WARNING:
This article contains depictions of suicide, gore, and police brutality. Reader discretion is advised.
SURVIVAL DIFFICULTY:
Class 0
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The Hollowbreach Prison Building.
My first impressions of the Hollowbreach Prison, the Unbound Explorer's Coalition’s main base of punishment for problematic wanderers, were rather uneventful. The prison seemed ordinary: a large, grey building with small windows dotted around the walls that was completely surrounded by a barbed-wire fence. It was a bit run-down, and everything surrounding the prison looked dull and lifeless, but it was nothing that I wasn’t used to. My thoughts fluttered as I looked at it; each step as I drew closer to the building felt heavier and heavier, and my heart simply ached with hopelessness as I stepped inside. I haven’t seen any entities on this level, so I’ll assume it’s just us humans for now.
The inside of the building was more of the same. They had me go through a metal detector when I entered, and one of the security guards recited a list of rules and regulations, and had me sign a form saying that I agreed to those rules before I entered the prison. The guards all wore the same uniform: a blueish-grey jacket with silver buttons lining the center, along with a matching pair of pants and white gloves. The guards were all very kind and respectful towards me; one even complimented the vibrant red blouse I was wearing. A group of 4 guards escorted me to the cell corridors, and we all made pleasant small talk on the way there. Inside the corridors was more of the grey monotony, each inmate dressed in a beige-grey jumpsuit and in cells with 2 bunk beds, a sink, and a toilet. There was an occasional message etched in the concrete walls, sometimes written in blood or fecal matter, most being pleas for help or an attempt to make a jab at the guards, which one of the guards from the group left to go punish them. It was all incredibly dirty. I wasn’t necessarily expecting the place to be spotless, but this was just inhumane. The inmates were all surprised by my presence; the guards told me they don’t get visitors much. A majority shot me dirty looks, while a few others asked if I had any food or just begged me to help them in some way or another, only for them to be yelled at by one of the guards monitoring me and my report. They all seemed incredibly malnourished, especially compared to the clearly well-fed guards, and hadn’t had a proper shower in weeks, and quite a few were fighting over food, to which another guard left to brutally manage. The inmates all had horribly pale skin, hair that had mostly, if not completely, fallen out, baggy eyes, and I could often see their rib cages through their jumpsuits.
Occasionally, I saw the lifeless bodies of inmates in their cells. Each inmate had done something different in their suicide attempts: one hung from a bar on the window with their bedsheets, another stabbed themself with a shiv, and another starved themself to death. Yet another guard left to discard the bodies. Every step I took, I could feel the tension rising, shivers quaking through my body. Prisons have always sparked a strange feeling for me; seeing all of the dull, tortured, lifeless souls without an ounce of hope, always made me think. My stomach kept dropping further and further, and seeing all the hope and joy drained out of these lives left me alone. My breathing became heavier, and my thoughts ran rampant in a spiral, so fast, yet only one thought echoed in my mind: did they really deserve this? What could the ever possibly done to suffer like this? My heart raced and my thoughts spiraled, my breath left my lungs in disbelief, how could the guards be this way? They all stand for "justice", yet this is how they act? Ready to commit unspeakable acts at the drop of the hat?
An empty cell in the Hollowbreach Prison.
And I saw something that still haunts me, something so horrid, that no matter how hard I try, I don't think I'll ever forget. A half-eaten dead body of an inmate was strewn across the floor, and another inmate, beaten up quite badly, was inside the cell eating the corpse. The guard yelled, opened the cell door, and bludgeoned the surviving inmate to death with his baton. He showed no remorse or disgust, as if it was routine. I froze up in shock; I couldn't think of anything I could do as I witnessed the guard make his final strike on the inmate's head, caving their skull in.
“Why in hell did you do that?!” I finally yelled.
"It's not my fault," the guard shrugged, indifferent to the situation, "the guy had already lost it. If it weren't for me, he probably would have died a much, much worse death." My eyes were clouded with terror and disgust as he moved closer, "If anything, I did him a favor." The inmates avoided eye contact as much as possible with the both of us, yet were still clearly listening to our conversation.
"How could you do this?" I cry out, "They're people! They aren't monsters, they have lives too!" I can feel a hot stream of tears drip down my face, distraught with emotions.
The guard scoffs at me, "They aren't like us." he walks up to me, towering over me, "They chose this, these lunatics chose to commit these sins." He wads up a ball of saliva and blood, and spits it right at my feet, "It's not my fault that they wanted to suffer, all I'm doing is making sure they know their place."
Suddenly an inmate's voice rings out in response, "All I did was jaywalk!" Tears stream down their face, and their voice shatters, their vocal cords tearing in each breath, "I'm not the monster here! It's them!" He looks directly into me, my soul, as a shiver creeps down my spine. "It has always been them!"
As the guard went to take his next victim, something bubbled up in me. It was something that came from deep inside—a tension that never emerges from my soul like this. My blood, filled with rage, boils. It boils to a million degrees, and the fringes of my vision take a dark crimson. I was overwhelmed by my own hidden emotions, and I couldn’t control myself. I didn’t really believe that inmate at first, but I could tell that there was at least one person here who didn’t do anything wrong. I was appalled by how U.E.C. could stand for justice and hope, yet they had an apparent lack of morality in their main endeavor over the past 2 years. I clenched my fist and screamed my lungs out, and I blacked out. The next thing I knew was that the guard was on the ground, groaning and beat up, and I was standing over him, blood on my hands, holding the baton.
I never expected to become an inmate at the Hollowbreach Prison, but life often throws you curveballs you never imagined would be possible. I'm not sure if I can even say I regret what I've done. I was furious at that abusive and aggressive guard, yet a part of me stands with rage at myself. I saved a life, yet why do I feel so torn? Why am I so broken up about this? It's been a week since I first got here, and it's all that has been on my mind. Just a downwards spiral into oblivion. Though I hope and pray that I'll be able to die in peace, I know that'll never happen, but I hope that this report can open the eyes of wanderers all around the Backrooms. Put an end to this misery.