced a massive gash in Epstein’s flesh. Black blood sprayed out along with snakes and buzzing flies. Epstein laughed maniacally as black liquid splashed on the walls and floor. Some of it got on me and my skin felt like it was melting. It gave off a foul odor like sewage and decaying teeth.

“Bring some to me,” she snapped, never taking her eyes off Epstein. One of the suits stooped and held a chalice to the torrent of blood. He offered it to her. She drained it, her eyes flashing like gimlets. She licked her lips and inhaled deeply.

“I’m finished. Dispose of him.” The soldiers opened fire, riddling Epstein with hundreds of rounds. Putrid flesh sprayed everywhere, hunks of it clotting together as they hit the walls of his cell. Epstein laughed.

“YOU CAN’T UNMAKE ME SO EASILY.” He rose from the floor, now twice as tall as he was before, with gaping holes clear through his body. He grabbed one of the soldiers by the head with a huge hand and crushed his skull like papier-mâché. The man crumpled to the floor. Epstein ripped off some of his trailing entrails and spun them like a bolas. He bisected two more soldiers. He kicked another into the wall so hard he turned into a red smear.

“Is that supposed to be a challenge?” She raised an eyebrow. Extending her finger, she muttered something beneath her breath and sent a violet lightning bolt arcing through the air. It burned through Epstein’s stomach, leaving a massive hole. Epstein began to howl, his horrible freezing scream. She was frozen in place and I watched as he leaped towards her, elongated jaw gaping open in a feral snarl. But then his head exploded into red mist as a bolt of lightning cleaved his skull. His overgrown body dropped to the floor, and she wiped his blood from her face. She spit on his corpse and sneered out:

“Never cross Moloch.”

***

“And that’s how Jeffrey Epstein died.”

The two men in grey suits leaned back in their chairs and looked at each other and then back to me. They started laughing in disbelief. The one with dark hair stood up and walked over to my side of the table.

“I guess it’s my turn this time.” He said and grabbed me by the neck.

“Just make it look like a suicide.”