When I was little, maybe 7, my family took a trip to California. One place we visited was Alcatraz Island. We decided to take a self guided tour with headphones. I can remember this adventure particularly well, despite being so young. But that's probably because such an unusual thing happened. My family (my parents and my sister) made our way through the hallways and peered into old jail cells while listening to our headphones. Even though I was so young, I can vividly remember feeling a sadness and having the awareness that bad things happened in the very place that I stood. As we progressed, we came to one cell that coordinated with an escape story. The man who had lived in the cell tried to escape by swimming away from the Island during a terrible storm. The narrator said his body was never found, but it was presumed he drowned or was eaten by sharks. For some reason, this story stuck with me. I remember he hadn't committed a crime as vicious as most of the other convicts. I lingered behind my family, transfixed on this cell. Up ahead, my dad called out for me to catch up to them. As I took one last look into the cell, I thought I saw a man sitting on the cot, with his head resting on his hands, as if he was worn down and tired. I ran to my dad and continued on with the tour, never having told anyone about what I have seen.
Truth be told, I'm not sure what I saw, if anything. But I will never forget how I felt; sadness. Total and complete sadness. I debated about sharing this story for the obvious reasons that its sounds fake. So I did some research and indeed, there is a convict who attempted to escape during a foggy, stormy night. And to this day, no one really knows what happened to their bodies. I do believe, however, that I know what happened to his soul.
Here's something fun to try: See how steady your hand is! Take your time and try to stay in the lines. See if you can beat level 3!
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