The night came and went in a flash of utter apprehension and despair. My eyes fluttered open, yanking me from my restless yet blissful slumber. I laid there for what I presumed to be hours, hoping this was all just a horrible nightmare. Upon realization that the day was actually here I groaned and attempted to rise from my only place of solitude and safety. But something would not let me; it felt as though something was laying on my chest and keeping me down. I miraculously broke free from this supernatural force and jolted up, and it was at this very moment I realized how my surroundings resembled a black pit of nothingness, with only a faint light radiating through my window screen. I peered out the window and an eerie feeling washed over me as darkness bore its beady eyes back at me.
I scurried away, rushed out the bedroom door and into the bathroom. I got dressed in a haste putting on nothing particularly fancy or nice. What’s the point of getting dressed up anyways? I then stumbled down the stairs and was met with the only barrier that protected me from the outside world and the impending doom yet to come. After a momentary inner struggle, I succumbed to my fears and pushed the blockade open. Immediately, the twilight engulfed me. I felt the bitter air pinching at my skin as I walked down the desolate path to nothingness.
I heard it before I saw it. I halted when the sound of wheels pounding down a nearby hill consumed my ears. And then it appeared. It radiated a bright yellow and it was making a brisk approach to me. I could not play dumb and act like I did not know why it was powering toward me. Time to serve another 180 day sentence. I tentatively boarded and plopped down in the first available seat. I gulped and tried to calm the nerves that swarmed my body. The ride was nothing incredible, but rather a journey of misery that every so often would stop in order to allow others to come on.
It felt like merely seconds before we were pulling up to the actual place of destruction. People hustled and bustled around, but none of their faces showed true happiness and excitement. I roamed around aimlessly, attempting to keep my mind off of what was only a few minutes away from commencing, but it was to no avail. As I came across one room in particular a blood-curdling feeling of danger ravaged my being. I looked. I analyzed. I understood. This was the room where it would start. I shuffled in and immediately placed my head down. I could no longer act like this was not happening, it was here, and it was going to be apart of my life for the next 10 months. Another year and another sentence had begun.