sabrina's+imaginary+friend

IMAGINARY FRIEND

Hazy, morning light streamed into the dark, damp corner and brightened up the place. It lands softly on the rarely-swept, dirty floor. Birds outside chirped loudly, waking up the rotten-bearded, bent man, who was sleeping in a twisted position on the edges of the rectangular room. He opened one eye sleepily, trying to make out where he was. When he still hasn't remembered yet, he then asked to his friend, Jake, "Jake, man. Where is this?"

Silence hounded the air, but then the man, named Geist, nodded his head impatiently, as if he were hearing something that others can't. Lazily, Geist shouted, "No! I'm awake!"

Another moment of silence, but Geist was twitching in his seat, expectant, as if he were hearing an answer. And, suddenly, he jumped up, his eyes bulged and his jaw dropping. Finally, he whispered disbelievingly. "Wait a moment. Are you saying that I'm...behind bars!?" He couldn't believe it, and he was sure this was a crossed wire. An innocent man like him just can't be under arrest!

The air swiveled and turned, the dark place empty and hollow with the exception of Geist, who was now in shock. "H-How did it happen!? I don't believe you!" A long silence filled the air, and Geist kept on looking at the other corner of the room, demanding more explanation. He was quiet for a moment, swallowing everything Jake, who wasn't really there, was saying. All of a sudden, Geist raised one finger and pointed to the empty corner, and shouted, "NO! That wasn't true! I didn't do that, and I would NEVER murder anybody! I'm INNOCENT! INNOCENT! Do you hear me!? I'M. INNOCENT!" He swiftly turned to the great, metal bars and clinged to it, crying out, "Guard! GUARD! GUARDS! Come here!"

Nothing happened. The air was silence. Outside, in the hallways where the guards were guarding, nobody made a move. They all knew Geist was lunatic, crazy and out of his mind. Once, they had all trampled into the tiny room, squashing in to fit, and had surveyed the room - Geist had called them for help - but found the limp man snoring off in the corner, forgetting that he had called the security. They had all grumbled and filed out of the room loudly, accompanied by many grunts of frustation and some shouts of madness, but mostly there was a lot of annoyed comments made to the Head Officer, who had ordered them to just stay put if Geist would have called again.

"Where ARE the guards!?" Geist mumbled under his breath. His head swiveled again to the same, familiar corner, as if staring at something while that something explained.

"NO! That can't be true! It's false! I don't remember doing any of this! I was put here of INJUSTICE! I didn't do anything wrong, Jake! Won't you believe me for once in a while!? I thought you were my FRIEND! You could have-" His sentence was cut off as a bang on the steel door resounded across the shallow room.

"Keep it down, boy! Eat your food and shut your mouth," a guard ordered curtly, knowing that Geist would still shout and scream whenever he want to and that his order was like a whisper - unheard and unnoticed. Guarding Geist was one of the hardest thing to do. Geist would never follow the orders, he would bang the bars, he would sometimes try to escape through the glass window located high above the brick wall - God knows how he had managed to climb twenty feet without any ladder, rope or chairs stacked together -, he would throw up his food whenever he felt like doing it and wherever he wanted to, and most annoying of all : Geist never could shut up. Either he would be singing some weird Africa song, sobbing loudly while slouching on the floor, reciting poems that no one had ever heard of - and were most likely that he made them up himself, since he was under arrest for life, so he had many time to kill - and the weirdest of the weirdest: he seems to always be talking to himself. This always happened during daytime and the evening - on late at nights were the scheduled time for the ones behind bars to close their eyes and sleep. And sleeping doesn't even shut Geist up. He snored in his sleep, and is a sleep-talker, meaning he talks in his sleep. Sometimes, if he had nightmares, he would scream his head off.

Now, Geist staggered to the little gap between the bars and the floor and pulled his breakfast - a slice of apple that looked like it was kept in the fridge for months, and a glass of orange juice, which was looking a bit red and not like orange at all. Still, that was what you can get - and it was better than having no food. After gobbling up his breakfast in a matter of minutes, Geist continued to hang on to the bars and scream, "Guards, come over here NOW!"

Finally, the door was banged open, and a guard came in, holding a gun. Geist didn't contrast in shock, but he was shivering. "What?" the guard snapped. "Make it quick."

"I'm innocent! Let me out of here! Zayne was the one who did it, not me! So get me the hell out of here! I'M INNOCENT! Trust me! Zayne murdered the people, not me! I didn't do any of it at all. I couldn't-" Geist pleaded, but was cut off by the guard, who raised his gun right infront of Geist's forehead.

"Keep quiet or I'll shoot you," threatened the guard. Geist screamed," But I'm innocent! You HAVE to believe me! You have to! You have to!! YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE!!"

The guard tensed up, and started to load the gun, and once again brought it up nearer to Geist....