Just Right (Part 16)
Ivan: Hope and Despair
The rot in the doorway looms over us like a predator lurking in the branches above. It threatens the Giant; he ducks because he must. I walk through without a second thought. If the building crashes down around me, it will have been my time. The smell that hits me almost slows me, but I breathe deeply, take it in, accept and dismiss it. I’ve smelled this before, smelled worse. The reek of antiseptic makes my eyes water, and I blink away the tears before we make the main room, where I find what I’m looking for.
The press of flesh rivals the prison yard, as does the noise as it echoes from the curving white ceiling overhead, building intensity amongst the wrought iron beams that support a dying roof. Eyes look through me, seeking something I do not bring. Cots team on the warped wood of the floor like metal shipping containers along the pier. Bags and sacks and frayed leather cases fill the empty spaces between them, bodies lying, sitting, squatting amongst them like birds hovering over their eggs, their young. My eyes linger on young faces while their eyes follow the monster that…
