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Border Dimensions
I live in a small town. It used to be a great and vast city. But now it's just this town, a town that lives in fear. A long time ago something happened to our great and vast city. The Containing as most call it. A parallel universe collided with ours and now time and space are warped. Our town is contained by a huge fence that no one can see or dares to even touch. Because if you touch the fence,you will seize to exist in this town. You'll be gone. Maybe dead. Maybe still alive. No one knows where the fence takes you. No one wants to find out.
Zaythan Meers is my name. I was born long after the fence was created. All I've ever known is this small town and the people who live here. We struggle to survive and no one knows how we still exist giving our condition. "Zaythan Meers, I the Great Mayor of Valicree hereby find you guilty of the murder of Bex Alexander Rose. I sentence you to life in the Border State Prison." He slammed down his gavel the same time I jumped up in protest. "No!" I yell. "I'm not guilty, I would never kill her. I loved her." The guards grab my arms and I struggle to get free. "You monsters! This whole town is corrupt! YOUR CONVICTING THE WRONG MAN!" I break free from one guards grip and punch the other in the gut to get free. The crowd gasps in unison. The Great Mayor stands and points down to me. “Guards, Contain him!” He yells. I want to run, but I know it’s pointless. I give up. More guards grab me. I don’t resist. They handcuff me and drag me to the waiting car. I see only one face in the crowd. It’s a face that will haunt me the rest of my life. My mother stares at me from her seat in the crowd. No look of disappointment, or anger, or sadness. Nothing. Her face is completely blank. They throw me in the back of the police car and all I see is that blank face haunting me.
The drive to the border state prison is a long one. So long that the day turns to night and my eyes begin to droop. Just as I’m about to fall asleep one of the Mayor’s guards raps on the window. “Hey, Pretty boy, time to wake up! Welcome to your new home!” I look out the window at the Prison. It’s built 10 feet from the border. The back of the cells are completely open, daring prisoners to leap out onto the border and see where it will take them. In all the years the prison has been near the border, not one prisoner has ever jumped. They open my door and drag me out. The guard that I punched in the gut gives me a good punch to the jaw that almost knocks me out. “That’s what you get you filthy Murderer.” He says to me before handing me over to the new guards. I walk with them through the prison. The prisoners yell at me. None of them scream words of welcoming or kindness. “ZAYTHAN! ZAYTHAN! YOUR FAMOUS ZAYTHAN!” They yell. I’m the first person that’s ever been convicted of killing a little girl. It’s been the biggest news around town. It’s all anyone’s talked about. I ignore them. When we get to my cell, my new guards shove me along with a nice new black jumpsuit and black shoes. They shut the steel doors. The doors have a small window with 5 bars covering it. I sigh as I look down at my clothes. “Listen You filthy rat, we’ll be back in five minutes to confiscate the clothes you got on now. So change quickly and no funny business, you got that?” They leave and for once everything is quiet. I Turn around to stare at the glass wall. A small door way is cut into the wall. No one has ever set foot through it. I stare at the border, I see myself in it’s reflective surface. I don’t even recognize the person staring back. This isn’t going to be my life. I won’t let this become my life. Five minutes has already passed and the guards open my cell door and step in. I turn my head and smile at them. “I’m not going to rot in this prison for something I didn’t do. I’m not going to live in this town anymore. Then, in an impulse I do something no one has ever done. I cross through the doorway and jump. The guards try to grab me, but it’s too late. I’m falling into the border. I close my eyes and for once I’m at peace.
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