I barely heard my own shallow breath as i bit my teeth together as tight as I could, trying to keep the whimpering and desperate cries to myself. This had been going on for so long that I shouldn't be able or in need to express the anger and fear still piling up inside, but my aching wrists kept reminding me of my situation and the occasional splatter of blood on my forehead was far from pleasant.

It was no use anyway; everyone was gone, there was no one left. I didn't know how many it had been to begin with, but I knew I would have been aware of it if they were still around. The girl I had heard somewhere nearby had stopped screaming for what felt like days ago; It had probably just passed a few hours since she took her last breath though… I felt that i was stumbling towards the same fate at an alarming speed, as I was struggling just to keep my own breath steady; to be honest it scared me more than I would ever admit.

But I didn't give up. I never would. If anything, I would never lose hope; when the hope was gone, so was the way out of this mess. I pulled at my restraints ever so weakly, and felt the blades dig even deeper into my forearms, letting out a weak cry as the pain shot through me. A tiny dribble of blood made its way down my arm, but I felt it more than I could see it in the weak light from the naked bulb in the ceiling. The pain made the tears well up again and my feathers went damp as i tried to blink it away. Damnit… I had brought this upon myself, I knew, but… how could anyone possibly deserve this…? Although the worst thing was that I agreed to partly deserving this punishment after what I did… or rather was about to do.

As i felt the pain fading slowly, the lights flickered and the silence was broken by a sudden bang on the heavy metal door in front of me. The sound was so sudden and so loud that I tried blocking it out, covering my face with my arms despite the heavy restraints. To my surprise, I could actually move my hands, now covered in much less blood than earlier. Looking up, I saw the grotesque glass box above my head was gone along with the razor blades keeping me in place - the ceiling was also replaced, and now the harsh, white light from a fluorescent lamp shone down on me. I blinked franticly a few seconds, confused and disoriented as the loud hits on the door continued. Not until the familiar voice of one of a guard bellowed in the hallway outside I made sense of the situation and remembered where I was; « Inmate, get up!» Almost letting out a relieved sigh at the far from soft voice on the other side, I took a quick look at my wrists and stated that indeed, they were packed in soaked bandages but out of all restraints.

Sitting up on the thin mattress of my metal-framed bed as the door swung up, the guard received nothing but a cold stare; «Cage.» I said, desperate to get out of my cell if just for an hour; the noisy stinking cages were better than nothing.
Trying to work the sleep out of my eyes as I stood up, I kept ignoring the guard as he made his way over to me and locked the cuffs around my wrists for the quick walk down the corridor. I bit my tongue and swallowed hard as i felt the cold metal against my skin and heard the soft click from the lock. «Not today, inmate. Seems as if you are being transferred.» Frowning, I tried to turn my head around to look at the man behind me; «What did you say..?» the disbelief in my voice must have been obvious since the guard met my gaze as he gave me a push out the door; «You are going to medium. Now get your ass moving and shut up.» For the first time in a long while my eyes were huge in surprise rather than scowling at everyone or heavy-lidded from lack of sleep; did he just say what I think he said? Not allowing my hopes to get up to quickly, I kept trying to make the silly grin on my face to settle and walked as quickly as I could without getting a warning down the shiny linoleum flooring, waiting impatiently at every stop we did by the many barren doors. I heard the familiar shouts from the caged area as we went down the hallway, but this time around we turned right instead of left and I felt my hopes hit the roof. I could practically smell the fresh air I knew awaited outside these many bolted doors and I felt light as we walked down the now strangely unfamiliar corridors, passing by the many green cell doors I had become so familiar with. I was probably partly in shock, but I was smiling like an idiot nevertheless - how could I not, no matter if this was some sort of cruel scam.
Finally we reached what I vaguely remembered as the final port, and stopped to talk to the angry looking man behind the bullet-proof glass; as the guards exchanged information about me, i peered out between the bars separating me from the outside. The usually grey sky was lit up by the rising sun; telling me it was earlier in the morning that the usual waking. I knew i probably should be eavesdropping on the conversation behind me, but i was too enthralled by the chill air surrounding us and the noisy prison-bus awaiting us on the outside to care. The conversation behind me finally ended, and the heavy hand of my guardian rested on my shoulder as the barrier swung outwards and revealed the asphalted path leading down to the awaiting vehicle.
I knew Dasiy had been trying her hardest to get me transferred for a long while, but i gave up the second my trial was postponed the second time around. The investigation was on hold once again…

We walked quickly and it felt like only seconds had passed when we reached the open doors; I had been staring through the fences and haywire surrounding us the whole time. I felt a quick pat on my back as I lingered in the doorway. The driver received a quick nod before I made my way down between the row of seats; a few other inmates was sitting down from before but since I never met anyone more than once through my whole stay behind these walls, the only thing telling me whether they were from my ward or not was the difference in clothing. A few wore the same orange tracksuit as me, but others had different outfits. I stared at them all as I passed and although everything I gained was a few annoyed looks I still felt as if I was among friends. I don't know exactly what this kind of almost complete isolation might do to you, but I can sure as hell tell you it's not healthy; suddenly people become distanced and vague, as if they suddenly stopped existing when you didn't see them around anymore. Then what they might think of you suddenly becomes irrelevant as well, yet you feel the need just to see other people occasionally.
Sitting down, I had my wrists locked to the armrest with a couple of handcuffs and again I had to swallow hard and think of something else; «Where are we going?» I said, my voice suddenly weak as I quickly attempted at getting some more information out of the guard. My eyes were wide with a mixture of excitement and a sudden fear, and I struggled to keep my eyes in one place; « You'll see when we get there,» the guard threw over his shoulder as he walked down the aisle.
I frowned and let out a small hiss as he sat down in front by the driver; there was still three guards remaining in the back, ready if any incidents were to occur. Most of the prisoners in the bus seemed too busy staring out the window or taking a nap in their seat to start a riot though.

Smiling weakly at the surreal thought, i turned to look out the window. Throwing a final glance at the secure building i had spent the last moths i felt the relief wash over me as it finally hit me; i was on my way. I was finally out of isolation. The weak smile on my face grew as the scenery changed and the fences had to move in favour of cornfields and blue sky. It was far from over, but it felt as if a great weight was lifted off my shoulders, and the feeling of freedom snuck its way into the back of my mind.