Ned Kelly's Prisonology

• Hannah Jensen, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2014

I woke up with a great feeling of relief; it was my last day in solitary confinement. Finally, I could shed this horrible pungent cloak and leave the foul stench that surrounded my dark depressing cell. No more, would I hear the terrifying echoes of desperate cries from the other prisoners being beaten and bashed to death by the insidious guards. Those eerie echoes of pain and misery will haunt me forever.
My great trepidation renewed as a family of large flee-ridden rodents, scurried across the damp floor. The largest stopped to gnaw at the bottom of my filthy cloak. I kicked it with disgust and it hobbled away. My feelings of isolation and despair were ever so lightly eased as the day went on; I would soon be leaving this piercing silence and claustrophobic loneliness, to work in the government quarries.
They threw me into a jail-like carriage as they drove me away from that wretched prison. I expected to go to the government quarries, where I was to cut bluestone. I couldn’t wait to get out of the carriage and smell the fresh air, and then we came to a sudden halt. After what had felt like an eternity, I was pleasantly refreshed by the cool breeze and the clean, fresh air. For a few moments, I almost forgot about the cloak that reeked like a rotten old sweaty rag and covered my famished body. Putrid breath surrounded my face, trapped by a suffocating hood. I realised that something wasn’t right. A stench of rum and sweat surrounded me like a thick fog. Hall, the treacherous trooper, had appeared.
It was because of him that I was in this hell on earth. I launched at Hall, wanting to strangle the heartless beast, but the guards pulled me back and tore at my shoulders, while trying to hold me down. “Nice try, Edward, but I’m surrounded by guards, if you even think of touching me, you’ll never see daylight again.” he yelled, and then his evil laugh echoed throughout that barren and hostile place.
The hideous tub of lard starred at me like a devil, waiting for me to grab at him so that he can throw me in solitary confinement forever. “I hope you’re not looking forward to seeing Jim,” he said with a devilish grin. “What did you do to him?!” I yelled, as I struggled to be free of the guard’s ferocious grip. “I’m not the one that stole the horse, I just gave him the 5 year sentence,” Hall exclaimed, acting innocently, with the look of a pompous bully. My hatred for him increased as he kept ranting, trying my best to restrain from lunging towards him and tackling him to the ground. I’d rather die than endure his cruel injustice.
Once back in my bitterly cold cell, I tried to clear my mind of Hall’s horrific face, until I heard a clattering of keys come around the corner. I thought to myself that one lucky prisoner will be free of this merciless terror. But then, the guard stopped and put the key in the lock of my cell. A feeling of contentment and surprise flowed through me as the guard turned the key and the door opened and he stormed in and roared, “Out Kelly! You Irish misfit, off to the quarry, for 3 years of backbreaking hard labour, you deserve this you rebellious scoundrel!” I leaped up and out of my cell, and bellowed “I’M FREE OF THIS TORTUROUS CELL!”