A Reason To Be Free

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 20; the twentieth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

The walls are only as hard as the man they hold inside.
Their strength is only as brittle as the sins that he hides.

I could remember it as if it were yesterday. They put a little electronic device on my ankle. It was to make sure I couldn't leave the house. It was the story of my life.

Why was I stuck in house arrest? I really don't know. I mean, is spying on my neighbour too bad? I think that girl's up to something. I wanted to prove it. But no, her dumb parents thought the kid next door with the binoculars was spying and should be put into trouble. Makes it easier for them that I live alone.

So a few hours after when she'd seen me from her window, the cops crashed through my door and pushed me unceremoniously into their car. I spent the night there. Next day, I was tried in the civil court. The judge looked at me and I don't know what she thought, but I'll go a little far as to call it pity. She didn't give me jail time. I was instead put under house arrest. It didn't seem too bad at the time. I was only going to be at home, like I always was. Right?

They put a little electronic anklet on me. It couldn't be cut off and I couldn't fry the chip inside it by putting it in water either. I couldn't leave the house. I couldn't even step foot into the street outside. I was to endure this for three months. The girl's dad was some hotshot government official. I should have foreseen this. But I couldn't have foreseen anything.

I played on my Xbox all day for the first week. I ate a lot of ice cream. The police had helped me stock up on supplies at the beginning and would do it again every two weeks. A cop would also check on the damn anklet every month. I played enough. I finished the God of War series and Halo and a lot of other games I was into. I don't even remember any more. It's been a really long time.

-----X-------X-------X-------

One night, as I was sitting in my balcony with my lights all out, I saw something really unusual. I saw the girl next door paying her dad. It didn't look like he was taking back her allowance. She seemed to be counting the money. Then he snatched it out of her hand and counted the notes himself. He didn't seem satisfied. He slapped the girl, put his hand on the collar of her tee and was vehemently saying something to her. I wished I could hear it. Then suddenly, he tore off her shirt and pushed her onto the bed. I could see everything that happened thereafter. The sex was really violent. He was brutal. And she didn't resist. It seemed almost normal to her, I might say.

I was going crazy. Nothing mad happened after that weird incident next door. I kept a close watch on the girl's room. I never saw anything. Her curtains were always drawn. A month passed by without further incident. I had absolutely nothing to do. The weather grew dark. It started raining a lot. I couldn't go and sit in my balcony. It used to get flooded a little. I used to make hot chocolate and sit in the living room and just stare out the window. My life had reached a complete standstill.

-----X-------X-------X-------

Then came the eventful evening which changed everything. It was raining cats and dogs. I had grown thin and weary. I wanted something to do. Anything. I didn't have an active cable connection because I hadn't paid the bills for it because I have internet access because I hadn't paid the bills for that either. All I had was my chocolate all day. I didn't want to eat anything else. As a guy who was twenty something years old, I needed some action. I got it that day. There was too much of it. And it was all red.

-----X-------X-------X-------

The cops had locked the front door to my house after the one time I'd tried to escape. There was practically no way out. It was raining heavily. Everything outside the living room window was a blur. But I could see her house. The lights were on downstairs. It was almost twilight then. She and her 'dad' were fighting madly. It was not tantamount to sex this time. This was different. He was hitting her a lot. He punched her on her face several times; once in the stomach. She keeled down. I couldn't see her any more. The man walked away into another room. I looked away thinking they were a really crazy family. Or was it even a family. I couldn't deduce anything any more, in the mental state that I was in at that time anyway.

Suddenly, I heard what sounded like a gunshot. I looked outside the window again. The man was standing over his daughter. I rushed inside to call the cops. I couldn't get anything except noise. The phone lines were out because of the rain. There was only one way left now. I broke through the window out into the open.

-----X-------X-------X-------

What happened later is now history. As soon as I exited my house, bits of me bleeding where the broken glass hung on to me, I walked out onto the empty street. Soon, I could see blinding lights flashing at me. Red, blue and dazzling white. I crumpled out of fatigue.

-----X-------X-------X-------

It turned out that the guy next door was some kind of pimp. He sent his daughter to rich people and made her have sex with them. He was broke and this seemed the only way for him to get any money. The girl made a lot. But she wanted out. It had become too much for her. That's where I came in.

As soon as the cops got to me, I told them what had happened. I was taken into custody but a thorough investigation was made in the house next door. The charges on me were thereafter lifted. Of course, two and a half months of house arrest had had an irreparable damage on me but maybe; just maybe, it was worth it.

There were no sins as I have now shown.

None of my own, but of what my eyes had seen.

I needed a reason to be freed, so I could be atoned.

For better or worse, the time changed everything; even me.

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Credits

Image - Window Rain Drops by Eric Alder
Courtesy - www.deviantart.com via www.blogaton.in