This was a dream I had.
In the beginning of the dream, I was in a subway station. There were dozens of men in grey trench coats walking around, not bothering to make eye contact with anybody. There were also tons of other people, but the men in grey stood out to me.
Suddenly, I was tackled by a tall and muscular police office, cuffed, and dragged through the subway station to a holding cell. I don't know what they thought I did, but it must have been pretty bad.
The next thing I knew, a judge sentenced me to life in prison.
I immediately found myself on the prison train. This was an ever-running train that contained large, open beds where prisoners sat. There were also rock-breaking cars were a few prisoners at a time would smash rocks into smaller rocks. And, finally, there were the cell cars where the prisoners slept.
I was sitting at the edge of one of the open-bed-cars next to a couple of nasty-lookin fellas. The guy next to me, terribly tall with long black hair and a dark goatee, asked me how I "landed on the train." I was still unsure, so I just resorted to, "Drugs."
With that answer, he smiled at me, and revealed a little chunk of crystal that he had hidden in his pocket, then gave a signal to a buddy of his (who looked a bit like my friend Eli Riechenbach, so I'll call him Eli), and I interpreted the signal to mean that I was cool.
Each prisoner riding on the bed had a clasp around his waist that was chained to the floor of the bed. Each also had shackles on his wrists. My shackles were especially tight, and I was consistently conscious of the pain in my wrists as long as I was wearing them. After talking with the scary black-haired tall man beside me about his previous domination of the drug world in Detroit, the conductor/prison ward called Eli and me into the cell car, and we followed him inside.
There our shackles were taken off, and we were instructed to clean up each cell within the car. We were under careful supervision as we made beds, folded clothes, and organized prisoner spaces. At last, the conductor was called away briefly, and we had a bit of time to relax. Eli motioned for me to come over to him and he showed me a stash of crystal that he had hidden inside his bed. He patted me on the back and offered me a generous chunk, an offer that I was afraid to refuse. Then, Eli asked me to join him in partaking in the drug. The chosen method of drug use was crystals straight into the bloodstream. Eli, using a sharp edge of a crystal, cut open his forearm slightly and rubbed the crystal into the wound. I now had to figure out how to pretend to use the drug without actually doing it. I looked down to the floor and noticed a few pieces of broken glass. I subtly replaced my crystal with the glass, took off my shoes and used the glass to cut into my heel. I then rubbed the glass up and down my wound, pretending to immediately feel the effects as Eli had.
Eli gave me another pat on the back and left the cell and walked back to the open bed. I stayed in the cell a moment and discovered that the conductor/warden had left his keys. I proceeded to remove my shackles and waist clasp. Luckily the train began to slow down. I exited the cell car and walked onto the open bed. I shook hands with the scary, tall, goateed man, giving him the crystal Eli had given me. He looked quite thankful as I turned and hopped off the train.
As I ran into the wheat field to take cover, I heard the train begin to stop. However, this wasn't unusual, because the train often stopped to pick up more prisoners and food rations.
I felt free, and I knew that if anyone realized that I was gone, I could outrun any of the prison guards on the train and that the wheat was tall enough to cover me, so being shot was less of a threat. I sprinted further and further away from the train, but as I ran, I began to think about the life that I was entering into. I knew that I wouldn't be able to return to being myself in any way. Also, for some reason, the man with the black goatee came to mind. I felt an odd desire to get to know him more and become his friend. These thoughts were so strong that I turned around and headed back for the prison train.
I walked back onto the open bed and found that nobody had noticed my absence. I took advantage of the time out of my shackles and wandered onto the rail car that contained my personal belongings that were confiscated from me and reclaimed them. Then I walked back to the cell where I found the conductor/ward staring at the shackles that were without a prisoner. I tapped him on the shoulder and offered him my wrists. He gladly took them and slapped the shackles back on, but this time they weren't quite as tight as he had made them before.
I sat down next to the goatee guy and he gave me a strange look. I showed him my wallet and my phone that I had reclaimed, and he smiled at me knowingly.
Then it was time for visitors.
Several wives, children, and parents of prisoners walked onto the train to spend a few minutes with their incarcerated loved ones. I didn't assume that I would have any visitors, because I knew that most of my friends and family didn't believe my story of innocence. I was surprised to see Morgan Ferch and Katie Schwenk walk onto the train. They were crying and, as they attempted to talk to me, they could barely form any words. I'm not entirely sure why they were sad. Maybe they were upset at the hard conditions of my life. Maybe they were sad because they thought I was no longer the man I was when they knew me. I don't know.
At last all the visitors left and the train began to move again.
Then I awoke.
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