Another brilliant piece from a GUNNAS WRITING MASTERCLASS WRITER
I can’t fucking believe I am here again. The surrounds are exactly the same as last time. I still feel the same dread, all colour has turned to grey.
I walk past the other buildings and head down to the one where she is. I wait outside for the doors to open. I wait. I wait. I wait.
The doors finally open and I join the small, single file. I wait my turn to get to the counter, and hand in my ID. “ You haven’t filled in the form” said the voice behind the screen. I quietly fill in the form and hand it back.
A key is thrust through the small opening of the perspex window .I put my belongings in the locker assigned to me, take off my jewellery and sit down in the waiting area. I wait, I wait, I wait.
Then I hear it- “ visitor for Mclean”. It is a sentence I have not heard for a long time. I stand, put some gold coins on the conveyer belt and walk through the metal detector to be scanned.
A key is turned and a door opens. I am directed to another building
I wait patiently as another steel door is unlocked and I walk into a sparse room. A table number is assigned and I quietly sit down. The tables and seats are painted pinks and blues, but it doesn’t hide the fact that they are bolted to the floor.
I sit and I wait, I wait,I wait.
What seems like a lifetime later, she walks through the door. My niece.
I was only 10 years old when she was born. She was always the cute little kid, but here I am sitting across from a 35 year old woman in a prison jumpsuit. What went wrong?
We hug, and both start to cry. After a moment she smirks,“ Well”, she said, “ Ilooks like I am taking after Grandad”.