A Breath A Day

• Benjamin Hamblin, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2013

A Breath A Day
On a cold day at the Peninsula High Security Detention Centre, the prisoners lined up for physical inspection; as they did every day of their lengthy sentences. Many inmates grouped together, but all avoided one. Jonathon Rallem was a formidable character, an unusually large man most probably in his early forties. There were many people in the detention centre who respected him, but far more feared him. The information others had on Mr Rallem was limited; many rumours had arisen over the interest in Jonathon’s case, but their validity was not confirmed. This feared prisoner had not divulged his crime, although it was well known that he was facing a life sentence. With his head held high and a taste of enclosure on his tongue, Mr Rallem lined up with the other creatures that inhabited the four walls he called home. He offered no resistance to being roughed up, probed and explored thoroughly, for his so-called health. As a variety of fluids were sampled an analysed from the immense bulk of Rallem’s body, he examined his surrounding with a meticulous fascination, to leave such a place unseen would require a precise knowledge of every fence, wire and stone. A portentous place, barbed wire littered within every available space, towering walls littered with coils of the stuff; the kind of “facility” that drives sturdy men to madness. But Jonathon Rallem was not a sturdy man; he was a towering wall of stone, unbreakable in every way, immovable.
As he did every day, he searched for a way to the entrance, and, as always, he found it. A small path with a low wall could easily be overcome, and a straight sprint to the outside from there. Of course any ordinary man attempting such a feat would be beaten; Rallem had seen it happen. Such a thing never happened to Jonathon however, even armed guards held him in a kind of reverence. In this daily ritual he never actually escaped from the complex, even a man such as he would not risk such a thing. Guns pierce the flesh of the largest of men. As he hoisted himself atop the small wall on the side of the fence, he began to walk forward at a leisurely pace.
Guards followed him close behind, as was the norm. He quickened his pace to a brisk walk, guards now running ahead of him to guarantee that he did not permanently leave the grounds. As it always did, the main door opened for him, and Mr Rallem paused outside the Centre. He observed his surrounding, brighter scenery, a panorama of brilliance. Such a sight is all Jonathon ever longed for… and a breath. This one breath. He inhaled deeply, and tasted freedom ever so briefly; and let it go again, just as suddenly. He followed the guards towards the Centre again, unresisting, as one breath was all he needed to know that someday he must leave. One breath was all it took. A breath a day.