Kafft's Tower - The heir of "The Valley"

One of lime and one of sand

I stand at the door of my father's office, perplexed by what my eyes have just seen, frozen and trying to focus so I can react to what just happened. Now, a thousand things race through my mind, going a mile a minute, but time doesn't move, time seems to stand still, and I have time to talk to myself and wonder if what I saw is real or just an illusion of my subconscious. I gather my courage and enter the code again; the door opens once more, and I still can't believe what my eyes are seeing. It can't be true, but her face, her eyes, her mouth, and her hair are the same, though a bit more worn by the passage of time. Her wrinkles and gray hair show signs of pain, agony, and sorrow, but her eyes look at me with affection and tenderness. I begin to walk slowly into the room without saying a word, measuring my steps. Traind and my father look at me intently with happy faces, something I hadn't seen on their faces in a long time. It's not normal to see that happiness and brightness on the faces of the two people in the room; I don't recognize them.

Traind looks at me, closes his eyes, nods his head, and my gaze returns to that third person standing between my father and Traind. The woman in the center of the room is dressed in Kairgans attire, though in a light gray color, a uniform that belongs to lower ranks than those of General Traind. Her curly, gray hair hangs on the right side in a well-groomed ponytail. Tears begin to well up in my eyes because, for a moment, I think I'm going to wake up, and right now, I don't want to. I stand in front of her and ask:

— Mom?

The woman extends her arm, strokes my cheek, and answers:

— Honey, I'm home.

At that moment, everything seems like a dream; my vision blurs, but I manage to hug this strange woman with the face of my deceased mother, though a bit older. I can't believe everything that's happening; my mother is alive and holding me in her arms. She cries as much as I do, but she seems to keep her composure in front of me, something I can't do because it's unbelievable.

I arrived at the office with such anger and pain that when I saw my mother, everything I felt disappeared in an instant, the same instant my mind believed for a moment that I was dreaming, living something I could never have imagined. I have so many things to ask her, so many things to experience with her from now on, that at this moment, I don't feel like arguing with my father, who is standing by his office desk.

Kónaff, the director of this prison, is smiling, and it's the first time I've seen him like this. His usual grumpy, chubby, tall self, with his white goatee and the rest of his brown beard, and his light eyes like mine, are shining for the first time. I'm thinking that inside this half-bald, bearded, bad-tempered man, there's more than just resentment and hatred towards people; maybe he'll start to change now that we're beginning to become a family again, now that we're all together again.

After that moment, my mother and I take some time to go to the lounge area to talk since we have so many things to tell and confess to each other. The lounge area is a large space with views of the sea from the inside of the prison. The view is not the best feature of the room. We walk inside the room where a lot of light enters since all the walls are translucent to give a sense of spaciousness. The room is quite busy today, some workers lying down, others entertained with some weird virtual games that I've never played because I prefer to waste my time on other activities.

My mother steps away from me a bit and heads towards the wall, where she stands with a lost look. With her hand resting on it, she gazes intently at the center of the prison, the tubular-shaped interior, its windows, and its hanging vegetation, which still gives it a neglected look. I suppose that's the image they want to project from here to the whole nation, since the crasil walls don't show anything of what's inside. They try to give the impression of a terrifying place to dissuade future criminals, and yet there are people who don't fear ending up in this place.