The Cost Of Freedom

Totem was a truck driver who earned twenty thousand drachmas per month. Even though Totem had a wife and two kids, he didn’t think he had anything to live for and got tired of his living predicament. He felt stuck whenever he went home after the day’s work and wondered how he ended up with the woman he called his wife. “Of all the women on this planet!” he sometimes said to himself. His monthly salary was barely enough to care for his wife and kids. They were living hand-to-mouth, and his wife’s disposition towards him did not make things easy for him.

Totem moved goods as usual from a manufacturing plant to retail centres. He thought about creative ways to improve his life-the only thing he ever thought about whenever he was on the job when a particular idea struck him. He decided he finally found a way to be free of his wife, kids, and job and still live a pretty good life! He thought it was the best idea he had ever conceived.

About two minutes after he conceived the idea, Totem hit five vehicles on the highway with his truck, causing injuries to several people in those vehicles and death to one of them. He was imprisoned two weeks after the judge pronounced a ten-year sentence on him. He pleaded guilty to every charge that was levelled against him. His sentence could have been worse-he was disappointed he did get more, but because he had no previous criminal record, it was reduced.

Immediately after the sentence was passed on to Totem, he said to himself, “Mission accomplished”. He thought it was the best thing that had happened to him in his 40-year living career on planet Terra. He couldn’t have been more wrong.

Life was good in prison. He ate good food twice daily, watched TV at a specified time, and even went to the gym for a limited time.

Two months into his prison sentence, Totem was having a warm bath. He wondered why he didn’t think of his great idea earlier. He was humming a song to himself when he felt the presence of someone in the shower with him. He turned to find a tall and lanky man standing right before him.

“What do you want?” Totem asked him.

The Man laughed.

“What do I want?” he replied, feigning surprise as though Totem should have an idea.

“Here is what I want; I want to kill you.”

Totem was not entirely sure he heard him right.

“What? What have I done?” Totem asked nervously.

“You were meant to die by my hands,” the man began to say. “Of all the prisons you could have been locked in, you ended up in one with the man whose mother you killed.”

Totem saw the man’s face become deadly serious.

“I’ve been watching you for some time now, and I have to say, you seem to be enjoying yourself here. I’m tired of seeing you every day, knowing you killed my mum even though I never really liked her. You know, she was a pain in my ass, but still, she was my mother, and I think it was time you joined her.”

Totem, at that point, felt cold. There was no one else in the bathroom. He tried to scream to call the attention of the correctional officers, but he didn’t have time to do that. A quick slash at his throat, and he couldn’t speak anymore. He had no time to think before he died, and the last thing he heard was, “Say hello to her for me.”

If Totem did have time to think, he would have realised that his idea wasn’t that great after all, or maybe he would simply have counted himself unlucky.