When he was bored, he’d trace the grooves in the white brick walls with the backs of his fingers. They were always cool to the touch and rough, catching on his knuckles. He’d trace all around his room, walking in circles for hours on end — until a tray of food was pushed through a slit in the north wall, or until they came to get him.
The door looked and felt like wall. He had tried for years, but he could never find the latch — the edge. When they entered the room, they never let him stay conscious enough to figure it out. But today, he would see outside. Outside fascinated him. His one comfort, his only entertainment, was the window in the ceiling.
The sky was beautiful, so the rest of the world had to be too. Fluffy clouds drifted by, and he’d reach up, wishing he could touch them. Soft was foreign to him, but he knew they would be soft. The sun and moon danced along the panes of the window, shifting the colours of the sky to ones he had no names for, but they were so much nicer than white. He’d watch the drops of rain fall, but they never reached him.
His favourite part was the birds. He wondered if maybe he was their favourite part too; they always looked down at him and pecked at the glass. He couldn’t hear their sounds, but he knew they were speaking to him. Then they’d soar high, so free. They could go beyond the edges of the window, but he couldn’t escape this room.
Today the food never came, and no drowsy mist either. He was beginning to worry they’d forgotten him, but then the south wall opened. The door. There was no thinking. Like a caged animal he blindly ran through the sterile corridors, hitting dead ends and scrambling in another direction. There were no people, no windows, just furniture he had never seen scattered about that he had to dodge.
His heart was beating out of his chest, his lungs were burning, but ahead he saw something he recognized – the sky. His feet carried him even faster.
The first time sunlight truly warmed his face, with no glass in between, was comforting. When the grass brushed his feet it was wet, but so much softer than metal. He breathed in deeply, taking in thousands of new scents. The wind wrapped around him, giving him his first hug.
The sun was so bright it burned his eyes at first, but soon they adjusted, and he was right, the world was beautiful. The sky and grass were so vibrant, and there was foliage all around, plants he had never seen before that seemed to breathe in the wind, swaying one way and then the other.
He was frozen. He wanted to join the world, but he didn’t know the first thing about living. Then birds flew past him, twirling in the air. Hesitantly, he took his first step forward.
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