I
stood at the base of a massive concrete hill. I’m not talking
metaphorically; the hill is made of concrete. For some I guess it
could be considered a ramp, but ramps don’t seem as steep. Every
step felt strange, not the kind of strange from exhaustion or pain in
my legs, no, it was strange that I was even making this climb at all.
The bright blue sky and the trees felt like an illusion. All the
noises from the honking cars on the street behind me were drowned out
by my worry. I took another step. I looked behind me, seeing other
people following me. Ahead, many people were coming down the hill. No
one looked happy to be making this climb, and no one looked any
happier coming down. Two walls of concrete begin rising with the
hill, as if they were closing in on me as I kept walking up the
“incline of sadness.” I saw my destination ahead of me. I could
see it from the base of the hill. Maybe that is why the climb seemed
to take forever: I really didn’t want to be here. I didn’t want
to be making this climb.
The building on top of the hill, my destination, is gray. The color
fit the mood of this place. It isn’t a happy place. How could it
be? This was a place that held people captive. No one wanted to be
here. I opened the thick glass doors, receiving a rush of icy air on
my face. It was fitting for the mood of the room that I walked into.
Like I said, this wasn’t a happy place – there was very little
warmth in this building.
The
room was quiet; you could hear the hiss of the florescent lights. I
could hear the click of my shoes against the tile floor as I walked
to the check-in counter. The clicking seemed to get the attention of
the woman behind the counter. She looked up at me and she didn’t
look happy to see me. She probably wasn’t really happy to see
anyone who came in here. I gave her my name and who I was here to
see. I felt a twinge of disgust when I said the name. I never thought
that he would be in here.
The benches they
had us wait on were hard and uncomfortable. I stared at the clock
behind the counter, thinking how stupid it was that they made us
arrive forty five minutes before our scheduled visit. Other people
filed into the room, all with the same expression as mine. As I sat,
I started to wonder what their stories were. Whom did they come to
see? When it was finally time, we filed into a smaller room for roll
call. I walked through the detector, not worried about it going off,
however the next person who went through made it go off. A forgotten
cell phone. Ten minutes later we headed down into a small cave-like
room lined with stools. The only windows were the ones across from
where we all sat. I held my breath as my brother came in and sat on
the other side of the window, smiling.
