Non fiction

The Line

People are studying or working hard at their schools or offices, to not fail rather than to succeed. But they cannot see what is happening in their future even though it is the moment in 1 second. Nevertheless, people cannot stop making efforts when they believe in what the efforts would pay off someday. What if they notice there is nothing in their hands after they have run for a long time?

She was an ordinary woman once. In her daily life she used to wake up at 7:30am, eat breakfast and go out to her office. At her office, she was in charge of the sales promotion. During the job, she had to take a lot of cosmetics in her hands in order to compare various products. From where her desk was, she could see a spectacular view of the metropolitan. She was proud of her academic background. Her job. Her status as a woman. Everything. Her hobby was surfing. She used to go the beaches once every two weeks. She was happy and she thought this happiness would last forever.

She is not an ordinary woman anymore. In her daily life, she wakes up at 7:00am, eats breakfast and goes to a factory. At the factory, she is in charge of collecting envelopes. During the job, she has to take a lot of rubber bands in her hands in order to bind the massive amount of envelopes. From where she stands, she can see an iron-barred window and mechanical walls. She is scared of looking. Scared of her future. Her status as a human. Everything. Her hobby is watching TV. She is allowed to do it only in the evening. She is in despair and she thinks this desperation will last forever.

Between these two time bases, something happened. It was just something. She doesn’t know why it happened to her and why she has to have such bad luck still now. But she shouldn’t have done it. She couldn’t help doing it. She didn’t mean to do it. But the fact of the past cannot be changed. She became a prisoner from a successful business woman. The reason why she did so is not a big deal. The crime might have been unavoidable. The fact is that she is in a prison, a prisoner now. She has to continue to live even if it is tough and no one expects her.

E.W. Howe said: “A successful man cannot realise how hard an unsuccessful man finds life.”

Reflection

While I was watching a documentary about women who are in prison around the world, I decided to write about the cruelty of life. The women were a political activist in a developing country or a business person who had worked at a famous IT company but committed a crime due to her love affair. Some of them were not typical “criminals”. And I attempted to write about “the line” between when a woman lives in an ordinary life and when she lives in an extraordinary life after an event. Of course, "She" is an imaginary woman. The event, the reason why she was sent to a prison, could have been an accidental murder, a business crime or political activity. And In the story, I used almost same sentences because I wanted to emphasis that the second and the third paragraphs are about the same woman. I aimed to express the mutability in human lives.

Chika Mukai