As Max lay awake in his cell he could not help but wonder where he had been the last time he was lying awake. It was only weeks ago the he was in his home thinking about how badly he wanted to leave everything to start over. He thought about how much he was willing to give up for another life. He thought about his mother and his young sister and about how much he would miss them. He knew that no matter how bad he wanted it he could not leave them with a clean conscience, but after years and years max had had enough. It was his turn to live life. He stood up, and began tip-toeing to the door, first stepping over his sister who was curled up in her sleeping bag then around his mother who was lying on the cot. As he passed through the door, he turned around and took one last look at his mother and sister then left for good. And so, with no destination other than away from home, he began to walk.
After several hours of walking and being passed by cars that refused to pick up max, he decided that the bridge would make a sufficient shelter for the night. He ran across the road when he saw that the road was clear then jumped the short metal fence and slid down the slope to the underside of the bridge. Max passed by many homeless men and women as he looked for an open spot in the filth. He had prepared himself for the dirt and homeless and even the piles of garbage, however he had not prepared himself for what came next. As he began to sit on what appeared to be a comfortable pile of blankets, he noticed a foot sticking out from under the pile. It was too late to stop himself he was already falling back, all he could hope is that the man under the blanket would not take offence. He was not so lucky.
As soon as max made contact, the man threw max and the blankets off. The gigantic man stood up looking for the person responsible for waking him. He saw half of max’s body sticking out from under the now scattered pile of blankets. He hoped that one of the others would intervene but none of them did. Then the huge man reached for the beer bottle he had been sleeping with and smashed max on the head. The last thing max saw before everything went black was a man in some kind of uniform pulling the huge man off of max.
When max woke up the next morning, the giant was lying next to him. Max stood up and tried to walk away from the man but noticed that he had left his bag on the other side of the incapacitated homeless man. Max tried to walk as softly as he could be when he reached across to get his bag he slipped and fell right on top of the giant! But the man did not move. Max poked him out of curiosity but there was still no movement in the man’s body. Then max saw the puddle of dried blood. The man was dead.
All of the sudden Max heard police sirens and began to run! But there was no hope he was surrounded. The police captured him with little difficulty and took him to the police station. Although max denied every accusation they threw at him, the police still decided it was best to keep him in.
One week later max was convicted of the brutal murder of John Wilson and sentenced to life in prison. Max’s thoughts shifted from past to present. His roommate turned from facing the wall and asked max the question every man who has ever been sent to prison has been asked. “Are you guilty?”