FREE

His head swelled as he slowly stood up from what felt like a long nap, placing his hand on the cold wall that was next to him for balance. He felt as though he had been tossed around or trampled underfoot. Looking up, he saw past the iron bars that stood in front of his face, was a thin pale skinned man. The man was covered in rugged black torn clothes and a hood that stooped low over his face, making it to where all you could see was a sly devilish smile that could put shivers up your back. 

Immediately emotions of anger and rage filled the man that stood weak in the cell. Granting himself what strength he could muster, he pushed himself off the wall and grasped hold of the bars to bring himself as close to the pale man as possible, though he was not quite sure who he was, whatever was going on was his fault. 

“Where is she! You tell me what is going on!” Spitting insults and demanding answers he continued to glare at the pale man and his smile. “By the gods, tell me! What is it you want!”

As the pale man watched him yelled into fist of rage, he shook his head. “Welcome. Are you awake?” 

“Why am I locked in here?”

“You locked in?” The pale man smirked, leaving his head bowed. 

The man grasping the bars was confused by his question, or statement, he was making. He reluctantly looked behind himself and saw he was on the outside of the cell. Looking back in, he saw that the man was gone. The bars of the cell had also vanished* and a long dimly lit hallway with cells on each side now lay before him. Strange. He thought. Whatever was going on, wherever he was, he knew he had to escape this place. Behind him was now a convenient door, but just as he began to reach for the nob, a familiar voice rang through the row of cells. Sharply he turned around and listened again to see if it was just his imagination. 

Louder this time it came again. “Mitch! Help!” 

“Linda?! Where are you!” 

She sounds in danger! As he dashed down the hall, the cells lit up one by one. Groups of tired looking people were in each one. He started to realize, some he even knew. 

“Ronald?” He looked curiously at the baker and his children behind the bars. Ronald, the baker, looked back up at him, his dark eyes showing exhaustion. 

“Oh, Michael. Good to see you.”

Michael shook his head in confusion. “What, what are you all doing here?”

“What do you mean?”

“What do you mean, what do I mean? I mean, do want help out?” 

“Oh no, we’re perfectly fine.”

Being highly confused at the moment was an understatement. Moving to a couple cells down, he saw the inn keeper and his wife, and across the way, the Mistress of that luxurious mansion on the hill. Practically the whole of his town was there, from the servants to the high officials, in the line of cells. They all were acting the same way as the baker, as if, they were not in cells at all. 

Michael’s head swirled. Then he heard the voice of Linda rang out again. 

“Where are you?” He spun around. The hall seamed to go on forever. 

“Right behind you.”

Michael spun round and opened his eyes. “Linda?” He saw her, but was she really there? He reached to hold her, only for her to slip through his fingers like an illusion. He bent on his knees and began to sob. Stooping down to him, she put her hand by his face. Though he could not feel her, Linda’s smile eased his mind.

“You have to learn to let go, or you’ll be trapped in your own prison.”

Michael shook his head. “I can’t. How?”

She followed his lead when he stood up. “Did you see all those cells Michael?”

“Yes, why are they in there?

“Each of them have something that hold them back. Like you. Did you look closely?”

He was unsure what this meant but went to look at them again. Walking up to the cell, he saw there was keys placed in the lock. 

“Keys,” He spoke softly, then increased his volume, “There is the key to open the cell right here!” He flipped back around to look at his wife. “Why are they still here then?”

She bowed her head, “Some have lost hope, some can’t let go, others feel it is what they deserve, and most, don’t even see the keys.” 

Each cell had the keys in reach, but all cells remained closed. Though confused, Michael sought to understand. 

“The real prison has been your mind the whole time. You being the prison warden, holding the keys.”

Michael looked up at her.

She looked knowingly at him. “You were right, it was that mans fault that you were here, but it doesn’t have to be.”

Looked longingly at his wife, he began to understand. Though how he wished she was not gone, so he could hold her in his arms one last time. But what he could do was say goodbye, what he had to do. Though he could not get it out before, he tried his best to make it come from his lips. 

She smiled, “It’s ok.”

Whispering softly, Michael said his heart wrenching words, “Goodbye, Linda.” 

As she withered away slowly he heard her say her last words, then he spoke them back to her, “I love you.”

As she faded away, darkness creeped behind, turning everything into nothingness. Michael had to get to the door fast. He ran in the opposite direction of the nothing and sprinted towards the door. The hallway seamed longer than before. Heart pounding, he finally reached the door nob. The now wide open door, shown a burst of light, blinding Michael as he fell through. He was free!