Forgotten Dreams of Eternity: Lost Odyssey: Thousand Years of Dreams

(Short Story -VIII.) *They Live in Shells*

"So get a hold of yourself, sonny. Don't let the darkness swallow you up. Close your eyes and imagine nice scenery from the outside, the bigger the better: the ocean, or the sky, or some huge field of grass. Remember! Imagine! that's the only way to survive this place."

This was the advice he always gave to the newcomers.

But the young man screamed tearfully.

"Who the hell do you think you're kidding? Survive this place? And then what? I know what this place is. 'No exit' prison! They throw the lifers in here, give them just enough food to keep them alive, and in the end they kick the bucket anyway-Am I right? There's nothing left to hope for."

His shouts turn to sobs again.

This is the reaction of most of the newcomers.

Nor are they mistaken. This is a prison. Each of the "shells" is a solitary cell with bars, and the sun shines on a prisoner only on the day of his funeral...

"Everybody dies, sonny, that's for sure. You just cant let your mind go before your body does. Hope doesn't have to fade unless you throw it out yourself," the old man goes on softly.

Then he adds with feeling, "This system we live under can't last much longer, either."

The old man is a political prisoner. As leader of the anti-government faction, he long resisted the dictatorship until he finally lost the struggle and was imprisoned.

The young man has no ears for the old man's words, however, he continues thrashing on the floor and crying.

This fellow won't be in his shell much longer than his predecessor. In a few days, or in less than a month at best, he will go to pieces.

The darkness is that powerful. Depriving a prisoner of light is far crueler than taking his life in an instant.

"My my," the old man reflects, "This fellow's not going to do us much good in a prison break."

The old revolutionary laughs, it might be a genuine laugh of a bold front, but in any case almost no one laughs in response.

Tomorrow morning-or rather, since there is no clear-cut "morning" in the darkness-after they go to sleep, wake up and have their next meal, another cold corpse will be dragged out wordlessly from another shell.

"Hey, listen. How many of us are here now?" the old revolutionary asks. "Answer if you can hear me!"

"I can hear you," Kaim says.

His is the only voice.

"Man, this is bad, we were full up a little while ago."

The old man gives a dry chuckle.

Kaim asks, I wonder if something's happened out there."

"Maybe so," answers the old revolutionary.

"If you ask me, this would be about the right time for a coup d'etat or a revolution."

"My 'boys' aren't going to keep quiet much longer..."

"Uh, what was your name again? Kaim? Have you noticed what's happening? How there used to be a lot more guys getting thrown in here until a little while ago, and most of them real nobodies, not worth sentencing to life?"

"Uh-huh, sure..."

The young man was one of them-nothing but a small-time crook. It just so happened that the storehouse he broke into belonged to a rich man with ties to a powerful politician. this was the only reason they put him in a shell.