I’ve been trapped in the same room for 358 days…

The room is small, cold, and typically dimly lit. A big steel door, with only one small window in it, takes up most of one wall. There is a big steel table in the center of the room, with two chairs opposite each other. There is a cot in the corner that they gave me after the first few weeks. <br><br>Other then that, it’s featureless. <br><br>I don’t know where in the world it is, much less what building I am in. <br><br>Oh, and the only person I have spoken to in the last 358 days is a man who calls himself ‘Mr. Solomon’. He is always dressed in black, and wears a long black coat, like you would see in a movie where the bad guy is a secret agent. <br><br>I have been tortured, beaten, and starved. I have had my teeth pulled out, my bones broken, my organs removed. I can’t even remember what I looked like before all of this. <br><br>I’m not trying to complain though, I typically don’t try to complain about anything to be honest. <br><br>I was in the military, you see. And when you are in the military, shit happens and you just have to roll with it. The main thing is that I am still alive. <br><br>The thing that has kept me alive all these months is the fact that I still have a purpose. I have a job to do, and until that job is finished, I will continue to survive. <br><br>That job is escape. <br><br>It took me 67 days to determine the size of my room. I did this by crawling. It doesn’t sound difficult, but I had to do it multiple times, and on the time that counted, I couldn’t stop. <br><br>You see, I needed to heal first. I had to wait until my broken legs had healed enough to crawl. Then I got a night were the lights were turned off, and the door had a faint glow. I took my chance, and crawled to the door, scurrying across it as fast as I could. <br><br>I figured if I could just make it across the door, I could get out of view of the camera in the corner of the ceiling, then I could stop and go back to my cot. Then, the next night the lights went out, I would start from the other side of the door, and crawl as far as I could. Over and over, I did this, until one night, I reached the wall. <br><br>Then, I started going the other way. <br><br>It was a good thing that I did too, because the first time I tried it the other way, I ran out of room after only about two thirds the distance that I made the first time. <br><br>But it worked. <br><br>After almost eleven weeks of pain, and waiting, I had scurried all the way around my prison cell. <br><br>Then, it was time for the next step. <br><br>I had to figure out the guards schedule. <br><br>For twenty-one days, every time the guard opened the door, I watched his shoulders and chest as closely as I could. <br><br>I was looking for a name tag. <br><br>Finally, after weeks of slaving away trying to find it, I saw it for less than a second. <br><br>Officer Lewis. <br><br>I’m not sure why, but for some reason, seeing the name “Lewis” gave me a strange feeling of satisfaction that I hadn’t felt in a long time. <br><br>I think it’s because I realized that I was no longer alone. <br><br>Lewis was a person, with a life, a wife and kids, likes and dislikes. And because of that, I knew that he would make a mistake. <br><br>I just needed to wait for it. <br><br>I waited for 77 days. <br><br>It was about three in the morning when it happened. <br><br>I was sitting on my cot, thinking about things I would do when I got out. <br><br>I was going to be a police officer, I decided. I would keep people safe, and help people. But I didn’t want to be a big city cop. I wanted to be a cop in a small town, where everyone knew everyone, and you knew the name of the local grocery store owner. <br><br>I want to be able to drive down the street, and wave to people as they walked by. I wanted to be able to take my case files to the coffee shop, and have a conversation with the barista as I worked. <br><br>Then I heard the door rattle. <br><br>I looked up, and I saw the door pull open slightly, and a pair of eyes looked in at me. <br><br>“Lewis?” I said, in my most excited voice. <br><br>“Oh thank god it’s you.” <br><br>I heard a fumbling noise, and the door opened a little wider. <br><br>“Look, I don’t have much time. My superior is going to be here pretty soon, and if I get caught, it’s over for me. But I am going to get you out of here.” <br><br>I couldn’t believe it. I had been trapped for almost a year, and now this man was going to set me free? Why did he care about me?<br><br>“Why?” Was all I could say. <br><br>“I saw your file. You have been locked up here for almost a year, and you have been treated the way you have been treated, and for what? You didn’t do anything. But you have been deemed too great of a threat to be let go. So I am going to let you go.” <br><br>I didn’t know how to respond. <br><br>I had given up hope of ever escaping a long time ago. It was a pipe dream, something I would never actually accomplish. <br><br>But it was here, right in front of me. <br><br>“Come on, is that it? You aren’t going to try to escape? You aren’t going to take your chance?” <br><br>I didn’t answer. I didn’t know what to say. <br><br>“Then fine. If you aren’t going to escape, I am going to make sure that you can never give anyone my name again.” <br><br>I heard a crack, and I was hit with a flash of intense pain. <br><br>And everything went black.