The Prison

1
From the distance, it looks like writings on a wall. But when you approach it, you realize rapidly that what promised to be a poem or a story is nothing but a series of apparently meaningless symbols. Most of them resemble the digit "8" on old calculators: a rectangle divided in half. Others look like "W"s turned on their head. There are also triangles with superimposed "X"s. No story, just nonsense carved deep into the cladding of the building.
 
2
Nonetheless, it's hard to escape its mesmerizing effect. "It looks like a prison cell turned inside out", my daughter said.
I decided to investigate and ask some neighbours and found the story. It goes like this:
 
3
Back in the 70's, a pregnant woman was arrested for some heinous crime. She was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. When she gave birth to her son, she was allowed to keep him, and so the kid grew up in her cell, while she ticked of the days and weeks of her sentence by carving little lines into the wall of her cell, seven dashes making up an "8" and representing a week.
 
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Sometime in the 80's, the child protection agency became aware of the teenager's unlawful imprisonment and ordered his release. He didn't want to leave his mother's cell but was given no choice. He didn't know what to do outside. He didn't understand the chaotic world he was forced to live in. Some good soul offered him a job and an old deposit with a bed where he could lay his confused head. He began ticking of his days by carving dashes into the outside wall of his home: The world was his prison, and he wanted to go back into the safe liberty of his mother's cell, where his mind was free to roam and wasn't distracted by the iniquity of the world.
 
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"If you want to go back to prison", people said, "you must commit a crime. Steal something, hurt somebody, do whatever suits you best."
 
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Crime didn't suit him. He was a good and innocent soul who just wanted to live in peace. The days and weeks went by, each one of them leaving its mark on the wall. Eventually, the young man became sick: He began to carve strange symbols into the wall. The neighbours were alarmed.
 
7
The community plotted a way to help him. They joined forces and committed a serious crime and planted evidence that all pointed to the young man. While on trial, he insisted on his innocence, but the judge had no option. "Are you telling me that all these people who love you and testify against you are lying?"
 
8
He was sent back to prison. He wasn't sure if this was a good thing, though. He was going back to the place he loved, but he was going back for the wrong reasons. His good and innocent spirit told him he was unworthy of it. After all, he hadn't done anything to deserve it.