The Long Walk Home - (Submitted to ad hoc fiction competition - key word "cell")
The nights are hard. Sleep offers temporary escape from these unfamiliar walls, but at best it is fitful and fractured. He cannot get comfortable on the bed, so paces his cell despondently instead, seeking exhaustion or morning. The days are better. They are allowed outside for a few hours, to stretch their legs. He can feel the breeze in his hair, the sun on his back. The food isn't bad, but it's scant consolation for the lack of everything familiar. A perplexed cry skitters down the tiled corridor. A new arrival, processed that day, perturbed by these strange sights, sounds and smells. It provokes a flurry of noise from others, all indignantly protesting their unjustified incarceration. He remains silent, lying down on the floor of his enclosure, awaiting morning light. It will bring new opportunities for freedom. He will greet any visitors with a wagging tail, and he will hope. |