by Justin Wayne
***
The next morning, Thom rose with the sun and immediately began banging away at the bars on his window with his spoon until it bent and snapped. With a cry of exasperation, he pressed against it with his bare hands until they bled and he was out of energy. As such he gratefully devoured his morning bowl of rice and slice of bread.
“Look at this ‘un go,” the guard pointed to the other. “He’s goin’ mad with fear and thinks he can bust himself out.” The two men laughed and made their way down the hall to feed the others.
Thom ignored them and finished his bowl with gusto. Not nearly filled up enough but content for the time being, the hobbit wrapped his blanket through the bars in a U shape and began pulling on the fabric with both feet against the wall until he was parallel to the floor. He tugged and tugged until he was drenched in sweat but only succeeded in ripping the fabric and sprawling to the floor on his back.
Winded and weary, he laid there for an hour just imagining the multitude of ways he would get himself out if he were Outsider. He played around with the thought of using his secret powder to explode the whole wall then unleashing all the prisoners on the guards.
“Last day on earth, prisoner!” the guard called as he walked past, killing Thom’s buzz and ending the crooked little grin on his round face.
