Seeing Double

A Caged Bird

The fluorescent lights flickered, crumbling walls screamed out in pain and shadowy figures curled up in cells, shivering in the darkness.The concrete-grey walls had been etched by the prisoners before Will with tally marks of days, weeks, years in their cells. Will etched another line to his tally.

A ray of sunlight peeped in through the pane. He looked out and pondered about his better days; days in the park with his mother beaming, or those days camping with his father with the cosiness of the fire and the warmth of marshmallows melting in his mouth. Images of heaven faded away in his mind and a greyness emerges as he is brought back to reality. Cold sweat started to form on his brows, sending a ghastly chill down his spine.

He sees his reflection on the pane. Blue eyes stared back at him, the same blue as his mother's. His brows and lashes drawn in darker hues highlighted his eyes.  His windswept locks, matt and dull,  with darks streaks, but pale streaks of brown dominated. He had a scar engraved on his upper arm.

"Newbie",called a voice. Will turned to his left. He was a puny wisp of a man, with his grey-haired beard and holes in his baggy uniform, similar to his. A scar split the left side of his face.

"Hello."grunted Will with irritation,"What do you want?"

The man stared at him and suddenly spoke, without hesitation. "Why are you here?" he said.

He felt those words form in his mind and pulse through his bloodstream. His heart quickened. The four dreaded words were said, the four which upset him the most. In defeat, his vision became foggy with tears and he whimpered.

Will's alarm rang, the deathly knell of existence. He woke up, his heart slowed down, in realisation. It was just a nightmare, to his relief. But he questioned what the prison cell had meant to him, why had he dreamt of it? He hit the snooze button, and slept for longer.

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