Mississippi Prison Farm
Will felt his muscles heave and clench as he beat the ground with a familiar rhythm. Shovel in. Shovel out. Shovel in. Shovel out. Everyday, nineteen years.
The men on either side of him followed in a similar fashion, their brows coated in sweat and shirts clinging to their backs. On unusually optimistic occasions, Will would close his eyes, imagining for a moment that he was in his own back yard somewhere, happily sprucing up the lawn out of pure pride for his property.
But, of course, things never seemed to work that easily for a man like Will.
He was just another criminal, another number, another lowlife rotten piece of scum in America's prison system.
He leaned against his heavy shovel for a moment, looking up at the cruel sun. Nineteen years in Mississippi Prison Farm. He had seen people come and people go, people killing and people dying. But that damn sun never seemed to change.
"Hey!" a supervising guard yelled out. "Back to work, Schuester."
A fellow inmate nudged him sharply. "Look down, Will!"
Will wasn't in any mood for an argument.
As he picked up his rhythm once more, he heard the soft, sad chuckle from an aging prisoner further down the line.
The man sang as he worked,
"Look down, look down,
Don't look 'em in the eye
Look down, look down,
You're here until you die."
Another inmate joined in,
"The sun is strong,
It's hot as hell below."
This time everyone sang,
"Look down, look down,
There's twenty years to go."
"I've done no wrong!
Sweet Jesus, hear my prayer!"
"Look down, look down,
Sweet Jesus doesn't care"
"I know she'll wait,
I know that she'll be true!"
"Look down, look down,
They've all forgotten you."
"When I get free ya won't see me
Here for dust!"
"Look down, look down
Don't look 'em in the eye"
"How long, oh Lord
Before you let me die?"
"Look down, look down,
You'll always be a slave
Look down, look down,
You're standing in your grave."
A tall woman stepped out towards them from the cool shade of the administration building, her face slightly twisted. They recognized her instantly – Sue Sylvester, the Chief Guard.
She flicked her sunglasses up, revealing harsh blue eyes. She looked down at the plain envelope in her hands. "Prisoner 24601?"
Will swallowed and stepped forward.
"You've been acquitted – your parole starts today."
"I'm free?"
She scoffed. "Unfortunately not, Curly Sue. You are on probation, and must report to your designated officer twice monthly."
He felt the heat rushing to his brain. "But I served my time!"
"You have served your time in prison, but you will always be a thief. Is that understood?"
Will resisted the urge to throw down his shovel and run for the hills, but he couldn't hold back the anger in his eyes. "I stole one cell phone!"
Sue stepped up in his face, threatening now. "You mugged a man!"
He lowered his eyes. "My family had no rent money. It was the only way."
"Well, it's about time you learned the way of the law!"
"I think I've learned enough in those nineteen years a slave of the law!"
That twisted smile returned to her tightly pursed lips. "Two years for your crime, and the rest for trying to hop the walls. Only cowards run from their problems, 24601."
"My name is Will Shuester!" he snared through a clenched jaw.
"And I'm Sue Sylvester," she placed one challenging hand on the wooden handle of his shovel, "Do not forget that name, boy. Do not forget this face. Because I have a feeling we'll meet again –" she slid back on her glasses, turning to leave. "– 24601."
Will stood outside the prison gates, the scents of freedom just out of reach. He longed to reach out and touch it, to follow his nose, to discover a life he never knew. But the weight of the stamp on his papers told him otherwise. That stamp bore with it a hundred curses; no leaving the state of Mississippi; no step in any path without another set of eyes burning into his back; no shaking off the vicious whispers that followed the label, 'criminal.'
With an old pair of shoes on his feet, and an ill-fitting shirt that was too tight at the collar, Will began the long road to an unknown destination. Will Shuester was going to find his way.
"Freedom is mine. The earth is still.
I feel the wind. I breathe again.
And the sky clears
The world is waking.
Drink from the pool. How clean the taste.
Never forget the years, the waste.
Nor forgive them
For what they've done.
They are the guilty - everyone.
The day begins...
And now lets see
What this new world
Will do for me!"