that the sun had just set, the sky glowed red through the gaps in the dark clouds. The rain was heavy as I reached the top of the ladder, another guard was standing glaring down at me. He looked at me and with a twisted smile said,
“ Welcome to your new home. Welcome to Demon Rock!”
Indefinite Stay
We weren’t even given the luxury of being thrown into the back of a truck. We had to walk the two miles to the abandoned-looking building as the guards drove slowly beside us, all the time with guns pointed at our heads. After departing the boat we were forced to stand in a line as our ankles and wrists were shackled to one another. As the twelve of us new arrivals walked as a single entity the guards would jeer at us, even tripping individuals to the ground causing the rest of us to stumble.
‘
Assholes.’
I thought to myself as I continued to walk the dirt road. Even the term road is a generous one; it was not maintained as a road, rather a clearing through the thick shrubbery and forest of the island, each footstep sinking into the mud still heavily saturated with the rain. The footsteps in front telling us a tale of those that had walked here before – we were not the first prisoners to Demon Rock. My eyes wandered from one end of the island to the other, of what I could see there was acres and acres of forest with few distinguished features except for the dark facade of the building we were marching towards jutting out above the tree line and a single lighthouse on the North side of the Island.
The lighthouse stood atop a steep cliff face warning fellow ships of the impending doom. I doubted that many ships passed here however, beyond the ships that bring people like me to the island. It is hard to recall exactly how long we were on that boat but the middle of nowhere seems an appropriate destination, away from the judging public for their protection and the privacy of the government. The lighthouse was black, odd in a sense since its job was to warn people and thus be visible but the bright light shooting out over the water was hard to miss, it was one the brightest lights I had ever seen. Just then I realised why the light was so bright, it was a UV light; it must double up as a spot light and security system for escapees. We were getting close to the building and I could now see that the building wasn’t abandoned. Around the building was a twenty foot tall wall which had not been visible through the trees. On the walkway around the top of the wall were armed guards looking down into the court yard leading up to two huge steel doors. Around the walkway sat barbed wire, metallic spikes and large black rods at regular intervals along the wall. As I walked staring up at the wall a white flash appeared, only for a second as well as a sound of static near the third rod, two of the guards laughed and a horrid screech echoed out into the night.
One of the guards gave a nod to another guard up on the wall. He acknowledged and pressed a button that raised the giant steel gate in front of us. The sound of the chain on metal gave a sound similar to the screech moments before as it was slowly raised. Once the gate was about six foot above the ground, the guards hushed us forward like a pack of sleigh dogs as we walked into the yard, I couldn’t help but think that this would be the last time I would ever be at this side of the gate for the rest of eternity. Some of the larger inmates had to duck their head under the gate as it continued to ascend. Through the gate we were in a circular tunnel which let up to the main doors. At either side of the tunnel the yard seemed to stretch around the whole facility in a hexagonal shape. The steel doors opened as we approached them like the jaws of the beast of this facility. We were led to a room of to the right from the entrance and lined up as if for a firing squad.
“ Strip!” one of the guards commanded. We all
“ Welcome to your new home. Welcome to Demon Rock!”
Indefinite Stay
We weren’t even given the luxury of being thrown into the back of a truck. We had to walk the two miles to the abandoned-looking building as the guards drove slowly beside us, all the time with guns pointed at our heads. After departing the boat we were forced to stand in a line as our ankles and wrists were shackled to one another. As the twelve of us new arrivals walked as a single entity the guards would jeer at us, even tripping individuals to the ground causing the rest of us to stumble.
‘
Assholes.’
I thought to myself as I continued to walk the dirt road. Even the term road is a generous one; it was not maintained as a road, rather a clearing through the thick shrubbery and forest of the island, each footstep sinking into the mud still heavily saturated with the rain. The footsteps in front telling us a tale of those that had walked here before – we were not the first prisoners to Demon Rock. My eyes wandered from one end of the island to the other, of what I could see there was acres and acres of forest with few distinguished features except for the dark facade of the building we were marching towards jutting out above the tree line and a single lighthouse on the North side of the Island.
The lighthouse stood atop a steep cliff face warning fellow ships of the impending doom. I doubted that many ships passed here however, beyond the ships that bring people like me to the island. It is hard to recall exactly how long we were on that boat but the middle of nowhere seems an appropriate destination, away from the judging public for their protection and the privacy of the government. The lighthouse was black, odd in a sense since its job was to warn people and thus be visible but the bright light shooting out over the water was hard to miss, it was one the brightest lights I had ever seen. Just then I realised why the light was so bright, it was a UV light; it must double up as a spot light and security system for escapees. We were getting close to the building and I could now see that the building wasn’t abandoned. Around the building was a twenty foot tall wall which had not been visible through the trees. On the walkway around the top of the wall were armed guards looking down into the court yard leading up to two huge steel doors. Around the walkway sat barbed wire, metallic spikes and large black rods at regular intervals along the wall. As I walked staring up at the wall a white flash appeared, only for a second as well as a sound of static near the third rod, two of the guards laughed and a horrid screech echoed out into the night.
One of the guards gave a nod to another guard up on the wall. He acknowledged and pressed a button that raised the giant steel gate in front of us. The sound of the chain on metal gave a sound similar to the screech moments before as it was slowly raised. Once the gate was about six foot above the ground, the guards hushed us forward like a pack of sleigh dogs as we walked into the yard, I couldn’t help but think that this would be the last time I would ever be at this side of the gate for the rest of eternity. Some of the larger inmates had to duck their head under the gate as it continued to ascend. Through the gate we were in a circular tunnel which let up to the main doors. At either side of the tunnel the yard seemed to stretch around the whole facility in a hexagonal shape. The steel doors opened as we approached them like the jaws of the beast of this facility. We were led to a room of to the right from the entrance and lined up as if for a firing squad.
“ Strip!” one of the guards commanded. We all
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