A Limited Existence.

The alarm went off at 9am. She hit the snooze button – she did not really need the extra 10mins of sleep but she just enjoys lying on the bed for a while before getting up. 10mins later, she gets out of bed and steps into the shower. The steady stream of warm water washes over her and slowly melts away the sleep. Feeling fresh and energetic from the shower, she proceeds to pick out a black top and her favourite pair of jeans. After getting dressed, she stands at the mirror to comb her hair. She smiles at her reflection, pleased with what she sees – the new hairstyle really suits her...

A loud alarm sounds and jolts him awake. He opens one sleepy eye and sees that the sky is still dark outside. His brothers are already getting up so he forces himself up as well and shuffles across the corridor to get into the shower, grabbing a set of clothes along the way. Screwing up his face in anticipation, he turns on the shower and is greeted with a blast of cold water – shocking, but never fails to wake him up instantly. Fully awake now, he quickly dries off and puts on his clothes. As he leaves the bathroom, he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror - the hairstyle really does not suit him...

Cereal with milk? Maybe a sandwich? She finally settles on a breakfast of toast with jam and coffee. At 11am, she leaves her house to meet up with her friends for a relaxing Saturday afternoon at the beach. This outing was planned last week and she had been looking forward to it since then. Having been caught up with school and a flurry of different activities, the week had flown by and now it’s finally time to unwind...

He sits at the table eating his breakfast – bread with jam and coffee. It’s not his ideal breakfast but that’s all there was and after exercising for half an hour, he’s really hungry so he eats quickly and silently. An hour later, he steps into the office and starts work. They have been given a contract assignment and today, the photocopying, sorting and binding must be finished so that the documents can be delivered back to the client after the weekend. It’s Saturday but it is work as usual for him and his co-workers. His routine, comprising of a limited repertoire of activities, rarely varies. The days simply blend into each other, one hardly differing from another...

How quickly time has passed! Before they realized, it was dusk and time to pack up and go for dinner – one of them had a craving for pasta so they were going to this new Italian restaurant in town. During the afternoon, they had gone for a swim in the sea and then spent the rest of the time catching up with the things that were happening in each others’ lives. They had also spent some time discussing their plans for the future as they were all about to graduate and start working… It was an exciting time for all of them. Who knows what the future holds!

At this point, time holds no meaning for him. Minute by minute, hour by hour, time seems to drag on forever. Today, the passing of it is punctuated mainly by the whine of the photocopying machines and the sounds of paper being flipped and sorted. Occasionally, one of his colleagues would start a conversation but it was hard to keep these conversations going. Or someone would start singing a song and others would join in but again, the end of the song meant the beginning of silence once more. In those moments of silence, he wondered if he had a future at all... and if indeed he was lucky enough to have a future, he wondered what it held for him. Finally, the job was finished and the documents packed into boxes. Good timing too! Time for dinner!

She lay on her bed, smiling at the ceiling. It had been a really enjoyable day and she wished it hadn’t gone by so quickly. She spent the next few minutes thinking about the next day. Sundays were days of rest and completely flexible – getting up late and doing whatever she felt like doing; she could go shopping, to the movies, for a walk in the park or simply potter around the house the entire day. With those thoughts, she closed her eyes and started drifting off to sleep...

He lay on his thin mattress, staring at the ceiling. The days were so long and he wished time passed more quickly. He spent some moments thinking about the next day. Sundays were still structured – nothing here is unstructured – but at least Sundays were slightly different. It was a day of rest – no work, an extra hour of sleep in the morning, basketball games in the afternoon, and they were allowed to watch television in the evening before returning to their cells. With those thoughts, he closed his eyes and started drifting off to sleep...