Cellmate

Slowly, we enter a dark, desolate cell where we see a prisoner sitting on the floor. He sits with his head tilted back against the wall and his eyes are fixed on the ceiling. As he blankly stares at the ceiling, he focuses on his only source of light, a small barred opening. His confinement is old, dark and putrid.

His attention is momentarily diverted to rattling of the slit underneath the heavy metal door. It is time for his daily meal. The tray is aggressively pushed through the opening, most of the contents wasting on the floor. The slit immediately closes. The look and smell of the food repulses him. A flashback of the last time he tried ensues.

Suddenly, he hears scratching and gnawing from behind the wall near his right hand. He slowly lowers his head to the floor and positions his face in the direction of the noises. He listens carefully as the sounds get louder. His curiosity grows as he sees small bits of rock break from the wall and fall to the floor. At that moment, he begins to see a tiny point of darkness which grows. The hole gets bigger and bigger as he now sees tiny sharp teeth that are viciously gnawing away at the wall. It doesn’t take long before he can see that it is a huge rat. The opening is now large enough for the rat to come through but, it doesn’t. It’s reluctant to venture beyond the opening. The prisoner notes the rat’s abrupt cessation of behavior, so he leans over and retrieves the food brought earlier and slides it closer to the opening. The rat is enticed and quickly leaves the opening. It comes out and begins to eat the food that the prisoner cannot bare to ingest.

The prisoner continues to curiously watch with excitement as the rat eats everything on the tray. It’s been a while since he’s seen or interacted with anyone or “any living thing”. After the rat finishes, it scurries back into the wall. The prisoner feels his time with the rat is over and begins to slip back into a state of despair. He sadly takes the tray and places it back through the slit underneath the door.

To the prisoner’s surprise, the rat soon returns with an old photograph in its mouth and places it near him. The rat looks up at him and disappears through the hole. The prisoner picks up the worn photo; it is a picture of a calm and soothing beach during a beautiful a sunset. The prisoner closes his eyes and his mind begins to wander. He clearly imagines himself at the beach. He can feel the cool breeze on his skin and the soft cold sand between his toes. He can hear the sounds of the seagulls, the rustling of the waves, and smell the fresh salt-water air. His feelings overtake him and he lets out a jovial laugh! It’s the best he has felt in a very long time. He spends what seems like hours in such a place, until once again time has won. He is then transported back to his familiar surroundings, but his mood has definitely changed for the better. The feelings of hopelessness have dissipated for the moment.

The following day, he hears the familiar sounds of the door slit opening and the tray sliding harshly in his direction, afterwards, the slit closes abruptly. The prisoner looks away in disgust. He would give anything to experience the feelings from the previous day – to be transported once again within the sunset while walking on the beach. And at that moment, the rat returns. This time, it brings him a tree branch covered in green foliage. The prisoner takes the branch and is suddenly transported to lush forest near a stream. It is so peaceful. Within the forest, he feels relaxed as he kneels beside the stream to dip his fingers in the cool water.

Days go by and this relationship continues until finally one day the rat brings him a key. The prisoner takes the key. He anticipates a sensation, but instead instinctively walks to the cell door, inserts the key, opens the door, and walks out

The camera fades back into the cell. We hear the lock turn on the door and the door opens. The guard walks in and sees an area where the prisoner has been dumping food, all of it rotten. The guard has found the source of the odor. It appears as though the food has been molding for days. He turns to another area of the cell and he sees the malnourished body of the prisoner, head leaning against the wall with a permanent smile.

Reference Photos :

(Scene from I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, 1932, the story of wrongly convicted James Allen)

Russian prison camp.