Prisoner

This is the story I submitted for the STACH Short Story Contest #16. It was quite a challenge for me to keep the story to fewer than 200 words, but I'm pretty happy with the end result. :-) The topic was Live Free and my word count is 195.

I hope you enjoy!

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From the moment he was born, Rilik had been a prisoner. He looked different, felt different, was different. People feared and hated him, yet never knew him. They knew only that he was Other, that his father had been dangerous, and held that against him.

His current prison was a small, walled-in corner of the barn in the prisonyard. His guards had probably meant his cell to be an insult, but Rilik found the warmth from the animals to be a pleasant departure from the icy cold of the prison. Besides, the animals did not fear him.

Rilik had never known friendship. The only kindness shown to him was from an elderly woman who worked as a cook at the prison. And it was she who was suddenly at his door that night. It was she who cast aside his shackles and offered him freedom.

He hesitated at the cell door. He had never known anything but this prison. What would he do in the outside world?

"Live free," the old woman said. "And look only forward."

Heeding her words, he stepped into the cold night air a free man. He did not look back.

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Imaged sourced from Pixabay.