A prisoner awoke in his cell to find the door open.
“Hello?” he called, sticking his head through the doorway, looking first left, then right. Not a guard in sight.
The prisoner grinned and put a foot past the threshold. Then the other.
“AHA!” he cried. Free at last.
The prisoner ran past cell after identical cell, down the hall towards exit. He burst outdoors & blinked in the sun, hot. Smiling at it he paced forward. Then paused.
Where is everybody?
“Something’s strange. Perhaps it’s a trick. Suppose I should check the prison before I go.”
The prisoner sneaked back in the reception area, looking around. Not a man in sight! He retraced his steps down the hall, past all the cells & found each one open & empty! How long had the prison been this way?
His surprise was broken by a sound: echoing laughter down the hall.
Padding toward the sound, the prisoner crooked his head around the corner. The recreation area, full of tables, full of prisoners, sitting around a game of cards.
Still, not a guard in sight.
One man looked up.
“Oh, hey 621. I was wondering when you’d catch on & leave your cell.”
Prisoner 621 blinked. “Catch on? What do you mean? Where are the guards?”
The man’d returned his eyes to the card game. “Guards? There were never any guards.”
621: “Then what was I doing in the cell?”
Man: “I don’t know. The door was unlocked the whole time.”
621: “W-what?”
Cards shuffled, prisoners received their hands. Tense faces regarded the lay of the table.
“There’s no way it was unlocked.”
“Did you ever check the door?”
“….. No.”
Dealer flopped three. Then one, two folded. Then one. Final call. One man shouted triumph, the rest groaned.
The friendly prisoner was among the groaners. He turned to 621, asking: “How long were you in there?”
621 rubbed his beard. “I don’t know… long’s I can remember.”
“What changed so you figured out how to leave your cell?”
621: “Nothing. I just woke up today & it was open.”
Prisoner: “Yeah. That happens sometimes. 79 over there” 79 waved, “just opened the door immediately. He was the first one out. 2981 over there” 2981 grunted, “didn’t figure out he could just open the door until reading like 727 b-“ 2981 grunted again “excuse me 728 books. Then he thought to try.”
The dealer dealt again. Brows furrowed. The friendly prisoner folded immediately.
621: “Well why are you all still here?”
A couple prisoners snorted. One looked up with a grimace & returned his eyes to his hand.
Friendly: “A few did, actually. Some get up, walk out & never come back.”
621: “Why not the rest of you?”
Friendly: “798 over there did & came right back. So did 349, 8972, 3694, 91-”
621: “Why? What’s out there that made y’all WANT to stay in this fucking box?”
Friendly: “Well, I wouldn’t really know. But the guys who came back all say it sucks. S’why I never left.”
Final call. Cards flop, the same groans, a shout of triumph. Cycle repeats.
Friendly: “They say it’s hard to make it out there. You have to go out & make sense of absolute chaos. No rules, or the rules about are unpredictable. Sometimes there are stated rules, & also other rules that you’ve just kinda gotta… figure out. There are books on them too, but most of them contradict each other. Nothing is certain.”
Prisoners received their new hands. Brows furrowed.
621: “So you just sit here & play cards?”
Friendly: “Yeah. Kitchen’s always stocked. Headache meds are on hand. 89 can brew hooch. And here’s a game where everyone knows the rules. No questions that time won’t answer, you know?”
621: “Yeah. I guess. This is fucking boring. I’m going out.”
A couple prisoners looked up.
Friendly: “See you later!”
621: “No you won’t.”
Prisoner 621 made his way outside. He gazed up. The sun was bright & hot. He made his way through the front gate. There was no bus stop. A road cut close to the prison, but passing vehicles refused to stop. They looked strange.
621 muttered: “This isn’t like I thought.”
He became hungry, thirsty. Sweat dripped from his brow.
After an hour’s journey up the road with his thumb out, 621 walked a second hour back to the comfortable confines of the prison. Friendly looked up.
“He returns!”
621: “Not forever! I just need to make a plan.”
Friendly: “Well, pull up a chair. Want a glass of pruno?”
621: “… yeah, actually. Just until I make a plan. I won’t get too comfy.”
Friendly: “Alright, sure. Want 16 to teach you the rules?”
621: “Why not? A man has to do something with his hands while he drinks!”
621 settled in for the game.
18 rounds passed. 37 rounds passed. 127 rounds passed. 621 lost track of how many rounds passed.
A bleary-eyed man padded into the game room from a corridor.
“AH!” Friendly exclaimed. “567! I was wondering when you’d catch on & leave the cell.”
