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Description
Chapter 4
I managed to run through several blocks all in a full sprint before I finally slowed in front of one of the bigger hotels in the area. I let the girl off my back as I caught my breath but kept moving off the main street and into the alleyway.
"I think we lost them," I said, still breathing heavily.
"I hope so," was the girl's response as she sat herself down on a trash bin. She looked just as winded as I was and all she had to do was hold on.
All that running took a lot out of me. But now that I had time I felt like I had to get answers. Figured I might as well ask the bigger questions in my head. "Were you the one watching me last night?"
The question surprised her and she looked up at me before looking away. "Yes. How did you know?"
"That's what I was hoping you'd be able to tell me. I get these weird sensations whenever I pass by your house or whatever. And I used that to find you when you were hiding in the store. Care to explain?"
"I... I don't know? I was scared and I was hiding. That's all." she responded with a look of genuine confusion. Great. No real answer.
"Well then how the hell did you know I was a Dark mage? Not even my parents know and I haven't even bothered with it since I found out about it like... almost ten years ago!"
She seemed to struggle for an explanation but her answer was the same. "I don't know. I just knew you were one of us. I was able to sense the Dark element within you and figured it was best if we both worked together to-"
"I am NOT one of you. Do NOT associate me with those criminals."
She looked quite offended by what I said and the girl frowned at me, crossing her arms at me as if I just took the last cookie from the jar. "Do I look like a criminal to you?"
"I'm sorry, how old are you?"
"Eight."
"You aren't talking like an eight-year-old," I said, cocking an eyebrow.
"That doesn't matter. You're like the rest of us Dark Magi."
"No I am not. I'm just a normal person! I'm not a murderer or a thief or... or a-"
"The same goes for the majority of those captured by the authorities. They were wronged. We have to get out of here or else we'll suffer the same fate."
Was she being serious? Just get up and leave? What about the barrier over every district? "I can't! I have my family, my friends... What about them?"
"What about them? Your Gifted friend didn't seem too happy about what you were doing."
She was right. But where do I go from here? I couldn't just leave, not without saying goodbye to my parents at least. This was happening way too fast. And now I can hear sirens again.
"Come on. We gotta keep moving," I said, offering her to get on my back again.
"Good evening, Donny," I heard someone call out at the other end of the alleyway. It was a voice that I've naturally grown to dread and when I turned to look, I saw just the guy I didn't want to run into: Dmitri Teller, Lucas' older brother. He was a man in his late 20s. 28 I believe. He had flowing blond hair and deep blue eyes, just like his little brother and was just a little bit taller. He was the youngest Lieutenant of the Emperor's 1st Cavalry Division. I didn't know what the hell that meant but I've never seen him ride a horse around as the name suggests. He was wearing his military officer's uniform: a white coat and pants with green and gold trimmings. The emblem of his division hung off the right shoulder and badges of honor flashed brilliantly under the alleyway light as he walked under it. He was unarmed save for his decorative saber at his side—at least I hoped it was a decorative piece.
"Hey," I replied, standing up and taking a step back, away from him, "What brings you here?" I'm not going to lie: if there's anything wrong with Lucas's family, it was his brother. He wasn't a Gifted or anything—no, he earned his rank for his performance on the field about two years back, I think. Didn't pay too much attention to it. Regardless, I didn't like the guy because he was a supremacist asshole.
"I'm overseeing tomorrow's transfer procedure and I thought while I was around Clinton I might as well take a stroll in my home district. And what about you, Donny? What are you doing carrying a Dark mage? Never expected an EV like yourself to stoop that low." As he spoke I heard the rumble of another engine behind us. A police car had arrived at the scene, blocking my only other exit out of the alleyway. Dmitri continued on, getting ever closer to us as two officers approached us from behind with guns drawn. "Or maybe you're no longer an EV. Police chatter said there were two Darks here and yet I only see one. Is there something you're not telling me, Donny? Is there something I should know?" A smirk was slowly creeping up on his face as he stood only a few feet away from us now.
I held my tongue. He already knew, it was obvious. But why was he trying to get me to admit it? I looked around for another escape route and saw the fire escape.
"I don't think so," Dmitri replied. With a wave of his hand a ball of light gathered from what little light source there was around us was formed. It flashed and two tall barriers were created: one directly behind me and one behind Dmitri, effectively blocking us in.
"Dmitri... I don't want any trouble," I said, shaking my head and backing up against the barrier. I then remembered the girl was still on my back so I set her down.
"Oh, but where's the fun in that? You're a Dark mage, Donny. Where you're going, you're never coming back. At least try to put up a fight. I'll be your opponent. I'll even let you make the first move." He beckoned me over and as much as I hated to admit it, it seemed he was right.
But what could I do? All I knew was the night spell.
"Be careful," the little girl whispered. It didn't exactly help build any confidence.
No turning back now. I reached into my mind again, searching for that pool of energy and pulled it out, letting it flow out of my mind as it absorbed the light around us. The last thing I saw was Dmitri's smirk before it disappeared in absolute darkness.
He was straight ahead. I knew that. But I had no means of seeing him. I didn't know any other spell that would assist me in finding him so I merely followed my gut and assumed he was still standing there waiting. Then there came a soft glow where Dmitri stood. It was faint, like a lantern in a thick fog, giving me a clear idea of where to attack. But he was obviously taunting me. Still, I had to move.
I advanced on the light, stepping off to his right before flying in with both knees forward.
Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light and in that moment I saw him, right in front of me, that same grin on his face but eyes wild as he quickly drew the blade. I felt the blade contact me at my abdomen, climbing upward towards my left shoulder. He followed through with the single strike by avoiding me all together and I hit the pavement hard, clutching the giant wound on my chest. The energy of the night spell dissipated and I could see him standing over me, wiping the bloody blade with a handkerchief before sheathing it.
I was stuck clutching the wound as if tugging it apart would literally peel me like a banana.
"Pathetic," he said, taking down the barriers with a wave of his hand before turning to leave. "I'll leave the rest to you, Luke. Clean this up, will you?"
I didn't understand what he was saying due to the pain but I was soon staring up at my friend, Lucas, who was at my side looking at me as if he were about to cry.
"Luke..." I mumbled, "Help."
He hesitated for a moment. It wasn't a pause for panic. Instead it was a moment of reluctance that seemed to burn more than the bloody wound across my chest. Finally the warm glow in his hands began to run over the cut. Getting healed wasn't exactly an enjoyable experience—as skin mended and nerves were reattached, it was like experiencing the injury all over again before the warm feeling of being fully restored would finally wash over. It took only a minute to mend the cut into a giant scar and when all was taken care of he stood but didn't offer me a hand up like earlier today. He simply walked away.
The police hoisted me up. I didn't resist nor did the little girl. I simply watched as the distance between Luke and I grew. He took a seat in his brothers car and didn't bother looking back. And that was the last I saw of Lucas before the patrol car took us away.

* * *
The next few hours consisted of a lot of sitting around, standing, taking pictures, questioning, and by around three in the morning, I think, we were given our prison garbs: a brown linen with our numbers on the back. I was 479 and the girl was 480. I learned the girl's name was Evelyn Davis and she had her powers since as long as she could remember. Her parents had no idea and events that transpired yesterday led to a neighbor finding out Evelyn was using Dark magic. The questioning was rather rushed. They seemed easily convinced by our answers and rushed us to our own cell before they left to finish their paperwork.
The entire time, Evelyn and I had our hands bound in front of us with a special set of cuffs that clamped tightly around our arms. There were several needles on the inside of the cuffs and I could feel them digging into my skin when the bindings were tightened around my forearms.
The officer who fastened the cuffs warned us of a special mechanism that detected the use of magical energy in the body. Using magic would trigger the bindings to inject a poison into our bloodstream that would cause immense pain and paralyze our bodies long enough for someone to provide the antidote.
Neither of us said anything outside the questioning and it wasn't until the lock in our cell clanged shut and we were sitting there in the dark did I finally hear the soft sniffles coming from Evelyn. She was sitting next to me on the hard bed and I couldn't help but put my arms around her to comfort her. She was a little kid, after all. It just didn't seem right for her to be locked up in a cell like this.
"We'll be okay," I whispered, "We'll be okay..."

* * *
We didn't sleep that night. In fact, only a few hours passed before light started filtering in through the small barred window in our cell. Evelyn wasn't looking too good either. Since the lockdown, she had started a coughing fit that I'm sure woke up a lot of the unseen prisoners in the cell block. One even told her to shut up after a flurry of obscenities. That was when the lights came on and I finally got a chance to view the rest of the cell block. There were four levels with each level lined with what looked like over fifty cells on either side of the walkways. It hadn't occurred to me just how packed this place was until the lights came on. Each cell held two or three other people of all shapes and sizes and every one of them looked like a ragged mess dressed in their brown linen uniforms.
My cell was right next to the entrance and we were met with an ear-shattering buzz as the entrance to the cell block opened and Dmitri walked in with several other prison guards.
"Good morning," he shouted. It was so quiet in the cell block that you could hear his voice echo three times over. He began walking down the block, looking over each of us, his attention stopping at me for a moment as a grin crossed his lips. "My name is Dmitri Teller. When on active duty I server as the  2nd Lieutenant of the Emperor's 1st Air Cavalry Division. During times of inactivity I oversee the safe transfer of thousands of magi just like you out of our country to prevent your kind from multiplying. I have come to you all today because today marks that special bi-annual event for our capital city. You heard me correct, everyone: today, you're being shipped out of our capital."
"Where are you taking us?" someone asked in a cell out of my view. "Surely not to our deaths!"
Dmitri chuckled. "Please. You should know by now: our country does not condone any acts of torture or violence to our prisoners. We're above that. Your trip will be a safe one. I can promise that."
The room began to fill with whispers as the first cell was unlocked by one of the wardens and they were lead out as the next set of cells were unlocked. Eventually we all began forming a single line out of the block. I made sure to keep Eve with me the entire time and she did the same for me, holding on to my arm as we walked through checkpoint after checkpoint down long halls and out towards the back of the complex where a train six-cars long was being loaded with prisoners.
There really was no room for escape for anyone. The path that lead us to the exit was lined with prison guards each carrying a riot shotgun. Every single one of these guards looked mean, some going as far as pointing the shotguns directly at us as we walked past.
When we reached the platform, it was finally hitting me: I'm never returning home. This revelation seemed to hit Evelyn as well as she started to cry again. I joined her as I couldn't hold back the feeling of losing everything. And for what? Because I wanted to save a helpless little girl? This was unfair for either of us and—I realized as I looked around—probably the majority of the prisoners here.
The loading process was slow as each prisoner had to be recorded and assigned a seat. Evelyn and I were assigned to the second car. The aisle that ran down the length of the car was wide enough to fit two people walking side-by-side easily and there were two incredibly long steel benches that ran from one end to the other. We were place in the very middle, squished between two strangers who looked just as miserable as us, if not more so.
Each car had two guards heavily geared in black and white riot armor. The armor was bulky and took up most of the aisle. A arm-mounted machine pistols was permanently fused to the armor's right arm to keep prisoners from seizing the weapon for themselves and the left was basically a heavy fist that probably did a good job at cracking skulls when the moment called for it. Each piece of armor looked incredibly thick and could probably stop a bullet no problem and the helmet was this black bowling ball of a headpiece that emitted a red glow from the single eye slit. They looked like something out of a sci-fi film. It seemed a little overkill for them to have this much armor especially since we were unarmed and bound to these cuffs that would kill us if we tried to use magic.
Another hour passed before the train started to move. Everything felt surreal to me at this point. I couldn't believe I was leaving my home town as a prisoner. I didn't know where I was going, I didn't know what life was going to be like after the trip  and as I saw the train pass through the barrier I felt that tug in my chest that made me just want to break down and cry. Some people did and the entire car had this air of helplessness that carried through the silence, broken only by Evelyn going through another coughing fit. No one said a thing save for the armored guards communicating to one another through their radios and they spent most of their time looking out the doors towards the other cars instead of at us.
It was more towards noon when I was finally beginning to drift off into slumber when the guy next to me nudged me awake. Evelyn had fallen asleep and I decided to take a quick look out the window. It looked like we were traveling southward along the eastern shore of our country.
A nudge again and I finally look up at the man next to me. He was a big man. A fat man, but beefy. Perhaps with more beef than fat. He had a shaved head, a goatee and this insane look on his face. Not exactly insane but his eyes were wide and they darted around from person to person as he nudged me again.
"What?" I asked in a whisper. He adjusted his arms and I saw the cuffs were hanging loosely around his wrists, the lock disengaged. And suddenly, I too, was more alert as he extended his hands, keeping the illusion of being bound,  and dropped a key in mine.
"Use it. Pass it on," he said. How he got the key was beyond me but looking down the aisle, I saw the rest of the prisoners past my neighbor had their cuffs unlocked as well.
The task was a lot more difficult than it seems. My arms were locked together in such a way that balling up my fists with palms facing down would have each fist sit comfortably next to each other. The lock was on the left such that disengaging it would cause the cuffs to open like a book from left to right. How the hell was I going to reach that without being spotted? Trying to readjust my arms only made the needles inside the cuffs dig into my skin, causing annoyingly small but growing amounts of pain as I tried to struggle with the key. And whenever one of the guards passed by I had to hide it, resetting all my efforts.
Finally, after using my leg to align the key and push it in, I managed to turn the lock. The feeling of the cuffs loosening around my arm was perhaps one of the most liberating yet frightening experiences I've ever felt. I bet if the guards saw my cuffs were unlocked I'd be shot on sight. I hoped not.

Description
Chapter 4
I managed to run through several blocks all in a full sprint before I finally slowed in front of one of the bigger hotels in the area. I let the girl off my back as I caught my breath but kept moving off the main street and into the alleyway.
"I think we lost them," I said, still breathing heavily.
"I hope so," was the girl's response as she sat herself down on a trash bin. She looked just as winded as I was and all she had to do was hold on.
All that running took a lot out of me. But now that I had time I felt like I had to get answers. Figured I might as well ask the bigger questions in my head. "Were you the one watching me last night?"
The question surprised her and she looked up at me before looking away. "Yes. How did you know?"
"That's what I was hoping you'd be able to tell me. I get these weird sensations whenever I pass by your house or whatever. And I used that to find you when you were hiding in the store. Care to explain?"
"I... I don't know? I was scared and I was hiding. That's all." she responded with a look of genuine confusion. Great. No real answer.
"Well then how the hell did you know I was a Dark mage? Not even my parents know and I haven't even bothered with it since I found out about it like... almost ten years ago!"
She seemed to struggle for an explanation but her answer was the same. "I don't know. I just knew you were one of us. I was able to sense the Dark element within you and figured it was best if we both worked together to-"
"I am NOT one of you. Do NOT associate me with those criminals."
She looked quite offended by what I said and the girl frowned at me, crossing her arms at me as if I just took the last cookie from the jar. "Do I look like a criminal to you?"
"I'm sorry, how old are you?"
"Eight."
"You aren't talking like an eight-year-old," I said, cocking an eyebrow.
"That doesn't matter. You're like the rest of us Dark Magi."
"No I am not. I'm just a normal person! I'm not a murderer or a thief or... or a-"
"The same goes for the majority of those captured by the authorities. They were wronged. We have to get out of here or else we'll suffer the same fate."
Was she being serious? Just get up and leave? What about the barrier over every district? "I can't! I have my family, my friends... What about them?"
"What about them? Your Gifted friend didn't seem too happy about what you were doing."
She was right. But where do I go from here? I couldn't just leave, not without saying goodbye to my parents at least. This was happening way too fast. And now I can hear sirens again.
"Come on. We gotta keep moving," I said, offering her to get on my back again.
"Good evening, Donny," I heard someone call out at the other end of the alleyway. It was a voice that I've naturally grown to dread and when I turned to look, I saw just the guy I didn't want to run into: Dmitri Teller, Lucas' older brother. He was a man in his late 20s. 28 I believe. He had flowing blond hair and deep blue eyes, just like his little brother and was just a little bit taller. He was the youngest Lieutenant of the Emperor's 1st Cavalry Division. I didn't know what the hell that meant but I've never seen him ride a horse around as the name suggests. He was wearing his military officer's uniform: a white coat and pants with green and gold trimmings. The emblem of his division hung off the right shoulder and badges of honor flashed brilliantly under the alleyway light as he walked under it. He was unarmed save for his decorative saber at his side—at least I hoped it was a decorative piece.
"Hey," I replied, standing up and taking a step back, away from him, "What brings you here?" I'm not going to lie: if there's anything wrong with Lucas's family, it was his brother. He wasn't a Gifted or anything—no, he earned his rank for his performance on the field about two years back, I think. Didn't pay too much attention to it. Regardless, I didn't like the guy because he was a supremacist asshole.
"I'm overseeing tomorrow's transfer procedure and I thought while I was around Clinton I might as well take a stroll in my home district. And what about you, Donny? What are you doing carrying a Dark mage? Never expected an EV like yourself to stoop that low." As he spoke I heard the rumble of another engine behind us. A police car had arrived at the scene, blocking my only other exit out of the alleyway. Dmitri continued on, getting ever closer to us as two officers approached us from behind with guns drawn. "Or maybe you're no longer an EV. Police chatter said there were two Darks here and yet I only see one. Is there something you're not telling me, Donny? Is there something I should know?" A smirk was slowly creeping up on his face as he stood only a few feet away from us now.
I held my tongue. He already knew, it was obvious. But why was he trying to get me to admit it? I looked around for another escape route and saw the fire escape.
"I don't think so," Dmitri replied. With a wave of his hand a ball of light gathered from what little light source there was around us was formed. It flashed and two tall barriers were created: one directly behind me and one behind Dmitri, effectively blocking us in.
"Dmitri... I don't want any trouble," I said, shaking my head and backing up against the barrier. I then remembered the girl was still on my back so I set her down.
"Oh, but where's the fun in that? You're a Dark mage, Donny. Where you're going, you're never coming back. At least try to put up a fight. I'll be your opponent. I'll even let you make the first move." He beckoned me over and as much as I hated to admit it, it seemed he was right.
But what could I do? All I knew was the night spell.
"Be careful," the little girl whispered. It didn't exactly help build any confidence.
No turning back now. I reached into my mind again, searching for that pool of energy and pulled it out, letting it flow out of my mind as it absorbed the light around us. The last thing I saw was Dmitri's smirk before it disappeared in absolute darkness.
He was straight ahead. I knew that. But I had no means of seeing him. I didn't know any other spell that would assist me in finding him so I merely followed my gut and assumed he was still standing there waiting. Then there came a soft glow where Dmitri stood. It was faint, like a lantern in a thick fog, giving me a clear idea of where to attack. But he was obviously taunting me. Still, I had to move.
I advanced on the light, stepping off to his right before flying in with both knees forward.
Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light and in that moment I saw him, right in front of me, that same grin on his face but eyes wild as he quickly drew the blade. I felt the blade contact me at my abdomen, climbing upward towards my left shoulder. He followed through with the single strike by avoiding me all together and I hit the pavement hard, clutching the giant wound on my chest. The energy of the night spell dissipated and I could see him standing over me, wiping the bloody blade with a handkerchief before sheathing it.
I was stuck clutching the wound as if tugging it apart would literally peel me like a banana.
"Pathetic," he said, taking down the barriers with a wave of his hand before turning to leave. "I'll leave the rest to you, Luke. Clean this up, will you?"
I didn't understand what he was saying due to the pain but I was soon staring up at my friend, Lucas, who was at my side looking at me as if he were about to cry.
"Luke..." I mumbled, "Help."
He hesitated for a moment. It wasn't a pause for panic. Instead it was a moment of reluctance that seemed to burn more than the bloody wound across my chest. Finally the warm glow in his hands began to run over the cut. Getting healed wasn't exactly an enjoyable experience—as skin mended and nerves were reattached, it was like experiencing the injury all over again before the warm feeling of being fully restored would finally wash over. It took only a minute to mend the cut into a giant scar and when all was taken care of he stood but didn't offer me a hand up like earlier today. He simply walked away.
The police hoisted me up. I didn't resist nor did the little girl. I simply watched as the distance between Luke and I grew. He took a seat in his brothers car and didn't bother looking back. And that was the last I saw of Lucas before the patrol car took us away.

* * *
The next few hours consisted of a lot of sitting around, standing, taking pictures, questioning, and by around three in the morning, I think, we were given our prison garbs: a brown linen with our numbers on the back. I was 479 and the girl was 480. I learned the girl's name was Evelyn Davis and she had her powers since as long as she could remember. Her parents had no idea and events that transpired yesterday led to a neighbor finding out Evelyn was using Dark magic. The questioning was rather rushed. They seemed easily convinced by our answers and rushed us to our own cell before they left to finish their paperwork.
The entire time, Evelyn and I had our hands bound in front of us with a special set of cuffs that clamped tightly around our arms. There were several needles on the inside of the cuffs and I could feel them digging into my skin when the bindings were tightened around my forearms.
The officer who fastened the cuffs warned us of a special mechanism that detected the use of magical energy in the body. Using magic would trigger the bindings to inject a poison into our bloodstream that would cause immense pain and paralyze our bodies long enough for someone to provide the antidote.
Neither of us said anything outside the questioning and it wasn't until the lock in our cell clanged shut and we were sitting there in the dark did I finally hear the soft sniffles coming from Evelyn. She was sitting next to me on the hard bed and I couldn't help but put my arms around her to comfort her. She was a little kid, after all. It just didn't seem right for her to be locked up in a cell like this.
"We'll be okay," I whispered, "We'll be okay..."

* * *
We didn't sleep that night. In fact, only a few hours passed before light started filtering in through the small barred window in our cell. Evelyn wasn't looking too good either. Since the lockdown, she had started a coughing fit that I'm sure woke up a lot of the unseen prisoners in the cell block. One even told her to shut up after a flurry of obscenities. That was when the lights came on and I finally got a chance to view the rest of the cell block. There were four levels with each level lined with what looked like over fifty cells on either side of the walkways. It hadn't occurred to me just how packed this place was until the lights came on. Each cell held two or three other people of all shapes and sizes and every one of them looked like a ragged mess dressed in their brown linen uniforms.
My cell was right next to the entrance and we were met with an ear-shattering buzz as the entrance to the cell block opened and Dmitri walked in with several other prison guards.
"Good morning," he shouted. It was so quiet in the cell block that you could hear his voice echo three times over. He began walking down the block, looking over each of us, his attention stopping at me for a moment as a grin crossed his lips. "My name is Dmitri Teller. When on active duty I server as the  2nd Lieutenant of the Emperor's 1st Air Cavalry Division. During times of inactivity I oversee the safe transfer of thousands of magi just like you out of our country to prevent your kind from multiplying. I have come to you all today because today marks that special bi-annual event for our capital city. You heard me correct, everyone: today, you're being shipped out of our capital."
"Where are you taking us?" someone asked in a cell out of my view. "Surely not to our deaths!"
Dmitri chuckled. "Please. You should know by now: our country does not condone any acts of torture or violence to our prisoners. We're above that. Your trip will be a safe one. I can promise that."
The room began to fill with whispers as the first cell was unlocked by one of the wardens and they were lead out as the next set of cells were unlocked. Eventually we all began forming a single line out of the block. I made sure to keep Eve with me the entire time and she did the same for me, holding on to my arm as we walked through checkpoint after checkpoint down long halls and out towards the back of the complex where a train six-cars long was being loaded with prisoners.
There really was no room for escape for anyone. The path that lead us to the exit was lined with prison guards each carrying a riot shotgun. Every single one of these guards looked mean, some going as far as pointing the shotguns directly at us as we walked past.
When we reached the platform, it was finally hitting me: I'm never returning home. This revelation seemed to hit Evelyn as well as she started to cry again. I joined her as I couldn't hold back the feeling of losing everything. And for what? Because I wanted to save a helpless little girl? This was unfair for either of us and—I realized as I looked around—probably the majority of the prisoners here.
The loading process was slow as each prisoner had to be recorded and assigned a seat. Evelyn and I were assigned to the second car. The aisle that ran down the length of the car was wide enough to fit two people walking side-by-side easily and there were two incredibly long steel benches that ran from one end to the other. We were place in the very middle, squished between two strangers who looked just as miserable as us, if not more so.
Each car had two guards heavily geared in black and white riot armor. The armor was bulky and took up most of the aisle. A arm-mounted machine pistols was permanently fused to the armor's right arm to keep prisoners from seizing the weapon for themselves and the left was basically a heavy fist that probably did a good job at cracking skulls when the moment called for it. Each piece of armor looked incredibly thick and could probably stop a bullet no problem and the helmet was this black bowling ball of a headpiece that emitted a red glow from the single eye slit. They looked like something out of a sci-fi film. It seemed a little overkill for them to have this much armor especially since we were unarmed and bound to these cuffs that would kill us if we tried to use magic.
Another hour passed before the train started to move. Everything felt surreal to me at this point. I couldn't believe I was leaving my home town as a prisoner. I didn't know where I was going, I didn't know what life was going to be like after the trip  and as I saw the train pass through the barrier I felt that tug in my chest that made me just want to break down and cry. Some people did and the entire car had this air of helplessness that carried through the silence, broken only by Evelyn going through another coughing fit. No one said a thing save for the armored guards communicating to one another through their radios and they spent most of their time looking out the doors towards the other cars instead of at us.
It was more towards noon when I was finally beginning to drift off into slumber when the guy next to me nudged me awake. Evelyn had fallen asleep and I decided to take a quick look out the window. It looked like we were traveling southward along the eastern shore of our country.
A nudge again and I finally look up at the man next to me. He was a big man. A fat man, but beefy. Perhaps with more beef than fat. He had a shaved head, a goatee and this insane look on his face. Not exactly insane but his eyes were wide and they darted around from person to person as he nudged me again.
"What?" I asked in a whisper. He adjusted his arms and I saw the cuffs were hanging loosely around his wrists, the lock disengaged. And suddenly, I too, was more alert as he extended his hands, keeping the illusion of being bound,  and dropped a key in mine.
"Use it. Pass it on," he said. How he got the key was beyond me but looking down the aisle, I saw the rest of the prisoners past my neighbor had their cuffs unlocked as well.
The task was a lot more difficult than it seems. My arms were locked together in such a way that balling up my fists with palms facing down would have each fist sit comfortably next to each other. The lock was on the left such that disengaging it would cause the cuffs to open like a book from left to right. How the hell was I going to reach that without being spotted? Trying to readjust my arms only made the needles inside the cuffs dig into my skin, causing annoyingly small but growing amounts of pain as I tried to struggle with the key. And whenever one of the guards passed by I had to hide it, resetting all my efforts.
Finally, after using my leg to align the key and push it in, I managed to turn the lock. The feeling of the cuffs loosening around my arm was perhaps one of the most liberating yet frightening experiences I've ever felt. I bet if the guards saw my cuffs were unlocked I'd be shot on sight. I hoped not.