It's dead calm and quiet. The whooshing of the wind through distant corridors is the only challenger to complete silence. A rare occurrence in this place. Night time usually invites the muted sobs of many who call this place home. But not on this night. Daytime is a stark contrast, anything but peaceful and anything but silent. Six hundred men, trapped inside an ancient medieval structure that is maximum security, awake, alive, but not quite living, come together to make a singular sound that is not quite human, unnatural, unsettling. Further penance perhaps?
But this night is different. Eyes closed and ears taking in only the rhythm of the breeze, he finds it possible to allow his mind to escape the confines of this place. He is here because he deserves to be. His body will be here for a long time. He has imprisoned his flesh, but to survive this place, to leave someday with his humanity, he needed to find freedom. Any type of freedom.
He taught his mind to do what is not possible for his body, to escape, to go beyond these cursed walls. Everyone has their "happy place". It can be real or imagined. A place where we feel at ease, not weighted down by worry, more alive, free....free...free. He takes himself there. He is happy. As happy and as free as inmate 41391 can be...deserves to be.
