Personal Narrative: Stripped of Freedom

2137 Words5 Pages

The bald-headed one returned, whispered to his partner, and then both glanced in my direction. It was no ordinary look. I recognized the expression. It was the same expression officers gave criminals on the hit television series Cops before the inevitable happened (the chase or takedown). An intense fear rushed through my body. A sensation of numbness spread like poison from my chest; I was immobile, like a deer caught in headlights. With a single look, all sense of freedom drained from the body. To them, I am guilty. To them, I am a criminal. “STAND UP and TURN AROUND," bellowed the officer. The raspy voice sliced through the air and penetrated the silent room. I breathed out cautiously, so as not to challenge my innocence--if such a concept even existed. Slowly, I stood up. Slowly, I turned around. It was Wednesday, possibly; technically, the middle of the week, except the days had oddly morphed into a week. In my fatigued and sleep-crazed state, I had a distorted sense of time. Still, I sensed an end to the madness as I approached more closely to a dimly lit building. My pace quickened as the building stood taller before me. The bottoms of my feet stomped the ground beneath--each step heavier than the last. Repeatedly, I swiped my hand across the air to get the flurries out of my face, but they remained. I was outnumbered from every direction .The sweeping back and forth motion exhausted my arm. So, reluctantly, I allowed them to collide violently with my stiff body while I continued in the footsteps marked by the student in front of me. In an almost zombie-like manner, I shuffled my feet through the side door of the Chemistry building and narrowly avoided a collision with another student. My mind was fixat... ... middle of paper ... ... storm was moving south. I have debated this incident in my mind many times. I have questioned the actions of the officers many times. Often, I conclude that their actions were extreme, and many people who hear this story agree on my innocence (including the prosecutor who dropped the charges on the following day). But I have not been able to reach that conclusion myself. Stripped of my freedom, liberty, and rights, I anticipated that at any moment guilt would encompass me. I sat nervously in the backseat of the police jeep and waited. I waited for the feelings of regret and wishes that I could turn back the clock. I waited in that alert state for what seemed like hours. But the feelings never came. Guilt did not daunt upon me. Rage did not blind me. Still I knew I had faulted. The A.M radio screeched in the background. Am I innocent, I still wonder today?

Open Document