Time doesn't stop for anyone. It doesn't slow down when things progress too fast or speed up when things feel as though they're at a stand still. It moves accordingly, never looking back with a regret of the damage it's done, but proceeding on into oblivion. Which makes it so precious. Such a delicate part of life. A vital instrument when it comes to growth, experience, strength. Though we treat it like one, time isn't our enemy; our decisions are. What we choose to do with our time and the decisions we probably already made to even put us in our current position, are all results of how the slightest disruption can take on the most impact later on. But, in the midst of all this, relief is always around the corner. Us humans only have a short amount of time on this planet. Just enough time for us to make right with wrongs, and grow beyond our past.
To Jacob, time was his punishment. Keeping him away from the life he felt he deserved. Holding him hostage from a happiness he sought for, and didn't want to let slip out of his hands. He tried his hardest to hold onto the little bit of the fantasy he had left. For the sake of his own sanity.
Day by day, little by little, his sentence grew shorter, and cell walls felt as though they were closing in on him. He sat up in his bed with his hands cupping his face taking deep breaths. Each breath a reminder that he must go on. That he has to stick it through for himself and his family that patiently waits for him on the outside of this penitentiary. Today marks 7 years and 2 months since he began his sentence, yet it feels as though it'd been a lifetime for him. It's appalled him how everyone's life continued on outside of this place. Not a soul let his absence hold them back from moving forward and though he was happy about that, it would dawn on him that his return might cause a shift in balance in everyone else's life.
'Who am I gonna stay with? I don't wanna be a burden on anyone. Where will I find work?' Are questions that cluttered his mind as his release date neared. His anxiety skyrocketed like he was scared to approach the real world once again. 7 long years in a confinement will eventually make you grow accustomed to the system. You find comfort within a place that's so forbidden, only because it was forced upon you. He grew use to the insensitive, unjustifiable treatment he received within these walls. He grew use to the animal-like behavior of fellow prisoners. He grew use to the all the inhumane hardships he faced while serving his dreadful time.
