to think of the presents he would buy, the crunch of his boots on the untouched snow and the revitalising cold of the winter. Within the darkness of the room, his body seemed to glow with the vitality that these expectations brought him; the rarity of these emotions during his seven-year incarceration accentuated the experience. He was interrupted, at that moment, by the doctor who would be undertaking the medical check. Two watery eyes looked at the inmate, magnified by the worn yellow-rimmed spectacles perched halfway down his nose. The sinews of the doctor’s face moved with the appearance of life, but life seemed quite gone; no animation crept from his harsh lips,which were bent mysteriously into a shape resembling a smile.He gestured with a single, callous hand towards the door of the room where the tests would be carried out. Two cream plastic gloves were methodically donned and he started to wring his two hands together.The doctor then murmured incomprehensibly as he approached the inmate – who now lay on a bed covered in plastic – and placed a needle in each of his forearms. As the needles were inserted, the inmate looked out of the window.The outside was barely perceptible, covered by the dense blackness of night, and his view was restricted further by the three black, metal bars which characterised every window of the prison. The doctor’s black shoes squeaked slightly on the floor as he moved over to a monitor possessing a number of dials and switches. His hand seemed to shake, much like a leaf before a strong wind, as he raised it and stretched out his finger towards the monitor. Lying on the bed, the inmate allowed himself to close his eyes and extinguish the unyielding lights on the ceiling. He allowed dreams to enter behind his closed eyes, and bring his mind once more to the outside. He thought of his autonomy as he left his school gates - forever. The sadness when his dog fell asleep -
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