Restricted

• Dara Murphy, Grade 4, Our Lady of Fatima Primary School
• Short Story
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Write Along 2018' competition

The steel felt crisp as my hand clutched the bars. I knew there was no escape. Inside my head was like a tornado, spinning with regrets. Why did I do this? Was it because of memories? Or was it because of Them? I have tried everything to escape but nothing has worked. I am desperate to get out of here.
I’m usually not like this, I’m usually a good person, but something made me go off. I don’t know what though? Everyone thinks I’m a monster, even my family. I’ve gotten no visitors and it isn’t because this prison won’t let me have visitors, it’s because no one wants to visit me. I am stuck in this prison and all I have to eat is this disgusting type of slop. I clenched my fists and accelerated them at the wall making a boisterous sound. Everyone’s heads poked out between the metal bars, all eyes were on me. I looked down at the ground with embarrassment and all I saw was grey.
Anger is spiralling up inside me. I need to get out of here. I have been restricted from the world and everything that makes me. But…actually, who needs the outside world anyway? They are the reason I am in here, well that’s what I think? Should I keep trying to get out of here or should I just give up?
I am starting to feel claustrophobic in here. My mind is playing tricks on me, I think the walls are closing in. I feel disoriented in the room with no windows because there is no way to see the outside world. Is it dark, or is it bright? How many days have I been here? I know it has been a while because my stomach feels empty inside just like my heart.
I feel so restricted, I am just craving to run freely through fields, on the beach and...and everywhere, just everywhere. For no reason, except... To be free.