Under Execution, Under Jailbreak (One-Shot)

Template:Book Under Execution, Under Jailbreak is a short story included in the oneshot of the same name. It's focused on a criminal sentenced to death penalty and his attempt to escape from his prison.

Story

The story begins with an unnamed blond-haired defendant at his trial. The court sentences the punishment for his crime: death penalty. The criminal is taken to jail, where we lies waiting for the execution.

The criminal introduces himself simply as "Prisoner 27" and explains the reasons that led him to this situation: after having slept with a girl, he found out he was missing some money. He asked the girl for explaination, but she claimed to know nothing about it. He would have been more than willing to forgive the theft, but his deep hate towards liars made him kill the girl.

Once in his cell, he finds out that the warden wouldn't come, no matter how many times he'd scream for help and that the room, despite of its appealing lookings, is filled with all sort of traps. He attempts to escape when he finds out that one of the cell walls is as soft as butter and tries to dig a way out. That was just another trap: a grinder hidden in the wall cuts his fingers off his right hand.

He risks his life when, trapped on the sofa, realises it's nothing more that an electric chair. He manages to escape by sacrificing his right hand. The chair explodes, breaching the cell wall. Prisoner 27 thinks to be finally free, but before running out, he manages to see another trap in the wall: a guillotine. He decides to wait in his cell until he finds a way out.

50 years have passed since the sentence, and Prisoner 27 is still in his cell, staring at the breach in the wall. Every year, when Winter's over and Spring begins, he has the temptation of running outside. He still swears to himself that one day he'll find a way to escape, proving himself more cunning than his jailors.

Comment

Concerning this story, Araki has declared that it was born by the idea to make the Jailbreak and the execution coincide. The story's only purpose was to create suspence. The prison is bizarre: the person who built it doesn't appear and this absence-presence was the thing Araki liked to describe.

Gallery

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  The bee nest near the switch

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  Such a luxorious place to die

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  The electric sofa

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  Prisoner 27, 50 years later