​Being a prisoner is a crippling feeling at first. At first, you feel helpless and almost suicidal with the thoughts that go through your mind. You are scared and worried about a future that you might not have. No wonder in those articles I read of riots in prisons. The prisoners grow desperate and frustrated; you see, in their agony they wish to relieve their stress. How people relieve their stress it they resort to their most animalistic instincts. In a state prison filled with criminals their base instinct is violence. When you are trapped in a chamber like mine by a snake so massive you cannot see all of it, you grow depressed and docile.

​It was that time of year again. I could smell the streets, alive with festivities and hay. So much hay. It was a farm festival in my local town and it filled me with that funny feeling that all that I was about to see was adults making fools of themselves for their children as they had their faces painted, clothes splashed with paint or thrown from the mechanical bull into non-mechanical feces. It was an atrociously bittersweet day.

​School for me in the next few weeks were a genuine pleasure. I worked well in class and Lu Shen and I seemed to be growing closer. It wasn’t just the fact that we shared every single lesson with each other, but it was the fact that she seemed as interested in me as I was in her. One art lesson she handed me a fresh pencil and pad and asked me to draw her. After reading that note I was surprised and embarrassed.

My first day was not unlike most. I was brought up in front of the class and told to introduce myself with my name and little information. I felt there wasn’t much to say about me, so I said my name and bowed. The teacher showed me where I would sit and began the first lesson. Of course, there was always a fundamental strangeness being someplace that you aren’t used to.

​The duo ended up learning a lot about the world they were in. The people were kindly for the most part, but there were individuals within the city who were dedicated to bringing discomfort upon the people, beating and taking advantage of them. Of course, these were the kind of people that worked the hard labour as well. Batic encountered them at the shipyard.