wickedlittletown: (Skywarp)
★Goldy Afternoon★ ([personal profile] wickedlittletown) wrote in [community profile] fandomweekly2023-09-07 08:29 pm

[#191] Field Of Freedom (Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption)

Theme Prompt: #191 - Freedom
Title: Field Of Freedom
Fandom: Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption [Short Story by Stephen King]
Rating/Warnings: Gen | none
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 429
Summary: Freedom can be overwhelming and scary for a former prisoner



Free.
After all these decades I am a free man again.
Honestly: I have never imaged that they would release me.
But here I am … Standing in the middle of this hay field.
Above me the sun shines from a clear sky.
Was the sky always that blue?


I know that this is a silly question I am asking myself. The sky was always that bright blue on a sunny day, no matter if I was in the yard of Shawshank or standing here on the field in Buxton. It was like that before I was born and it will remain the same color when I am long gone.

As I walk over the field I ask myself if I will find what Andy told me I would find here. Part of me thinks that I won’t find anything but after some time I find the volcanic stone he told me about.

With trembling hands I pick up the stone and discover a letter. My heart skips a beat when I read that it is for me.
It warms my heart that as a free man Andy hasn’t forgotten me, yet his suggestion brings back the fear I had from the wide world.

I may be a free man as in the sense that I am no longer behind the walls of Shawshank but I am on parole and crossing the border would be a crime. I am aware of how the world has changed and I am unsure if I can make my way over the border.

‘It’s better to remain where you are for the remaining years you have left.’

The voice in my head is probably right but I know that I will regret it until I die, if I don’t try it. The worst that can happen is that I will be back in the known safety of Shawshank. But there is so much more to gain if I succeed. I know Andy is waiting for me and if he could make such a spectacular escape to win his freedom back, then I can break parole to try to get mine fully back as well.

Suddenly the wideness of the world which lays in front of me is a tad less scary. A call for another adventure for an elderly man.

“You survived decades in Shawshank, Red. You’ll find a way to make it safe to the border.”
I murmur to myself to talk some more courage into me as I put Andy’s letter in the inside pocked of the light jacket I am wearing.