2003

Posing as a reporter, Lemuel Idzik came into Oz to meet with Muslim inmate Kareem Said. When Said met with him, Idzik shot him to death. When interrogated, Idzik claimed that he had to kill Said "before nightfall". He was sent to Oz's Unit J and stood up to Aryan Brotherhood leader Vern Schillinger. He then requested a transfer to Emerald City, where he met his newest cellmate: Omar White. When White claimed that he'd been Said's friend and that Tim McManus had placed him there to tempt White to kill him, Idzik was pleased, claiming that he'd come to Emerald City to find somebody to kill him. White asked Idzik why he wants to die, and Idzik explained that all is futile; in the end there will be no more stars, and therefore no light, energy, or gas. White agreed to give him his answer at noon. So White spent the day researching the end of the world, and informed Idzik that, even after there is no light, energy, or gas, there is still gravity, so therefore the universe is not going to be only void. He told him that he wasn't going to kill him, so Idzik decided to go with plan B. The next morning, officers discovered White's throat had been slit by Idzik. Idzik was put into Solitary and eventually sentenced to death for White's murder. Prison counselor Sister Peter-Marie spoke to him and asked him why he'd killed Said. Idzik explained that, many years before, Said and he had shared a cup of coffee and Said had scoffed at several doomsday theories. Idzik boiled that single moment as the defining moment of his life, and hadn't been surprised when Said hadn't remembered him right before he shot him. He told her that everything eventually will be extinct anyway, so he would rather die. Sister Pete ruled Idzik incompetant to be executed, so Idzik returned to Emerald City, where McManus told him that he will probably die in Em City anyway. He also explained that, if the universe will come to an end, it doesn't matter because humans live in the now. He asked Idzik to at least try and give Em City a chance.