“Get up, it's almost time." The guard taps the cell bars with his stick and looks at the shadowy figure within.
The room is pitch-dark with only a single beam of light coming through a crack.
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| Image credit: wallowatch.com |
The sound of chains echo throughout the massive corridor.
"Get up!" The guard yells as he strikes the cell bars repeatedly.
"I heard you the first time" A faint whisper is heard in the deafening silence.
"I am already standing, you just can't see it."
"Where is your lamp? You've broken it again haven't you?"
The guard scratches the side of his head irritably.
"Put your hands through the bars so I can cuff you."
Angrily, the guard reaches into the darkness to feel the prisoner's hands.
They feel cold, thin and frail. "How long have you been here?" he asks.
"Back when the guard was polite" The prisoner answered.
He squeezed at the prisoner's hands tightly.
"Say what?" But the prisoner doesn't reply.
He grips tighter as if wanting to break the fragile arms.
The prisoner stays silent. He tires from squeezing the fragile arms and lets go.
"Can't feel anymore can you?"
But the prisoner doesn't reply.
"You must have been down here so long; you don't even know what pain is.
"But the prisoner still doesn't reply.
The guard's temper cools down a little feeling guilty for hurting what is probably skin and bones.
"What crime got you in here in the first place?"
Finally the prisoner speaks, noticeably in pain with a thirsty rasp "I can't remember."
The guard reaches into his pocket for the cell keys. He tries them all but none would open the cell.
"What? Must have brought the wrong set."
He takes a deep breath and rubs his eyes.
He decides to go back to the office and get the right set of keys.
"Sure is cold tonight." He says to himself as he prepares to walk back to the office.
"What would you do if a friend told you he'd done something horrible but doesn't want to go to jail for it?" The prisoner asks with a sad tone.
The guard picks up his broken flashlight "Well, tell him he should pay for it, do the right thing and face the consequences. What else?"
The guard answered with a noticeably angry tone.
He walks away and finally steps into the lighted hallway just above the staircase.
"He calls flashlights lamp, must be an old geezer".
He thinks of how silent the place was even when he was yelling.
At the guard station the warden yells at him for taking his time.
"What took you? I had to order another guard to fetch the prisoner for transport!"
He thinks a moment. "Sir, there was no other guard."
My flashlight went out and none of the keys fit in the keyhole.
The prisoner was being annoyingly polite. On top of that none of the light switches worked.
The warden looks up "Have you not been oriented properly?
Where exactly did you go to fetch the prisoner?
The second guard already took him to transport vehicle minutes ago!"
The warden yells with frustration. The guard scratches his head "
The first hall down the staircase of building F sir."
The warden's voice changed into a calmer tone.
"The first hall of Building F?" the guard looked at him sincerely.
"Yes sir, it's true sir none of the...” The warden signaled him to stop talking.
"I understand. Just don't go there anymore especially at night, you could trip you know."
The old warden pats him in the back. "But sir I put the handcuffs on the wrong prisoner."
The warden looks at him "I'll get it, wrong person indeed."
Holding a candle in his hand he walks towards the old building.
He sets it on the floor and picks up the handcuffs.
He falls to his knees and says "Forgive me for having let you suffered all these years for my sin because I was a coward. Thank you for the life I have now I owe it to you. Forgive me for the nights No one has lighted a candle for you because I was sick".
His face hits the ground as he kneels crying.
A cold hand holds his shoulder. “You are forgiven, you always were".
The warden looks at the figure "Then why haven't you moved on yet? After all these years?"
The ghost stands up with a smile "You have been in prison as long as I have, because you haven't forgiven yourself. Free me by freeing yourself."
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