The Prisoners and the Barn

The Prisoners and the Barn

“Are you alright?” A voice pierced through the fog that filled his mind. “Are you awake yet?”

The man opened his eyes and slowly scanned the area to see someone bent down talking to him, “Where am I?” He asked.

A soft woman’s voice replied, “Poor thing, you don’t remember getting here either. Well, let’s get you sat up first.”

The man slowly stood up, looking around and noticing that he was caged inside what looked like an old barn. “Where am I?” He asked again.

The woman from before smiled, “I’m not entirely sure myself. None of us are.” Her head fell with the last comment.

The man looked around to see others locked behind iron doors inside the decrepit barn. Some were alone in a cage; others shared a space in the small prisons. The process for who went where seeming random. The man then studied the barn. Its walls were made of thick sturdy lumber, yet the roof had holes that would surely let rain and snow in. “So, no one knows how they got here?”

Another man came from around a bale of hay. “None of us know anything. We all have the same story as you. One minute, we’re living our normal lives with family or friends, then in the middle of the night we’re taken without so much as a noise. Almost as if we were under a spell the whole time.”

The man took a hard swallow as he started to breath heavy, “So… What will happen to us then?” He looked around at roughly thirty others behind caged bars. All of their eyes dropped at the question with a shadow of uncertainty veiling them.

The man from before walked over sighing, “Let’s start with names first. I’m George, what’s yours?”

“It’s David, I think.” He was still in a slight fog from earlier.

“Well, David, the woman you spoke to earlier is Linda.” George then went on to name off everyone else in the barn without missing a beat.

David said hello to everyone, and even though their expressions were friendly in greeting, the air was dark around each one. After introductions David asked, “So, why are we split up into different areas?”

The room again felt as though he had asked a forbidden question. Just as George was about to answer, the large barn door at the front swung open and a giant man came walking in. Everyone cowered in their corners of the cages as they watched his every movement. The giant man grabbed a few tools and left the barn again without so much as looking at them, almost as if they didn’t exist. Not a sound was made, but the room had a collective sigh of relief feeling after he left.

George pulled David aside behind some hay bales. “David, I know this might be hard to swallow—however, anyone who leaves with that man never comes back.”

David’s gut wrenched, “What do we do then?”

George shook his head, “I know you just got here, but I need to know if you’re willing to risk it all to get free of this place.” His gaze turned determined as the words left his mouth.

David hesitated for a moment, still unsure of everything that was happening. “I...,” he began as he thought about his family and friends that he was stripped from in the middle of the night. The memories of his past came flooding back to him, his expression hardened, “I’m in. What do we need to do?”

George sighed with relief, “I’m glad to hear it. Now, these metal bars that keep us separated are impossible to break. The wooden walls are also thick, but we’ve been slowly working at a section in the wall.” George slowly moved a hay bale revealing a small hole in the thick wood at the bottom of the wall. “I know it’s not much, but every night we’ve been scraping away as much as we can of the dirt and wood to make it bigger.”

David thoroughly looked it over, “Have you tried running into it as a group to break it?”

“We thought about that.” George took a slight pause before continuing, “It’s just that the last time someone was causing problems they were promptly taken away. Ever since then, everyone’s been scared to do anything out of line.”

“Has anyone ever been outside for any reason by chance?” David’s tone never waivered even at the unsightly situation they were all in.

“We haven’t been outside, but I know for a fact there’s a forest just beyond this building. Sometimes when the main doors are opened you can catch a glimpse of the outside. Unfortunately, the only things visible are another building, fencing and the forest.”

Even though George talked about escaping, his conviction wasn’t strong in the slightest. David wasn’t sure why, but he felt that George was only playing the part of leader because no one else could. David nudged George to break his endless thoughts, “That’s great news! All we have to do is make it out of here and through a single fence before our freedom! The fence shouldn’t be an issue, so the only problem we have to deal with is this old barn—and avoiding getting caught.”

George’s jaw dropped in surprise, “What do you mean ‘only problem’?!? That is the hardest part of the whole escape! We’ve been working for months trying to get out and nothing has worked. We’ve lost about fifteen people since I got here.” His body slumped to the ground like a sack of potatoes, “I can’t keep going on like this and neither can the others.”

David ignored the negative comments and instead studied the barn trying to look for anything they could use. After a few minutes of George brooding on the floor, David stood up with excitement, “I have an idea!”

George stopped just long enough to hear David out.

David helped George to his feet, “We are making our escape tonight! Now, spread the word to everyone here that they all need to participate in tonight’s escape. If even one of them doesn’t it could throw kink into the plan.” David leaned in and whispered to George his mighty plan. The more David talked, the brighter George’s face grew with hope.

George pulled away, “I can’t believe how simple it is! I’ll let everyone know!”

Just like that, George went off quietly spreading the word to everyone. Soon after, everyone proceeded to act normal as the day droned on. They got some food and water around midday, but that was all they saw of the giant man the rest of the day. The sun slowly lowered passed the horizon while the moon gently rose to take its place on the opposite side of the sky. The moon was nearly full providing ample lighting through the holes in the barn. Once the moon rose to its highest, peak David quickly moved to the cage doors.

“Alright, is everyone awake?” David asked in a whisper.

There were a bunch of low noises indicating they were all awake. George walked over, “I confirmed everyone is awake and ready to commence the plan.”

David took a deep breath and started yelling as loud as he could. The remaining thirty followed suit, varying the sounds as much as possible to create a commotion. They even started banging on the metal bars to create a cacophony of sound that echoed wildly throughout the barn. Their plan worked flawlessly as they heard the giant man quickly approaching in the distance; his words were unclear behind all the noise, but the irritation in his voice said enough.

The main doors flung open revealing the giant man with a light in his hand. He started yelling at them in a foreign language, but no one stopped. They all kept going berserk, making as much noise as possible. The giant man walked over to the one cage where David was and unlatched the bolt pin, opening the door. As he did, David charged him, landing a square hit on the giant.

David turned to George, “The pins on the cage doors, hit them upwards to unlock them!”

The giant started yelling as he started throwing a series of punches and kicks at David. David held him down as best as he could, accepting the onslaught from the giant. George got all the cages open just in time, for David was thrown off by the giant and he roared out in anger. The group collectively charged the man tackling him to the ground.

David slowly rose to his feet battered from the beating he took, “Everyone let’s hurry, we have to make it through the fence to the forest quickly before anyone else shows up!”

George signaled everyone to follow as he sprinted for the hillside.

*** Days later ***

“Honey, come look at the Sunday paper!” A woman’s voice cried out from the front porch.

“I’m coming, dear.” A man strolled through the house onto the front porch.

The woman promptly shoved a newspaper into this chest, looking away in dismay. “Read the front headliner.”

The man looked at her with a startled look as he turned the paper around, reading it aloud,

“‘Headline News!

Old farmer Jim was trampled to death late last night just before midnight, says the coroner’s office. Currently, police suspect no foul play; however, they are warning everyone to be safe after daytime hours.’”

The woman shrieked, “Isn’t that horrible?!”

The man shook his head in disbelief, “I mean, it is, but if I’m being honest, he wasn’t the nicest man. He kept those poor animals in that dilapidated old barn until he slaughtered them. Heck, even when I was a kid, he was always looking at everything in such disgust.”

The woman looked at him in shock, “I can’t believe you would say that about your own uncle!”

The man crumpled up the paper and shrugged, “Jim was never an uncle to me. He was such a distant man who never came to any family events. Honestly, he was more like a ghost than anything. Well, I guess he’s a real one now,” the man tried to hold back his chuckle. “Now, can we get back to making breakfast?”

The couple walked off into their home and as the door came a close, so does our story.