It had been 99 days since he had been free. Meals were slid under his door at random intervals. He had absolutely no concept of time. He had nothing but his thoughts for company. And they were not pleasant. Day in and day out, his mind was consumed with memories from the incident. The windows shattering. The terrified cries. The explosion. The bomb. The flames. The death. The bodies. The silence that followed. It was awful. But he wouldn't let them take his sanity.
Ursus had been the only survivor, but the incident had a lasting effect on his mental stability, which was why he had been imprisoned. Despite how he had pleaded that he was fine, the strong men didn't listen. They put him in a cell. They locked him up. They starved him. They tried to break him, but Ursus wouldn't let them. He refused to be broken by these men. He had endured so much already. He had lost so much already. These men had taken his freedom, his home, his vision, his family, his friends, his love. He wouldn't let them take his sanity.
The men would come by every day. They would beat him. They would spit at him. They would curse him. But Ursus wouldn't let them get to him. No matter what they did, he wouldn't let them break him. He wouldn't let them take his sanity.
Days slurred together in a never ending torrent of pain, loneliness, hunger, and despair. Yet he still had his sanity. He didn't know how, but he was still sane. He was still in control of his mind. He was still mentally whole. He wouldn't let them take his sanity.
Focusing on things beside the pain was helpful. Ursus would count the cracks on the wall. He would count the breaths he would take in a minute. He would count the seconds in between meal times. He would think about happy memories from outside the cell, from before the incident. He would count the steps it took to walk around his cell. He would even meditate. But he wouldn't let them take his sanity.
Days turned into years, years turned into decades. Eventually the men came in one morning, and Ursus was dead. He had endured so much and gone through so much, but despite all that, he didn't let them take his sanity.
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One Word Short Stories
Random~ I take a word, I write a story using that word. ~ Feel free to give suggestions of words you would like me to use and I'll do my best to write them ~ Some may not be very good but I hope you still enjoy ~ my friend @saltyscorpio13 did something...
