Dawn

One more sunrise...

There is an incessant dripping coming from some corner of this desolate hole. I'm currently sitting on what would appear to be dry grass strewn sparsely across stone. The space is limited, a few feet wide and a few feet across. I brush my hand against the wall, feeling the softness of the moss, reminding me of how cool, dewey grass used to feel in the morning. A small, barred window above my head lets in soft, pale light. This light reminds me of the moon, but I'm never quite sure of the time of day down here. My wrists are bruised, bloody and scabbed from my attempts to see out of the window, to see if the world has changed without me in it. I stopped trying not too long ago; I'm pretty sure that the my left wrist is broken from straining against the manacles.

The light from the window is changing color, getting brighter. I suppose it must be morning. I lean against the wall, directly under the window, and watch the light travel down the wooden door in front of me. There is a small hole near the top, and sometimes I can see a guard pass by. Before I had fallen asleep last I overheard some of them talking. They were saying something about an execution that would take place the next day. This is not all that uncommon, but I wonder who the sorry fellow is anyway. 

As light travels farther down the door, I can hear my fellow inmates awakening, most with groans of pain and discomfort. Someone complains of aching wrists. Another complains of an aching head. Another complains of an aching stomach. Some of the complaints I would rather not think about.

When the light reaches about halfway down the door, I hear the sound of a key turning a lock. My door opens to reveal one of the guards.

"You know why I'm here," he says. My foggy brain takes a moment to puzzle, but realization soon dawns on me. I suppose I won't have to feel sorry for any other fellow but myself, today. I am detached from the wall, still with the manacles on my wrists, and the guard helps me up. I try to see out my little window, but the guard pushes me ahead of him, blocking my view.

"Get moving," he grunts, pushing me out of my temporary home and down the right side of the corridor. As we walk, I take note of the worn stone beneath my bare feet, the stone of the walls at my sides, and the stone of the ceiling over my head. We pass many doors on my left and my right, all similar to my own. The only lighting comes from lamps hung on the walls, each about ten doors from another. 

As we pass, I count the lamps. After passing the seventeenth lamp, the guard grasps my shoulder, pushing me to a door on my right. It looks the same as all of the others, but when I open it, I find a staircase in the stead of another cell.

"Up," I am told, and up I go. I cannot resist counting every step I take, as I used to do as a child. The guard and I wind around and around, up and up until the twenty fourth step, where the staircase ends with yet another hallway. This one is better lit, and there are no doors. We walk this hall for some time until coming to a door at the end.

"Ready?" the guard asks.

"No," is my reply. He nods and nudges me aside as he unlocks the door. As he opens it, light pours through. I step into it, feeling the warmth of the sunlight streaming over me. I close my eyes, blinded, and I revel in what I now know as the first sunrise I have seen in a long time. 

I open my eyes and I see the scaffold, knowing also that this sunrise is my last.

Author's Note

The challenge was to involve "sunlight", so I naturally needed something to oppose sunlight and happiness and all things nice and fluffy.
I tried to make the ending both expected and a shock at the same time.
Tell me what you think!
I like comments! :)

Reviews

[Marissa89]

As an optimist I couldn't help but hope for a twist where the character was given freedom at the very end. You definitely succeeded in creating a suspensful, intriguing short story. Your descriptive details made it entirely possible for me to place myself into that world and actually visualize everything as if I was there. I loved it.

[DuttonJ]

Wow, thanks. You totally got what I was going for.
In most of my work, I like to make the setting and events vivid, while description of the character I keep vague, making it easier for the reader to imagine themselves as the main character. I'm so glad you got what I was going for.
Thanks for the review!

[Marie]

I think the story is very good. I like the idea that you took something as positive as sunlight and made it dark and dreary.

Yes. the baby is adorable. I wonder what it's listening to?

[DuttonJ]

The caption got cut off, but it says, "Gimme the beat boys, to free my soul..."
Anyone could jam to that. :)
Thanks for the review!

[vaishnavi]

hey who is this cute baby on the picture wearing headphone

by the way i like this story, it is based on freedom and we need freedom :)

[DuttonJ]

I don't know who the baby is, I just saw that picture online one day. So adorable, right? :)

Um, I think you missed the point. This story isn't really about freedom, unless you mean freedom through death. At the end, the character sees the scaffold, which reminds him that he is about to be executed. A scaffold is a raised wooden platform of any kind, but the word itself used to mainly refer to the platform a gallows or a guillotine would stand on.

I meant to say through this short story that fate, at times, is unavoidable, but you are welcome to interpret in any way you like.

I'm glad you liked it, even if you didn't exactly get the message I was trying to send out. :)

[vaishnavi]

oh yes i missed it ill read it again thx